Perks of being a
SUNFLOWER

━━━━━━━━━━━━ Circa 2004 — 2006

  Mae Evans has always been vulnerable. By always, she means ever since the very moment she came out of her mother's womb. There is no strength in her bones, and coming from a family who are a the combination of intelligence, strength and authority— that means a lot. She was only two years old when she was diagnosed with CVID — Common Variable Immunodeficiency, which in a short version means that it's hard for her body to fight infections. She has always been relatively weaker than her bigger, healthier sister, Sarah but she doesn't understand why it took two years to figure it out. Most people are diagnosed with CVID only as adults. When you're children? Not very much. Her father, Harry Evans, owns the biggest brain Mae ever knew and it took him a long time to figure out how she happened to have the disorder. Turns out, it isn't much of a mystery. Mae's great aunt ( the younger sister of her father's least favourite late grandmother ) also had the disorder at one point in her life, and very conveniently, a family history of CVID is a risk for children of the same problem.

       Eleven years of age, Mae only knew so much about the disorder she is dealing with. The girl has so much on her bucket list, she wants to go out and play like the other girls her age but she doesn't understand why her mother won't allow her to. She's confined in her home for most of the day, only goes out of it for school and then returns home alone. Mama has always been particular about hygiene— so washing hands is compulsory along with swallowing hard tasteless pills that Mae absolutely despises. ' Why is Sarah allowed to play outside?' She would ask her mother who would always reply with a disappointed sigh, ' She is a strong girl, and you will be too if you stay home.'  But Mae doesn't want to stay home, she wants to run on the empty streets especially in summer, and say hi to the sun. Mae knows that she is the sun's best friend but Mama would never listen. So Mae would frown before gloomily walking to her room and would stare at the sun from her window.

       Maya Evans didn't have to ask Mae to figure out that she isn't her favourite parent. Mae and her Papa are two peas in a pod, and he is Mae's favourite person in the whole world. Mae is always excited to get home from school because Papa is always waiting for her in his workshop in the basement. Everyday after school, Mae would wash her hands using her favourite lavender-scented soap and sprint into the basement and onto her father's lap. Together the father and daughter would play with science experiments. Mae is always impatient to start reciting the periodic table to her father— chemistry is her favourite subject, even though most eleven year olds don't know the topic like she does.

      Mae's life changes once more when she is twelve years old. Her Mama reveals a big secret to her daughters that must remain a secret. Mama is an agent in S.H.I.E.L.D, that is Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Maya Evans, her mother, who Mae always assumed to be boring, was a secret agent who works for a secret organisation. Mae is now older and smarter, so she is able to understand the complexity of CVID and with a promise to her parents to take care of her health, Mae's restrictions are unburdened a little. She even becomes closer to Sarah, her sister who starts revealing about her love life to Mae. ' Have you ever been in love? ' Fourteen year old Sarah would ask her younger sister. Mae would shake her head from side to side, pouting her lips with sadness. ' I have never, what is it like?' She would ask back, and Sarah would grin from ear to ear ' It is the best feeling in the world.'

        Mae would never believe those words. After all, what feeling can be more happier than going out of her home for more than two hours, drenching in sunshine? There is no comparison. The sun on your skin is the best feeling in the world, forget love.

        When she is thirteen years old, Mae is even more unhappy about her disorder. On Sarah's fifteenth birthday, Maya announces that when Sara is seventeen years old, she will begin her training to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D herself. Sarah is ecstatic, Mae is not. She wants to be an agent too. But because of her situation, it would be an impossible task. Being a spy is endangerment to yourself as well as your family, and for Mae that would be an even bigger risk. But the fact didn't sit right in her stomach, that's why she decided to take one risk in gym period, to prove to her mother that she is capable. 

             "Are you sure about this, Mae? You shouldn't do it if you don't wish to." Mr. Spielberg, the gym instructor asks her kindly. The young girl new to teenage nods her head, although she is still questioning the idea.

             "Okay then." He bobs his head with a smile, and directs her to the changing room.

    The other girls stare at her like a ghost just entered. Mae forces her neck downwards in embarrassment, nervously pinching her thighs.

             "What are you doing here?" A girl with honey blonde hair questions, inspecting the girl from top to bottom disgustingly.

             "Aren't you like, allergic to the world?" Another brunette comments, inviting laughs from the others. The dim changing room echoes with evil laughs and Mae is restricting the salt water from her eyes.

             "I'm just going to swim. Nothing will happen!" Mae defends submissively, braiding her arms to her chest. Her eyes still fear facing the mean girls surrounding her.

             "Do you even know how swim?"

              "I will learn to today! Nothing will go wrong."

    Mae has been wrong before, just like she is now. The moment she dove into the chlorine injected water, her lungs felt like they were on fire. She breathed in the water instantly, gasping aloud for help as she slowly drifted underwater and saw her own her dancing next to her.

     She must have passed out because when she awoke after, she can only see her mother's furious face.  "What the hell?"

   The next few moments is indulged in a huge argument between the mother-daughter pair. "Sarah gets to be a SHIELD agent and I don't! It's frustrating, mom."

           "Well Sarah doesn't have CVID. Why do you look at me like a villain? I'm doing this for you."

            "It doesn't look like that!" She screams before dashing on her bed and weeping into her plaid pillows. A knock on her door makes her leave it.

    She sniffs her nose as she watches her father slowly making way towards her. Her eyes are swollen and her face red, but she father ignores everything and holds his daughter's face delicately. "You know what your mother's saying is right. And since when do you want to be a secret agent?"

    Mae uses her hand to wipe her nose, frowning at her father. "I want to be like you guys." She whispers in revelation as even more tears flow out of her eyes.

   "Well," Harry comes closer. He uses the long sleeve if his indigo coloured t-shirt to wipe away her tears. "You have more than enough potential to be a scientist. Just like you father."

   A small grin appears on Mae's face.

   Looking at this, Harry laughs, holding his daughter's hand lovingly. "Would you like that?"

   Mae finally breaks her streak and lunges forward to embrace her father. She sniffs against his neck. "I would like that very much."

A/N :

im happy with how this turned out, just a closer look on Mae's childhood and a more detailed explanation of the summary. hopefully you got all the necessary insight on Mae's character. It's so complex sksks I'm really so excited to indulge into her character more and her character development is gonna be😻😻 also I just realized how CVID sounds so much like covid and the methods from preventing either are the same???? What does this mean ohmygoddddd.
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CHAPTER ONE COMING NEXT FRIDAY 🌻🌻