Learning My Roots (Hope Estheim Love Story)

Chapter 1: First Encounter

Disclaimer: Everything besides Bella and her family belong to Square Enix.

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We walked in front of a door of a resident. My mother pressed the doorbell. The door opened to reveal a woman with light brown/silver hair. I recognized her from long ago. "Ellie," she said with a smile. "Hello Nora," my mother said. They gave each other a hug.

Nora saw me. "Oh my gosh. Your daughter has grown so much," she said. My mother gave a smile. I looked up at her. "Do you remember me?" she asked. I nodded my head. "Yes I do," I said. She gave ma a smile and a hug.

She let us inside the the house. It was cozy in a way. My mother and I sat on the couch while Nora made us some tea. "Hope. Can you come to the living room please. We have some guests," I heard. {I guess she was calling for her son.} Nora came with the tea and offered me a cup.

"Thank you," I said with a smile and sip the tea. It was really nice. Soon, a boy with silver hair came into the room. Nora turned to him. "Hope. I want you to meet my friend Ellie and her daughter Bella," she said. He turned to us. "Hello," he said.

My mother gave him a smile. "Hello Hope. Your mother told me a bit about you," she said. He gave a nod and sat next to his mother. My mother and Nora had a conversation. I sat in my seat trying to listen to them. I wasn't too familiar about what they were saying. I looked up to see Hope looking at me a bit. I gave him a smile and took a sip of my tea.

"Our family is planning to go on a ten day vacation to the Bodhum to see the annual fireworks show. Both of you should go with us," Nora said. I turned to my mother. "Thats a great idea," my mother said. "It would be a great way to bond together especially Hope and Bella," she said.

We learned that we would be leaving in a few days. Soon, my mother and Nora were going to go in the kitchen to make dinner. "Hope, why don't you show Bella around," Nora said. "Sure," he said uneasy. We got up and he led me to his room.

He opened the door to his room. He allowed me to walk inside first. I could see that he had a bed, desk, tv, computer, bookshelf, and a few other things. "So um...what do you like to do?" I heard Hope ask. I turned to him. "I love reading. I like learning," I said to him.

Soon, we started to talk about a lot of things. He told me about his school and his friends. I was very interested about school. "So what can you tell me about yourself?" he asked. I remembered not to talk about anything related to Divinia and my mother's shifting ability. She told me a few things to say in case if anyone asked me.

"Well, I am thirteen years old. I grew up without a father," I told him. He frowned a bit. "Oh um...I'm sorry," he said. {He's probably thinking the wrong idea.} "My father forced my mother to divorce. I was born a few months after. My father doesn't know about me," I clarified to him. "Oh. I don't get it. Why force?" he asked.

"My mother told me that she was accused of doing something. She said that she was innocent. I believe her," I said. Hope nodded his head. "Kids. Dinner," we heard. "Come on. I'll show you the dining room," he said. I gave him a smile and we walked together.

We sat across from each other. Mom and Nora kept talking. I noticed that whenever Nora talked about her husband, Hope gets a bit angry. {Do they not have a good relationship?} I was a bit worried for him. He looked at me and notice that I had a frown on my face.

He quickly gave me a weak smile and continued to eat. I went back to eating as well. After dinner, we had some cake for dessert. It was delicious. Soon, it was time for us to go home. We walked to the door. "We will be seeing you very soon," Nora said. "Okay," my mother said. I turned to Hope. "See you at the trip," I said with the smile. "Yeah," he said.

We went home. Since then, I thought about Hope.