Mine

In the Cafe.

Ethan and Leo are busy scribbling their names on the school card they got from their mother. They will have a school in a week and they are both excited but, with a different reason.

Leo is excited to be in the school so he can see Cassie again while Ethan wants to be in the school and be the top student.

As they finished filing up the form, they handed it to their mother who was sitting on the sofa, watching television.

Their father was downstairs, cleaning the whole cafe. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for all of them since its the opening of the cafe. Leo had invited Cassie and the girl has promised that she will be there together with her friends.

As much as they wanted to invite their family for the Cafe opening, they can't. Everyone is busy and they won't also have enough space if they invited all of their family members.

So, their parents have decided to only accept customer, and they will have a fifty percent discount for the first twenty customers.

Footsteps gently approaching from downstairs made Alexa stopped from preparing the lunch. She has Louisa's help in cooking and she has been doing all the job after what Louisa did before, she can't have her sister add something weird in their food once again.

She turned around and found her new friend Stephanie standing by the stairs, a shy expression was across her face, teeth biting on her lower lip.

"Steph!" Alexa exclaimed, racing towards Stephanie with excitement.

She held Stephanie's hand and dragged her to the couch where her mother was sitting.

"Mom, this is Stephanie. She's my new best friend," she cheerfully introduces them.

Daniella stared at the young girl in front, her lips plucked and gave her a warm smile.

"I am glad to meet you. Have you met husband? he's the hot man downstairs installing the cabinets onto the walls."

Stephanie gawked at the woman in front, she has the same face as Alexa that she almost thought she was Alexa's sister until the girl called her mom.

"I did not find a man fixing a cabinet but, I saw one resting on the chair, reading a newspaper."

She saw how Alexa's mom's expression has suddenly changed, her bright expression has suddenly dimmed.

"Babe, are you done?"

Startled by Daniella's shout, Stephanie's eyes went wide. She turned at Alexa who was not even a bit startled by her mother's voice, and it didn't come to her as a surprise since she is her mom.

After Daniella hastened downstairs like a wind, Alexa dragged her once again, but this time, they stopped in the kitchen.

Stephanie roamed her eyes around the living room, Alexa has told her about her house, how weird it is and why it was designed like that, and it's all because of Louisa.

She sat on an empty chair and watched Alexa as she beat the egg in a small ceramic bowl.

Her eyes caught Alexa's brothers sitting on the couch after their mother left the two boys raced to turn the PlayStation on. She could hear the sound of wheels on the television as the two started playing the need for speed games.

When her eyes diverted to Louisa, she found the girl standing by the painting hanging on the wall, her eyebrow creased in confusion as she tried to understand what she was doing.

The girl was bending her body down, in a form o a monkey. She figured that Louisa must be imitating the monkey pasted on the wall based on how she was moving like the ape and her lips letting out a wimping sound of a monkey.

Her head tilted in confusion, wondering if Louisa is bored. She directed her eyes towards Alexa and found her glaring at her sister.

In the other side, Alexa wanted to throw the remaining eggs to her sister Louisa. Seeing Stephanie in her house came to her as a surprise and seeing how her sister was acting, she realized that inviting Stephanie was Louisa's doing.

And based on how she's trying so hard to get Stephanie to look at the monkey portrait, she's certain that her sister wanted her and Stephanie's friendship to be over.

Her jaw gnashed in anger as she continued glaring at her sister. And the two seems to be having a conversation in their minds.

Alexa; Stop it creepy girl!

Louisa; why don't you introduce Maribeth to Stephanie?

"Alexa, I think the pan is about to burn," Stephanie stated as she tugs on the sleeve of Alexa's shirt.

When Alexa turned to face the stove, she found a cloud of smoke coming out of the pan and, turning into a fog.

Unknowingly, she pours the oil into a hot pan and to her shock, it suddenly lits up a fire.

Eyes swelled in terror and surprise, she took the first thing her hand touch on the table and, tossed it at the fire.

"That's water. You stupid!" her brother Ethan yelled from behind, but Alexa was panicking, all she wanted was for the fire to disappear.

The fire has turned into a monster, the light was reflecting at Alexa's eyes. She chewed her lower lips as she tries to calm herself but, the hotness of the fire sent her a reminder that she will be scolded by her mother soon.

Her two brothers rapidly turned the fire off. Alexa was still in hysteria. Her face went pale in fright when she saw her parents arriving from downstairs.

"Mom, Dad, I can explain," she stuttered as she said those words.

"It's fine, why don't you show your room to your friend? I will call you once dinner is done."

When her mother said those words with understanding, she felt as if a huge rock has been lifted off of her chest. She plastered a delicate smile and dragged Stephanie upstairs before her mother changes her mind.

Minutes after Alexa left the living room, Leo turned to her mother with trouble in his face.

"Mom, are you not angry? Alexa almost burnt the house," Leo asked, looking puzzled.

His mother breathed as she strolled towards the sink, both hands picking up all the mess on the table.

"What happened was an accident. This has nothing to do with you or Ethan so I let this one go. I have told you, we are going to be a normal family which means I will act like a normal mother. I am not gonna read your mind from now on so, if you have something to tell me, you'll have to speak up. Understand?"

Louisa and her brothers were dumbfounded by her mother's words. But as soon as their brain was able to sink what she had told, their eyes sparkled in excitement.

Standing next to Daniella was Evan with his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He was staring at his wife, wondering what she has in her mind.

"Does it include me?" he deliberately ask.

His wife just stared at him, there was no emotion on her face.

"I was just asking," after saying that in defeat, Evan took the bowl from his wife's hands and decided to do the dishes.