Embrace the Sky | ✔

4 | her audacity

"Desirae... what, what are we?"

The woman had asked that question three months ago, the day after she had the audacity to kiss Rae full on the lips in public. She had asked that loaded question as if it were the simplest of things to have ever been asked, as if it were a fleeting thought rather than a question that required fifty years' worth of serious philosophical thought to answer, nevertheless come up with and ask.

The woman had asked her as if it were as easy as breathing.

Rae stabbed her share of pastelón with her fork, and without the slightest drop of mercy, sliced off a part of it with the sharpest utility knife she could find in the kitchen. Rae knew better. She knew there was no need for a fork or a knife. With ease, she could've eaten her dinner with a spoon in the same way her daughter was, but she didn't want to. The back of her throat burned at the thought. She didn't want to resemble the way her jolly daughter stuffed herself with the pastelón, not in the slightest, even if it was just the spoon that they would've had in common.

She shoved the sliced piece of the plantain lasagna in her mouth and chomped away as bitterly as her jaw allowed her to. Her taste buds rejoiced as soon as they met with the feel and savory flavor of the dish. Rae hated them for it, but she couldn't stop herself from grabbing another bite every time she swallowed. In simple words, it was deliciously irritating. That goddamned woman knew her stuff── and there was no excusing it── her experience as a Cheeseburger Factory manager had nothing to do with it.

In their younger days, when both were nothing but starved servers from that same restaurant, the woman always brought a homemade meal to eat on the side, between tables. She'd share some with Rae at times, and every time she did so, Rae's world shined a little brighter. Over time, Rae convinced herself that the woman's family had taught her as soon as she was out of her mother's womb. Years later, Rae's theory was a proven fact, and now, as she sat on her wooden chair and ate from a dish made by that woman, facing an excited puppy gobble their own, Rae couldn't deny the fact regardless of her thoughts on said woman. And it's not like the woman's skills were limited to cooking, either.

Rae knew that perfectly well.

"There's half a cup of almond milk there, and honey, with a pinch of── "

Brown sugar. Brown, brown, brown.

Minutes before the woman had asked her the question, she'd handed Rae her favorite drink. Who would've known Rae would get a good, sweet taste of something before the most bitter of things would overwhelm her soul and mind?

"Seconds!" Diamond suddenly hummed. She held out her plate to Rae with the brightest of smiles.

Rae took a moment to look down at Diamond's plate. It was squeaky clean. If Rae looked hard enough, she was sure she would have seen her own reflection on it. Diamond had eaten all of the peas, mushrooms, and carrots stuffed in the ground beef between the sweet plantains. It was so ridiculous Rae let herself laugh at the fact. That damned woman worked with the devil.

Diamond's eyebrows rushed up to the clouds. "Uh, my bad Mama. I meant, seconds please!"

Rae shook her head and served her daughter dinner for the second time that night.

" ...what are we?" the woman had asked without a care in the world, and then, as if it weren't bad enough to ask such a thing, she dared to drop by out of the blue to a place she wasn't welcomed in. Ridiculous!

How did she even come in?

Oh god, god please, don't tell me I forgot to grab her copies of my keys on my way out of her house, please!