Half a Man at Best (Sequel to VALERIE)

EPILOGUE [Part Three]

~UNEDITED~

Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2014

"Come on, Lucy. Just wear this. Your mom's going to kill me if she comes back and you're not yet dressed." Harry raises the fairy dress that his wife made for their daughter's fifth birthday. He tries to persuade his daughter for the umpteenth time already but she just continues zooming around the room, hopping on the soft mattress, doing cartwheels as if she is a superhero and completely ignoring her Daddy's plea.

Lucy has turned five today and her parents organized a children's costume party for her but the problem is she doesn't want to be a fairy. She wants to be Spider-Man, her favourite avenger.

Both Valerie and Harry know that their daughter's preference is a bit defiant to a typical little girl. Harry is concerned about it but Valerie dismisses it, believing that it's just a phase in their daughter's childhood.

However, compared to Harry, Valerie is the disciplinarian. She can be lenient at times but she doesn't forget to stick by the rules she sets for Lucy. She believes that it's just proper that she leaves the spoiling to Harry and the strictness to herself so that Lucy will have the balance of character.

"Lucy, please?" Lucy's dad drops the dress on the mattress so he could freely grab her arms towards him. She tries to dodge him by crawling out of the bed but Harry is quick enough to have her arms pinned within his hold.

"Sshpiduhman!" The little girl huffs, glaring up at her dad with her lips jutted out to look stern. Harry chuckles quietly and shakes his head as he rolls his eyes at his daughter in a knowing way.

"No, Lucy. Do you want Mom to be upset? She made you this, remember?" He reminds her after retrieving the dress to show it to her.

"I don't like." She defies and crosses her arms upon her chest. Her brows are knitted together and if she wasn't looking adorably cute, Harry knows he could be intimidated by her. "Lucy wanna shpiduhman." She speaks in third person, pointing her chest with her thumb angrily.

Lucy is indeed peculiar -- in a terrifyingly adorable way. Instead of playing with the Barbie dolls that her aunts Eleanor, Perrie and Bree gave her every Christmas and birthday for the past four years, or with the Doll house her Papa Malcolm assembled with her, she has always preferred toy guns, Hot Wheels, robots and whatnots to play with. Instead of being the damsel in distress while playing castles on her playdates with Nate and Zeke, she is always happy to play sword-fighting with them.

Nate and Zeke are both six. They are the products of Niall and Bree's; and Zayn and Perrie's love.

Among the three, Lucy is more compelled to mischief. She couldn't stop moving around. Valerie once made her stay seated in a chair for hours on end -- a punishment after Lucy pruned the flowers and leaves from the plants in her mom's greenhouse. Lucy decides it was the worst her mommy could ever make her do.

While Nate and Zeke are being their typical little six year old boys, Lucy is the girl who effortlessly keeps up with them. She enjoys being with them, instead of playing make-ups and nail polish with her Aunt Ada and Kim.

At a very young age, she has already developed a hate towards the dresses that her mommy make her wear with a passion. But of course, Valerie being Valerie, ignores the signs. Harry, on the other hand, blames the other boys who seem to influence his daughter's preferences. Lucy always looked up to them, especially Louis who's more active in football now more than ever.

Harry was even scared when he caught Lucy kicking small peebles towards the wall outside their house one time. He doesn't know that Louis' tactics on playing the game has been tattooed in Lucy's mind and she was copying him.