"Father."
I don't know why I can't remember my father's face. It could be because it has been long since I last saw him. Or maybe because I never even dared to look at him. I don't know why. All the things that I remembered about him were very unpleasant. Are there even times when he became a good father to me? I often wondered that, but I wouldn't say I like it whenever someone talks poorly about him.
"Raven!" I heard my father yelling my name from downstairs. And as always, my little ol' self obediently went to my father to get scolded repeatedly.
"What was up with you earlier?! I keep telling you to smile on the camera," He scolded me. I only looked down at the floor while he continued to nag about what happened earlier. "You only needed to follow their instructions, not complain!" He then dragged me onto the couch, facing all the trophies in front of a shelf near his office. "See those trophies? They.are.mine. And I want you to have your own; You are my daughter! Remember that you have me as your father. So you better not HUMILIATE ME publicly by doing such foolishness like earlier!" He shouted as he immediately moved the things off the table, throwing a tantrum. The sounds of the paper fly till it hits the ground. The glass shattered to pieces. The ink spilled on the floor. That's all I could hear despite seeing him frantically shouting. Ultimately, I couldn't disobey my father or tell him what I wanted.
Father wanted me to become a famous actor like him. He became so obsessed with fame that he forgot what it felt like to enjoy what he loved once. When he was raised to Number 1 on the leaderboard as an actor, Father felt internally grateful to each and every one of his fans, and Father even swore not to lose that position. That's why when he became Number 2. Father felt so furious about it. He never went home back then. He constantly accepted projects that weren't meant for him. In the end, it only brought him to his downfall. I had just turned four at the time, and my father had already brought me to his company; I was enjoying it at first until Father's fame and reputation grew after the public found out that I was his daughter after I got my first award as a child actress; that's when Father became so obsessed with how I looked at the camera. That's right; I was an actress. At least, I used to.
I was moving up from kindergarten; I had to miss one photoshoot for the award ceremony. Father went ballistic hearing me skip a photo shoot for "something stupid." he says, That was also the first time I chose to disobey my father. He rushed to the award ceremony to drag me out of the stage before that could happen. Father died after getting into a car accident. I loved acting, but the expectation of his old company for me only grew. I couldn't take it all in. I'm not like my father, and I will never be him. I admired my father but did not wish to be like him, yet that company hoped I would make up for his death and even started blaming me for what happened.
"Big sis?" I heard Roy calling for me. I glanced in his direction and gave him a small smile, but his eyes looked at me in sympathy. 'I didn't have a good childhood memory, but why look at me like that?' I thought. I remained staring at Roy; his eyes suddenly grew wide, and he stood up. I suddenly felt someone hugging me from behind and caressing my hand simultaneously. It was Zenji and Clayden.
"W-What?" I stuttered. I was confused. 'Why are they doing this?...' Clayden was hugging me from behind. Zenji caressed my hand. Suddenly, Zenji looked straight into my eyes as he stopped stroking my hand but held my hand still and answered me, saying.
"You're crying, Rae." He said with a worried look on his face and sighed. He let go of my hand while Clayden hugged me tighter. I glanced behind me and saw Clayden looking down at the floor. He then started to mutter words that I couldn't even hear; there was only one word that I completely understood from his whispers.
"Sorry." I was about to ask Clayden why he felt sorry, but then I noticed Roy looking at me. Staring at his eyes made it more evident that he was worried. I began to chuckle as I scratched the back of my head. Clayden was still attached to me at the time.
"I'm fine, don't worry. I just remembered an unfortunate movie I watched before," I said. Zenji sighed in relief and went towards Roy with a smile on his face till he finally stood before him. Zenji began rubbing Roy's head, messing up his hair.
"See? She's fine. You worry too much." Zenji reassured him and let out a chuckle. He started to tease him as Roy looked away, pouting, and said. "I wasn't worried at all." crossing his arms, Zenji started to laugh and smiled.
"You're a liar," Zenji told Roy as I heard Clayden whisper it along with Zenji. My eyes widened, and I glanced at my back to see Clayden narrowing his eyes. Sweat started to drop on my forehead. Clayden looked away and sat down straight; I glanced to my left and noticed that Zenji was looking toward us. The telephone started ringing, making Roy stand up to answer it since it might be Mom calling us.
"I got to go now, Raven. I'm needed at home; The old man is waiting for me." Zenji bid his goodbye while holding his phone up, showing a text from his Father. He headed towards Clayden and held his shoulder, leaning close to Clayden's ears. It was as if he had said something to him. As soon as Zenji stood straight, Zenji then waved at me goodbye as he walked away. I saw him pat Roy's head before he could reach the door.
"Haven't you messed up my hair enough!?" Roy asked Zenji looking pissed as Zenji only chuckled and closed the door. "Geez, Sorry about that, Aunty." Roy apologized over the phone. Hearing the word Aunty made me and Clayden look in Roy's direction. We were curious about what Aunt was saying on the phone. I only have one Aunt, and that's Aunt Shelvie. She's my Father's sister. She took care of me and Roy when Mom was mentally unstable after Dad's death.
She didn't have kids at the time, and that's why she full-heartedly accepted us. Her husband also didn't mind taking care of us. Instead of finding us siblings bothersome, They considered it a great privilege to have us since it would also be good practice for them. Despite that, they treated us very kindly. They even thought of us as their own children; I'm indebted to them for all their help. Mom recovered tremendously after a year and started working afterward.
Roy finally said goodbye through the telephone and hung up. "So?" I asked Roy with curiosity, looking forward to what our Aunt had said on the phone.
"Well... Aunt Shelvie said that she'd be going here to drop Little Kiel. They needed to go on a business trip, and Little Kiel will be alone. She was hoping we could take care of him. Oh, and Mom will be going home too, she said." Roy filled us with all the details that Aunt had said as we listened to him. Clayden and I were stunned for a second after hearing that we'd be taking care of Kiel. "Hey, Big sis, Big brother...Clayden." Roy called out for me and Clayden. It made both of us look in his direction and hum in response, while it made him narrow his eyes at us, making us flinch when he started to look at us like that.
"You two adore Little Kiel too much..." Roy muttered and sighed, placing his hand on the forehead. And glanced in our direction, "Please don't suffocate him." He said, looking at us sympathetically. We were surprised when he said that. Clayden and I looked at each other and stood up from our seats.
"We would never do that!" We defended ourselves to Roy while he stood straight and stared at us doubtfully before walking away. "Roy! Do you doubt us that much!?" I called for him and started to question him. He just sighed and looked back at me.
"I'll never forget the day when you and Big Brother Clayden made me suffocated on the first day I was alone with the two of you..." Roy told us as he groaned and walked upstairs, making Clayden and me speechless. We both looked at each other and suddenly started laughing.
"I remember it too," I said between my laughs and covered my mouth. Clayden stopped laughing, and I felt his fingers wipe a tear from my eyes; his action startled me, so I stopped laughing. I saw him smiling at me.
"We were too young when we were taking care of Royce. Besides that..." He reasoned. He rested his arm on the table and leaned on his palm; Clayden looked at me with a smirk. "You were mostly at fault for liking cute things, Rae."
"Oh, Shut up, Clyde..."
To be Continued. . .