"ARIYALA BILLIART!!" a shout brings them back from their world when a hand drags Ariyala away.
"Andre wait" she tries to remove his but her tiny hand can't even move his big hand.
"mom said you should stop going around with the Hubert boy". he pushes Yves to the ground and walks away with Ariyala shouting
"mom I have found her" he turns to grab her saying
"oh you are so tossed today".
.......
ANDRE BILLIART is Ariyala's adopted older brother, the only son of MR AND MRS BILLIART. He is six years older than her. The BILLIART family are made up of four people Ariyala making them five.
She was left on their door step, they first went to the police station but nobody reported a missing child and on the contrast the police weren't interested in looking for the parents of the little girl. They had no other choice but accept her in. But to them that didn't mean that they will take care of her all the time and she also has to pay for house rent when she grew up; like washing cloth, plates and cleaning the house, once she turns five years up.
As an adopted child Ariyala's life in Billiart family is not so great. because every day she is always being remembered that she owes them for picking her up from the cutter where her real mom left her to die. so Ariyala is doing all her best to repay them everything.
He draws her to a neighborhood blocks opposite the beach, once they reach a semi-duplex building. He stops to knock on the door of the house. The house opens to see a middle-aged woman holding a wooden spatula on her right hand and the other hand on her hip straying at Ariyala like a deer ready to devour her, there was silence within the three of them, none of the children agreeing to talk until the middle-aged decides to break the silence
"where did you find her?" the middle-aged woman asked
"mom I found her with that with the Hubert kid" Andre answers.
The woman standing in front of them is Andre's mom and Ariyala's adopted mom, Mrs. Lucy Billiart mother of two children at the age of thirty years, but she looks at little bit order than her age. She looks at Ariyala from head to toe continuously like she was look to find something out from her.
"is that true?"
"ma am sorry I went out to play" Ariyala answered
"did you wash the plate before going?"
"no ma"
"what of washing the cloths, cleaning the house?". Lucy raise the stick she is holding in her hands as she moving closer to her.
"am sorry mom" Ariyala says timidly
Lucy gets irritated the minute Ariyala calls her mom, she gets into rage by hitting her the wooden stick on her hand.
"who is your mother?" she slaps Ariyala on the hand.
"mom" Ariyala steps back as tears cloud in her dark grey eyes
"dumb girl she is not your mother but my mother" Andre knocks her on the head.
"you should be grateful that we accepted you into this house where nobody wants you, you are a tenant in this house and tenant do pay for their house rent and as the landlord I want know why you have paid the morning rent?" Lucy slaps her as she is talking.
"mom don't hit her outside the house before the neighbors will say that you bullying your child" Andre stops her from using the wooden stick on Ariyala outside the house, afraid that someone might see them.
"yes you are right" she answered, looks at her with a furrow on her face.
"bring her inside son". she drops the words before going inside.
"yes mother". he takes Ariyala's hand
"let go inside"