Ra'ayi

"Tell me more," Coraline lifted her chest, her necklaces jumped up at this and she continuously tugged voraciously at her friend's leg.

Her hair had become more and more unnerved by the day. But now it had jumbled together and covered every inch of her face it could reach.

The baby nestled further into Vivianne as it slept. She slightly rubbed her hand up and down its back as she looked at Coraline, "We're not kids anymore you know that right?" Her voice had a slight hesitation to it.

Coraline bit at the inside of her cheek, 'Was she saying I'm childish?" Frankly, Coraline had been acting rashly for a few days. She expected her friend's next words to be, "Get a hold of yourself, Corie!"

Instead, Vivianne placed her hand on Coraline's, "You remember about that story of you being the most unromantic woman in town?"

Coraline let go of her grip on her friend, and her face became soured.

Someone had submitted that 'observation' to a publication when she had recently turned sixteen. For some reason, her looks had caught the eye of people and gave more of a reason to gossip about her.

During that time, her hair was long and she was being dressed by Vivianne's aunt who was practicing to be a fashion designer.

Men her age tried courting her but she declined each one. She was still trying to build up Saphire Greens at that time.

Because of that, someone had the good idea to shine all the spotlight back onto Coraline. Then for those few years to come she'd constantly hear it until it died down into passing fragments.

Now the 'big scoop' on her was her trying to 'seduce' her clients.

"What about it?"

Vivianne shifted her legs and stood up from Coraline's hold. Bringing the baby into one of her arms, "Get married."

She walked away from her friend before Coraline could have an impetuous outburst about what she said. Coraline was left to sit in the grass, a soft breeze ran their fingers through her hair.

'Marriage?'

Coraline stayed in the Sixes' backyard, was marriage truly what she needed? Looking at it now what else could she announce that would deter the public's opinions?

'Who would I even marry?' Coraline knew no guy that she would intertwine her life with, 'One of Vivianne's older brothers?'

She cringed at the idea, her brothers weren't the best suitors to have as your options.

Most of her friend's brothers hadn't matured and were either too 'stoic.' Sometimes they were too kind for Coraline's tastes.

Coraline patted out her dress and opened the door to follow Vivianne to the kitchen. Instead of seeing her friend, she saw three other older girls, two of which looked like identical twins.

She popped her head closer to them, waving her hand at the girls, "Hello, do you guys need help?"

The brown hair look alike twins filled Coraline's hands with a spoon and bowl full of powder and a cracked egg on top of it. The other girl ignored her as she continued cutting up fresh onions on the countertop.

Coraline began mixing the food while having her back against one of the walls. It wasn't her first time at Vivianne's home so most of her siblings got used to seeing her around. But she never remembered their names since they kept multiplying.

The only thing that made Coraline nervous is that either or all of the older ones could not hate her because of what the newspapers said.

She nervously looked back up and instead of meeting eyes with one of the docile twins—the girl with black hair met her eyes before she quickly looked away.

'There's nothing I could do even if that girl hated me anyway,' she roughen her stir after their awkward eye contact.

Coraline helped the twins with cutting the rest of the fruits; tomatoes, bananas, and cucumbers.

A strange mixture.

They had bowls of spaghetti, fruit-filled lettuce, spinach, hard-boiled eggs, and brown rice topped with black beans.

Each bowl was heavier than the last, and the wooden table had a clear table cover for all the spills from the kids. Coraline was tasked with dragging another table to connect to the one in the 'eating' room.

'Where the hell are they buying these tables? It feels like it was made with steel,' her lower back cramped at the table's weight.

Once all the food was gathered together the twins stayed to guard the full table from any grubby hands.

The girl with black hair followed Coraline up the stairs to get everyone else to come down for dinner. Coraline's eyes wandered around the walls—photos covered from the top nearing the ceiling till it was down to the bottom.

Both of Vivianne's parents worked full hours in their jobs, Coraline could still remember when she visited Vivianne's home as a young girl.

They didn't have as many children as there were now. Her parents had spaced out the years they had their kids so some were much older than Coraline was.

When she visited, Vivianne's father didn't have to work so much then and still got good money.

When rumors were circulating about her having Philophobia, Vivianne's father would always say this one thing to Coraline when she entered the Sixes doors.

"The pretty girl of town blessed this ugly family! God forbid she finds a man," then he would let out a laugh that shook the whole house.

She would awkwardly laugh along with him since the man wasn't the worse there was. She was grateful he was loving by nature and her friend didn't have a hard childhood. Even Vivianne's mother was nice.

Coraline could still remember her shock when she meet Mrs. Sixes. A warm mother that divided her love equally and she still acted like a teenager with her first love around Mr. Sixes.

They were good people, a married couple who deserved the right to have children.

None of their kids felt neglected since even though their parents were away most of the time they sent gifts to them. Uniquely different that suited their kid's tastes.

Of course, one of the older children would inform them what each kid liked in agreement to have a monthly allowance of their own.

But the younger ones didn't know that. So as spoiled or emotional as they may come, they still felt grateful for their parents.

Coraline swung the door open, "Rascals! Come out and eat!"

The girl with black hair went to the room next door to say the same.

Coraline pulled at the kid's feet who were putting up a fight, "You're too big to be doing this!"

They all giggled as they held onto the bed's bars with their life force. Each one was plucked out by Coraline who had more strength than they expected.

She was used to doing things like tug of war. And when it came to getting things done faster than someone else—she became highly competitive.

With strive, she gained the adrenaline to lift kids as heavy as a bucket full of cement.

Once each kid started to run down the stairs to the dinner table, Coraline groaned in exhaustion, 'They need to stop feeding those kids.'

Vivianne knocked at the open door to get her attention, she mouthed a thank you to Coraline as she walked closer to her.

She put her hand on Coraline's shoulder, "Listen, Cory, I know how you feel about guys. But think about it," she gave her a serious look, "If you want to keep Saphire Greens you need to show them you're a trustworthy woman."

Coraline let out a defeated sigh, "Yeah," the sweat on her forehead from earlier evaporated as if her realization was a cooling magnet to it.

Vivianne ruffled with her friend's hair before adding, "I know a place, they can whip up a contact marriage for her with someone-," Vivianne's tongue dragged out her syllabus, "Decent. They take care of mostly everything too, but knowing you—you wouldn't do the typical things," Vivianne let out a chuckle before coughing shortly after to cover it up, "You'd just want to sign the paper and get it over with, right?"

Coraline flexed her arms out in front of her to get a quick stretch, "Yep."

The two friends unanimously agreed to this plan with one more exchanged look.

Vivianne nodded at her with a bright smile, "I'll see you at the dinner table."

Coraline slowly brought herself up, allowing herself to see out of the window behind her.

'Maybe it'd do me better than I think,' she let out a deep exhale. She was at an age when it was common for girls like her to marry. Even Vivianne was engaged, 'But Vivianne also has kids,' something Coraline was strongly against having.

She decided it was time to join her friend downstairs, right when she was a few stairs down, the girl with black hair tugged on her arm.

She lowered her head at her, "Excuse me."

Coraline's head spun around to see the girl's guilty face, she didn't yell at her to continue. Instead, Coraline widen her eyes to give her a look that'll make her feel it was okay to speak up.

The girl took her cue and slowly said her words, "I know who spread the rumors about you."