The little girl runs up to me and hugs my legs, her arms curling around my body. "Angel!"

I allow myself to smile. She always brightens my day, because she is a little kid, and little kids never have much sorrow. Mostly. Anyway, her sorrow is always pale grey, an almost white colour, which means she's happy. It is so rare to see someone without a trace of sorrow, and seeing it on her is always pleasant.

She is four this year, and still small for her age. 

"Angel," she says, looking up at me with puppy eyes. "Can you please take me out today?"

I laugh. "For dinner? I'll ask the people, okay?"

Lyra nods. "You're going to bewitch them into saying yes," she whispers, tiptoeing. I bend down to hear her and my mouth curves into a smile.

"Okay. I'll work my magic powers," I wink.

Minutes later, my magic powers are not working. I sigh. "Please! I just want to take Lyra out. Don't you feel sorry for her? She-" I drop my voice. "She hasn't any parents. I just want to make her feel special and appreciated for once."

The receptionist person blinks. I know I've won her over when she fidgets and pulls out a yellow form. "Okay. Sign this. Bring her back by 8 pm latest."

"Thank you," I say sincerely. "Do you need any help with anything in return?I'll remember this and help you back."

Well, not really, but she doesn't have to know. To my relief, she shakes her head and tells me she'll think about it, but there's likely nothing she needs my help with.

I do my messy cursive signature that no one can replicate and grab Lyra's hand. "Let's go!" We both sing.

I laugh and look down at her. "What do you want?"

"McGriddle!"

"Really?" I ask in surprise. "Have you tried it?"

"Yea!" She grins up at me. "There's ma-pal syrup."

"Ma-pal... I meant maple syrup? Cool. Actually I haven't tried it. Let's eat that then. But we'll have to walk quite far to the McDonald's. Is that okay?"

She nods. "You are gonna carry me if I'm tired," she states and rubs her hands in glee. 

I roll my eyes. But at the same time I can't help feeling darn amused by Lyra. She really is the epitome of like mother, like daughter. No. I don't go down that path, I remind myself. But it's too late. I am suddenly looking at Lyra with hate instead of love.

"Let's just go," I say sharply and yank her hand.

Lyra falls silent behind me as I drag her along. Her feet scrape along the pavement and when I glance back she's hanging her head. "Do you hate me too?" She mumbles. Her sorrow shoots up, and the cloud darkens.

"I-" I can't think. My mind is a complete blank, like a black hole. Do I?

Tears gush down Lyra's chubby cheeks. She swipes at them with her small fists. "N...no one l...loves me," she whispers.

In the chilly night air, all is silent except for her voice, so I hear every bit of it. Remorse pushes itself out of the dark swirling hole I've shoved all my feelings into, and overwhelms my heart.

"No, Lyra I lov-"

A car honks. Suddenly I feel like I'm in the spotlight, and it's only growing brighter. Too late, I turn my head to the beam and white light blinds me.

The car is one metre away.

"Lyra!" A scream bursts from my mouth  and I pull her into my arms, stumbling backwards.

We collapse on the pavement. My back feels bruised but it's okay. Lyra is fine. Everything is good. "L-lyra. I'm sorry," I tell her.

Lyra turns her face away from me.

"I'm so sorry." A new voice says and I look up. Anger rises to the surface when I see that it is Remington Tryston.

Ignoring his outstretched hand, I get to my feet and help Lyra up. Then I face him, even though I'm shorter than him so technically I have to lift my head to face him. "Whoa, did you just almost hit us?"

Remington glances nervously behind him at the red Audi pulled to the side of the road. "Uh-"

"He didn't. I did," Maya says, stepping forward. "And I'm so sorry about it."

My fists curl. "Sorry? You could have killed someone. You could have killed the child of someone-" my voice breaks and I hate it. I hate myself. So I do what I do best. "Get the hell out."

Maya takes a step back, looking pained. "I...I didn't mean to, I just lost control, I..."

"Did I ask to hear your lousy excuse?"

Remington interjects. "Arguing won't help. Maya already apologised."

"Yeah. Everything is fine," I say bitterly. "No problem."

Maya frowns. "Angel-"

"Lives are important, you know."

Maya bites her lip. Her eyes quiver before she blurts out "Feelings matter too. When we first met, you tried to take advantage of my feelings to earn cash. Do you know I desperately needed a friend at that time?"

I did. I knew she was sad. I knew she needed company.

"I forgave you. Why can't you forgive me now? Is forgiveness so difficult?"

"Lyra, let's go."

Lyra pauses. Then she tugs on my hand. "Don't be sad, Angel. Can we just listen?"

I force a smile. "Okay. Listen up. I forgive you. Okay?" Yeah right. As if I would forgive you...

Maya's lower lip trembles slightly. Remington nudges her. "Go back home first. Be careful."

She nods and ducks into the Audi, leaving just Remington, me, and Lyra. The air feels charged with electricity, tension crackling between us. He speaks first. "Maya is truly sorry. Are you okay, Angel?"

"Of course she is. The handsome guy is talking to her," Lyra blubbers.

I sigh. Can Lyra just shut up?

Remington touches my arm gently. "Listen, can I take you two to dinner as an apology?"

"Are you paying?"

He smiles. "I know it's the only way you would come, right?"

Remington is actually correct about that. In fact, I'm not so angry anymore. I'm just shocked. Just so shocked that I could have almost lost Lyra earlier, lost her forever. The kid I take for granted.

Lyra smiles. "McGriddles?" She lisps.

"You bet," Remington says affectionately.

"Hmph," I say as they walk forward together, Remington walking much slower than normal to keep pace with her. He usually walks at a normal person's running speed. It's ridiculously fast.

Well, I may have doubted him, but over the course of the evening, Remington certainly does try to make it up to us for, you know, almost hitting and killing us in the car. Or at least his sister did. He buys Lyra practically the whole menu st McDonald's, and gets me as many things as I want, too. Remington even snags us the best booth at McDonald's, the one right next to a window and at the back, so it's peaceful and nice. There's nothing like munching a burger as you look out at the street.

A few guys catcall, but I ignore them. They're idiots. They just want attention from any girl, even a random person like me who's literally in loose pants and a large sweater. I suppose I look like I'm out to a pajama party with only myself and Netflix. But I could care less about what insignificant people think.

Remington watches Lyra devour her food, a half smile on his face. He then looks at me- we're both sitting across from the little girl- and asks in a low voice "Who's Lyra to you? Your daughter?"

"Yeah," I say with a perfectly straight face.

Remington raises his eyebrows. "Impressive. Hope she won't grow up to be a liar too."

I gulp. "How can you see through the lies?"

He laughs. Out of the corner of my eye I see that his sorrow is dissipating slowly, leaking into the atmosphere, away from him. Thank god I can make him feel slightly better. If I could do that to the whole world, I would...but I know it's impossible, so I've resorted to living the life of a petty thief instead of a noble woman.

"I just can. Will you tell me later?"

"Ugh, I'm still going to be seeing you around?" I tease.

He slings an arm around my shoulder. "That's right. Instead of hitting you with a car, I'll hit on you."

I can't help smiling at the lame yet clever word play he just did. But at the same time I feel enraged. He shouldn't be treating this as a simple almost accident.

Lyra points at us and says through a mouthful of food "Cute."

"Huh?" We ask as Remington smoothly removes his arm from around me.

She claps her sauce smeared hands together and says "Angel and guy are so cute!"

Remington gasps. "I literally bought you the whole menu here and you call me guy?"

"R...r..." she mumbles. Her tiny forehead creases as she struggles to recall his name. I understand her. I had a hard time remembering his long, pompous name at first too. It's unnecessarily long.

Lyra bites her lip. "Angel, help."

"Remi," I prompt.

"Yeah! Remi!"

He takes a sip of his milkshake and sits back, looking amused. "Remi? Well, you two better call me that instead of 'the guy', then. Angel, you included."

"Huh?" My mouth hangs open.

"I'd prefer you to call me Remi. My name is disgustingly obnoxious."

"You finally realised? Also, we have to go back soon."

"I knew it all along. And yes, I also know we have to go back soon."

Lyra licks her tomato sauce and picks up a fry. "Angel, eat."

"I'm stuffed!" I groan. Then I wink. "But never too full for fries."

I reach over and pluck one out, throwing it in my mouth hand chewing. Remi gives me a weird look. "Don't tell me you eat fries without sauce."

"I eat fries without sauce."

Lyra's eyes are large and round as she watches us proceed to bicker like children. Remi argues "Fries and tomato sauce are a match made in heaven! You can't do that. It's a crime to humanity, damn it."

I snort. "If I cared about harming humanity, I wouldn't have tried to con people of cash, would I now?"

"OH!" I gasp immediately after and began to talk louder. "Lyra, what I just said was a quote from this famous book. Yeah, it's just a quote. I am actually working in a very good job."

"Mmmm," she responds, chewing.

Remi narrows his eyes at me. "Should I report you to the police?" He stage whispers.

The people in McDonald's turn to look at us. I scramble to get below the table and hide from their gazes. Stupid Remi. Stupid, stupid Remi.

"Girl! What did you do?" A voice cries.

I stick my head above the table top while crouching and cry "More like what did he do!"

All the heads turn to Remi, who glares at me. He's a deer in the headlights and I'm just enjoying the show now with my fries-minus-the-tomato-sauce. Unfortunately he had just taken a sip of his ice cold milkshake and can only try to swallow it down as the people chatter.

"Is it underage pregnancy? Boy, did you get her-" someone speculates.

Remi quickly gulps down his milkshake, wincing, and proclaims "No! It's a joke. Because I'm a policeman. Haha. That's all."

"Police?!?!?!" Suddenly the McDonald's empties, and all that is left is half eaten burgers and juices on the tables. I hide a smirk. Looks like half of the crowd is involved in illegal businesses, just like me. The McDonald's cashier looks crossly at Remi, who waves sheepishly and awkwardly.

"Intriguing way of getting rid of people," I comment.

"Whoops," dear Lyra cheers.

Then he jumps up, alarm palpable on his face.  "Gosh, we have to run. It's almost 8!"

"I'm too full and fat to run," I rub my belly. "You go."

He looks annoyed. "I forgot how irritating you are-"

"Hey, you have to be nice since Maya almost hit us." My tone is light, but underneath it there is warning in it. I know Remi can tell because his eyes darken and he huffs, grabbing Lyra's hand. "Okay, let's go."

"Just kidding," I sing and get up, packing the leftovers carefully in a box. This way, I don't have to pay for food for the next two days. It sounds gross to eat leftovers, maybe, but I do it all the time and really, it's not as bad as it seems. That's why I believe the most important household appliance is the microwave. Which Remi doesn't know how to use.

Surprisingly, Remi seems anxious about Lyra being late to return to the orphanage. He strides beside me, holding her, muttering "Gosh, we're late. Oh gosh..."

Luckily, we safely drop her off, one minute before the clock strikes 8. Remi breathes a sigh of relief when we do so. It's dark by this time, and we walk on the streets outside the orphanage slowly.

"So who is Lyra to you?" He asks.

Readers: If you're here, then thank you very much for sticking on. You get virtual food. That way you feel happy, I don't spend anything, and you don't get fat. Win win. Here it is: have your pick. 🍇🍉🍌🍋🍎🍏🍐🍑🍒🍓🍅🥝🥥🥑🍆🥔🥕🌽🌶🥒🥬🥦🥦🍞🥐🥖🥨🥯🥞🧀🍖🍗🥩🥓🍔🍟🍕🌭🥪🌮🌯🥙🍳🥘🍲🥗🍿🍱🍙🍚🍛🍜🍝🍠🍣🍤🥮🍡🥟🥠🍦🍧🍩🍪🎂🍰🥧🍫🍬🍭🍮🍯🥛🍵🍷🍹🍺🍻. You can comment what you chose from the above here >>>>

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