The Mother's Daughter

In the insane city of Boston, Aine was just trying to go about her day without something making her laugh hysterically or cry helplessly, although her nature was that of a happy person who didn't want anyone to be burdened by the trauma the loss of her mother brought her.

She was always a mother's daughter, and even as a charming little 5 year old, her father was always too occupied with his faithful clients and the continuous piles of paperwork, or win a case and earn money.

Her mother was always the woman who nurtured her with care and constantly looked over her Aine's shoulder, whether she was 2, 6, or 8. The daughter got a lot from her mother, like the love for the arts, the shyness and the lack of courage.

In front of her friends, Aine was a dandelion who loved spreading happiness as she aspired to be a carbon copy of her mother.

But in her room, she was a girl who had a bad habit of second-guessing every stroke on a canvas, every written word and all her decisions. Even a crier, if she could come to terms with it at one point.

Nevertheless, she was a good person at heart who just wanted to escape her ignorant father who used the worst ways to get over his spouse's death.

It was easy to spot the person who moved on, but still reflected on the past at occasional times, and the person who recalled the past and made a part of it his future aim.

In the moments before surprise completely vanquished the sense of coziness and normalcy in her room's atmosphere, she had her art supplies (watercolour paints, different variations of paintbrushes, a jug of water) to her right, and one tiny-bristled brush in the left arm and a colour palette.

She was painting on watercolour paper, attempting to paint a portrait of Picasso's people, with a modern twist to it.

She really loved combining ideas, cultures and characters from different eras and franchises to keep a modern twist to it.

Meanwhile, Roy Villin was driving in his car, an adopted child buckled in the backseat.

The lawyer wasn't sure how his real daughter would react, so he just focused on the road while he muttered some words to try and convince himself that Aine's reaction or feelings never mattered to him at all, and they surely wouldn't this time.

To get his mood off the future revelation, Cassandra Fraser, now Cassandra Villin, asked one of her million doubts with her chirpy voice, "Can I call you Dad, Mister Villin?"

"Of course you can... do you have any preferred nicknames," he queried to the little girl, as he wanted to prove something and contradict his past without realizing all the mistakes he made throughout the first 8 years of Aine's life.

Remembering how he wanted to call his real daughter a Sunflower as it was his favorite flower before her birth, and also finding himself conflicted at how she thought that Dandelion (a nickname given to her by her mother) was her favorite nickname of all, he shut his eyes tight to brush all of those memories to the side and focus on the future.

Understanding that Roy wasn't paying heed the first time, Cassie decided to poke his right shoulder to steal his attention, "Um, I don't think we need to die today so can you please... you know, watch the road since we aren't in a horror movie or zombie invasion right now?"

Startled by the little touch on his shoulder by 9 year old Cassie, he comprehended her words and felt surprised by the sass in the question. "Confident little one, aren't you? Something like- sorry for not listening, I'm still nervous about, uh, meeting one of my clients tomorrow. Can you just repeat what you said, please?"

"I told you that I go by Cassie, but you can have your own name for me. Would you answer, maybe... all my questions till we reach home?" she leaned back in her seat, expectantly waiting for an answer and hoping that it's a yes.

"Anything to relieve some stress and forget about her for a while. Sure," said Roy, wiping the sweat off his forehead as his home was in his sights.

To avoid the inevitable for just a little longer, he swerved into the wrong lane and aimed to get to know more about his new daughter.

Back in Aine's lair, she was busy having an argument with her best friend about... two game franchises that have similar elements but are still their own thing? It went about like this:

"Grand Theft Auto is so good it reinvented a genre, and it has been continuing since 1991! Without GTA, Saints Row wouldn't exist no matter how much you try to argue."

"None of the GTA characters are iconic. Johnny Gat is more iconic than... what was his name? Big... Smoke? What the hell? Such a stupid name?"

"Big Smoke gave us memes to cry and laugh our asses off at! Viola is such a poor written character-"

"Niko Bellic is such a poorly written character, just like the rest of the characters. You know why? Because GTA was made thanks to Rockstar Fails- sorry, Games."

"You take that back right now, you dumbass. Fine... Uncharted is better than Tomb Raider."

"You dare give the crown to Nathan something something instead of keeping it on Queen Lara Croft? Tomb Raider allowed Uncharted to exist."

"Uncharted had better characters than Tomb Raider. I can't remember anyone in the whole series except for Lara 'I have daddy issues' Croft."

"That was only in the reboot! She's a hundred times better than Nathan 'I love danger and I'm invincible' Drake."

"Okay fine, I like Playstation better than Xbox-"

Hearing a door close and cohesive laughter from below, Aine rolled her eyes and assumed that he brought in another one of his clients for a 'home appointment'.

Only God knew what he did to them in a bedroom in order to agree on a deal.

She quoted her favorite fictional explorer, "Ah, crap."

On the other end, her best friend, Nathan, laughed while shaking his head as he wasn't aware of the sudden change in tone. "Which moment right now made it worthy for a... Nathan Drake moment? 'Cause you don't sound like you have a bullet in your stomach while hanging from a derailed train in the middle of the Himalayas."

"I hear my dad and another female laughing, and that means I'm gonna hear a lot of flirty laughter or loud ass moans," complained Aine, dreading expected moments as there was a pattern in how Roy managed to have many good clients who didn't have a problem in cooperating with him.

Usually, Aine was a quiet and artistic girl of many talents, and she was generally okay with people in school and she was nice to others without seeming too awkward or serious.

To her dad, she was super passive-aggressive and didn't take his crap because of the constant neglect she had to suffer through after her mother's death.

Nathan continued to talk about the unhealthy habits the girl's father had, but Aine stopped paying attention as soon as she heard more of a child-like voice speak while enthusiastically hopping up the stairs of the two-storey house.

Unsure of what to do in the moment while hearing the unusual voice of a little girl and her dad's voice actually speaking to each other without much laughter, she nervously ended the conversation, "I gotta go. Something's not right right now."