If anything in the world was as hard as Mathematics, dialing the Kingsleigh household was far more hard and worse than that.

It had been long since you last called home. You wondered what had happened to your cousins, and your Aunt Margaret's children and Margaret herself. Although not connected by blood, they surely loved and accepted you with all of their hearts as their own. You missed them terribly.

After spinning the dialing wheel with your head against the telephone, you patiently waited for someone to pick up as the phone rang. A few moments or so, someone finally picked up and you almost burst to tears upon hearing the human's voice.

"(Y/n), dear?"

It was your mother, for cheesecake's sake. You held back a cry of joy as you quickly responded.

"Hello, mum. I... I thought I'd make another call again, sorry if I haven't done so in quite a while. I missed you all so! How are you doing?" You asked. Alice chuckled from the other line, her gentle and aging voice sending a blanket of comfort through your system. "We missed you too, (Y/n). Your aunt and I are well, as well as your cousins. Georgie and Frederick are active at work like usual, missing you too. They wonder when you'd come visit us." Alice said through the line.

"Maybe soon enough, mum. If I've saved enough money." You smiled. Your talk with your mother seemed to continue on for ages until it was time for dinner, you both had a lot of catching up to do despite only the distance difference from where you currently lived to theirs. You were a young adult off to discover every corner of the world possible and your mother letting you do whatever you wanted made you the happiest gal in the world, but there were also instances that you would be homesick. You managed to cope sometimes, but the feeling was too strong. It couldn't be avoided.

At the dinner table, you shivered at the thought of your mother's words before she ended the call. It was utterly disgusting to the point that it made you choke on your tea.

"Sweetie... um, I'm afraid I have quite the bad news for you."

"What is it, mum?"

"Hamish's son wants your hand in marriage."

"WHAT?!"

That Hamish guy alone was enough for you to go full on knight mode for your mother, let alone his very own son asking for your hand in marriage when in fact you both barely knew each other?

"Mum, I don't- I don't want to face him. EVER. I mean, we barely even met?! Does he expect me to instantly fall for him at first sight?! He's just as arrogant and boastful as Hamish." Alice chuckled through the line.

"I know how much you despise Hamish's family– and Hamish– as I do, sweetheart, but I am old and have no control over your life. It is you and your thoughts who I want to hear." your mum said. Letting out a sigh, you seemed to finally put on the last puzzle piece of your thoughts before proceeding on to replying to your mother. You were now very sure of it, even if they'd lure you in with money. You were such an intelligent and witty woman, and falling for their traps is just like tripping over a glass of orange juice.

"I won't marry him, mum, nor face him— ever." You shook your head, as if Alice would see it.

Shoving the last piece of meat that you had and a spoonful of mashed potatoes, you proceeded on to washing the dishes and start on the evening rituals. It was quiet– not the usual quiet that you got used to, it was eerily quiet that sent chills down your spine. You scratched the back of your neck and continued on with the dishes.

—————

You were now in a pair of soft (p/c) pyjamas while your nest of (h/c) hair was loose and free to dangle on and about with the cold evening wind. Sliding a blanket over your shoulders, you lit up your bedroom lamp and went to sit by the window pane to admire the night sky.

It was ecstasy— getting to do this over and over again. You didn't grow tired of it, infact, you loved and lived for every second of it. At that very evening where you sipped a cup of jasmine tea, the wind kissed your (s/c) face and blew away stray strands of your hair away. The moon shone brightly, emitting its gentle glow throughout the evening sight of London. Just a few steps away from where you sat, were your plants and flowers of all kinds that stood gracefully like ballerinas.

Just as you were about to consume the last drop of your beverage, something white flashed before your eyes. You thought that maybe you were just hallucinating from all the exhaustion you felt from the day, or maybe the flowers you picked made you hazy, but you made sure to rub your eyes and you were definitely not hallucinating at all.

The blob of white that you saw roaming through the deepest depths of the darkness outside had two long ears, and wore a red overcoat.