Wilted

Chapter-2

Daisy

I let out a huff of exhausted breath all the while putting an end to Lilly's painting. Jayden was busy handling the mischievous twins while Mr and Mrs Black had paid a visit to their neighbour's place in the wake of conveying their apologies. Taming Hayden and Hunter is no child's play. The entire neighbourhood has held a grudge against the Black family solely owing to the naughty twins. But since Mrs Black is a sweetheart, she always comes up with a solution to win people's hearts despite her mischievous twins. Amid all this gala, poor Lilly was left out and she had no one to help her with her painting that was due tomorrow.

"Thank you so much Daisy bee!" Lilly encircles my subtly thick frame in her dainty little hands. I kiss her forehead affectionately before helping her pack up.

"I'm so sorry I took so long. Those kids are little devils-"

"DAISY!!!" I hear a chorus of incoherent words before I was toppled on the floor by two little boys.

"Hunter! Hayden! Get off of her guys." Jayden yells as he miserably tries to rip the little rascals off of me. I shake my head no before warmly welcoming the exultant little boys in my embrace. Once Jayden manages to pry them off of me, I kiss the two boys on the head to show how much I missed them.

"Jayden, look I painted this picture for my school project." Lilly swanks her (my) piece of art to her elder brother. A sly smile makes its way across his face before he tantalises the little girl.

"Did you paint the picture or did you have Daisy paint it?" He wiggles his eyebrows as he sits down next to me, resting his elbows on the coffee table.

"Well, Daisy did help me a little. She did the drawing and painting and I made the borders." She shoves the picture into Jay's face to show the unaligned borders.

"Woah! This must've broken a sweat in you, ain't I right sweetheart." He holds the little girl in a chokehold position before ruffling her wild curls.

"Ughhh Jay! Let go of me you monster." She exasperates while trying to pry herself free from the tenacious embrace of her big brother. The little boys, on the other hand, decided to resume their ritual of tormenting their elder sister as they snatch the painting from her and make a go towards the stairs.

"Hayden! Hunter! I'm gonna kill you guys, give me back my painting!" She sprints up the stairs following them.

"God, remind me to not have any kids of my own one day." Jayden mumbles as he tiredly runs his hands over his pretty face.

'They are kids, Jayden. That's what kids do. Having a handful of children in the house is always noisy.' I sign once I was assured that I had his eyes on me.

"Yeah it does be noisy with them in here....and I wouldn't have it any other way." He smiles softly as he gazes at the trail of stairs his siblings just sprinted over. I inwardly flinch when I see the time and realise that's it's way past my curfew time, even though it's just 5 in the evening. My father doesn't like me being outside a minute after 4:30. I promptly pat Jayden on the shoulder and ask him to drop me back home.

"Oh shit! I forgot about your curfew time. I'll go get my keys. You really gotta ask your father to push your curfew time to a little later. Seriously. You're 17 now, you will have your own shit to do that requires you to stay out a little later." He says as he helps me to get back on my feet.

'He's just really protective of me. He doesn't like me being out that often.' I lie about the protective part. He's not protective, he's dominative.

"I figured that out by now, princess. A precious little girl like you would elicit a sense of protectiveness over the toughest of men." He winks. I throw a meek smile over his way very well knowing that the kind of protectiveness my father has towards me wasn't the typical parental one. It was more like further confining me to my already small shell. Since the time I remember, my father was always hostile towards me. My mother passed away while she birthed me. My brothers can hardly even remember that they have a younger sister, all they care about is the business they manage and the wealth our father possess.