CHAINS OF OUR BLOOD

The shaky reconciliation

Forgiveness does not change the past but it does enlarge the future...

 The alarm went off and Fainwyn groggily went to the bathroom. She looked at the bathroom mirror, criticizing her reflection. But, she saw no trace of her stress and felt relieved. She thanked good genes for that. 

I might just be imagining things yesterday, and Meredith might strike if I let my guard down. I can't show weakness.

She went to take a quick shower and got dressed. She mumbled a thanks to her personal assistant. The one whom her mother hired to help her present her image better. Meredith never knew about Therese

Meredith will never know about Therese, and I'll keep it that way. She chooses her own wardrobe while I can't be trusted to choose my day to day attire, she'll undoubtedly gloat over it. She secretly admires Meredith's decisiveness. She's not very good at that. But I'm good at pretending to be.

Fainwyn then went down to the dining room, where an array of food waited for her. This such a waste. She tried talking to Joseph about the amount of food served to her but the chef would not budge, truth be told only Joseph held respect for her. The rest of the staff treated her like a stupid child. Her word carried no weight among them. Just like mother's word, they answer to grandmother, what did you expect. She has murdered the all of their staff a million times in her head, except for Joseph, all the others are a pain in the a$$.

"Time for school princess."

"Yes Joseph."

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Meredith opened her eyes, checked the time on her clock at the bedside table. It was exactly 4 a.m. Even in distress her inner clock didn't budge. She's not a morning person, but years of living with a dictator of a mother left her with a lot of rigid habits, she walked like a zombie to her bathroom. 

My eyes feel heavy. Oh my! 

She suddenly felt awake, and looked at herself in the mirror. 

Great! Just great! I look like a bloody bride of Frankenstein! 

Her eyes were not that puffy, but there was a definite dark patch under her eyes. She took a deep breath and strengthened her resolve. 

A shower and a professional make-up artist is what I need. 

She dialed her personal assistant Theodora and told her she'll be needing Macy's expertise. Once she's done, she felt a whole lot better. She went on and took a much-needed bath.An hour after she inspected herself in the built-in full-length mirror of her walk-in closet, it was like a shopping mall's changing room except the walls are all mirrors that lets her see all the angle of her appearance. It wasn't narcissistic, it was necessary. 

Mother can never abide a single minuscule mistake on my appearance, perfection.Okay, all perfect.

When she got out of her room she was surprised to see Roark waiting for her.

"Meredith, good morning. How are you feeling today?"

"I feel fine babe, all fine."

"I thought we're done with the pretense?"

She gulped, felt a panic attack rising to greet her.

"Breathe Meredith, you need to have a talk with Faith, so I talked to Joseph to have us take the same car to school."

"Roarke, I..."

"End this pretense Meredith, and end your misery. You don't have to be like mother."

Even though she felt apprehensive, she acquiesced.

_____________________

The car door was opened for Fainwyn, and she was shocked to see Roarke, Monica and Meredith in it.

"Faith, you two need to talk. And we need to listen, in case either of you try your usual tricks of lies."

She knew she had her mouth hung wide open, she was surprised to feel the car move, she didn't remember getting in...

"So, yesterday..." Meredith and Fainwyn said in unison.

They both cleared their throats.

"I'm sorry Faith, I'm sorry..." Meredith was saying

"Do you really mean that? You really mean that. You really mean that, right Mer?" Fainwyn couldn't believe her ears, Meredith never ask for forgiveness.

"Yes Faith, I mean it."

"I know, you never utter those words, ever...I'm sorry too."

They hugged awkwardly at first, then tightly, and for the first time they hugged without malice. Roarke and Monica was grinning from ear to ear.

Then Meredith said "Ika, are you the mastermind of this?" She said it, without a hint of condescension, almost as if it was a joke.

"Nope, Roarke just called me this morning for moral support, and I decided to be present, I think we'll be great friends from now on, don't you think?"

"I think you're right."

They all shared a smile.

__________________________

The bell rang, Miss Minchin looked at three vacant chairs. 

This is highly unusual, what might have happened? Meredith and Fainwyn might have had a fight, but  Monica...

Miss Minchin's thought was cut short when Monica came in, followed by Fainwyn and Meredith, who she saw were smiling tightly at each other. Not their usual sweet smiles laced with venom. The girls think that she's oblivious to their fight. 

Hah! I've lived for far too long girls! 

Several hundred years to be exact.

"We're sorry to be late Miss." The girls said and she smiled at them.

"No problem, you were just in time." 

She hid her curiosity, she knew it's best to let the girls resolve their problems with little to no help from her, she learned that lesson hard. They will find a way on their own. She needs to trust them. She then set aside her personal issues and focused on teaching, she loved to teach, whatever people may say, she was not cursed. She was blessed to live and reflect on all her mistakes.

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Hello, I'm so busy with school forms and dance practice. I had no time to update sooner. This is such a short chaper since I need to go to practice now, and I might never get another chance to update so I'll just publish it...