Home Sweet Home (2)

Since the end of her first school day, Ean had been thinking about many things and didn't even realize it.

On her way back home, she suddenly realized how weird she was. And it was all because she was a shut-in, which was strangely due to her family. Or not? She wasn't sure.

After leaving the blazer on a chair in the balcony in order to air it out, she decided to go downstairs to have dinner. She hadn't eaten anything all day but sweets, and recently realized it when her tummy grumbled.

She opened the door to her room and stepped out, looked around it and spotted her phone on the desk.

That's right, she wanted to change it. She almost forgot.

If the phone hadn't been tempered with by Crystal, she could have gotten out of school earlier, and not met Mason or Ciara, but Ms Gigi's phone was also tampered with, which meant there was no escaping Ciara and she would have still met Mason.

The unfortunate part was that she wasn't able to give out her number or receive his, now they couldn't communicate in private and had to do that in school.

She went back inside and picked the phone up, turned it on and read the time. 8:16pm

That was late, or early. She was still going to eat whether it was dinner or supper.

"I should probably inform Diamond this evening so she can prepare it tomorrow, no… she'll ask me too many questions. Maybe I should ask mum, it's safer that way…"

As she walked down the hallway, she tried to operate the phone she recently received and might have to switch out.

Apart from the music player, everything else was bugged.

"Typical Crystal", she muttered as she made her way downstairs.

"Emmy!", a lively and cheerful voice called out to Ean, who paused, sighed then turned around.

Crystal was a year older than Ean, and had beautiful aquamarine eyes which shone with intelligence. She cheerfully approached Heaven as if oblivious to what was going on.

Her platinum blonde hair which was styled gorgeously moved along with every movement of hers, hence when she got to Heaven it was a little bit out of place.

She was dressed fashionably and that made Ean assume that she just came back from a party.

She opened her hands wide and tried to hug Ean who dodged her embrace, and ruthlessly pushed her to the side.

Crystal didn't seem to mind and stood up from the floor before asking Ean in a sad tone, "Why did you push me? I was trying to welcome you. If I had known you would come so late I wouldn't have left the house when I did."

Ean as usual ignored her but Crystal didn't mind and continued talking;

"So tell me, how was school today? Did you make any friends or find anyone who caught your fancy?"

Crystal wasn't one to give up and immediately grabbed Ean's arm while bringing her downstairs. Ean struggled then decided to let her be, she couldn't win against Crystal anyway.

"It seems all that partying has gotten to your head. Crystal what exactly is wrong with you? Whether my name is Heaven or Emerald, that doesn't concern you nor give you the right to interfere in my life!", Ean had had enough and suddenly snapped at Crystal.

Crystal was dazed for a second before breaking into a chuckle, then she said righteously, "It does concern me, it's just that you're too young to understand. And aren't you the one who made a bet with me? If you manage to win the bid with that sum, I won't bother you for a year, but if you don't, I'm allowed to interfere in some of your personal matters because you're so dense!"

Ean stared at this crazy sister of hers, shook her head then walked away.

"Huh? Hey! Emmy don't go! Are you angry at me?! Don't be! I was just trying to help you, y'know…", Crystal called out to Ean and stopped talking when Ean stopped.

Ean turned around and asked, "How was any of the things you did helpful? Firstly, you tampered with my car, and made me run to school- I'm sure that guy, Leo! Was there, just let me get my hands on him. Then, you changed my registration information! Occupation, assistant! Because I decided to help you with that stupid project, doesn't make me your assistant, it just makes me stupid for agreeing in the first place, and who says I'm seve-"

"Emmy! Don't shout at me, just speak calmly, I'm not going anywhere…", Crystal interrupted her and looked a little guilty.

Ean sighed, this girl!

"I know you don't like the fact that mum changed my name from Emerald to Heaven, but according to the rest of you Heaven is my actual name and I don't hate it!"

"Of course you don't, that's why you omitted the letters H, V and the second E", Crystal replied sarcastically.

Ean wasn't supposed to know she didn't like it, back then she just lost control and kinda messed up.

'What was mum trying to do by changing her name back?!'

Crystal truly wasn't happy with the name change or the incident that happened after. But there wasn't much she could do about it, so she decided to let it be.

The only thing that managed to reassure her were the things she had done before, which managed to prevent an unwanted situation.

"Okay okay, I guess it was my fault. I'm sorry… I hope you didn't have a bad first day because of me? If you did I wouldn't be able to live with myself", Crystal apologized sincerely then reverted back to her playful self.

She held Ean by the arm again, while waiting for an answer. Ean silently accepted her apology, and ignored her actions.

"It wasn't all that bad, there were just so many people. It felt really weird being there…", Ean carefully chose her words and had a thoughtful expression on her face.

Crystal observed her for a moment before replying with a big smile on her face, "Of course it felt weird! You've never been in a place full of so many people before! But you have to get used to it, since you'll be going there everyday~"

She beamed as she walked side by side with Ean. Ean walked towards the kitchen and Crystal followed.

The kitchen was strangely empty, but the sisters didn't seem to be alarmed. In fact, they seemed used to it.

Ean shook Crystal off her and walked around the kitchen looking for something to eat.

"Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something to eat?", Crystal asked her excitedly.

"Yeah but can you cook?", Ean asked back while munching on an apple she had picked up.

"No… hey did you wash that?", Crystal replied with a strange expression.

"Was I supposed to wash it?", Ean asked back with an even stranger expression.

Crystal stared at Ean for a while, she muttered something under her breath then sighed.

"Give me that, don't eat it anymore. I'll ask Hilda to get us something to eat", Crystal stretched out her hand to receive the apple.

Ean wasn't willing to give it away, but still have it to Crystal, who was dialing a number yet received the apple.

Just as the call was picked up, a servant walked in and announced;

"Second Young Miss, welcome. Third Young Miss, the Master is around and he is requesting to see you."

"Dad's around?!", Both sisters asked, one was stunned while the other was excited.

Ean walked out of the kitchen to go welcome her dad. In their small family of five, he was the only one she was close to.

He pampered her, didn't force her to do anything she didn't want to, and often chose her side over her sisters and her mum.

Hence, she got along with him quite well. But over the years, Ean became withdrawn and he travelled often, due to those reasons the bond between the two had weakened a bit. And it became worse due to Ean's taciturn nature.

During the first few months of their interactions, things seemed normal. But as time progressed something felt off, and Ean slowly became introverted. They never drifted apart though, due to her father's efforts to keep her around.

Her father always had work to do off the island, and Diamond usually ran the company and other affairs related to them on the island. Her mum helped out and Crystal was supposed to as well, but she wasn't cut out for the business world. Neither was Ean but they truly needed the help, so they did what they could.

Unlike other families similar to theirs on the island, theirs was the only one without a branch family. Hence, her family had to take care of everything themselves.

But despite everything, Ean still preferred her mum, especially after her registration incident.

"Dad! Welcome!", Her father was still in the living room and was on a call. When he heard Ean's voice he paused, said a few more words to the person on the other side, then hung up.

"Emerald! Look at you! You've grown taller!", he grins at her and opened his hands for a hug.

The servants moving the luggage into the house stopped for a moment, and turned to the father and daughter duo. Crystal who was afar stared in awe at her dad. And Ean who had run off to welcome him stopped, folded her hands and happily greeted.

"Welcome home! How was your trip?"

Noah Kinston, Heaven's Father and the head of the Kinston Family, lips twitched as he awkwardly closed his open hands, when he hears Crystal's mocking laughter from afar.

'What was he expecting from her?', he sighed inwardly and responded to her question.

"It was great, and I managed to come back home early and saved a few more days of vacation time"

"That's nice", Ean said and turned around to go back to the kitchen.

Noah watched her leave then noticed something different about her.

It wasn't her height, or her hair… it was… a skirt? Ean was wearing a skirt?

She rarely wore dresses or skirts, except for her nightgowns, so it was very unusual to see her in a skirt.

'That's right! She has resumed school already! How could I forget?!

"Emerald, how was school today?", he left his things behind and approached her. He caught sight of Crystal making a call, and decided to ignore her for now.

Ean thought about his question and gave a brief answer to his question.

"It was new, and good."

"That's awesome because you'll be going there everyday so you better enjoy it", he praised her for being so interactive.

And she nodded. Ean barely spoke at home, unless spoken to.

There was no need to go out of her way to make a conversation, when she could go straight to the point and knew her family members like the back of her hand.

But going to school felt like tasting a new flavor of ice cream. She had never experienced something like that, and wanted to share but she found no reason to and for some reason did not want them to notice the difference in her. Hence she hid it, by using her taciturn nature and awkwardness as cover up.

Ean was about to go back to the kitchen once more, when a black haired lady walked through the front door in a suit.

"Second Young Miss, I'm here- Good evening, Master. Hello Third missy", Hilda, Crystal's female assistant greeted the family in the living room, while holding shopping bags.

"Finally! What took you so long!", Crystal said a few more words to the person on the other side then hung up. She met up with Hilda and they both walked into the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, Ean followed.

***

Soon enough, the sisters and their father gathered around the dinner table.

They all had dinner and tried to engage Ean in a discussion, but she acted reticent and remained quiet. But when she got back upstairs she was kind of excited to go to school the next day.

As she got ready to go to sleep, she patted herself on the cheek and thought, ''I mustn't let them know how much I like it, or else who knows what would happen…"