The lion and the doe- A Gene Simmons Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Cluj Napoca Romania 1964...

A young girl walks slowly on the paved road. She's 12 years old, but looks much younger. She just finished school. But she doesn't go home first. The young girl has to get somewhere else. She holds a few books to her chest so tightly, as if someone wants to take them from her. Today has been a hard day at school. She had many tests. But still she succeeds and got high grades.

She passes some elderly women who immediately notice her. She knows them as well as they know her. The girl stops for a few moments to greet them:

"Hello Mrs. Ileana and Mrs. Valeria," the girl says in a shy voice.

"Hello, Liliana," the women answer in unison. 

"How was at school?" Asks one of them.

"Was well!" The girl answers, smiling at them and continuing on her way.

Her name is Liliana but her family and friends call her "Lily". The young girl walks past some houses she knows and shops until she arrives in front of a pastry shop with a large panel on which are engraved the letters "At Costas". In fact, their family's real name was "Kostas". Her grandfather was a Greek man. He migrated to Romania a long time ago and worked as a teacher and he had to change his name. That "K" was problematic in this country. He married a Romanian woman, Eufrosina, Lily's grandmother. And after a few years her father, Ion, and her brother, her uncle, Vasile were born. Her father married her mother, Maria, and then her older brother was born and after a couple of years she was born too.

Lily smiles proudly at the pastry shop. It belongs to her father, Ion Costas. He opened it 6 years ago, and the business is going very well. A teenager boy comes out of the pastry shop. He also has a stack of books in his hand and holds a warm croissant in his other hand. Most likely with chocolate. This is Anton. Lily's older brother. He is 17 years old and is 5 years older than her. Apparently he came from high school and thought of coming to their father for a snack. He looks at his sister a little confused at first, then he grins and asks:

"Are you hungry too?"

"Not as hungry as you are," his sister chuckles.

Anton doesn't say anything to his sister anymore, leaving, most likely home.
The girl enters into the building and sees her father cleaning a table with a damp cloth, while one of the employees serve the customers. Although her father has enough employees, he cannot stay and not help when needed. In fact, he can't stand still. He has an unimaginable energy.

Her father looks at the door, heard a noise, and an instant smile settles on his face.

"Lily! What are you doing, my dear?"

"Hello, Daddy!"

The girl smiles and leaves her books on a table next to her and goes to her father and hugs him. He kisses her on the top of the head, then moving away from the child and asks her, looking so gently:

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

"You guessed it! Like every time," the girl laughs with one hand to her mouth.

After a few hours...

Now the Costas family sits at the table and prays, as they usually do before dinner. Vasile, Ion's brother, the children's uncle, is sitting at the table with them today. After the prayer, their mother, Maria, gives each one a plate and everyone puts their food on the plate.

"Children," she says, "did you do your homework?"

"Yes, mother," they both answer in unison with a bored voice.