Liberation [completed]

Dinner (not) Date- Asher

Over the next two weeks, many things began to change.

Mia and I had found a way to stay amicable and out of each other's hair. We had sort of fell into a routine: I'd go to work in the day, come home for lunch, then go back to work, come back in the evening, we'd have dinner and then we'd watch a movie or two depending on how tired we were.

Mia had made her meal plan with the help of Martha and Leah, she had shown it to me two days after the huge fight we had. She looked so proud of it and she was beaming with excitement as I looked through it. I couldn't help but notice how she had made it such that the food she ate could be substituted for cheaper alternatives- food she'd be able to eat if she was on her own. The thought that she will one day leave didn't sit well with me but I had no right to stop her from doing that.

Leah and Mia have become really close friends over the two weeks. I was surprised at how close they had gotten. One day I came home to find the two of them sitting in her room painting their nails and giggling like teenage girls. I remembered my sister doing that with her friends when we were all living with my parents. Leah had taken it upon her to teach Mia the ways of becoming a proper functioning lady or a woman. She showed Mia, makeup and how to style clothes and wear them. On one of these days, Mia had come down in a white jean pants and red v-neck blouse. She had the shirt slightly tucked in and the it flowed out over her small hips. Her brown hair fell in perfect waves down her face and her shoulders. I had been working from home on the weekend that day and I had to stop for a good ten minutes just to admire her. She was looking more and more beautiful by the day.

"Why did you have to go and make her more beautiful?" I remembered asking Leah.

"What are you talking about?" Leah had asked.

"You know, show her how to dress up and all that. Now when she goes out, people are gonna be looking at her" I glared at her as I admired Mia. 

"Isn't that a good thing? A girl like Mia should know her worth" Leah told me with a sideward glance and smirk. She had done this on purpose. 

Ever since then, I had taken it upon myself to tell Mia how beautiful she looked. Of course, that was an impossible task. Mia was worth so much. I tried to compliment her and tell her how pretty she looked, but I always felt like there wasn't a proper word to really describe her beauty. This had escalated to me staring at her smile and giving her odd looks that made her assume I had gone crazy. Even I thought I had lost it. I mean I was looking at Mia with so much admiration, it didn't seem normal for two individual human beings. It wasn't helping that Mia was also looking healthier. 

She was smiling more, though at times I'd see the darkness wash over her features and there were days when she'd just stay in her room all day. She wouldn't come down to eat and would eat in her room instead, avoiding me completely. It was in these moments that I felt the true rejection. I wanted her to spend her time with me. I wanted to make her happy and each time she locked herself in her room, it felt like I wasn't doing enough.

It happened the eighth time she asked me to watch the stupid cartoon- Beauty and the Beast. I remember hating that show. I even brunt the disc my sister watched it on just to stop her from watching it when we were kids. But that night when Mia asked me to watch the film again for the eighth time, did I realise the most wonderful and terrifying development. 

Outwardly, I had expressed disgust and utter objection to watching the film. But inside, I was eager and excited to watch that damn film. It was Mia's favourite film. Every time she watched it she would curl up next to me and hold my hand. I looked forward to those moments. I loved when she did that and I realised I'd sit through a hundred screenings of that film just to have her next to me and touching and using me as her shield from the 'evil' in the film. To be honest, I never really watched the film, I always ended up watching her reaction to the film. Each time they were the same but so new, she felt so deeply with that film and I loved watching the emotions play out on her face.