Third Person
Bar Haven: 2nd Floor (Orphanage)
2:34 P.M.
It was an intense eventful afternoon for all of them. The Arraignment didn't go on a boring route, just like the white-haired boy expected after the first reading of rules and the prayer.
How could he anticipate all of those drama, thriller, romance, and action in a court for half an hour?
Saccharide didn't try to behave appropriately at all. Now, all of the content editors and article writers are out to scratch his image even more, but he's sure after the boy's cheesy confession, the public will have a drop of sympathy for him.
Suddenly, the phone alarm went off, and Aquilla stood from the floor and said, "Excuse me, I have to change my bandages just like Raine addressed..."
Dione nodded and watched the poor boy limped a few inches from him, "Make sure you change the locks you have been breaking, alright?" he teased.
Nightmare scratched his head and sighed, "I told you... I'm not the one breaking them! I'm locked inside your room's cellar, for fucks sake!"
Strangely a few days after he abducted the boy and locked him up inside the cellar, locks around the house at night were being broken.
Nothing is lost.
Nothing is meddled with.
Just broken locks.
But strangely, after a few days, it stopped. It caused a minor ruckus and was forgotten by the people inside the building.
Rolling his eyes, Dione sarcastically chanted, "Yeah! Yeah! Of course, you're not the one doing that!"
"I'm just going to change these bandages..." excused the green-haired boy before walking to the end of the hallway. Once he was at the end, nearing his foot on the first step down the stairs, he smirked.
...
"And I swear to your mother's fine ass- I'm not breaking the locks!" His screams echoed, hoping his taunts would reach and piss the white-haired female.
"You already called my mother a bitch, and you expect me to get annoyed with simple fantasies about her behind," Dione responded with a smug smile that wiped off Nightmare's hopeful sneer.
Shrugging off the fact that the white-haired male wasn't easy to push off the ledge, Nightmare wobbled down the stairs with defeat.
Once Dione was sure he couldn't hear his loud footsteps, his smiling face turned into a bored frown, "I can't believe that limp of an idiot tricked me with stupid keys!" Dione's voice disturbed the sleeping orphans. They peek out their door and saw their older brother in the hallway swimming in a sea of scattered paper while mumbling about how hard it was to spot the plot holes in the Arraignment.
The kids all watched in awe. They never saw him drowning in this distress before.
"Is he drawing all those dead dogs again?"
One of their siblings looked up to Carol and smiled.
"How come we never see Frère's drawings? It's not fair. Besides Frère Menthos, you're the only one among us who's allowed to see his room, the dogs, and his drawings!"
"Well, I'm sure he'll just stop doing that anyway," the girl stuttered while explaining as she kept toning down their pitchy voices, "He already has a girlfriend, right?"
As soon as she mentioned her last statement, her sibling's eyes sparkled.
Some of them 'Awww'...
Some of them jumped up and down...
And some of them just blushed while thinking the two end up together.
"Sœr Raine is not his girlfriend..." they all look inside, and there he was. At the back of the well-lit room, a lonely white-haired boy was reading. Since morning, he was already sulking about something, and Carol cannot pin-point what does a six-year-old like him be whimpering about.
"Eh?"
"What?"
"Aw..."
A series of sad noises and sighs came after Menthos's little party-pooping.
"Alright, enough of this. Let's get back inside our room," Carol shushed all of them and quietly told them to go back inside their rooms to study. The 10-year-old girl stared at Dione for a second before closing the door.
"Ugh! At least I already finished writing down these findings," he finally said and arranged the paper randomly in his lap.
Then he heard someone approaching him from behind. He turned around abruptly and saw his mother bent over to look him in the eyes. Both of them were wide-eyed before the woman smiled and greeted the boy.
"Momère!" Dione called before smirking. He broke the intense staring between them and carried the stacks of paper in his arms before turning to his mother again, "It's getting late. Did Raine tell you where-"
"No..." Maesan cut him off before walking past him in a flash, dragging her green floral dress behind her.
"Aha! I knew you knew where she went!" cheered Dione and then ran in front of her like a dog wanting to play with its master. All that's missing is the ears and a wagging tail.
The motherly figure pinched his cheeks and softly spoke, "Let's say that I know her whereabouts -"
She paused when Dione's face slowly changed. His hair turned into messy brown curls while his eyes became the color of the forest. The female giggled when she realized her son resembled his deceased father even with her genes acted stronger on both his children in terms of their hair and eye color. The woman let go of his cheeks and carefully pulled her son into a hug as she savored it.
He was taller than her so, she could smell his cologne. It smelled like newly opened canvas and recently purchased paintbrushes. She closed his eyes and imagined her husband hugging them both into comfort before she felt something wet under her fingers. As she fluttered her lids open, she saw a red tint on her hands. The boy he was hugging has taken her husband's form, held her by the shoulder, and looked her in the eyes.
Maesan gasped when his husband's bleeding face leaned closer - she froze and blinked a few times before Dione's pale face greeted her. His face showed concerned at her zoned expression. She shook her head and hugged his son again. This time, no image of his past lover haunting them, "Does this mean you'll tell me?" Dione asked.
"I still won't tell you, dear. Don't waste your breath," Maesan giggled after breaking the hug.
The white-haired male didn't expect her mother to spit out her location. He picked up his phone on the floor and scoffed when the battery was too low to be of use. They used it to watch the Arraignment and search articles, but mostly to call the shit out of Raine's phone - Big surprise..., she turned it off the whole day.
"I'll let you go now..."
Dione lazily waved his mother goodbye and tried to call the girl's number again one last time before his phone blacked out on him, "Ugh! I'm lazy to catch up with her anyway. I'll let her take a stroll for a little late again!"
He caught with her ridiculously slow-walking mother and walked beside her with the same speed as he tried opening his phone again, "I'll just watch the hearing on record again. It's not like she's much of a help!"
The woman smiled after putting her arm over his shoulder, "You should rest. The last of your mission was accomplished! You're free from your duties for just a while..."
"I figured just right," the boy frowned and moved his shoulder to get his mother's arm off a seat was making him uncomfortable. "I'll get Raine's food from downstairs now..." he excused himself when he felt his mother unusually staring at him from her peripheral vision.
Maesan smiled when Dione walked ahead of her, "Say, dear," she called. He slowly faced her and raised both his eyebrows.
Both of them froze in their spot. Dione waited for his mother to initiate as she did with a question, "Who is she?"
"Raine Aksenov," answered the male right away. He knew exactly why she was asking about her.
"Who is she to you?" she followed up.
His eyes can't focus on one thing as he avoided his mother's eye contact. He thought very hard for an answer; he was torn between telling the truth and shadowing her identity. And when he came up with a solution, he wished he should've shut up.
...
"She's a- she's a girl who I have regular sex with!"
...
The woman was flabbergasted for a moment before giggling. Dione backed up a few steps when he heard her laugh. Soon, she stopped and turned into a more serious note, "Don't lie to me..." her voice was nothing compared to her soft chirping a while ago.
The boy decided to show no fear. Instead, he emulated her smile and asked, "Why? You'll beat me up and curse at me for being that way too?"
"I did that therapy for you," Maesan shouted, taking one foot closer to the boy.
After deciding to be bold, Dione stepped closer and looked down at her with mocking eyes, "Yeah, It'll be weird to have a son who is asexual, right?"
Then he got a firm slap that the papers he was holding were scattered and piled on both their feet. Dione licked the blood on his lips and continued to show cockiness in front of the woman. "Oh! The embarrassment! Maesan Hayden, the famous stripper and the wife of Hansel Hayden, a noble painter, had a child who isn't sexually attracted to any gender," he cried with a broken smile.
Maesan widened her eyes and reached for Dione's cheeks.
Dione didn't push her away, but he continued letting his feelings out, "What's the trick? Make him go through hell to convert and require him to sleep with countless women for money so he would finally become straight!"
His feelings would not be present if he hadn't go through conversion therapy. He was fine not having them... Until Society dictated it's not normal.
The female wiped his son's tears as they continuously flowed, "Di-"
"But that wasn't enough! After his father's death, we should make him bait for pervert old criminals, some of which are associated with his father's death also with butt loads of money and make him kill them for justice the Government cannot give!"
He kept going.
They both started crying. Dione's mother was sad while his son was smiling, "I'm sorry, Mom," Dione spoke and held his mother's hands on his cheeks, "I'm sorry I got Dad's artistic skills and not your fucking sex drive!"
She slapped him again. And his smile grew wider as his cheeks got redder.
"Those evil curses are what took your Father's life," Maesan screamed and slapped him again, "I said never to use them when not necessary!"
"No, Mom..." he swept his hair to the side and looked down at his feet where he saw the last memories of his father, "It's your hunger for touch that took his life..."
He saw those men took his father's life while they ravish his mother behind the dumpster.
"He fought for your dignity as a woman and his wife..."
The last look his father sent him was for him to go inside and lock the doors.
"And you chose those men over him," he laughed and admired how tears came out from his eyes.
Dione thought his tear bank was emptied after he went through the therapy. It feels peculiar to see water coming out of his eyes. He always admired how tears sparkled depending on how serious their problem was. However, his mother's tears were dull. Nevertheless, he was still fascinated.
"Don't worry... I won't leave you," he whispered and embraced her, "It's not like I have a choice anyway. If I'm gone - I'm sure you'll let Menthos and my other siblings grow up like me. Hence, you'll treat them like me..."
"Someone slapped me and called me an asshole in the face to make me realize I don't want the others to be like me."
He chuckled.
"It's not you..."
He let go and kneeled in front of her to look into her eyes, "Ouch! It must hurt. You failed as a wife and mother," Dione wiped her face with his thumb.
And his image changed in her view. It looked like it was her husband talking to her, but with deranged eyes and a twisted smile.
"Don't worry, though. You still achieved something," Dione cooed as he stood up while she looked up at him.
...
"You succeeded as a whore..."
She gasped and was ready to slap him again, but he turned away and picked up the fallen papers on the floor.
"You're the only whore that I love, Mom," he kissed her forehead, "Keep my word..."
The white-haired boy walked away with relief and satisfaction while his mother was left there in guilt and despair.
Both of them deserved it.