Vulpecula ✔️

Prologue.

The little girl walked behind her parents as they left the mansion. The helpers in the house had tears in their eyes for the girl who was deprived of parental love. But the girl was immune. She didn't care anymore. She knew that they both always left her alone. But she couldn't help but follow them like a lost puppy. Praying that they would gather her in their arms and leave with a warm heart.

The gates closed behind the posh black car and the girl sitting at the steps of the mansion stared as her parents left her once again. The five-year-old got up to go back inside the house when the gates opened again. Hope bubbled inside her chest, maybe her parents came back for her?

But that hope soon died down when she noticed the grey car instead of the black one, but the disappointment didn't last long. Her favourite person was just stepping down from his car. The little girl squeaked and ran into the arms of her hero, her saviour and the only man she has ever loved. Her Papa John.

"Hello princess." He laughed at the small girl in his arms. This felt like heaven for him. She was the sun of his sky and he wasn't ashamed of publically claiming her as his daughter. The door to the mansion was opened in a hurry and out came a beautiful lady. Joanna. The girl's babysitter. "Why hello there Miss Collins."

"Hey Mr. Mikelson."

"It's John darling." Papa John smirked when Joanna's face turned pink. "What did you make for dinner tonight?" He asked as he carried the girl towards the mansion.

"Her favourite food. We were going to have a movie marathon but you interrupted us."

"I feel wounded Joanna. Do you not want me here?" He pouted.

"It's not like that. It's your brother's mansion after all." John couldn't help but notice the disdain in her voice when she mentioned his brother. He couldn't blame her though. In the past five years, he too began disliking who his brother had become. All because of that woman.

"I can join my daughter and you for the movies tonight. Right princess?" He looked at the girl whose head was resting upon his chest while she let the elders banter.

"Yes. We can watch Frozen and Toy Story. And we can also watch the little mermaid." She said with a small smile on her face. John sighed in anguish. He didn't want his ball of sunshine to be so sad. He loved her happy. And it pained him physically to see her upset.

"We can do that love."

Joanna stood there watching the exchange between the two. Her heart raced as she saw how delicately John treated the little girl. She loved how he was more of a father to her than her real father. Joanna also knew that John was going to be the best dad ever. And Joanna loves John.

The night passed away just like that but the little girl in John's arms was still miserable. She didn't cry, the girl realised early in her days that if she cried her mother wouldn't be there to wipe the tears away. So what was the use to cry?

Finally after the movies were over, John sighed and glanced at the motionless girl. "Time for bed princess." He said cheerfully, hoping that somehow he could lift her spirits. But to no avail.

With a single nod, the girl hopped off his lap and made her way to her bedroom. On the way she tripped and fell hard, hard enough to make both the grown-ups wince, but she didn't bat an eyelash and walked away.

John noticed that the five-year-old was already broken, but he prayed with everything he had, to anyone who heard his prayers, to not hurt the girl anymore. She didn't deserve it.

A few streets down from their mansion was another beautiful home. The Murphy family resided there. The young six-year-old boy ran alongside the golden retriever, that his family had taken in after she was thrown out onto the streets. His mother and father watched him in silence with peaceful smiles on their faces.

His mother was just fifteen when she conceived him and his father was sixteen. Too young to be parents they still managed along well. The father took over the family business and the mother became a housewife until the son began going to school. They were happy and so in love. These were Louis Murphy and his wife Charlotte Murphy.

They were still young but a happy family. Louis Murphy looked forward to coming back to his wife and son every day whereas the other two in question would immediately brighten up at the sight of his car. This is what a family was supposed to be. Happy and together.

Two different kids brought up in different styles, how were they to survive together in a world that was darker than they had ever imagined?