Emily's POV
I cried. Ever since mom had stormed out of my room, I cried. I couldn't help but feel bad. I knew zaezzes would hate me, she'd blame me for the fight she and mom will have about this.
I laid down on my bed and looked at the ceiling. I tried slowing down my breathing so I'd calm down. And, for a while, that went well until I heard mom shout downstairs.
I sat up, I felt worried and anxious. What if this situation would result in my parents getting a divorce? And it would all be my fault.
Suddenly the shouting stopped and I heard the stairs again. I gulped, actually getting nervous about seeing mom again after the fight.
She then entered my bedroom and locked the door. She sighed as she leaned against the door while covering her face with her hands.
"Mom?" I gulped.
Mom pulled her hands away from her face and looked at me. She walked to me and sat down next to me.
I looked at her. "Is everything alright?"
She sighed, then she shook her head.
"What happened?"
She looked at me, then she smiled a bit. "Let's lay down, ok?" Before I could reply, she already went to lay down. "Come." She opened her arms for me.
I crawled to her and laid down in her arms. "Mom," I looked at her. "What happened?"
Mom sighed as she looked at the ceiling. "Zaezzes explained the situation to me," She sighed once more. "It is our destiny to have sex and reproduce."
I looked at the ceiling now too. I sighed deeply, then I gulped. "So what now?" I then looked at her and saw her already looking at me. "What do we do?"
Mom smiled a bit. "We'll do whatever she wants."
My eyes widened. "W-what?" I couldn't help but back off, I suddenly felt uncomfortable in my mom's arms.
Mom smiled a bit more. "Let them think what they want," She then pulled me closer. "We don't do anything we don't want."
I blinked a few times, trying to understand what mom was saying exactly. "What do you mean?" I asked eventually.
She looked at me. "They want us to have sex, so we'll tell them we did. We'll tell them everything they want to hear."
"Without actually doing it?"
Mom nodded and smiled.
I then smiled too. I was so relieved mom wasn't angry at me, I was so happy she understood me and was on my side. I pulled her closer, burying my face into her chest. "I love you, mom."
"I love you too, honey."
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The next day, mom and I went downstairs together. We arrived at the dining table together and immediately were greeted by the nosy eyes.
"And?" Zaezzes spoke up. The way she sounded, and looked, showed how she felt overly confident in herself and her power in this household. In a way, I admired that.
Mom looked at me, giving me the opportunity to make zaezzes proud.
I looked at zaezzes and gulped. "We did it," I simply said and immediately felt bad for lying to her, but she left me no choice... "We did it." I repeated, as if making sure that they really heard it.
Suddenly zaezzes sat up, a smile appeared on her face. "Really?" She then looked at mom.
Mom simply nodded before digging into her breakfast.
Zaezzes leaned in closer to mom. "Where is your bite mark, hianag?" She then looked at me and suddenly I became unsure and nervous.
I gulped. I didn't know what to say to that, and mom caught on to that.
"She used your bite mark, haewa," Mom smiled a bit. "It was more convenient that way."
Zaezzes looked from mom to me, then back to mom. "I get that," She then looked at me, and smiled in a way I never had seen before. "I'm so proud of you, really," She put her hand on mine. "Finally you fulfilled your destiny."
"Maybe," Aunt Esmee interfered. "We don't know if her seeds will work with Lily."
"Time will tell," Zaezzes said. She then looked at me again. "You'll try it multiple times, just to be sure."
I simply nodded as I didn't know what else to do.
"Good." Zaezzes said and continued eating.
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The whole day, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened at home. It didn't sit right with me. Why did I have to lie about sleeping with my mom? Why was this normal in my family? Why did I need to be born into this family particularly?
"Hey Emily."
And why was zaezzes only proud of me after I lied to her about sleeping with mom? As if she had no other reasons to be proud of me...
"Emily?"
It's just so sad...
"Emily?"
I blinked a few times and then noticed a hand waving in front of my face. I looked at my right and saw Miss Keller. "Hello Miss, what can I do for you?"
She raised her eyebrows a bit. "Why don't you come in for a talk?" She motioned to her office, which was right next to my locker.
I sighed but didn't fight her.
We entered her office. She sat down behind her desk while I sat down in front of it. "So," She said as she leaned forward on her desk to me. "You seemed to be deep in thoughts, do you want to talk about it?"
I shrugged.
"You know I'm here if you want to talk to someone?"
"I know," I sighed and looked down, once again at my fingers. "I just don't know how to talk about it."
"However you want."
I started fidgeting with my fingers, I've noticed I did that a lot lately. It showed how many times I had been nervous lately.
"Is it school-related?" She asked, sensing I wasn't going to start speaking soon.
I shook my head.
"Family-related?"
I nodded.
She let out a breath. "Something happened at home?"
I nodded.
"Something bad?"
I sighed.
"You don't have to talk about it now, we can also do it some other time if you - "
"No," I interfered. I then looked up at her. "It's my moms," I sighed. "They don't understand me."
Her face softened. "What do they not understand?"
I looked away. "They have this path set in their minds for me which they expect me to walk on, but that's not me," I then looked at her and noticed her nodding. "And every time I go against them, they keep saying that that's my destiny."
She nodded. "That must be hard indeed."
"Yeah," I looked away. "This morning, I lied to one of my moms to make her proud," I then looked down. "She was so happy, she was so proud of me," I then looked up at her. "She was proud of the false view she has of me."
"I'm sorry to hear that," She leaned in closer. "I know how it must feel upsetting to know that..." She looked down.
"You've been through the same, Miss?"
She looked at me. "Somewhat, yes."
"What did you do about it?"
She sighed. "Nothing," She leaned back. "And I regret it because to this day, I still feel like I'm disappointing them."
That confused me. "How can you disappoint them?"
She looked at me.
"You're doing an amazing thing. You're helping young people with their problems, you could genuinely make a difference in someone's life," I smiled a bit. "Your parents should be proud of you."
She smiled too. "And your parents should be proud to have an amazing child like you."