Chapter forty-five: "A Picture?"
A great way to torture your aunt is to have their boss come into your place and have tea outside your house with your brother, sister-in-law, and you
All four of them were outside having tea as we watch them from the huge window inside the house
"She looks like she is going to faint" Noah commented as he noticed Aunt Laborè's panicked face and one leg shaking under the table
It's nothing new when we see her panicking because when something pops up that she wasn't prepared for or even informed of, she would be worrying about the outcome to no end. There was my parent's wedding anniversary celebration and there were too many guests that visited than planned that most of the celebration, the majority of guests were given blankets so they will just sit on the ground
It ended successfully though since the guest liked the idea of a picnic type of celebration and it brings back many memories
"Anyone wanna bet on her?" Natalie asked, Noah and Wendy, raised their hands
"I'll bet a dollar if she would faint dramatically on the ground" Noah quickly said first
Wendy blew a raspberry "I'll bet two dollars that she would be stiff frozen the entire talk and faint after Sophia leaves" she puts the two dollars on the table and gave a proud look to Noah who was looking down at her with a smug look
"We'll see about that then" he moves the curtain so we can get a better view of the 4 adults outside in the backyard, they were a bit far from us that they were close to the tree near the fence. Sophia was laughing at something that Mom said to her and she held her stomach from too much laughing after Dad added something from Mom's sentence
Aunt Laborè's face was red, I don't know if it's from embarrassment or it's that I-am-not-drunk-but-I-feel-like-I-am face
Benjamin pulled out a penny from his pocket and put it on the table "I bet she would continuously hit her forehead at the tree after Mom left" he said proudly which left us speechless
We would never imagine Aunt Laborè to do such a thing to herself especially she is taking great care of her face that she looks younger than what her original age is. When it was finally time for Sophia to leave and that she is now in front of our home with Aunt Laborè still in the backyard
We all awaited it and it looks like Benjamin won the bet since Aunt Laborè kept continuing hitting her forehead at the tree trunk
"We should stop her" I said out loud as I ran outside to stop Aunt Laborè from harming herself, even more, she looks like her soul went to heaven but she still looks alive
The Marshall siblings were with their Mom and I feel like Sophia has something to tell them before she leaves, Brie covered the spot on the trunk with her arm and as for me and Caramia who was holding one of her arms to stop her
"Calm down Aunt Laborè it's not the end of the world you know" Ella assured her but it made things worse because she fainted after, she fell on the grass and her eyes fully closed. We all did our best in helping her and informing Mom and Dad after
Things were getting more chaotic in the household that I decided that it was time to go back to the penthouse, I tugged Cloud's arm while he was looking at the family portrait that Dad painted. A yawn escaped from my lips as he looked at me and he got the memo that we should leave
Before we leave I told my family that I would be leaving with Cloud to go back to his home and Mom reminded me "Don't forget about the Dinner every weekend, alright?" She asked and I nodded in response before we stepped out of the house
We both left the street and once my head rested at the window of the car I quickly doze off into dreamland
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My eyes slowly opened to find that I am still in the car and the driver's seat is empty, my eyes looked out the window as I found myself in an unfamiliar place. My hand reached for the car door and I opened it, stepping out of the car to find that I am near an open field
I checked my phone to see that I only slept an hour
"Cloud?" I called out his name because I can only hear the crickets and cicadas making noise, so imagine me being startled when he answered me with a "hm?" As he was beside me holding a telescope in both of his arms
"Where are we?" I asked while following him to walk up to a hill, the place was unfamiliar and I refused to die in such a place if I ever get killed by him. Or is it my imagination has gone wild?
We were surrounded by a barley field and once we reached the top of the hill, Cloud set up his telescope to observe the stars again up in the sky but this time I could see many of them
"We are just a few kilometres away from the suburban area" he answered with one of his eyes kept looking through the telescope
"You could've just let me stay in the penthouse while you venture dangerously out into the rural area at night you know!?" I told him annoyingly as I grumpily walked around in circles
It was getting boring and there was no internet here to at least keep me entertained as he watches the stars up in the sky, he was too distracted I decided to leave him on top of the hill to walk back to the car and wait for him there
While I'm on my way walking back to the car, I have to go through the barley field again and it was hard to walk through so I have to move some of it to make it easier to walk. My eyes landed on a stick that was just a few inches away from my feet
Perfect
I grabbed it and used it as something to move the barley's easier out of my way, the more I do it the more I realized that more fireflies kept coming out and are now flying around with its small light. My feet were not moving anymore because my body refused to move and just give up seeing this sight in front of me
Deep down inside I feel like a little kid again and wanted to see more so I moved the stick around to make more fireflies appear and there they were, with their small light shining through the vast barely field. This makes me remember the dandelion field by the bay again
Maybe I should try reaching Daisy, does she even remember me though?
"Some show you made" Cloud's voice rang my ear, breaking the peaceful silence that I was enjoying during my watch to the fireflies
A firefly hovered over my hand and I tried to cup it gently and took a long time before it flew away "That was not for you anyway, it was for me" I grinned cheekily at him before continuing my march back to the car
I observed the barley's move along with the wind and the fireflies are now disappearing slowly into the night, my hand reached for the knob of the car door and I hopped inside. He was taking a long time again so I just find anything I interesting in this car to pass time
My hand reached something beneath my seat and I pulled it out
A picture?