"What is this? She didn't have to," Dawn said, curling her lower lip in order to refrain from smiling.
"Why do you have that look in your face? What is that?" Lizzie, who had just exited the kitchen, asked when she noticed Dawn looking like a fool.
"Ah, nothing... nothing at all," Dawn answered quickly before slipping the note in her pants pocket. "Are you on your way somewhere?"
"Yeah, I'm picking up Iris," Lizzie responded as she removed her apron and hung it on the hook beside the kitchen door.
"Ah, right, I almost forgot," Dawn nodded.
"Take over for a while, okay? I'll be right back," Lizzie replied, tapping Dawn on the shoulder.
Dawn took out the note again after Lizzie had left the shop, "Sarratt, Sab," she said quietly.
"Isn't there a company called Sarratt Real?" she questioned before pulling out her phone.
"Robert Sarratt's daughter," she whispered while typing.
When she saw Sabrina's image appear on her screen, she instinctively smiled. "Right, she's that woman from my past," she said, scrolling down until her gaze was drawn to something.
"A news article?" she asked, her face wrinkled.
It was an article about Darrell and Sabrina, and the guy described their relationship as "toxic," since he wanted people to see him as the nice guy.
"How can this guy talk like that to a girl? Doesn't he know what the word respect means?" Dawn mused.
Dawn went to Instagram in order to discover more about Sabrina, and her posted photos, "Why is she so pretty? It's a shame I won't remember this face."
"Wow, look at her followers growing because of that news. Tsk," Dawn said as she proceeded to check the woman's Twitter account this time.
"Is she talking about me?" Dawn's eyes widened as she gasped. "Why would she tweet about me?"
Sabrina wrote about how uncomfortable their encounter was because she feared that some random woman was following her.
"Looks like she hasn't seen the news yet," Dawn murmured, "I feel bad for her."
"WHAT?!?" Sabrina slammed her fists on the table, "Darrell did what?"
"He said in an interview that you've been controlling him your entire relationship and that your attitude is toxic," Margaret said again, staring at the news on her phone.
"Hey, when did I ever control him? We don't even meet once every month!" Sabrina exclaimed, her eyes widening. Margaret simply shrugged and proceeded to play with Boot.
"I'm going to kill that guy!" she muttered.
"Don't make a fuss about it," Margaret said, "because you know you have a reputation to protect now."
"Just... why is my dad making me date assholes?" Sabrina sighed.
"Because Darrell is the highest-paid actor, when you marry her, he'll acquire a lot of shares."
Sabrina said, "Am I a thing to sell like that?" "This is why I can't look up to him as my father."
"It's not like this is new to you; stop sulking and let's just have fun, okay, Sab?" Margaret remarked calmly. "How was your day, by the way?"
"My day?" Sabrina couldn't help but smile as she remembered Dawn.
"Why are you suddenly smiling?" Margaret inquired, perplexed.
"I met someone really, really cute!" Sabrina exclaimed, her eyes twinkling, "and I met her before as well, but it was a pretty awkward encounter."
"Her?" Margaret smirked, "Ah, I see you've regained your fondness for women."
Sabrina arched an eyebrow, "I've always preferred women more! I only dated those guys because of dad, but now I'm going to date whoever I want."
"Like who?" Margaret inquired, intrigued.
"That woman I was just talking about," Sabrina smirked.
"I SAID RUN!"
Dawn sat up, her arms crossed, lightly tapping her shoulders. "No, Dawn, it's just a dream, and you're fine," she said to herself.
"It's just a dream. Stephen is dead, okay? He is dead," she said, trying to catch her breath.
She stared at the alarm clock above the bedside table when she finally calmed down. "It's only 2 a.m.," she said as she eased herself back into bed.
She closed her eyes slowly.
2010
"Why haven't they returned yet?" muttered Little Iris, nervously nibbling her fingernails. Since Dawn left, she's been watching at the clock's hand moving. She can't read the time because she has difficulties with numbers, but she knows they've been out for a while. "Are they still coming back?"
She began to well up with tears. She had been afraid of being alone since her biological father died, "Dawn, come back..." she cried, burying her face on her knees.
"I should find them," she rose up and wiped her tears with her shirt collar. She took a jacket from the closet at random, and it was Stephen's, so it was too big for her, but she didn't mind. "I'll find them," she said with a strong will.
She put on her slippers and went outside. The surroundings are darker than she thought, which terrified her even more because Dawn is somewhere out there... wandering all alone. "Dawn..." she whispered.
Iris had no choice but rush to their friend's house, which was only a few blocks away. "Help me!" she yelled as she repeatedly knocked on the door.
The door soon opened, showing an eighteen-year-old girl with disheveled hair and swollen eyes from a deep sleep. "Why are you crying, Iris? What's the matter?" she asked.
"Lizzie, they're gone, they left me alone," Iris sobbed as she clutched Lizzie about the waist.
"What? They're gone?" Lizzie bowed down to Iris' level to wipe the small girl's tears. "What happened?" she asked.
"Mom and Stephen went out to get food, but they didn't return," Iris explained between sobs. "Dawn went out to look for them, but she hasn't returned yet."
"How long have they been outside?" Lizzie inquired calmly, but Iris is becoming increasingly panicked by the second, to the point where she is unable to breathe normally. "Iris, look at me and relax," she whispered.
"Wait here, and I'll get the car keys," Lizzie said as she stood up, but Iris is still clutching her blouse. "All right, come inside," she said.
Lizzie and Iris set out to find the three after obtaining the keys. Iris is sitting in the passenger seat, looking out the window with tears still streaming down her eyes.
Lizzie can't help but give the little girl a sidelong glance as she hears her sniffing and sobbing quietly, "Calm down, Iris, we're going to find them," she said in hushed tones.
"What if... what if they don't come back to me?" Iris asked, her head down.
"They are not going to do that, okay?" said the older girl, gently stroking her hand.
Lizzie is not paying attention to the road since she is attempting to calm Iris down, thus she accidently comes into contact with something. "Oh, my God! What is that?" she exclaimed, unbuckling herself and exiting.
"What?" Iris asked, staring out the windshield. "Dawn?"
Lizzie cried, "Dawn!" as she took the pale-looking girl in her arms. "Wake up!" she tapped the girl's face repeatedly until she spotted the wounds and bruises on her body and her torn clothes.
Iris also got out of the car when she saw her sister and exclaimed, "Dawn!" She wept even louder when Dawn didn't react. "Please bring her to the hospital, Lizzie!" she cried.
Despite the pressure, Lizzie immediately carried Dawn, saying, "Iris, open the door for the backseat." She carefully set Dawn down at the back before the two hurriedly returned to their seats.
"What the hell happened to her?" Lizzie wondered as she bit her lower lip and drove away.