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Children are gifts of Fate to the bonded souls.
Theory: It's very rare for two different souls to bear fruit of their sins. If one get's pregnant, surely the child won't see the beauty of the world.
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"So... how are you?" Hannah inquires.
"I should be the one asking you that. "Daun amusedly says as she watches her best friend lovingly caresses her little bump.
"When's the due?" She continues, leading the focus of the conversation to Hannah.
"OMG! It's just the third month, but my hips are hurting already. But I am so excited! We are expecting her to be here in early spring." The other squeals.
"Great! And you have the reason to name her Sakura!" Daun claps enthusiastically. "You really love that name." She adds, so happy for her best friend. Finally, Hannah is happily married to her soulmate. Very far off from what she was on her eighteenth birthday.
**********
Hannah was crying so hard when on her eighteenth birthday, no soul mark appeared. She thought she was doomed to be alone too and that made Daun sad.
Daun became distant as she blamed herself, believing that she somehow influenced her fate by just being with her. The strong-willed Hannah was furious with Daun. She smacked her again and again with a pillow after she desperately barged through Daun's apartment. She made Daun realize how an idiot she was. She then decided that the two of them could be best Soulos forever. The silly way she said it with the teary face of determination made Daun smile.
Weeks after, while hanging out in their favorite café, she freaked out when Hannah just suddenly vanished in thin air in front of her and finally flickered her way to her soulmate.
Daun later learned that Hannah's soulmate was weeks younger than Hannah. A very plausible reason why Hannah's soul mark didn't immediately appear on her birthday.
**********
Daun smiles on those silly memories. She felt a little bit of jealous but happy nonetheless with the bliss that Hannah is with now.
"Wait... Before I forgot." Hannah stands, walks around the table and sits beside her. She seems hesitant while taking something from her bag and hands it to Daun.
"Happy birthday!" She whispers. Her eyes sincere. This freezes Daun. On her hand is a small black envelope with the golden ribbon. She recognizes it as a VIP ticket for a prestigious concert of one of her favorite opera singers.
Daun is speechless.
"I know you don't want to celebrate, but I want to give this to you as a gift. I want you to be happy and has something to look forward into. It will be two months from now so I know you will definitely enjoy it." Still speechless, she continues. "Please...For us?" Her eyes pleading as she rubs her bump.
Daun blankly looks at her. She doesn't want to disappoint her, especially not this time when her friend is in her bliss. She nods and accepts the gift. She softly smiled to Hannah. "Thank you, Hannah. You remembered." She tries to cheerily voice her gratefulness to her. The younger smiles sweetly, then tightly hugs her.
**********
Daun looks again at the envelope on her hands. She just arrived back from her dinner date with Hannah. She wants to cry as an overwhelming sadness creeps in her heart. She feels bad to Hannah. She feels bad to her therapist. She feels bad to everyone for her existence. She feels bad for herself.
She curls up on her bed, feeling so small, vulnerable, and insignificant. She sniffs the tears that are threatening to fall down, as all of the memories comes again, haunting her again and again.
**********
Daun was a small child. Every time she went to the kindergarten, she was jealous of the kids with either or both of their parents present. She wondered why she didn't have a mother. She wondered why her father never came to her school, not even during her piano recitals. Her teachers had this look in their eyes as they talked to her, so different from how they looked to other kids her age, or to basically anyone. It was a look of pity. She felt left out and unwanted.
She wondered why there were festivities in the class whenever there were birthdays, but whenever it's hers, she was left alone. Even in the house, the maids left her on her own. There were no celebrations or even just a simple greeting.
There was one time when a young maid brought her a small cake and sang her a happy birthday. It was her sixth birthday. She was so happy but her father saw it and harshly threw the cake on the floor. She bawled so hard and screamed at him for being mean. Daun called him bad. And bad he was for he grabbed her little arms harshly and told her all his pent up anger.
She hiccupped as she saw his eyes. It was colder than usual. So piercing and accusing. She could smell the alcohol on his mouth as he accused her of killing his soulmate, his wife, her mother. As a child Daun did not understand. She was confused and very upset.
She was screaming and shaking of fear and pain when he grabbed her hair harshly as he dragged her to the pantry. The young maid attempted to protect her but with his drunken state, and as a man, she was nothing compared to him. She asked for mercy but he didn't mind her at all.
He locked Daun there, shouting how she should be grateful that he kept her. That he had registered her as his daughter -- a part of his family tree. That she should have started earning her keep by following his instructions. That she should reflect on what she did and then he left.
She was bawling and apologizing for being a bad child. Her small body froze when the only light flickered and turned off. Her fingers bled as she desperately scratched the door to open. She kept on screaming, bawling her heart out. The fear of a pantry ghost added chills to her already shaking body. She asked for help, but no one came.
Daun were never the same again. It was first of the many times she had felt fear to her papa. The words like "murderer", "killer", and other vile words kept on reminding her how an abomination she was. She was always tiptoeing in the mansion. Every step a reminder of her unnecessary existence, and the man who she considered a family was no more, but a casualty of her sin.
**********
Chills runs through her spine as she recalls everything. She curls her fingers, somehow still feeling the pain of her little bloody fingertips.
Breathing in, and breathing out, she closes her eyes as she attempts to calm down.
"He was wrong... he was wrong..." A mantra that she has been keeping on repeating.
The wind chime tingles, each sound louder than the last. It's like a gentle pat to her shoulders, soothing her.
As the darkness blankets her, the black envelope, along with its golden ribbon, falls to the carpeted floor.