77 Home

Back in Stephanie's home...

While she was all alone in the house she started to think that William has grown up, she started to reminisce about their childhood.

As a child, Stephanie was considered a princess by her parents. Her long black locks of luscious hair, porcelain-like skin, and energetic demeanor made everyone appreciate the beautiful and well-spoken child. However, everything changed when their mother got into an accident.

She started to change as she became unsociable, compared to her outgoing nature this huge change made her father worried. However, no matter how unsociable she became towards other people, her gentle and kind nature was the same when interacting with William. Rather, it became more apparent that she wanted to take care of her younger brother who was always crying and looking for his mother.

Although Stephanie only had a 2-year gap with her younger brother, she became more mature and understanding towards her younger brother. She would spend most of her time with him, trying to console him. She played with William to make him forget about their mother. In the end, she was a stand-in for their disappearing mother.

Stephanie was aware that their father was doing his best to find a way to help their mother. His father explained everything and asked for her help, help with taking care of William as he would be busy with work.

Stephanie did not understand everything as she too was only a child. However, she knew deep down her heart that her brother needed her, and no one was able to replace their mother's place aside from the loving care of a family.

She was only 7, and the only thing she could understand was, "her brother needed her and as the older sister it is what she was supposed to do."

Instead of playing with other kids of the same age, she would go home after her classes and take care of William. He was only 5 and could not be left alone by himself. They placed William in a daycare center to play and interact with other kids but he would rather spend all his time by himself playing with Lego's in a corner.

Stephanie would rush to her brother's side to take him home.

"Will let's go home," Stephanie said with a kind smile while reaching out her hand to his brother to beckon him.

William would always stop playing once he hears her voice, and go directly to his sister's location. His dim and sad eyes would brighten once he knew his sister has come to fetch her. It was the only time William would smile. He would smile while holding at his sister's hands as they walked away together going home. They would chat or buy some snacks along the way. The smiles of the two children who were holding hands as they walked would attract the people's sight. It was not too hard to imagine as they were both cute.

The house they are renting in the city is not big. It only had 2 bedrooms, a small bathroom, kitchen/dining room and a small living room. It wasn't luxurious as this was the time when their company started to be established. It was close to Stephanie's school which was only 15 minutes away while William's daycare center was only a street away from their house. This was also the reason their father preferred to live here as it was accessible.

Their father also hired a helper who will cook and take care of the house, but she would leave every day after her duties then come back the next day. Their father would be back late at night to check at his kids but they were already asleep most of the time.

Stephanie and William shared a room as William could not sleep alone. Sometimes Stephanie would wake up in the middle of the night hearing her brother sobbing while he was sleeping. She could only tap his hips while singing him a lullaby that their mother used to sing. After a few minutes, he would calm down and continue with a peaceful sleep.

...

In the morning.

Stephanie heads down to the kitchen to reheat the left-over food from last night or prepare a sandwich or cereal. This was their usual breakfast and it was her responsibility to prepare something for her and her brother. Their father would have left by then as they were left to look after themselves.

Once they were all good to go. Stephanie would take William to the daycare center before going to her school.

This was her everyday life before they moved to her father's old school.

Original novel by Chuchuwachuwa.

Author notes:

Hello readers!

I am sad to inform you that my exam has been moved for next week, due to the heavy rains that my city has encountered. My classes have been suspended due to the flood that the typhoon had brought. I wasn't able to edit the chapters and I wasn't able to write new chapters for book 2 due to the continuous power interruption in our area.

I am accepting donations through ko-fi website, https://ko-fi.com/chuchuwachuwa

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I noticed that a lot of people who are commenting are fans of Stephanie, so as a thank you I decided to write a couple of chapters about her. Hope you enjoy it.

Try out my other novel, Mistrust and Misfortune when you have time.