ALL I DO.
{ irl }

matt looks around miss posey's house in amazement. he was lying about the whole history thing, but after he's gotten a look at the interior design? matt might actually start studying the house's history.

despite the beauty of miss posey's house, matt focuses on niola. every time she stumbles — even the slightest bit — he automatically reaches for her.

niola has yet to notice matt's efforts as she ventures farther and farther into the house, knowing exactly where rayne resides.

at the same time niola gets dismissed from school, miss posey is working in her office while rayne is taking a nap in the bedroom down the hall. since it's nighttime, niola is certain that rayne was put to sleep in that same room she takes her nap in. she would simply walk in and take rayne, not wanting to disturb miss posey. but she feels the need to explain all of this to the poor woman.

miss posey always goes out of her way to help niola out whenever it's needed. but niola feels like she very rarely helps her in return. the absolute least she could do is tell her why she's so late and offer her some extra cash for the overtime.

"this house is stunning," matt murmurs, walking only a few inches behind niola. "i feel like i would be tainting the beauty of the home simply by stepping foot on such clean wooden floors."

"even if your presence bothers miss posey, she would never say anything rude to you aloud." niola informs him, quietly opening the door to rayne's napping room.

truth is, miss posey lives in a literal mansion. her husband was a millionaire and when he died, he left his fortune to his wife — miss posey — which has caused her to have such a wonderful lifestyle and home. her husband died at the age of 30 due to an uncommon illness. the couple had been planning to have children, but never got the chance because of his life being taken so early.

her husband's death is what makes miss posey love spending so much time with rayne. she enjoys taking care of other people's children since she wasn't able to have any of her own.

it's a tragic story, but the tragedy is what made miss posey into the woman she is today. despite the sadness of her past, she'll forever be grateful for the lesson she learned from it — which is to cherish the time with the people you care about while you can. because they can be ripped from your grasp before you know it.

"is this room dedicated to rayne?" matt asks niola, looking around at the nursery.

the walls are beautifully decorated for a child, with little sheep scattered across the surface. the floors are carpeted so as to comfort a fall that a child is likely to take. and in the corner is a large crib, stars dangling above the child's pillow.

to anyone else, this looks like an over-the-top nursery considering the fact that she only babysits rayne during the week. but the truth is that miss posey and her husband decorated this room for their potential children, and it was never used until she started babysitting rayne.

"no." niola tells matt simply, not wanting to explain the whole story to him. her quick answer confuses matt, but he accepts it without any further questions.

niola reaches over the side of the crib, gently grabbing rayne and trying not to wake her. unfortunately, rayne jolts awake the moment niola touches her, the child suddenly screaming and crying without realizing that the person holding her is just her sister.

niola hushes rayne, wanting her to quiet down as to not startle miss posey. but rayne's sobs don't cease.

"it's okay, ray." matt coos, rubbing rayne's back gently. for some reason, rayne goes dead silent as soon as she hears matt's voice.

"what? you're trying to steal my sister from me now?" niola asks with a sarcastic scoff.

matt doesn't notice her sarcasm and he automatically rushes to defend himself, "what? no! i just wanted to help you try to calm her down! i didn't want to steal her or anything like that, it's just-"

"hey, hey," niola says though her laughs. she pats matt's cheek with her hand that isn't holding rayne. even though the pats aren't sincere, matt's entire face heats up at her touch. "i was just joking, calm down. i didn't know my approval meant so much to you, matthew."

"it doesn't! i was-"

"oh, well aren't you two just the most adorable little love birds."

matt and niola both jump at the sound of someone's voice speaking out of nowhere. but when they turn around, niola instantly recognizes the stranger to be miss posey.

"miss posey!" niola says, quickly walking up to her. "i'm so sorry that i arrived so late. i wasn't expecting to be away for such an extended period of-"

"hush, child." miss posey cuts her off, holding up a hand to stop niola for apologizing any further. "you stress yourself out far too much. remember that you're still just a child, niola. you don't need to be so punctual and perfect all the time. you're a teenager, my dear, i'll always be happy to take care of rayne in order for you to live out your teenage years."

niola nods, but knows that she will never not feel guilty for leaving rayne with her for this long.

whereas matt is watching miss posey's every move in absolute amazement. this woman is so wise and rich. she's everything he aspires to be in the future. not only that, but she just summarized everything he's been trying to tell niola from the very beginning.

"i'm forever grateful for you, miss posey." niola says, still stressed and guilty. "at least let me offer you some extra money for helping me out with rayne."

"i don't need your money, nor do i want it." miss posey says, shaking her head.

"i insist." niola urges. she adjusts rayne so she's uncomfortably resting on niola's hip while she digs through her purse for her wallet. but she quickly remembers that she didn't bring her wallet with her since she went to the party directly after school.

niola finds a few coins and three dollars left at the bottom of her bag. she pulls them out and holds them out for miss posey to take. but still, the woman refuses the money.

"i'm sorry, this is all i can give you right now. tomorrow, i'll come back with more money." niola apologizes, still trying to get miss posey to take the cash. "maybe then-"

before she can say anything more, matt adds a few dollars to the bills in niola's palm.

her eyes widen, realizing that he just gave her fifty more dollars to pay with. niola looks up at him, subtly shaking her head, trying to decline the money. but he just ignores her.

"with all due respect, miss posey, i ask that you just take the money." matt joins in. "we both know how determined she can be." he gestures to niola.

finally, miss posey grabs the money from niola's hand officially accepting her offer.

"i take your money in hopes that you two will take rayne and leave." miss posey says with a stubborn huff, feeling a pang of guilt regarding the fact that she was forced into accepting money from niola.

she's been babysitting the silvers's children since niola was a toddler. she is highly aware of their family's financial issues — mainly because niola's father would always tell sob stories so he didn't have to pay the old woman a single penny for her hard work.

miss posey has always adored niola's willingness to do anything for others. even when she was young, niola would never think of her own needs. she would ignore her own wellbeing and rush to anyone's side who appeared to need her help.

while miss posey does admire this characteristic, she knows that being selfless isn't always a good thing.

when she realized that niola wasn't going to change her behavior, miss posey has silently been praying for someone to come into her life and help her out of this horrid habit.

and the moment miss posey laid eyes on matthew, she knew that he would be the one to take on the role. miss posey knows that niola is super protective over rayne, meaning she would never trust someone to accompany her to pick her up if she didn't fully trust them — which means that niola definitely trusts matt. also, miss posey immediately noticed how matt would do anything to help niola. even give some strange old lady half a hundred dollars.

"thank you so much, miss posey!" niola calls as she exits the nursery with rayne, matt following them a few feet behind.

before matt could leave the room with niola, miss posey grabbed his arm and muttered, "it would be in your best interest to stay on my good side, boy. if you do anything to hurt that girl, you'll answer to me. understood?"

matt shuddered at the threatening tone of miss posey's voice. at first, he viewed her as a kind old lady. i mean seriously, what would she do to hurt him? but after hearing her talk like that, matt feels like there is a target on his back.

"y-yes, ma'am." matt stammered, moments before niola poked her head back into the nursery.

"matthew! what's taking you so long?" niola asked.

"that was my fault, dear. i was speaking with him." miss posey apologizes, discreetly shoving matt out of the door.

even though she had threatened him, miss posey is incredibly grateful for matt. she's been wanting niola to find someone like that for years. even though they're not aware of it yet, miss posey has a feeling that those two will grow very close in the future — closer than they could anticipate.

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a/n : i'm back from my break 🤭🤭 i missed you guys so much and also
THANK YOU FOR 12K READS??? THIS IS INSANE???
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