Daughter of the King - Summer Wishes

Chapter Four

It's been three weeks, four days, and thirty-four TikToks since we moved here. I'd gotten quite used to bus conductors yelling at dawn. It almost sounded like the cock crowing... almost.

However, something I still found hard to get accustomed to was the busy street in front of my house. It was like being pushed into a myriad of people the moment I stepped out of the stillness of my compound, or being teleported to another realm entirely, with the rusty old gate as a portal.

The first thing that hit you was the smell, not a bad smell actually, more like the aroma of street food, which was surprisingly nice. The next thing you'd likely notice were dirty children running into you instead of running into the bathroom. They looked like they'd sworn off baths forever.

Bikes trying to hit you, fruit stands, POS agents, a woman selling weird stuff no one wanted to buy. A man not too far away yelling about how we were all missing an opportunity of a lifetime by not buying one of his dilapidated boots.

I hated going outside.

I really did, and I almost had to do it again today, but for a good reason though. Satire invited me over to a prayer vigil she always went to during the summer holidays. Thankfully, at the last minute, Dad decided to drop us off.

Satt said I'd love it. "Let's hope it's worth it," I thought to myself as I waited at the door of her flat on the other side of the compound. I'd knocked a few times and seen the same face answer three different times, acting surprised each time. It would have been weird except I knew Satire had triplet brothers.

Satire appeared suddenly. "I'm so sorry," she said. Though the wait had tired me a bit, I was so happy to see her that I forgot almost immediately. I hugged her suddenly, which quickly turned into a pull. "Dad's been waiting for us," I said, trying not to scream.

The vigil was at Grove Palms, which luckily was far enough for Dad to agree to drop us off before making a U-turn for a certain meeting he had.

In a little while, we were in Dad's car and driving off. It was a quiet ride. Dad was in too much of a hurry to talk, and Satire was a little too shy about being in a new space to talk. So, Satt and I sat still until the ride was done and we alighted at the front of a big iron gate.

I watched Dad zoom off and disappear into the line of cars. He'd been different these days. Satt tapped me, pulling me out of my thoughts before I got any deeper. We turned almost at once. I squinted at the towering iron gate crowned with the words "Grove Palms."

Hand in hand, we skipped into the estate after Satt discussed something with the guard at the gate. Walking through those gates felt like walking through a portal again, but this time it was even better. It wasn't teleporting me into a roadside market. Instead, I felt like I was walking down my old neighborhood again. I'd almost forgotten how nice it was. The sudden rush of nostalgia morphed into butterflies in my belly.

Purple tints coloured the sky as evening began to fall, a beautiful backdrop to the tall trees that lined the paths ahead of us. The birds singing all the way was a melody I didn't know I needed. A certain stillness stirred in my soul as I walked down the road, almost oblivious to Satire walking beside me.

Unlike my old neighborhood, the houses here, which stood behind the trees, were old, and even older people seemed to be peeking out from nearly every one. However, they weren't those kinds of old houses that looked like "things fall apart." Rather, the architecture of these buildings looked like it was from an older generation, regardless, a timeless beauty.

I stopped short suddenly. "And speaking of beauty," just at the end of the street where we were going to make a turn stood a magnificent building. It's white walls were decorated with shells and colourful stones.

Satire seemed to notice my sudden fascination with the mentioned house. "Lovely, isn't it?" she said, standing right beside me.

"Yeah, I'd definitely pay a thousand dollars to live here," I replied jokingly, I didn't have that much money of course.

"It's abandoned though," she said suddenly.

Abandoned? I could literally see windows with curtains. "And, how do you know that, Satire?"

"I've been inside a couple of times," she said.

I blinked rapidly. "Why?"

Satire went quiet. When Satt goes quiet like this, something was always up, and she was definitely cooking up something to make me stop prying, and I totally wasn't having it.

I turned to face her. "You know you're a horrible liar, so just spill it."

She hung her head even lower, probably regretting her last three sentences. She let out a sigh and said in a shrill voice, "I went to cry."

I wasn't expecting that answer. At all.

Still, I really wanted to know what she would have been so upset about that would drive her to an old abandoned house to cry, which was a dangerous adventure by the way. Well, I think it's best I let it slide if she didn't want to talk about it.

I held her hands in the comforting way she always held mine. She muttered a soft thanks and we walked away slowly, turning down the corner into a new street.

Satire suddenly broke the silence, asking, "What's your deepest darkest secret?"

"Deepest darkest secret?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Let me guess," I said giggling, "I still watch cartoons, Golden Morn is my favorite food and I love picking flowers."

I stopped giggling on seeing the look on Satire's face. Although she wasn't upset, she had a grave look on her face.

"No, not that," Satire said anyway. "Okay, I'd go first." She broke up and continued, "Mine is that, I hate how I look. My face is a little okay, but I'm kind of round in the wrong places."

"Who told you that?" I asked slowly.

"What?" 

"Who told you you were round in the wrong places? Have you been allowing what others say define who you are?" I retorted.

"Well, they're not lying," Satt looked away.

"Who's the judge of that? Some kid who knows nothing about life?"

"You don't understand..."

"Understand what?"

"You know what that call me at school? Fat Satt, fat Satt sat on a Mat, they even made up a song with it!" Satire said admist a small chuckle.

I broke into a giggle too lightening up the tension in the air.

Then she got serious suddenly "...those side remarks, those jokes, I pretend to ignore them, but deep down, its hurts. I just wish" Satire continued "I just wish I could be pretty too...".

I stopped short "But you are pretty!"

"I know you are just saying that to make me feel better" 

Was I? Maybe deep down I didn't really think she was the prettiest girl there was, I thought. But when I looked at her, I didn't see a girl who wasn't pretty, I saw a radiant beautiful girl.

"Who decided who's pretty and who's not anyway?" I said. "Everyone is their own definition of beautiful. You don't need to be a certain stereotype to feel pretty. You have the prettiest smile, the sweetest voice, your eyes twinkle like the stars. Maybe you haven't been dressing to suit your looks, you could also wear your hair more stylishly, but...the first person who needs to see that beauty is YOU. The Bible also says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that's the only truth we should listen to"

"I'd look prettier if I did a little makeover?" Satt asked wide-eyed, ignoring my entire well-articulated motivational speech.

"You are already pretty," I said, "but that's something we should try one of these days."

Satire smiled to my delight.

She then stopped suddenly in front of a large red brick building. "We're here" she said.