Mafia Guard Loves the Daughter

4

4

Breathe in the Liar

Ehryl

Mom hunches over the front yard again, and I soon stomp back inside the house, because it won’t be long before Dieth arrives. We’ll act on the same pretense we always had since middle school started, and puberty nipped on our toes. I first noticed the distance between us being even farther.

The pretense that we treat each other like family.

It wasn’t always like this; we were close when we were kids. But the difference between us is too obvious. Plain as it is day and night. The first time I talked to him, he had an Eastern European accent whenever he talked to me in English, and always had this wild look on his face whenever there were some minor changes to his routine, like sleeping in during the weekends or he doesn’t have to do laps around the property. It was hard to ignore who he truly was, but I still treated him the way my mom wanted me to treat him.

But he didn’t see it the same way and I was delusional in thinking so.

I hear his engine from my bedroom. I took the only room with the most windows in the back corner of the house, yet I heard his car in the front, but it had another drawback it didn’t have its own bathroom. I had to share one with him, which I don’t mind. Because this one had the largest window that let my telescope comfortably stand in front of it without any adjustments. The ceilings were high enough and the window wide enough that I could pull back the telescope as high as I wanted without it being impeded.

It's worth it.

It’s worth the countless times I caught him showering or stripping. The countless unnecessary run-ins in that small confinement of a shower. I heave in a sigh as I drop my heavy and aching body on my bed. It sits comfortably by the window, and I could only ache. Every part of me ached. I turn my head to the other side and push my arms under the pillow.

My chest didn’t stop aching, but I closed my eyes and convinced myself that I was being dramatic instead.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I froze. For a moment I strain my ears to hear him behind the door. I already knew what it meant without him saying anything, but I still waited. I didn’t move but I saw his shadow under the door.

I had no idea what I was waiting for. He never says anything to me anymore. The last time he talked to me out of his own volition was before middle school.

You did well Ehryl

I don’t remember why he said those words anymore, but I still remember them. The shadow shifts and finally, there was only light coming in from the hallway. The smell of the kitchen finally reached my room, the farthest one in the house. I didn’t feel hungry. I am numb, but I still want to keep my mother oblivious to what’s happening.

The telescope didn’t have a speck of dust on its titanium body. I pulled myself off the bed and easily took it apart. Nobody would notice it being gone since nobody ever steps foot in my room. Not even Mom. It was a quick process, and I knew it would be, which made the strange churning in my chest all the more confusing. All the more upsetting. It was better than seeing it every time I got home. Unsure of what to do with it, I pulled it towards the depths of my wardrobe. Hidden behind hanging clothes and covered at the foot by folded ones, I take a step back to make sure it's unnoticeable. When it finally was, I made my way towards the kitchen

Mom and Dieth were already in the kitchen, where their dining table was separated by an island. The table was set, and the food was being ladled into serving plates by her mom and Dieth. They often do this is special occasions. The both of them work in harmonious tandem in the kitchen without any problems, and they move in the kitchen like a dance. Both of them enjoyed cooking so much that I often watched them from the dining table.

I do the same tonight. My mom’s eyes shimmered with mirth as Dieth said one of their inside jokes. One that I also know too, but I watched them instead. I don’t chime in unless one of them met my gaze and talked to me.

“So, anything special happened on your birthday?” Mom says with plates of food in her arms. Placing them gently on the middle of the cracked wooden table.

“Nothing out of the ordinary”

Dieth drops to a chair close to me. “Are you sure?” He asks me, but not really. His voice is different when he’s talking to me with Mom in the same room. Something almost foreign about it despite having heard it for years now. He gives me a knowing look. “Better come clean. Rami wants all the dirty details of your special day.”

Mom is buzzing. I smile at her and relent. “I went out with Dani to the mall and played hooky”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you!” Mom plops down to her seat with a wide-eyed look of surprise and shock. “Was it fun? Playing hooky is supposed to be fun.”

I purse my lips. “It’s…a new experience.”

Mom beams. “Having new experiences is a good thing. Ah, I remember when I was your age, I had new experiences every. Single. Day.”

“Oh, we know” I smirk. “You were one of the cool kids.”

“Bad crowd last I heard” Dieth smirks along with me like we’re conspiring together. But all that I could think of was his American accent. One that he adopted the moment he stepped into an American school and another thing. “I have seen your high school photos.”

Mom splutters. “How did you even see my Yearbook?”

The both of them slowly looked towards me. I shrug. “I’m resourceful if I wanted to, plus we were bored.”

“That was so long ago.” He added. “You shouldn’t even be mad at this point. The statute of limitations is way over the limit.”

She scoffs. “These geniuses, I swear. Fine, but you two should know how to launder your own clothes then.”

“Aw, even birthday girl?” he c***s his head towards me. “It’s her birthday and she did just pass her papers for college”

My heart drops to my stomach

“Oh!” Mom breaks out a grin. “Right! We have two college students on this table very soon! I know my chick’s choice, but where did you choose to study Dieth?”

Dieth shrugs. “MIT.”

“Yay! The both of you are going to the same uni! Aw, my heart.” She beamed at the both of us, and my insides were dying inside me, churning into one big mush till all I could feel was dying.

I try to return the feeling, and I wish they were convinced.