Harmonie had a slight smile on her face since the man appeared before them. She then felt Adelaide stir in her arms, a sign that the latter was waking up,
"Hey, baby!" Harmonie said softly, the child opened her eyes and smiled, causing Harmonie to smile back. Harmonie looked up and saw two pairs of eyes watching her, smiling.
"Hi, uncle J, it's been a while."
7 years ago
"Mommy?!!?" a younger Harmonie shouted as she ran, not looking where she was going. So she ran into something, or rather someone.
She ended up on the ground.
"Sorry!" She said before looking up. A nineteen-year-old, Jay, looked at the terrified child, and asked her:
"Why are you sca-" before he could even finish his question, he heard barking, looking up, he saw a dog, more precisely a Chihuahua approaching them.
"Ah!" cried the child with fright, she quickly stood up and clung to the man, when the animal was a few inches from them, Harmonie shouted again
"Mommy!!!" And climbed on the back of the young man.
Jay didn't know how to react to this situation, on one hand, he had an excited dog running around him and on the other hand, a scared child.
His hesitation was short-lived as the dog's owner came to retrieve him and apologized.
After confirming that the dog and its owner were no longer in sight, the child finally decided to get off the young adult's back.
"Are you okay?"
"Hmm." She nodded.
"Thank you" did she softly whisper.
2 days later
Harmony, on her way out of school, decided to take a little detour to buy some 'pain au chocolat' that her mother had asked her to buy and some candy for herself. She then put them in her bag.
------
On her way out of the store, she saw the old man sitting outside who was often there when she came in, so as usual, she entered the store again and a few moments later she came out with two sandwiches in her hand, two juice boxes and two bottles of water.
Unlike usual, the old man was accompanied by another person. She greeted him and gave him his sandwich, juice, and bottle of water, and approached the other person, "Hello!" she said with a smile. The person lying down showed his face and the smile grew wider,
"Oh, the mister from last time!"
The young man smiled back slightly, Harmonie handed him his sandwich and the two bottles of liquids. He took them while looking questioningly at the child. The latter smiled at him and said,
"Well, I have to go! Bye!"
3 weeks later
End of classes for Harmonie,
"Hey, Jay!" said Harmonie,
"Hi H!"
" H ? " Jay nodded with a smile, Harmonie smiled back.
"I like it. I'll give you a nickname too..." She paused to think,
"I know! Since I'm H, you'll now be J. But to make it original, I'll call you uncle J!" said an excited Harmonie.
"Hm, okay. That's fine with me! Shall we go?" Harmonie nodded and took the hand that her 'Uncle J' held out to her. He was in charge of bringing her home when her mother couldn't.
2 weeks later
An accident happened, and the old man ended up in the hospital. For the young man, the old man was his only home since he was homeless.
Seeing him completely beaten up, Harmonie later asked her mother if they could take him in.
The latter, having also become attached to the young man through her daughter, agreed.
During his stay in the family home, he quickly integrated.
A week after his arrival, they learned the old man died.
Jay was able to overcome this news thanks to the little family and especially to the eldest child. Harmonie also managed to get Jay an internship in a fashion company.
She applied him for a job everywhere, later they learned from Harmonie that a person from a company had called and strangely enough she managed to convince the person on the phone to accept Jay as an intern, as usual, she had forgotten the phone conversation she had with this person, the only thing she remembered was that it was a young woman.
1 month later
Jay had something to announce to his family, so he asked Harmonie and Nifah to sit on the couch. Seeing his nervousness, mother and daughter looked confused. But he quickly reassured them:
"That's good news." Nifah indicated for him to continue.
"The company has offered to fund my education so that I can then join them when I graduate."
"How?" asked Nifah,
"They saw the sketches I did during my internship. So they offered me to work for them, but at first, I refused since, I want, and I promised H to go back to school. When I explained this to them, they made me this offer." explained Jay with a slight smile.
"Oh we should celebrate!" exclaimed Harmonie, seeing her smile Jay felt relieved. He was especially apprehensive about the child's reaction to his departure.
A few days later, Jay left the family home to pursue his dream, with tears of course.
Present
Harmonie was installed on the armchair with Adelaide in her arms. On the sofa where Chloe and Jay, three cups of tea were in front of them placed on the coffee table. The atmosphere was welcoming, warm.
"So Jay, how are you?" began Harmonie,
"Oh, are you getting rid of 'Uncle J'?" Jay asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A few hours ago, she was still calling you Uncle J," said Chloe,
"Why are you changing it now?" asked Chloe, addressing Harmonie.
"I don't know," replied Harmonie shrugging her shoulders,
"Well, should I accept this new change, then?" Both girls nodded, Jay let out a sigh and smiled.
2 hours later
"It's okay, she finally fell asleep," Chloe said after putting Adelaide to bed in the guest room, as she entered the living room.
Harmonie took a quick look at Chloe, then she and Jay looked at each other and finally burst out laughing.
"Shhh... Shhh! Keep it down." Chloe whispered with a smile,
"Why are you laughing?" Jay and Harmonie looked at her and laughed again, but this time wasn't so loud.
"We were just telling about the day you and Jay met."
Chloe made a face then stroked the back of her neck, "It wasn't my fault I thought he was going to kidnap you."
"Then whose fault was it? I'll have you know that you almost destroyed the chances of him having offspring."
"Hey!" exclaimed Jay, Chloe, and Harmonie burst out laughing.
"He had just come to pick me up from school at my mom's request, and when you saw that he was holding my hand, we're not going to lie to each other Jay, she totally got you damaged," the latter nodded,
"Even the adults around couldn't get her off of me," Jay added.
"Wait, seriously?" Chloe asked, Jay and Harmonie, nodded their heads.
"Every time he had someone trying to separate you from him, that person would get hit, and the others would rather stay with their child or leave without looking back. Also, I remember you yelling at him saying, 'Nobody touches ma baby!' " Said Harmonie, imitating the younger Chloe's voice.
"The only one who was able to stop you was H with one hit," Jay said with a laugh.
"You just calmly got closer to us and slapped her on the back of the head, not too hard and not too soft, to get her mind right." Saying all this, Jay couldn't stop laughing, Chloe was completely red-faced and Harmonie had a big smile on her face.
After finally calming down, a comfortable silence settled in.
"Would you like to eat?" asked Chloe, and Harmonie shook her head before answering, "We ate an hour earlier already."
"Yeah, so what? I'm still hungry."
"If you want, we can order a pizza and watch a movie," Jay offered.
"No, 2. Ah, no 3. Yes, 3!"
"Calm down, Chloe. On the other hand, we mustn't stay awake too long, we have classes tomorrow."
"Ah, that's right! I had forgotten..." mumbled Chloe at the end,
"Jay, go order the pizza, please." Chloe wanted to speak up, but Harmonie interrupted, "Two pizzas." Chloe nodded and smiled.
One week later
+Are you ready for tomorrow?+ -Cassie
+Hm, yes ± -SH
+I think? + -El último Bitch Chloe
+You must be ready, Chloe. H, we need to go to the library during recess to print the text.+ -SH
+Okay, don't forget your flash drive.+ -SH
+Okay, good night.+ -Cassie
+Good night to you too.± -SH
+Sweet Dreams+ - El último Bitch Chloé
Cassidy Pov
"Cassidy!" I felt someone shake me,
"Cassidy!"
"Hmm," I replied, trying as hard as I could to open my eyes,
"Wake up, and go get ready. I have to take you to school again today," Cassandre said,
'Ah, right!' After blinking my eyes a few times to allow myself to finally see, I took a quick look at my alarm clock.
5:30 A.M
I let out a grunt, "Seriously, Cassandre, you're abusing me!"
"Instead of yelling at me, you better get ready." She yelled at me from where she was, she was probably in the kitchen.
I finally decided to get out of bed and get ready.
10 minutes later
After I finished getting dressed, I went to join my sister in the kitchen,
"Hmm, smells good," I said as I walked into the kitchen,
"Do you want some?" asked Cassandra,
"No, I'm fine. You know I prefer to have cereal in the morning." Cassandra nodded and put her breakfast on a plate. I hadn't taken my eyes off her,
"What?" said Cassandra without turning around, surely she felt my gaze on her. Without answering her, I brought the bowl, milk, and cereal that was already sitting on the table closer to me.
"Can you hand me a spoon, please?"
Cassandra finally finished preparing her dish, grabbed the cutlery and sat down in the chair next to me, and placed her dish on the table. I didn't really pay attention to what she was going to eat, but I knew there had to be at least scrambled eggs and toast, which is what she usually had for breakfast.
"Here," she said as she passed me a spoon,
"Thank you," I said without looking at her, and it was her turn to observe me, I started to eat food and so did she, but glancing at me from time to time.
6:00 A.M
"You have your stuff?" I nodded,
"Yes, it's good. We can go." We put on our seatbelts, she started the car while I looked for music to play.
"Cassandre?"
"Hmm?"
"When are our parents coming back from their impromptu honeymoon?"
"I don't know," replied Cassandre without taking her eyes off the road.
A week ago, my parents decided they needed to go on another honeymoon and left me in the charge of my sister. I thought they left on a whim, but I learned from my sister that they had been planning to do this for some time, and I was just the last to know. I didn't take it the wrong way at all. Note the sarcasm.
"Cassie..." began Cassandre, snapping me out of my reverie and breaking the silence that had settled comfortably in the car,
"Why were you looking at me like that this morning?"
"Is there something going on between you and Theo?" I asked as I looked at her, we came to a red light,
"It doesn't concern you-"
"Just answer my question, please," I said softly to her, looking her straight in the eye, she looked away, then she sighed,
"Yes."
The light turned green.
I didn't know why, but at that moment, I felt like I had been dumped by an imaginary person I loved very much. It was not a good feeling. I didn't know why I felt that way - who am I lying to? I can only lie to myself. Because I knew very well why I felt that way.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence.
6:30 A.M
Cassandre went to prepare her lessons in the teacher's lounge, or so she told me.
Meanwhile, I was outside in the cold wondering about life, which is to say I was bored.
There weren't many people at school, only one or two people who must have been bored at home and found pleasure in their work. I was bored.
And I'm still wondering why Cassandre wanted to come to school earlier, while most of my teachers always came at the last minute.
And I don't mind that at all, far from it, what I do mind is the fact that I too have to wake up early to find myself waiting in the cold outside like a fucking idiot.
The only positive point, (yes there is a bright side), is to be able to watch the sunrise.
Seeing the sky change color will always fascinate me. It made me feel a little like I was forgetting about problems and made me want to be carefree.
' Young and stupid... '
Suddenly I had the urge to listen to this one music and I thought that since there weren't many people there yet, why not. I put the music on my phone and put my phone on the bench and stood up. And I danced. It was the only way for me to forget everything when I was overwhelmed.
I'm not good at dancing, far from it. I was just doing some moves I had learned a little bit with H and my father before, and I let loose. I needed to forget, even though it's only for some moments,
"WE WERE 2 KIDS, TOO YOUNG AND DUMB Hmmm hmmm..." I hummed, I didn't know the lyrics except for the English part, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the music, and I did.
When I said I let loose, it wasn't just empty words,
" ... 2 kids too young and dumb." Dumb? That's me right now, but whatever, I don't care.
"... We were just too - We were just too young - We were just too young and dumb, just too young and dumb..."
After I finally got rid of my frustration, I realized that the sun was about to come up. I walked to a place in the school where we could see the sunrise better.
7:30 A.M
+ We'll be there in 10 minutes.+
+ I'll wait for you at the gate.+
+No, no need to move from where you are... Where are you exactly now?+
+ Behind the building of the scientific block.+
+Tree?+
+Yes, where the big tree is.+
+Okay.+
While waiting for them to arrive, I continued to observe the sky...