Annoying the Stubborn

t h i r t y s e v e n

"Hi, honey," the man said with a grin, opening her arms for Lauren as the woman beside her was holding the cake, staring at them in adoration.

But Lauren didn't give him the hug he was expecting. Everything had changed for them and they both knew that. However, Lauren's father, Mike, was hopeful that she'd somehow make him feel like he's still a father to her with a simple hug. Y/N stood behind Lauren, offering a supportive hand on her lower back to let her know that she was there. She remembered Mike, and fury almost overwhelmed her but being with Lauren—her raspy voice, her scent of fresh detergent and coconut, her warmth under her palm—it was all enough to restrain herself from strangling him.

She stared at him and honestly, he didn't look like the Mike Brooke was telling her about. He was quite large, a full beard covering half his face, but his eyes were as emotional as Lauren's, which made them both easy to read at times. He was smiling at his daughter and that made it harder for Y/N to believe that this was the man who stole from Warren, the man who abused Clara and forced her to run away from him.

Then, she felt guilty for thinking that Brooke was feeding her lies just to separate her from Lauren. It was too much of her to do that. This man standing in front of them was the same man that hid everything from Lauren since she was a kid. With a feeling of her stomach dropping, Y/N thought if Mike knew if Clara's death was actually an accident. It was possible. Mike and Antonia were teaming up against Warren and Clara and if Antonia was the mastermind behind Clara's framed accident, she could've told him, right? How would Y/N know?

"You're . . . home," Lauren said, and from her tone, Y/N knew it wasn't a good thing.

"Yes," Mike said, nodding his head and taking a step closer to her, making the green-eyed girl to step back. "It's almost Christmas. We don't want you to be alone for Christmas."

"You didn't care for years," Lauren spat, hot tears starting to form in her eyes. She felt Y/N's arm circling her waist protectively and she was grateful for the action. She felt like her knees would give up without her consent.

Mike lowered his hands, looking apologetically at Lauren. "Honey, I'm sorry for that. But we're here now."

"Yeah. It's okay though." Lauren said, regaining her composure and taking Y/N's hand before tugging on it. "Let's go."

Y/N didn't protest, letting the girl take her upstairs since she felt like neither of them wanted to be there. However, Leila, Mike's present wife, stopped them.

"You don't want to have a cake?" She asked optimistically but Y/N could tell her smile was forced and impatient. "We got your favorite. It's lemon raspberry."

"We're good," Lauren said, not looking back. At least not until they reached the middle of the stairs. "And I lied about that. I never liked lemon in a cake."

Y/N, mostly amused than shocked, grinned and held her laugh until they got to Lauren's room. Colorful paper bags sat on the floor. They were all out of place since Y/N practically just threw them there as she was too excited to get back to Lauren earlier. The mood she had to have her was long gone now though. Now it was just the Cuban's unsettling silence while she was pretending unaffected by her parents sudden arrival. They were all sorts of wrong timing.

"You can go home if you want," Lauren said, running a hand through her hair as she faced herself in the mirror. She turned around and saw the pile of things Y/N got for her, replacing her frown with a heartfelt smile. "Thanks for this. Actually, thanks for today—for being there for me."

"You're really stupid for thinking I'd leave you alone after what happened downstairs," Y/N told her, causing the Cuban to laugh lightly.

"Well, there's nothing much to do anyway. Unless you want to stay while I'm being reminded how much I hate my family and how much I hate myself for still having love for them after acting like I was never here and I didn't need them my entire life. I'm telling you already that it's not going to be pleasant."