Chapter Five

June sat on the bench holding her mother's pale hand. She looked like a beautiful flower whose nectar was sucked off along with its life. But she never failed to smile whenever she saw her daughter. She wore a red beanie and a scarf around her neck. Her fragile figure sat in a wheelchair covered by a turtleneck sweater and a pair of pants, feet covered in white socks.

"You look so lost today." She commented in her small voice giving her daughter a small pat on her shoulder.

"What?" June asked, looking shocked for a while recovering from her thoughts.

"Is there any problem? Perhaps work?" Her mother asked but June had to shake her head in denial.

"Nothing much. Just shifting to a new job." she added to her mother's slightly raised brows.

"It's not like your first day in kindergarten. You'll do fine because you're my flesh." Her mother said, holding her daughter's face in her hands with a warm bright smile.

"Please don't mention it already." June replied with chuckles at the memory of her first day in kindergarten. It might be the worst embarrassing thing that ever happened to her.

"I just can't seem to forget it no matter how hard I try." Her mother said, erupting into laughter.

"Remind me again, what was the name of the boy you cried over?" she asks as June starts to blush.

"How would I remember that? It was ages ago." June replied, trying to dismiss the topic, nevertheless her mother still remembered everything.

"Ah yes! Jeremy. The boy was named Jeremy." She said enthusiastically like it was an accomplishment.

"No it wasn't." June said trying to mislead her mother so that she could be stuck on finding the name.

She was that kind of person who moved on to the second task after finishing the first one, and during her storytelling and dad jokes there was no exception.

"Oh yeah? You think that I don't remember how you cried so hard to kiss him, that you didn't go to pee saying that little Alessandra was gonna take him herself? And," Her mother asked, squinting her eyes as she stared into the distance her head tilted towards her daughter, a sinister smile playing at the edge of her thin lips.

"Please don't say it out loud. Just stop." June's voice begged her mother but she knew that cruel smile on her mother's face held no promise.

"You ended up messing up your first drawing and homework paper and your father had to beg Jeremy's parents for a hug for you because he thought you were being terrifying." Her mother finished.

June can only cover her face with her bare hands as nearby people and  passers by turned their heads at them.

Sometimes she wondered why people mostly remember embarrassing moments rather than just normal or good moments. Or was it only about her.

Though she knew some had been purposefully eavesdropping like the cheesy guy who sat across them and has been hitting on her for the past hour. She threw him a disgusted smile and looked at her mother again.

June didn't mind her mother making fun of her as long as she heard that rare hearty smile till the rest of her days. She'd do anything for her mother, the woman who gave her the same black hair, full lips and blue gray eyes.

She knew if her mother hadn't fallen ill and stuck on her bed she would have done anything to give her the world and a life of a princess, but now it was forcefully by nature the inverse. And June knew she had to treat her mother like a queen and she was willing to do anything for that.

She hated how her mother's hair was long gone and how dull her eyes had become or how bruised her lips looked as if she were dehydrating. But most of all she hated how she couldn't take away the pain that her mother experienced. At least she was so confident enough that her deal with Clara Donovan would make a difference. In a positive way she hoped.

"Do you ever think about everything that happened to dad?" She asked mrs. Easton as she cautiously tried not to raise any suspicion from her mother after a short moment of silence.

A second passed, two, three, footsteps walked by crushing dry leaves in the process as June waited for her mother's answer who looked lost in her world. Wondering why her daughter would ask such a question and though the answer was obvious to someone who's ever lost their dear ones she sighed and lied hiding her truth in the depths of her soul.

"No. Is there a reason you're asking this or is there something I should know?" She asked June.

Yes, there was so much to know but June knew her mother wouldn't approve of whatever Clara's plan was no matter how much treatment, money, truth or revenge she got out of it.

"Nothing. Just missing him." June lied back with a sigh.

"I understand you, but we have to understand that whatever we go through or what happens to us is a part of the process to make us stronger and our best versions." Her mother said warmly, holding June's hands.

"I know, it's just that I miss him most of the time." June replied.

"You have to but don't let the bitterness of everything get to your heart my dear." She said with a small smile.

"Sometimes I do miss him too, most of the time when you refuse to come see me." Her mother added with a grin on her face.

"You know I don't." June whined lightly leaning her head on her mother's shoulder.

"I know. And I'm sorry you have to go through it all alone." Her mother replied, her eyes glistening with tears, her hand caressing June's silky hair.

~~~~~~~

Today was the day, June had to start working for Mr. White as the nanny as Clara Donovan had prepared. She stood outside the big gates with a small backpack hanging from her left shoulder; her elbow arched to keep the balance of her back as she held onto one shoulder strap.

When Cindy has narrated her possible scenarios at the very first glance she hadn't mentioned that real mansions so splendid and enormous still existed and would be a part of her 'possible' scenarios.

It wasn't supposed to be any form of surprise given the vast name Mr. White himself carried, the house was a little big nothing to his wealth, possessions and even his physique or the businesses and organizations he ran around the world.

"Come in." A gruff voice snapped June out of her trance as she realized that the gates had been opened.

"Thank you." She smiled shyly at the guard and started walking down the paved floor to the beautiful white and black roofed mansion.

The grass was perfectly trimmed and there was a fountain splashing water up only to go back down to its puddle it had created.

'Waste of water, and money.' She thought as she walked on to the front door and rang the bell.

~~~~~~~

Coming up we make it into the Whites!!!!!!