Fighting For Hope

Chapter Fifteen

"Stay with you till the morning."

—

HOPE'S POV

The information yanked my way caused a cyclone to rage in my guts. It brewed and spiralled without control. I blinked twice, letting the new-found knowledge sink. My father left me a million dollars, along with a video I could have watched years ago.

"Make your way to my rental shop anytime, and I'd hand it over," Tyler's uncle said, dismissing himself to the kitchen.

"A million?!" Tyler said in astonishment after his uncle left the both of us alone around the dining table. The fact stupefied me just as it shocked him; although my father was relatively wealthy compared to an average family, he was never a millionaire like Calvin Woodland.

"When I was just eight?" I mumbled; it just did not add up. I scan my eyes around the room as I mentally tried to sum up the puzzle, but nothing made sense. But all seemed to be forgotten when I put my mind into the fact that there were only three bedrooms. One definitely for the parents, another for Hailey and the last for Tyler. No guest rooms.

"Tyler," I called. My voice was just slightly above a mutter. I made sure I heard a hum in response before I continued my sentence. "Where am I sleeping?"

I knew the answer, but I never had quite shared a room with anyone for as long as my memory serves. I barely had anybody, except a girl I called a best friend when I was in kindergarten. It seems like a long time ago. I could only see the memory if I closed my eyes. It disappears when I try to focus, and it blurs when I start questioning if she was a person or just a fabrication in my fictitious world.

However, I can vaguely remember her smile, the way her ponytail swayed as she ran and how we would engulf each other in a hug before we separated. The vague memory of us playing in her backyard before our parents, who met through our friendship, had a friendly dinner with her family.

She was a year older than me. Hence, she left school a year before I did. As a child, I let go of it with a pout and a wave of my hand and realized exactly how much she meant to me for being my first friend, and I believed she was also my last until Tyler came into the picture. It hits me so suddenly. I have been missing out in my past years because I forgot what it was like to have friends.

"My room?" Tyler replied. It was as if he expected me to know. "You don't mind, right?"

"No," I told him, shooting a small smile his way.

We only left the table after that small conversation to the living room, just for a comfortable seat. Tyler mumbled something incoherent under his breath when his eyes settled on Ajax, before sitting on a separate sofa.

I listened to the conversation with the siblings and their mother. I tuned out after a while and was silent until Violet called me back to reality.

"Hope, right?" I nodded, not feeling like speaking to anyone at the moment. "What do you do in your free time?"

I opened my mouth, frantically trying to find an answer. I have never been in a situation any similar since barely anyone would throw questions my way.

"I read." I shrugged, hoping it sounded natural. Books were my utter nightmares.

Tyler snorted beside me, and I shot him a warning glare in secret. "She exercises half the time," he helped to answer, "with me."

"That's great...I figured you would stop after that fighting competition," his mother said, looking back at Tyler. "How was the event?"

I wondered if Hailey knew Ajax was a fighter himself, who went against her brother in the competition.