Glad to know Lilith had retained back the strength she lost for a moment, on account of my mother, who will always ravage everything of mine, including happiness and the plans I have worked for.

"Do not dare utter anything like that in my house." Christian bolts up to his feet, completely furious while he approaches his daughter.

And for a moment, I was prepared for her to get slapped, just as my mom had done me, but Christian was better than mom. He halted before his daughter only to intimidate her and get a clear response.

"Dad." She mumbled.

"You are so disrespectful. I can't believe you." He yelled, seething. Leigh had to hurry over to calm his father, who was outraged at his daughter statement.

Princeton Claire dropped the throw pillow she had cuddled with while through the movie and stood up just as everyone with the last name that wasn't Boyce and vacates the room, except for me, who doesn't know where to stand. I mean, my last name is Lancelot, and I am among the Boyce family.

How unfortunate.

"This house is for my family, and by family, I mean this whole five people around here." Christian waves around angrily, and the room is suddenly quiet. "If you ever speak that again, Lilith. You will have to take whatever outcome that I decide." He sternly added, his expression harden at his daughter.

Seeing as Christian have my back, I sadly asked for permission to go to bed.

"Is okay, Ava," Leigh assured me when I slid out of the lounging area and began heading for the exit.

"I am used to getting insults and slaps in this house." I scoff dramatically, with it comes along a premature tear rolling down my face while I throw my hands around. "What's left is to kick me out of the family, for I am sure half among us in here would vote to that."

"Lilith, apologize. Now." Christian urges Lilith, who's watching me humorously.

"She's pretending. She never cries. You will be surprised; she owns a steel heart." She protests.

"I said, Now."

"I am sorry." She mumbled. Annoyedly rolling her eyes while I stood defenceless and weak to function correctly.

"You will take responsibility for what you've done. There will be no more hangouts, no leaving to the city, and no more friends visiting after tomorrow. You will only stay around the family and bond with your sister before this holiday ends."

I don't want to bond with her; I don't want to see her ever again.

"Dad, I already apologize." She croaked, her eyes struggling to blink away the visible tears. "I can't stay locked up here because of her fake tears." She cries, shooting me a murderous glare that's spelt out hate. "This is the holiday left for me to get a closure with some of my high school friends that I might never see again. I am sorry you don't know how it works, probably because you're old, but I need this summer more than I will ever need any holiday." She stomped on her feet, breathing heavily when she was done, like an angry little child.

"I'm sorry, I am old. I don't understand any of it that your blabbering about, and I don't wish to. But as an older man, what I know is there will come a time when those high school friends of yours wouldn't matter, and all you will ever need is your family. And when that time comes, you will understand the privilege I did for you. So now I will be keeping your cars too. The both of you." He pointed over to me at the last statement.

"There will be no driving, no more friends in this house that are not Leigh's." Christian continues. "If, however, your relationship improves, and I get to see an emotional moment between the two of you before the end of summer. There will be a reward. You both will have brand new vehicles of your choosing. Lilith, you can stay off-campus and rent a penthouse as you had demanded. And Ava, just like you have always asked for, we will spend the last week of summer seeing London before Leigh and Lilith leaves for college."

That's a cool bargain, but not enough.

"You can't be serious." Lilith exasperatedly wipes the tears that finally left her eyes. "My whole life just fell miserably. Thank you, Ava. How can I ever repay you for this?" She furiously blurted with harsh sarcasm and disdain.

"Can my reward be permanent? I want to move back to London." I asked the man who's now pinching the bridge of his nose from stress, I am sure.

"Don't be dramatic." Said, mom.

"I am dramatic?" I spun around and faced her. She can't be serious, is she? "Says the one who took the drama show to action."

"Ava, please." Christian sighed, reaching for me.

"I am tired of getting punched like I am unloved. Back home, I have people who appreciate me." I wriggle out of his hold and bore my eyes at my unease mom.

Back home, I could run to auntie Catherine and stay the night. Here? I have no one but these bloody faces.

"And we all do, probably more than anyone there. We are your home, Ava." The man said behind me.

Look, I appreciate the man, and I wish I didn't have to burden him. It is just hard to do that when he lives around mom and Lilith.

I tilted my head to Christian, and in the most polite way possible, I said, "Don't get me wrong, It doesn't look like it. It is striking; I am the outcast among everyone here. Even my last name proves it."

"Can we talk?" Mom lurches for me, desperate.

I retreated.

"I don't wish to be alone with you, mom. Leave me alone. Only God knows what you have in mind next."

"Please." She begged, stepping forward.

Instinctively, I scramble next to Christian.
"I won't go anywhere with you that there is no evidence."

"Hey, talk to me."

Oh, please.

"Ava, just listen to your mom." Christian pleaded when I held on to his shirt; it could be ripped from the intensity of my grip.

"I didn't see her needing privacy when she slapped me like a beggar."

"Ava, I did not wan... I shouldn't have. I..."

"Hold the excuses to yourself. How's your appointment with the ophthalmologist?"

"Look, I am sorry, okay?"

Okay?

She thinks sorry will erase the fact that she had bruised me emotionally; I suspect even physically, for any time I see her, I could feel the burn of her hands against my face.

"No, it is not okay. You related me to the man you married. I don't care how my father turned out to be. An unborn child doesn't choose who they want as their parent. That decision was on you. You fell in love with him; you married him and had me. That's if you two even married because to this extent, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, look, I am taking the blame for your decision."

She stepped back as if my words could hit physically. I wish they could. Because I want her to feel how badly I feel right now.

"We were married, Ava," Mom whispered. In her eyes, I saw defeat.

"Glad to know I was born legally."

"What does that suppose to mean?" She retorted.

"That you should be lucky I wasn't impregnated with a child of whose father I can not discern." I sparked with accusing eyes. "Do you have any idea how messed up teenage life is?" I asked, preying on the woman who is as white as a person who had seen a ghost. "You have no idea how brutal I found it. Or how fucking hard I am trying to hold on to myself without breaking because you paid less attention to it while playing elegant, Mrs Boyce." and I hate her for it. "Those you saw as saints as the worst of them, but you have no idea, of course."

For instance, Lilith, when I had held on to my vagina, she had been sharing hers with a variety of assholes who took her knowing she was underage. But at the end of that day, I'm the crowned stubborn child.

Mom shook her head at me, with wide eyes full of emotions and a blanched skin.

"You wouldn't do that." She choked. Her voice was strained.

"You have no idea what I could be capable of." She lied.

"You deserve better than me." She said quietly and swallowed.

Her words left me astonished. I have to take a moment to process it.

"You are unbelievable." I confusedly condemned. "How is that a bloody example?" She must be out of her mind. "Look around you. Look how it worked out for you. In the end, you own extraordinary mansions in Las Vegas. You fly in a private helicopter for some absurd appointment with a famous eye doctor. How on earth wouldn't someone want such a life of abundance and fortune? Tell me?" I plopped down in the seat, crossed my legs and waited for her to explain what she wanted for me that was better than what she has now.

Suddenly annoyed, she nodded.

"You think I didn't dream of surviving with my first love no matter the crisis and financial condition?" She asked me, having no idea the flash of discomfort that crossed Christian's face before he regained his composure. I saw it, though, and I feel sorry for the poor man. How I wished I had obliged earlier and followed mom somewhere suitable for such conversation.

Mom continues, "That's every girl's dream, Ava. But most of us make mistakes and choose the wrong people for that. People who wouldn't try, who wouldn't give back a quarter of what you had invested in keeping that partnership going. I don't want that for you, Ava. No matter what you see me as. I am your mother; I love you more than anything in my life. All I want is the best for you."

"Seems to me Lilith had taken that position." I retorted sarcastically.

I know I sounded childish, but I don't care. She is my mother, and she betrayed me.

"Jealous much?" Lilith smirked, and Leigh warned her with a slight nudge before their father could.

"I love you, Ava." Mom claimed desperately, she had turned crimson and was standing before me with one fold hand holding the other free forearm.

"You hate me. You prefer her no matter how much she tortures me." I publicised with emphasises, my stare drilling in Lilith direction.

"She's my daughter, your sister."

Oh, fuck off with the family thing.

"Step." I chastised boldly, struggling to control my increased heart rate while I scowl at the two women in the room, one of which is looking at me with fake affection, and the other could do anything to break out of her brother's grip and take me down.

"She's also a teenager, that phase will come and pass, and you will be the only one she can confide in."

How dare her?

"And what I am?" I snapped and sprung up to my feet. "The grandma who is expected to put up with her ignorance? And when I push back, I get hit in the face? That's not fair. I don't care what the future holds, but right now, I need fair treatment." I said and stepped away from the woman, trying to reach for my hands. "We should be treated equally, but of course, you married her father, so she gets to be pampered, and I get your tantrum so that you can prove a point to Christian." I exhaled a bitter laugh and tugged on my hair as though the strands would rip out from my scalp.

When I stop in between Christain and mom, I despairingly tell the woman, "But for your information, the man deserves better than that. You don't have to play loving mother to his children to get his attention."

"Ava, that's enough." Christian tries to warn me. Not like I care.

"That's unfair," Mom whispered, staring at me from the corner of her depressing eyes, for the truth must hurt badly.

"Unfair? Tell me one time that you had my back ever since you became the perfect Mrs Boyce?"

She just remained silent, her lips pressed into a thin line, her gaze challenging.

"That's what I thought." I scoffed. Having had enough, I advanced for the exit. It was then she decided to talk.

"I am your mother, for goodness sake." Her tone was loud and shaky, crammed with agony as though she wasn't the one who caused all of this mess. "I have your back no matter how you saw it. I've been there for you when no one was." She sniffed, tears streaming down her face.

Oh, seriously?

"Who else do you expect to be there for me? You brought me to this world. If I would be a burden to you, why waste your time?" I retorted, walking back to her.

Maybe she would hit me again. Perhaps she would even do worst. I don't care.

"That's false. You were never a burden to me. How can you ever think of that?" She asked feebly, and I shrugged, possessing too much anger for the woman who I was supposed to love. "You had been my strength when... When life felt so ill to continue. You are the reason I stood strong, sobered up and studied. I wanted to give you a better life." She lied, or maybe told the truth, for we used to be soul mates back in London before she fell in love with some man and made up a big family.

She was blinking tears, breathing through parted lips when she fought out words; "What I said about your father, I was wrong. I have no right to degrade him in your presence no matter what went on between him and me. But if you never want to mention him or related to him, I wouldn't do that again." She came over to me, bringing her wet hand to stroke my face. I stood still, my lips twitching from suppressed sob, trying to break out. My accusing gaze blurred with heavy tears; I could only mentally pray they wouldn't fall. "You and I are everything similar, and I know it since the first moment I lay my eyes on you." She choked on her breath, and her voice came out miserably low. She folds her lips between her teeth for a moment and draws in a deep breath. "I couldn't be more proud of everything that you were destined to become because I know you will be extraordinary." She added and gasped when I withdrew from her, letting her hand fall from my face to her side.

"Prove."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Change. Because I just don't understand this woman." I step backwards, beckoning at her.

"Ava, please." She implored breathily.

With too many emotions, I could only mutter, "I need to sleep." And race out of the room, shutting the door behind me to rest against the white wall outside the theatre.

It was like my breathing was restrained, and my heart was coming out from its ribcage. I clutched the left side of my chest with my hand, which ached cruelly while I was fighting for air.

"Ava?" A voice came up from the corner of the hall.

Automatically, I tilted my head in the direction; the sudden sweat soaking my skin and the severe panic in my eyes must be visible for Princeton Claire because she frowned sadly and took advance forward.

I was embarrassingly hyperventilating. This should not be me. Maybe I was better when I had my shield on.

But the truth is, no matter how much I thought I could handle everything, it just kept getting out of my ability. It is like the world is speaking a different language all the time, and I am a stranger in it.

The hurting was too much; it was agonising. I can't handle it. Not here in front of a stranger, at least.

So I shook my head at Princeton Claire and ran away.