Chapter 78 Rare Memories

Chapter 78 Rare Memories
Purple’s POV:

Sir Dimitri laughed and muttered the word “teenagers,” as if my behavior could be excused simply because of my age.

He pulled into the Fremore mansion. I could never get used to how big this place was; the building looked like the beast’s castle from Beauty and the Beast, if I may say so. This was just a more modern version, but instead of my mom being the beauty of the home, I was, because I felt forced to return and stay here even when I didn’t want to. Mom was the beast.

My door pulled open and I looked up to find Mother. She smiled widely at me, and I sighed before stepping out. “Pancake!” She enveloped me in a tight hug.

“Mom… my outfit is dirty.” I squeezed out of her hold, and she took a good look at me before curling her lips.

“What happened to you?”

“Someone spilled coffee on me and…”

“This is no way to dress for a flight. If you had a jacket on, the coffee would have spilled on it. Did it leave a scar?” She pulled my T-shirt up as if there weren’t servants all around.

I pulled my top down and frowned at her. “I am fine.”

Then she gasped. “Did the person bump into you hard? Did you fall and hit your back?”

Here we were again. When she noticed my frown, she sighed and stepped aside. “Go on, freshen up first, then we can have lunch.”

—

After I freshened up and slipped into one of the outfits from the wardrobe, I sat on the bed and pulled out my phone to call Harry, but there was already a maid at my door. “Madam asks that you come downstairs for lunch.”

I hated all these formalities, mostly because I didn’t grow up this way. Back when Dad was still alive, he would choose to cook because he loved it, and he was a much better cook than Mom.

Whenever he was done, he would stand by the wooden stairs and yell, “Pancake, dinner, now!” Whenever he called out, I would come rushing from my bedroom. But one day I didn’t move because I had stolen Mom’s makeup and was trying it on; I was twelve, and the girls at school already had makeup and blush, but I didn’t even have a lip balm.

“Hey baby, aren’t you hungry?” He came into my bedroom. When he saw my reflection in the mirror with my back turned to him, I saw his brows furrow, but he was quick to hide it and act normal.

“Dad, how do I look?” That day I turned to him, my face full of Mom’s makeup. I had followed some YouTube video, but my face felt heavy and sticky.

He kneeled before me. “Beautiful.” Then he kissed my forehead. “My little Pancake is growing up, but do you want to know a secret?”

I nodded excitedly because we always shared secrets. If I broke a glass when Mom wasn’t around, it was our secret. If I let someone walk over me instead of fighting back and the school called Dad, it was our secret.

“You look astonishing without the makeup.”

“Are you saying only the ugly ones use makeup?”

“Of course not.” He shook his head and started packing the blush and everything into the box. “If in the future you feel bolder with makeup on, then there is nothing wrong with putting it on. The goal is to feel confident, but if I had it my way… I want you to feel like that girl with or without makeup.”

“Miss Quinn?” The servant’s voice at the entrance pulled me back from those few memories I had with my dad.

“Thanks.” I slipped into my slippers and went downstairs. Mom was coordinating the two cooks on how to position the food on the table. When she saw me, her eyes glimmered.

“Look at everything I made. I bet there is no good food in Roonie.”

I couldn’t even dispute that. I pulled out a chair, and because I was starving, I picked up a flour pie, but she slapped my hand, causing me to drop it.

I huffed and pulled my hand back. “Just two more minutes, honey.” She dropped the fruit juice, and we both looked at the entrance when we heard footsteps; there was my new daddy.

The truth was, Paul and I didn’t get along. It wasn’t in the toxic way where we argue every minute; we just didn’t acknowledge each other in a room… well, I didn’t acknowledge him.

“Hello, Purple.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I forced a smile. He walked over and kissed Mother’s cheek before pulling out a chair. “How was your flight?” He was about to pick up a pie as well, and Mom hit his hand. He quickly dropped it and raised his hands in defense.

I couldn’t hold in the laughter because my mom was never going to change this attitude of hers. She always did this to my dad and me, and we would sit at the table like two puppies who didn’t get a treat after a good job.

Paul joined in. “This is not funny.” Mom pointed at both of us. “You know the rules; we start eating only when everyone is seated, but you both keep trying to piss me off.”

“Things aren’t the same anymore; you can’t continue with every rule you made in your ex-husband’s home.” I mean, shouldn’t there be new rules since she was now in a new home?

“Of course, Purple. You just had to make this about your dad, right?”

“If you don’t want me talking about my dad, then I also don’t want to talk about you.” Great, barely thirty minutes in and we were already arguing.

“You won’t talk about me? Do you ever have good things to say about me? I am the parent who stayed and struggled every day to fix up the mess your favorite parent inflicted on you.”

“Alice…” Paul called, but the place fell silent. She called me a mess.

I clenched my fists and stood up. “Whether you like it or not, I will always keep talking about my dad, and if it makes your husband upset, then just ship me back to Roonie.” I walked away toward the stairs.

“That’s what you fucking want, right? All I want is for you to return for the holidays, but you act like I asked you to run away with me…” She kept yelling at my back, and I ignored her, but my steps halted at the top of the stairs when I heard her sob. Alice never cries.

When I looked down, she was in Paul’s arms as he rubbed her back and looked at me with a disappointed expression.

The phone in my hand started to ring. Seeing Harry’s name, a smile spread on my face as I walked to my bedroom and closed the door.

“Hello.” I sighed and sat on the bed.

“Hello to you,” he replied. I heard some shuffling, then it went still. “Missing Roonie already?”

If only he knew.

“Not one bit.”

“You sure about that?” I just knew he was smirking right now. God, I just wanted him here, close to me and pressing his lips on me, making me see stars with his fingers in me.