What the mask hides.

3

Lexa took the children to their mother's room to say goodbye to their grandmother. Not seeing Clarke anywhere, she thought she would have already asked a maid to guide her to her new quarters. She didn't expect to find her leaning against the carriage, arms crossed and waiting. When Anya saw the blonde, she let go of her mother's hand and ran to hug the blonde, surprised by how affectionate she was. The brunette observed the happy smile, worrying, the last thing she wanted was for her to start seeing Clarke as her mother, another reason why she never brought women to the house.

Woods got Aden into the car, the boy is almost ten years old now, he can fasten his seat belt by himself, even so, Lexa insisted on being the one to fasten his seat belt. He rarely showed his affection, not because he didn't love them, he loved them madly, for Lexa it was one of those moments in which she took care of them and hoped that her children felt that way. Clarke from the other side helped to fasten the seat belt of Anya, while the girl talked to her non-stop, the blue-eyed girl laughed at everything she said. The green-eyed girl from the other side of the car observed the scene:

- Mommy, I'm very sleepy.

Aden said yawning, Lexa turned her head to look at him and drew a half smile, she stroked his hair and kissed him tenderly on the forehead:

- Go to sleep, we'll be home soon, honey.

Anya didn't take long to fall asleep shortly after they set off on their way home. The blue-eyed girl waited for some kind of rebuke from Lexa. All she got was silence and an impassive expression. Every now and then she glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. Until a couple of hours ago she thought that this woman was pure bitterness. At those moments she wondered how much pain Lexa Woods was hiding?

- Stop looking at me like that

He broke the silence without taking his eyes off the road:

- As well as?

- As if you were feeling sorry for me, I am not an NGO to feel sorry for.

- I don't do it

Lexa clucked her tongue and smiled wryly:

- Tell me another joke

- A drunk man bumps into a soldier and says, "Excuse me, sergeant," to which the other man replies, "What do you mean, sergeant? Can't you see the stars?" And the drunk man replies, "Well, excuse me, my heavens."

Clarke laughed out loud at the joke she had told, Lexa curved her lips into a smile:

- What was that?

- You asked me to tell you another joke.

- I didn't mean it literally

Despite the snub she had made, Lexa didn't stop smiling. It was a slight smile and still lacked the true feeling of happiness that a smile could mean, but at least it was a start:

- You'll tell me it's bad

- It's a bad joke.

- Tell me one then- Lexa shook her head- do you have that little sense of humor?

Lexa rolled her eyes, with that seriousness that until now characterized her and almost without expressing any feeling:

- One boy asks the other, "What are you doing talking to a sneaker?" The other boy answers, "It says Converse here."

Clarke raised her eyebrows:

- It's like listening to Loquendo or Siri telling jokes.

- Who are those?

Clarke looked at her in shock, she didn't know what Loquendo or Siri was. But how outdated she was:

- Are you kidding me?