Pʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍ Sᴏʟᴠᴇʀ| ˡᵒᵒᵏⁱˢᵐ

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼| 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑱 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉?

"Okay, finished."

Kayden looked at his reflexion in the mirror. Thanks to his sister's make up skills, the scar on his face was now nearly invisible. But as her skills were lacking, it was very obvious that he was wearing make up, giving away that he was covering up something that was probably really ugly.

"I know it's not very good but... we still have some time left till you have to start going to school. Don't worry."

The boy continued to analyze his face for a few moments, before he stood up and walked to the bathroom to wash it off and start over again.

Mira watched him silently as he tried to apply it himself. Earlier, she wanted to help him doing that, but he had swatted her hand away, saying that he had to learn how to do that on his own, since she wouldn't always have the time to do it for him. For you, I can make time, she thought as he said that, having learnt the hard way that family was more important than anything else. But she was proud of him, and proud to be the sister of this amazing person, who was so strong and independent, but not too afraid to ask for help - or for make up supplies in his case.

"Mira, you have to go to school or you'll be late." the voice of their mother reached their ears, making them aware of the time.

Without looking away from the mirror, Kayden handed her her phone. "You should go."

"Okay," she sighed, standing up. "If you need anything, you can call me." She ran her fingers through her brother's hair one last time before she grabbed her bag and left for school.

A few minutes after she left, their father entered the room, awkwardly sitting down on the bed. "Kayden, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"School," the boy guessed, not batting an eyelash as he continued applying make up.

"Yeah, you have been back with us for a week now... and it's time for you to go to school. I mean, you are still required to school by law at your age, so you have to go. But still, we can decide what school so I thought we could go out today and take a look around."

Kayden didn't answer, trying hard to get the powder to match his skin tone.

"What do you think?"

"Kayden?"

"I'm talking to you, son."

"Kayden!"

Without a word, the boy stood up and walked to the bathroom again to scrub off the make up. With a small, exhausted sigh, he leaned against the doorframe as he dried his face with a towel. "This won't do."

His father stood up and walked over to him. "Kayden... is this about the scar?"

"Well, yeah," the boy said. "I don't want people to say anything about it." And I certainly don't want people to recognize me because of it.

"Okay, grab your bag. Let's go."

"Huh?"
_

Half an hour later they stood inside a make up saloon in the mall, letting the stylists take a proper look at his scar to come up with a way to cover it.

Kayden was surprised by his father, he wouldn't have taken the man to be someone who would grab his son and walk into a make up saloon, asking them to style his son and teach him how to properly do it himself. Sure they had to pay extra, but the old man didn't care, wanting his lost child to feel safe and confident.

The stylists took their time finding the colors that matched his skin tone, making sure they were the right ones. They applied everything extra slowly, explaining everything they did in detail so Kayden would be able to copy it.