Dreaming Together

Chapter 5

The granite countertops adorned the sun-drenched kitchen as the large windows bathed the room in morning light. Lena pulled her chestnut hair back in a ponytail focusing on her task, the sound of toasting bread and sizzling meats adding to the mouth-watering aroma of fresh baked bread and deli meats.

"And place some chips for a lip-smacking side" the Youtube tutorial continued as Lena cooked.

Max entered the kitchen, half drowsy not noticing his pyjama strings were almost hanging on to their dear life.

"Oh that isn't the kind of sausage I want to look at this fresh morning"

"Shut up" Max pulled his pyjamas up.

"Okay there" Lena placed the breakfast on table. The sandwich she crafted was a work of art, with hues of brown, green, and an array of meats, cheeses, and vegetables. No wonder why Max, didn't utter a word of complaint while at the table.

"Now if you're free, can we talk?"

"Already missed gym today, I cannot focus more on such immature dreamy talks, Lena. Act like an adult already."

"But Max, I wanted to know more about your home back in town and how is your family doing, just getting to know my roommate, you know?"

"What do you know about family, Lena?" Max's jaws started to clench, his eyebrows raised higher, his eyes looking down on his empty plate. "You never even had one" Max sighed with smirk.

Lena looked straight into Max's eyes, as if the world went blank as she tried looking out through her blurry eyes.

Picking up her plate, trying to ease the lump in her throat, she pulled some words together to form a sentence before she dashed out of the apartment with her bag.

"I'd at least pick my words carefully, if I had one"

Though Max knew Lena was adopted by the Smiths, little did he know much of anything about her.

Brought up in an orphanage and then in foster homes, Lena had lived a couple of different lives.

Teenage pregnancies can be tough to hide even tougher when the little woman leaves their offspring by the doors of an orphanage due to societal fear.

Lady Kass was the first friend Lena made. The owner of the orphanage she was left at. Lena being Lena, she made quite a few friends at the orphanage, with the help of Kass, who used to bring her a big barbie house each birthday. Though lady kass seemed to struggle in making her own ends meet, it was peculiar how she would save up to arrange for Lena's gift every year when she only gave a dress to each of the other kids at her orphanage.

The days at the orphanage were filled with hardship and struggle, with food and water shortages, endless chores, and the pressure of knitting as the main source of income, life was far from easy. But, through it all, Lena learnt everything with lady Kass. From struggling to understand physics to reading Shakespeare together and then going on to practicing punches during her marshal arts training, lady Kass truly worked hard on building these girls up. Who would have thought that a divorced, broke, overweight redhead with two cats could raise children to study at Ivy League schools?  The admissions team at Harvard surely did while they read Lena's essay.

At least, somebody knew how great a lady Miss. Kass was.

The orphanage life was great, until one day Mr. and Miss Pinkett chose to pick the bubbly, dark haired, rosy, little girl in the green dress from the orphanage.

"I am handing my gem over to you. I hope you take good care of her" said lady Kass while she signed the adoption formalities with the family.

As Lena approached the sprawling mansion known as the Pinkett House, she was awed by its sheer size and grandeur. She had heard whispers of the wealthy textile business that the Pinkett family presided over, but she was still taken aback by the sheer magnitude of their wealth. Despite her tender years, Lena was frequently dressed in the finest of gowns and taken to the most exclusive cocktail parties, where she was introduced to a world of wealth and luxury.

Lena was a lover of elegance, indulging in the elegant attire her loyal maids would adorn her with. The twelve-year-old cherished gowns that were impeccable, with neat and clean designs, a far cry from the current state of her closet, now overflowing with shabby and oversized garments that one could easily mistake for a hobo's attire.

Though parties were fun, the afterparties weren't. The cocktails weren't the only thing that went down. There were hands tracing paths they shouldn't, words cooed in ears that would make one shiver and lips that just didn't stop at the glass rim.

Everything she owned, whether it was studying at the finest school in town, wearing the finest clothes, eating the finest food, or hanging out with the finest kids, had a price attached to it. The kind she paid at the afterparties, letting the same hand slide under her skirt that escorted her to the school bus each morning.

It wasn't until one day, she chose to speak up about this to her school counsellor was she dismissed from the school because the authorities cared more about the trust funds than trusting their student. Labelled as "mentally unstable, immature and devilish" Lena was thrown back to Kass' orphanage after evading three poisoning attempts at the Pinkett's.

Although, she was welcomed back by Kass with open arms despite the financial strain of adding another child, the clinks of glasses didn't sound the same anymore, she was confused between a touch of compassion and care and a touch of danger and scare. Flinching at everything, she gave each bite of her food to kass' cat before eating it herself. Still, she found a sense of safety in her familiar surroundings listening to the soothing rhythm of knitting at Kass' side.

Yet, as a nearly 14-year-old, the prospect of getting adopted again seemed bleak.

Doubt clouded Lena's mind as she feared being stuck in the same place forever, until the Smiths entered her life. It was only, thanks to, young Terry's instant affection that they considered her.

Lena's heart swelled with gratitude as she bid farewell to dear Kass, the older woman's hands holding her own with a tender, protective grip. The tenderness in Kass' eyes spoke volumes of their deep connection, and Lena felt a bittersweet twinge as she left the comfort of the familiar behind.

Lena found a home with the Smiths, who were well-educated, humble, and tidy folk. Though they couldn't afford fancy gowns for her, Mrs. Smith stayed by her side all night when she was sick and Mr. Smith always met her basic needs. Lena fit in like a missing piece in the family as she acted like a big sister to Terry. Though sometimes in anger, harsh words were spoken like "Wish we never took you from the orphanage" or "That's why your parents left you", they always apologized and hugged her afterwards. Though she felt comfortable living with the Smiths, she never truly felt like she belonged there.

Despite their caring occasional check-ins while she studied at Harvard, Lena knew that if it weren't for the full ride scholarship, the Smiths wouldn't support her higher studies.

The day went on as Lena continued walking to her class.

Though there wasn't word between the two the entire day, fiery looks got exchanged at the barista counter and the play rehearsal.

Lena slid away, to be found nowhere in the campus, neither did she come back at home that night.