Orianna

Chapter 20

"No. I like your hair and I don't want you to cut it." I smile and run my fingers through my hair.

"So do you wanna put your hair on now or later?" He asks and throws a glance at the wavy weave.

He was right when he said that the weave was just like my natural hair.

Brandon and Zoe will never notice the difference.

"I wanna out it on now because Brandon might show up after school, and I wanna nap right now, so I don't want him to show up and meet up with my bald headed self." I finish up with a yawn.

"Okay. Do you need help putting it on?" He asks and I shake my head no.

"Put it on and I'll go check on how works going, okay?" I nod and he kisses my forehead before leaving me alone in the bathroom.

I can't help but feel bad everytime I look at myself in the mirror and see how dull my eyes are. My heart turns when I take in my appearance.

I have sick eyebags. I've gone smaller, my body looking frail. I look very tired though I've been sleeping like mad.

I shake my head when thoughts of my long gone start creeping in.

I quickly put on the weave and shove my hair in the bin.

"Quill.." I stop when I see him talking to someone on the laptop.

I get on my bed knowing that the nurse is soon gonna come in to plug me back to these pipes.

The nurse did come in after a while and Quillon was still on his call or meeting, judging by the way he was talking and kept eye contact.

She connected all the tubes to me again then left. I lie down, deciding it's best that I don't tire myself out even more by waiting for Quillon to finish his meeting and I'll just tell him about Zoe's birthday tomorrow.

"Babe." My eyes open when I feel the bed dip behind me.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I was having a briefing session with the people at the office. I just wanted to be updated and to update them since I'll be here for a while." He kisses my shoulder.

"Hm, I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow is Zoe's birthday." I mumble, still feeling very sleepy.

"I know. Brandon had told me. Zoe is very excited even though she doesn't know when her birthday is, Lani is planning a surprise for her tomorrow morning, she said she'll FaceTime us." He places his over my waist as we both lie down.

"Go to sleep now love." He kisses my forehead.

°°°

" Shh." Lani says from the other side of the screen as she, Brandon, Meredith and Elijah creep into Zoe's room.

I see her tiny form sleeping next to a huge teddy and Stacy.

Lani gets even closer to her before looking at me through the camera.

"Wake her up Ana." She tells me.

"Zoe.. Zoe?" I softly call out.

"Wake up baby." I call out. She starts to turn on the bed.

"Yana?" She opens her eyes.

"Yes, baby. You know what today is?" I smile at her, and try to not let the tears that have pooled in my eyes fall.

"No." She sits up before rubbing her eyes.

"It's your birthday baby. Happy birthday my love." I smile at her and sniffle as Quillon wipes away a stray tear.

"Surprise!" I hear shouting in the back and Zoe looks up in the doors direction, alert.

I see a big smile on her face before Lani turns the camera to Brandon, Meredith and Elijah who are by the door.

Meredith has the cake while Brandon and Elijah are holding gifts I guess.

"'ijah, Me'dith." I hear Zoe's happy squeal.

"Good morning birthday girl." Elijah comes in for a hug and she immediately clings to him.

"How old is our big girl today?" He smiles at her.

"Four." She proudly says while holding out two fingers on both hands.

"Bring her down so we can sing and she can cut the cake." Meredith says.

Zoe is quick to squirm out of Quillon's hold when she hears about the cake.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Zoe, happy birthday to you. How old are you now?.." we all sing.

"Four!" Zoe exclaims.

"How old are you now?"

"Four!"

"How old are you now Zoe?"

"Four!" She screams out making me laugh.

We all sing for her before she cuts the cake and saves me and Quillon a big slice and sharing the rest with everyone else.

Everyone gives her the gifts that they'd gotten her and she got herself a fully furnished doll house with dolls, a kitchen set another humongous teddy bear and nail art and accessories.

I place my head on Quillon's shoulder as I watch Zoe swoon over her new gifts and I can't help but feel grateful that I have people that are doing such things for my siblings even though I'm not there and I'm unable to do it for them.