She Accepted Divorce, He Panicked by Nyx Rai

238 Just Like Now

friend, but my little angel."

"The first day you came home, Mom put you in the cradle that had been set in the living room for days waiting for you, I went and checked you up. I didn't know how to feel about you at that time. Mom told me that you would be my best friend for life, and Dad said not

The word angel makes Scar flinch.

Sebastian used to call Ava that all the time. She was so jealous that she started hating this word.

"Before you arrived, I really thought you meant all the toys I could ever want. I mean, what else does an angel mean, right?" Damian laughs, almost getting a giggle out of Scar but she just hides her smile behind her arms. Damian indulges her dodge, sitting down on the carpet in front of Scar as he continues with the story that Scar didn't ask for.

"They had the whole room filled with baby stuff," Damian grabs his own ankles, getting comfortable. A true smile on his face, one that hasn't been there for years as he immerses in an obviously pretty memory, "We had FOUR maids in the house, but Mom and Dad wanted to do everything themselves, from feeding you to changing the diaper. I barely had any time with you, let alone time with them. So you get how I was getting more and more disappointed, right? Not only was I failing to spot the endless toys that I was promised, but I felt like I was losing my parents to you, too."

He says it as if complaining, but something in his words lights up little dots of warmth in Scar.

she wants to

mean, we were a happy family, but they were never that happy, like that day." Damian wrinkles his nose at Scar, making a face. Scar laughs without even realizing, "I actually complained that to Mom once, saying how they were so beyond happy at your arrival when I had been there the whole time. Mom tried to lie and was saying how they were just as excited when I was born when Dad just spilled the beans telling me that he has always wanted a daughter, even more so after the first few

cradle, and at seeing me, you suddenly

Scar burst into laughter.

that name to her has been a picture in the newspaper, the one about

almost see the

don't want to share that sweet burden with anyone else. She sees a

That word has so many layers

she became the adopted mother, and then just

only a picture

which had nothing to do with Scar. Then it became Scar herself, during that seven and half months when Scar carries the most bitter yet sweet

laughing and moaning and huffing for them and with them, filling a house with all the warm

ton

is gone, and Johnny Vanderbilt is not here. But Scar doesn't