UNDENIABLY DESTINED

CHAPTER 15

"Aadaya, pretty please!" Marcus whined, striking a pose that could rival an amateur yoga enthusiast attempting to summon a benevolent spirit. I couldn't resist a snicker, well aware of his outrageous persuasion tactics. They were usually as subtle as a bullhorn in a library, and while they worked on everyone else in the house, they were about as effective on me as a screen door on a submarine.

To make matters worse, I was drowning in a sea of paperwork, and it looked like the paperwork was winning. My desk resembled a paper maelstrom, and I had to wade through it while signing documents that were more complicated than an IKEA instruction manual.

Marcus had embarked on a mission to convince me to join him on an expedition to explore the pack lands, something he claimed Aadaya had never done before. Well, technically, she hadn't, but that sentence had no idea that Aadaya had a PhD in pack terrainology, specializing in secret shortcuts and escape routes.

Growing increasingly frustrated, Marcus threw himself into an over-the-top tantrum, stomping his tiny legs like an angry penguin auditioning for a musical. "Fine, be the fun police, you prude!" he hollered in his inherited bratty voice, an heirloom from his equally stubborn brother, Ryan.

Just when I thought the comedy couldn't get any more absurd, my door was dramatically flung open, and a body was launched into the room. It was less of an entrance and more of an ungraceful crash landing, complete with cartoonish "Ouch" sound effects. I half-expected a laugh track to start playing. The male body, undoubtedly Chris's rolled and groaned in pain. Aadaya did not need to look to confirm the already-known global fact.

In she strode, Her Highness herself, grinning like the Cheshire Cat after a particularly successful catnip heist. She surveyed the wreckage that was Chris with an expression of sheer sadistic delight as if she'd just orchestrated the most elaborate prank in pack history. She sashayed further into the room, her brow furrowing in confusion as she took in Marcus, still contorted in his bizarre begging position.

If only Marcus knew that this whole circus was about to get even more circusy, he might have brought a rubber chicken for dramatic effect.

In an absurd twist of fate, Saddie decided to halt the impending showdown by dramatically pointing a finger at Marcus, like a traffic cop redirecting chaos in the middle of rush hour. But what really took the cake was when she fished a shiny penny out of her back pocket. It was like she'd stumbled upon the Lost Treasure of the Pocket Dimension.

Aadaya watched this spectacle unfold with a tiny, secret smile playing on her usually stone-cold face. Meanwhile, Marcus, struck dumb by the sheer ludicrousness of it all, remained frozen in place, clutching the penny like it held the secrets of the universe.

Saddie, with the grandeur of a magician revealing a spectacular trick, declared, "Now go go shoo... I am so good!" Her hands flung open wide as if she'd just brokered world peace with that penny. She beamed with the satisfaction of a Nobel Prize laureate.

Breaking free from his bewildered trance, Marcus mustered his bratty spirit and flung the penny back at Saddie, all while giving Saddie a look that could have rivalled Medusa's gaze. "So this is Saddam Hussein and Christian..." he muttered, the confusion and defiance blending into a perfect cocktail of hilarity.

Saddie, not one to back down, responded with a look that could melt steel beams, directing it squarely at Aadaya, as if she were the mastermind behind this penny-throwing fiasco. Aadaya, in self-defence, threw her hands up in a "not guilty" gesture and let out a giggle. She peered down at the pint-sized Marcus, her own towering figure having to crouch to see Marcus. While Aadaya watches from the sidelines, crowned with a comically oversized pair of glasses and hair that resembled a tumbleweed.