It is a story of how the divorced couple, Michelle and Anntonia, navigate life as ex-wives co-parenting their daughter, Daniela Harper Porsild-Dee.
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story. This is pure fiction.
The nape of your neck. Even the sound of the word nape sounds holy to me. That and the hollow of your neck, the peek of your chest that your shirt sometimes reveals. These are the stations of my quietest, most insistent desire.
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Michelle has always hated her birthday ever since her parents had separated. Not because she hated the presents and the efforts that they made to celebrate what they suppose was a special day for her, she simply hated it for the simple fact that she won't get to celebrate it with her mum and dad on the same day. It would only cause an argument between the two and a competition of sorts to make her see who valued her the most.
It's why whenever her mum or her dad would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, Michelle would choose to always spend it with her cousins Rhian and Max, at least her parents won't have to fight about the schedule on who could have her on her exact birthday and who's going to get the next day.
She had witnessed it, the sadness in her mum's eyes every time she helped Michelle pack her things for a sleepover at her cousins' house. Michelle wanted to reassure her it's alright, and that she was sorry for not spending it with either of them, but she always opted not to because deep inside there's still a huge part of her that was angry.
She was angry about what happened between the two of them, for taking away the most important aspect of her life, they both took away the completeness of her family.
It's not like she was having fun during those birthday sleepovers, what her mum didn't know was that it was full of tears that she, Rhian and Max would only know. It changed while she was growing up, little by little. When she was understanding everything, Michelle had seen more things clearly.
It still made her mad, but she didn't hate her parents anymore. Well- hate was a very strong word. She got better as she let all the hurt go away, her father has made it up to her even when her mother has decided to move them to Manhattan. He made it up to her as best as he could, excessively, maybe- she pondered one day, he was making up all his shortcomings to Michelle's mother through her as well.
—
Michelle had her fair share of memorable birthday presents all throughout the thirty-seven years of her existence. She wasn't always comfortable about accepting presents, not 'cause she's ungrateful, it's just the way Michelle sees her birthday, nothing special, just like any other day that would pass and life goes on.
But when Anntonia appeared in her life one fateful day in her favourite coffee shop, and when she agreed that the two of them should go out on a date, that was when Michelle started to cherish everything. Like, her days have become special because she would get to see her and at the times that she didn't, it's still great because Michelle knew Ann was in her life and she's the reason her life turned into something worth living for.
And the best present she had ever got aside from Anntonia's love and making her as her wife, was the walking-talking, oh so much - breathing little ball of energy that the two of them had created and her wonderful wife had given birth to. A life where she's merely existing became worth fighting and living for.
