Ivory (Roses Trilogy #1)

Prologue

"Get out of my room! Dad! She didn't tell me about borrowing my eraser!"

When I was 10, I usually kept quiet whenever I heard multiple screams that became the music of the house. I didn't mind them as I watched my hands fold the paper to make a flower. I was sitting on the carpeted floor as I heard another scream, creating a small argument, and watching how my parents would scold both of them.

"She pulled my hair first!"

"Because you always steal my things!"

"We're damn twins! Can't I do that?!"

"Language, Khora." Dad said in a stern voice. From what I remember, my mom had her arms crossed on her chest as she listened to my sisters, Lori and Khora, arguing. She was standing beside my dad who's looking up at the stairs with a frustrated look on his face, probably waiting for one of my sisters to show up.

I glanced at my mom, she turned to look at me as well, giving me a soft smile. She was probably thinking why my sisters can't be like me. I smirked to myself. It's good that we're different and I prefer it that way. I love my siblings. We grew up together and I remember well that even if we fight—most of the time I was not a part of it—we never left each other behind.

"We're triplets! Include Flora!" Lori exclaimed. Exactly.

"When was the last time I did not include her, huh?!"

"Just now!"

But even if I was never in the argument, I will always be a part of it.

"Come down here, you two," my dad commanded. "We need to talk about your recent behaviors. I've been watching."

I recalled seeing my sisters walking down the stairs. First was Lori, then Khora. Lori had a scared look on her face, while Khora was always Khora. She does not give a shit about anything, as long as she has let her feelings out. She knew it was just a sibling argument and they already had countless of them, so who wouldn't be used to it?

"Why can't you just sit here in the living room? Do your usual thing and be proper? Like—"

"Flora... yes, Dad. I heard." Khora rolled her eyes and turned to look at me with a disgusted look on her face. I shook my head and focused on folding papers.

Among us, I am known as the smartest, most quiet, and proper. I think I was born to earn that description, considering how my parents always use me to give lectures for my sisters. I honestly don't mind them using me and I never saw it as a comparison. My sisters and I know each other better, and they never take me negatively whenever my parents come to them and start nagging while they use me.

At 14, I was in high school, and I was still embodied by that simple description. I constantly lived with it all throughout my high school.

"Pass them to Flora, she's more responsible than I am."

"I admire you, how are you so different from your sister?"

"She's boring. She never showed interest."

When I heard that I was boring, I found myself at home, crying my heart out to my sisters. "Should I change myself?"

Lori caressed the back of my head, giving me a small laugh. "Just be yourself, sis. Don't mind them."

"Who are they?" Khora said with a pissed look on her face.

I am a small living marshmallow and that's what many people don't know about, and I just learned not to tell them. I thought unless they're worthy enough to be close to me, but until I graduated high school and got myself into a university, I had none other than my siblings. I knew how to be independent. People were afraid to get close to me, probably thinking I would bite humans and that's ridiculous.