NEXT DAY.

"Hey Xylee, why are you panting heavily?" Costa Rica queried.

"Sorry. I came so fast since I didn't want to be late." I replied.

"That's good. Sit down, I'll be back in a jiffy."

Costa Rica came back with bowl of crisps and two glasses filled with sweet, tart and cold refreshing drinks.

"This will improve your mental performance" She muttered.

"So, what are we studying today?" Costarina asked again.

"Math and then Music. Aren't those what are on the timetable today?" I asked too.

"I think so. Mine's torn." She responded.

"How come? You've never been as careless before!" I asked in an astonished manner.

"No! Tommy, my cousin was here yesterday evening. He messed up my room while playing virtual reality game. I think that's how it got torn." Costarina added in self defense.

"Now, let's not waste any more time. Two weeks is a short duration to revise and cover every topic we've been taught. Let's use it wisely." I uttered.

"Hey! Don't say that Ricky. You're scaring me." Costa Rica posed, "I don't wanna get a C or maybe a D!"

"Aha. You won't" I assured her.

"Okay, okay. Help me solve this sum then.

The time seemed to be lagging behind that day. It was as if the day was constant for a while.

"Aren't you girls taking a break from your books today?" Costarina's mother asked us.

I noticed that three hours had already passed by since we began studying; when I glanced at the wall clock. "Almost." I responded.

"Let's dig into this bowl of crisps" Costa Rica verbalized.

"Okay. Let me solve this last sum." I told her.

"Do you ever get tired with reading?" She queried me.

"Ah!" I brushed off her question until I was done solving the sum.

"Should I cook lunch for you girls?"

"Yeah." We both replied.

"Rice or noodles?"

"Rice and beans" Costarina added.

We watched a reality TV show as we waited for lunch to be served. Afterwards, we recommenced studying until evening.

Once our revision time was over, I walked back home on foot since it was just a stone throw away from Costa Rica's house.

On reaching home, I found the door open ajar. It seemed awkward to me; and that being the case, I stood outside the house for a short while, as several questions criss-crossed my mind like a pigskin spot in the soccer field; 'Are there invaders in the house? Why is the door open ajar? What if I encounter a thief in the house?' These are some of the questions that bothered my mind the entire time I stood outside the house.

However, as I still hesitated getting in the house, I began to hear some mumbling and curiosity got the better of me.

I heard my mother pitting a question to someone. "She's still young. Do you think this is the right time we should let her know about this?"

"It isn't about the time! She deserves to know the truth." I heard aunt Isabella's voice convey that harshly.

I peeped into the house through the small space between the door and the wall and saw aunt Isabella. I then retreated when I thought she had caught sight of me.

"What will she benefit even if she gets to know about her biological parents? Xylee will only be traumatized." My father said.

I was completely taken aback. I was just stunned that words themselves cannot describe how I felt. I could not take a single step forward; it was as if the world had frozen for a second in reality. The startling truth that had dawned on me was the worst news I ever dreaded to hear.

"Whether or not she already knows it, we have to take her back to where she really belongs." A queer voice muttered.

"By this time , my mother began whimpering, "But..but this is where she belongs. She is my daughter."

"Ye,s you are her mother, but a foster mother! She now deserves the love and care of her biological mother. Can you give her that?" The strange voice spoke up again.

Mother's whimpering increased even more and I felt my energy draining away. I didn't quite understand what they were chewing over, but what I was sure about was that I was the lead topic and not my parents' biological offspring.

"That girl needs her parents...You're not....." Before aunt Isabella had concluded her speech, I leaned against the wall and accidentally hit a metal rod that lay vertically against the wall. The metal rod dropped down on the ground with a clang and there was pin drop silence in the entire house.

"Who's there?" Aunt Isabella asked in a worried tone. "Who's there?" She asked again when I did not answer.

"Hey! Get out of th...." She continued as she advanced outside, "Oh! Xylee! Xylee my little princess. Here you are."

"Leave me alone! Do not hug me. I'm no longer your little princess!" I said as I retreated and got inside the house. "You have come to take me away from my parents!

I disrupted the discussion and everyone just stared at me blankly as if I were a giraffe clad in a miniskirt or as if they had witnessed Lucifer teaching in Sunday school.

"Have you arrived just now? Have you been outside for long? Have you heard anything? Please tell papa and momma. My parents together with an outlandish middle aged hombre, whose queer voice I'd heard earlier, catechized me in a bid to calm themselves.

Mother then stood up on her feet, walked to where I was and cuddle-hugged me; as if she didn't want to let go of me. I did not know why, but I just began to shed tears all of a sudden.

"Momma, am I gonna leave you and papa?" I asked her amidst sobbing.

"No Xylee! You are our little girl and that will you be forever. No one will ever take you away from us." Mother assured me.

I looked at papa but he shifted his eyes to the ground making me doubt momma's assurance.

"We will complete the paperwork tomorrow." Aunt Isabella affirmed

"Please do not do this; at least for Xylee." Papa pleaded.

"You know we are acting as per the court's judgment and orders. We cannot violate the rules that have been put across for us to follow. So we have to adhere to them to the latter." The unfamiliar well built masculine personage retorted.