S E X L E S S

FRIED CHICKEN

Diva rushed into the apartment, knocked off her shoes, and went straight to the living room, where she picked up the remote.

"Diva, go and wash your hands," Margot yelled from the hallway, where she took off her sneakers and showed Rashan the entrance shoe rack.

The little girl made a u-turn and trailed her feet to the bathroom. Margot sighed while Rashan shook his head in disapproval. He noticed how the little girl answered or reacted when contradicted, "aunty, I love the child, but Diva needs some good old hours facing a bare wall of lamentations to reflect on her attitude."

Margot cocked an eyebrow, "you weren't any better at her age."

"That's my point; see how I turned out?"

The boy did have a point; Margot thought, "I don't want her to be like me. I prefer Diva to be feisty instead of a dumbass woman who said yes and amen to everything all her life."

Rashan shook his head, "what are you saying? You're not like that at all. And there's a difference between being feisty and rude. That superior tone of voice of hers would earn Diva a one-way ticket in Saint Anne's boarding school with mom, one of the rare establishments in New York with nuns coming straight from the Vatican."

Margot laughed; she recognized her sister's religious trademark. She strode to the kitchen and opened the fridge, "I was weak like tofu jelly for most of my life, and I regret it. Now it's too late."

It was one of those moments where Margot wished she could erase her life and start from scratch with the knowledge she had.

Perhaps she would choose to raise Diva strictly, or maybe she wouldn't be with Nathan. She would have traveled the world without him, wrote a novel, lived 101 love stories, and 1001 Arabian nights to turn into steamy best-selling fictional romance.

Margot shut the fridge and her what-if moment of regret, "what do you want to eat tonight?"

"Anything without carbs will do. I'm on a protein journey."

Margot smiled, "why? You're already so slim. I'm still fighting the Fupa gained during my pregnancy."

"For the jelly, aunty. I've got to make my booty bubble and pop." Rashan snapped his fingers all around himself.

They both burst into laughter while Diva turned the tv on in the background. Ladybug's opening came on, "Diva, can you turn that down, please?"

"But you're laughing is spoiling the opening."

"I said, turn it down, now."

Once more, Rashan shook his head, "aunty, don't worry before I leave. I'll have her singing Kanye's Jesus Is Lord, trust me."

Margot smiled; for once, she felt someone understood what she went through. Diva was always mink when her dad was around. Thus Margot struggled alone with a daughter who had her know-it-all directory of answers ready and a bunch of grievances against her mother.

"Wow, aunty, you are really living the good life. Your apartment is so lit."

The young man strutted to one of the windows of the loft.

Nathan and Margot lived on the last floor of a three-store building in a 100m2 apartment. The three-meter ceiling contributed to making the place look creative and vast.

"Oh, you know I wouldn't be able to afford this alone. Nathan and I both invested."

Rashan clapped in his hands, "speaking of which, how is the fine man. Is he still as luscious as the regretted Paul Walker?"