the kids are depressed

•DESIRE

"Desire wakes up to shouting..."

'3...2...'

"DESIRE! What kind of stupid sleep are you still sleeping?!"  The expected voice of her Uncle's wife came just right on time. It was just 5 o'clock. "Very soon you'll come and tell me one stupid nonsense about school excursion! If you don't come out of that room..."

She took a deep breath before stepping out the room. The woman had a look of fury in her eyes, like the girl hadn't been working until 12 that early morning.

"Good morning, ma," she tried her best to make her face into a smile as she motioned towards her aunty who she thought looked like the perfect description of the ugly version of the Angry Bird.

"Why didn't you soak the Semo pot last night? Don't you know that it will cause too much work this morning?"

She didn't know where the pot had appeared from, but if she hadn't moved her feet just in time, the pot would have landed right on it.

"Wash that pot before you leave this house, I don't care if they've paid for the excursion, if you don't arrange my house ni te mi, you're not going anywhere."

Desire would have started with her first, "Yes ma" of the day if the noise from her cousins room hadn't caused she and her aunty to turn their heads towards the direction of the room. The noise grew louder. Desire knew what it was and she watched as her aunty pretended not to know.

"These ones have started fighting again," 'Oh she did know!' Desire thought happily as the words came out of her Aunty's lips and she expected the woman to yell at her twin daughters who were just a couple of months younger than Desire, but she shook her head in silence before turning her focus back at someone else's daughter. "You are still standing there? Won't you go and wash?" She screamed dramatically at Desire and the girl couldn't help but wonder if her aunty battled some serious mental problems that no one knew about because shouldn't she be using that tone at her daughters? Her thoughts and not mine.

6 years living with her father's brother's family had thought her how to come out victorious when it came down to facing a strong Semo pot squarely. All she had to do was add enough water and extra man power and the deed was done. She didn't get why the woman was being dramatic.

She was going out to pour the debris of the Semo she had scrubbed out of the pot when she caught sight of her neighbor's son: Diji—her crush. He was already in the university and she knew that he knew how much she liked him because—and if she was going to be honest with herself—she kind of was pathetic whenever they talked and she knew she was, she just didn't know how to stop. He had that kind of effect on her and although one of her friend laughed at how what she had was called a "Cinderella complex", yet she didn't care. He was tall, dark, smart—okay, she didn't know that—and handsome.

She still had the pot of debris in her hands as she stole glances at him from his bedroom widow. His father's duplex was right in front of her uncle's bungalow , and his room was up and right in front of the kitchen so she spent most of her days seated in the kitchen—even when he wasn't back from the university for the holidays.

She finally composed herself and got out of the house. He saw her. Mission accomplished.

He waved with his usual bright smile and she waved back with her usual pathetic one.

"Good morning," she added and he smiled again, asking why she was up so early. She gestured at the pot in her hands and he smiled like he understood. She knew he didn't. Everyone thought she was her uncle's daughter and this was because whenever her uncle was around, he took care of her and treated her equally—sometimes he even pampered her more than he did with his twins and this was simply because she was a smart girl who brought home impressive academic results.

"How's your weekend going?" He asked and she wanted to tell him that it just started, I mean wasn't it literally a minute past 5? But she smiled and said it was going good. She added the fact that she was going on an excursion, hoping that it would keep him talking to her for longer; it did.

"Make sure you have fun and take mad pictures o!" He dragged one of his ear like he really gave a ram about her mad pictures. He was just a nice guy and she liked him for that. Asides from her uncle, there weren't too many nice guys—are own biological father included. I mean, wasn't he the reason why she was here in the first place? If he hadn't been caught molesting...

"DESIRE!" She heard her aunty call and she excused her self and waited for him to nod in understanding before she quickly deposited the debris into the waste bin and ran back into the house.

"I went to pour the rubbish outside," she defended herself as soon as she got into the kitchen.

"Abi you went to look at man. You think I've not been noticing? Continue, very soon you'll come again and say that one man tried to molest you—I'll be here to tell everyone that it's you that seduced him oo, just watch and see. Oniranu oshi." The woman hissed and walked out of the kitchen. Desire smiled as she thought back to the time when she newly came into this house and how this same woman hugged and her and promised her that everything was going to be alright. "He won't harm you again," she had comforted her, now this? She just shook her head and turned to look at Diji again but he was gone.

She went back to pick her phone and her heart leaped when she saw a message from her friend who thought she had a Cinderella Complex.

TEMI: WAKE UP CINDERELLA!
IT'S TIME TO HAVE FUN!

DESIRE: YES FAIRY GODMOTHER!
She hit send and smiled as her Aunty's words came back to play in her head.

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