Iris's Birthday

Iris Sinclair's pov

Today is November ninth, a day that is special to no one except me.

Eighteen years ago today is the day where I came into existence, before I was merely just a cell with no consciousness. 　

I guess today is not special to me either since I have no plan of any form of celebration. There will be no party, no surprise decorated locker when I walk into school and definitely no presents.

Not that I care anyways. I don't see the point of celebrating birthdays, you are just getting one year closer to death.

Bianca's birthday is September ninth. So we made up the tradition of celebrating our birthday together on October ninth. Since it is the very middle of the both of us birthday.

Both of us would call in sick for that day and we would show up at the mall with the gift we prepared for each other. We would walk around in the mall for the morning, making comments about all the goofy gadgets we saw, trying on perfumes and body creams. For lunch we'd eat at our favourite restaurant. And last but least we would go somewhere for the afternoon, usually an amusement park, bowling alley, skating rink, arcade or haunted house.

October ninth is the day I look forward to the most in the whole year, even more than Christmas or Halloween. Is not only a celebration of me and Bianca's birthday, it is also a milestone for our friendship.

But this year all we did was eat pizza takeout and watch boring Netflix shows at Bianca's house.

'I wish we could go to the mall and bowling alley like last year.' I had whined while eating the already cold pizza.

'We all wish for things that we can't have. I'm sorry but I can't risk getting caught seeing you.' That's what she said.

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The breakfast table was eerily quiet when I carried the custard bun I made and milk to the table. How could they force a birthday girl to cook?

Lily is usually very chatty during breakfast, eager to talk to father about all the interesting stuff that happened at school the day before. But I guess she's been giving him the silent treatment for selling her bags. Such a spoiled brat.

My father talks a lot during eating too, well not really talking, more like scolding me. He'd complain about everything I made. 'You didn't put enough salt.' he'd say, or 'You put too much water for the porridge.' If you are so good at cooking why don't you cook for once huh?

But even he have shut his picky mouth today. His face is grim and serious as if someone have passed away. Good, I hated when he opened his mouth, his annoying words would flow out along with his alcohol stench breath. He been drinking for as long as I can remember. He's probably mourning her, I suddenly realised. He really should move on, is been more than a decade since she passed.

"Lily eat some more or you are not gonna have enough energy to last till lunch." My stepmother's voice breaks the eerie silence. She uses her chopstick to pick up a custard bun and gives it to my sister.

My sister frowned and swatted her hand away, the custard bun fell to the ground with a thud. "Get your dirty hand away from me you old hag!" she yelled like a petulant child. Sometimes I feel like I'm the older sister when Lily is the one who's two years older than me.

I don't know why my sister is so hostile to our step mom sometimes, She treat us like we are nothing but her own flesh and bones.

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"Hey Sinclair!" David takes a seat next to me at lunch like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You are still sitting with me today? Aren't you gonna sit with your basketball friends?"

"They can wait." He grins. "But today is your special day."

"Happy Birthday!!" he suddenly screamed and half of the cafeteria started singing happy birthday song in unison.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Iris Sinclair, happy birthday to you."

Warmth dilates in me. Tears of gratitude springs to my eyes and I struggle to hold them in. "H-how did you know it was my birthday, and h-how did you get all of them to sing?"

Embarrassment crept up his neck, "I saw you fill in your birthday on the science fair form a few days ago and I just told all my friends to sing when they hear me shout happy birthday. W-wait, why are you crying? I'm sorry Sinclair- "

"Thank you so much David!" I wrapped my arm around him and sniffled. "No one has ever done that much for me."

"Don't thank me yet, I'm not finished, I still have this to give you." he hands me a carefully wrapped package. "Open it."

He looks like a puppy expecting a treat, anticipation glistened in his eyes.

I opened the package, cautious not to break the beautiful wrapping paper, revealing a small bottle with pink liquid in it. I read the tag on the bottle, on it it said les royale exclusion rosemary plus. I gasped when I saw the prize at the corner of the tag, this small bottle of liquid is worth almost two hundred dollars.

I sprayed some on the back of my hand. The warmth in my receded a little when the heavy chemical scent hits my nostril. Doesn't he know I only like perfumes that smell natural and light?

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When I got back home I noticed there's a pile of things on my desk along with a little note. I read the note and it was enough to make my blood run cold.

Happy birthday my darling.

Why won't Lacus just leave me alone? And how on earth does he knows my birthday?

I dug through the pile of things. There's a few flower flavoured body cream, lip balm and perfume. I tried them all and they are fantastic! They smell just like real pollen instead of chemicals. There's also some Chinese books, all of them my favourite titles. How does this bastard know my preference so well? There's also a big birthday cake. David's gift suddenly looked mediocre in comparison to Lacus's.

The birthday cake is the face of a panda. The white part is whipped cream, the black parts are chocolate. On the edge of the cake 'happy birthday Irie' is neatly written with icing.

I rolled my eyes at 'Irie'. This bastard slept with so many girls that he don't even remember my name.

I contemplate throwing the cake away, he could be trying to poison me. But the cake is too alluring and I don't want to waste food.

So I take a spoon and dig at the panda's left ear. If he wanted to poison me, I'd be dead already.