Bella

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

VALERIE'S POV:

"It's Christmas, Má."

My voice cracked slightly as my tone went from a yell to a whisper. I breathed in an unnatural way as I tried to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to fall.

It was just barely seven in the morning and I had woken up to finding my mom leaving for work.

On Christmas morning.

We had been arguing for the past few minutes.

She wouldn't give me a reason as to why she chose to go to work on this day, and exactly why would she try to sneakingly leave Dasani and I alone on one of the days that's supposed to be all about spending time with family.

Why am I crying over this?

I should've seen it coming.

She sighed and scratched behind her ear, something she did when she was irritated, "Mija—"

I scoffed and wiped my right cheek as I felt the trail of water, "Don't 'Mija' me. You can't stay home with your children for one day?! Your damn company can honestly not be more important than us! What could possibly go wrong within a few hours at the place that you spend every single hour and day at?! You watch over that place more than you watch over me and it's sickening. All I have ever wanted was to spend time with you! That's all I've wanted, but all you do is fucking leave especially when I need you most."

Her posture straightened as she leaned closer to my face, now giving me the dirtiest look of them all.

"Watch your tone! I am your mother and you will respect me." she glared.

It was like everything I said went in one ear and out the other.

I chuckled, vision now blurry from my own tears, "You're not my mom. You're just the woman who happened to give birth to me."

Her cheeks puffed and what she did next caused an echo to bounce off of the walls in the kitchen. A stinging sensation was left on my cheek, causing more tears to drop from my puffy eyes.

She had slapped me.

My hand went up to my face as I cradled it. My eyes were now full of not only hurt but also disappointment.

Flashbacks from a time earlier in life eased it's way back into my mind, and I let out a strangled breath.

There was silence between us for a while.

And then came the blonde bimbo, "What the fuck?"

I didn't bother to turn my head from the side of which it whipped to because of the force of the woman's hit. I bit down on my bottom lip as I watched the glossy paneled floor underneath us.

I was afraid to speak for the first time in a long time.

Eventually, the birth giver spoke up, "I'm leaving."

Before either one of us could throw a question at her she quickly grabbed her purse and rushed out of the door. When the front door slammed closed I slowly lifted my head up, wiping my tear stained face as I came in contact with Dasani.

"What do you want?" I mumbled.

Her eyebrows furrowed, "Are you okay?"

She pointed at her cheek, signaling that there must've been a mark on mine. That only made me want to cry harder, but instead I covered my cheek with my hand again.

I forcefully showed a tight lipped smile, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Her face softened, "I heard you guys. You want to talk about it?"