A LITTLE TOUCH OF ROSE - EPISODE 3

Sakura’s standpoint

Ever felt like you are sitting in the midst of a queen? Someone very important that you must take care of? Well, that was how I felt sitting there with Rosita as we ate breakfast. Ever since she arrived, she had been nothing but a big help to me. In school I faced hell, but returning home to be welcomed by her smile was enough reason to go on. She made life easier for me by doing all the work, so when I returned, all I had to do was sleep or do my homeworks and then go to work.

She hadn’t gotten a job yet, but she was following me to check out if she could. Rosita barely gave more than a small smile and little talks when she first came, but now she was smiling brightly and talking more. She was getting use to us like mother wanted, too use to us. She was the perfect big sister image I ever dreamt of having. Her presence brought us joy, her smile gave us hope and her laughter made our heart flip. For some reason, we all had this glimmer of hope by just being with her.

Of course one could easily tell that the young girl was bathe in wealth before things went south, even her properties shouted it out. Nevertheless, Rosita was just too humble and sweet, too sweet for her own good. Even mistress seem to like her more than us and she had only been here for two weeks. Because of her, mistress reduced our work and gave mother permission to take anything from the kitchen to make sure Rosita eats well to maintain her beautiful skin.

Speaking of which, Rosita had been taking care of my hair and even bought me an expensive cream to care for my skin. In two weeks, I was already feeling beautiful and even the students in school noticed it. One of the witches asked me why my skin was glowing and in anger, poured hot coffee on me. Good thing I was wearing a thick sweater so I quickly took it off before my skin got grazed. I was happy because they were envious of my new skin and getting glossy hair.

“Neesan, let me blow on it,” I insisted. Her bowl of soup was hot but she wouldn’t let me blow on it. In two weeks I’d learnt a lot about her. Her favourite food is anything spicy and hot that would burn her tongue, juicy fruits and vegetables. Neesan loved vegetables, doesn’t play with them. Allergies includes ginger, rosemary and mango. Keep them away from her. She wasn’t allergic to strawberry, but eating it made her tummy upset. She had a thing for white, gold, silver, rosegold and electric purple. Hate pink, sea green, emerald, all neon colours and purple.

They was a lot of things I took my time to learn so I’d take care of her.

“Sakura, I love my food hot,”

“But this is too hot,”

“I’m fine, really.” She laughed.

“Okay, let me pick out the bones for you so it won’t choke you,” I insisted again.

“Or you can stop that person from eating your breakfast,” she pointed her chopsticks to someone. I looked at the person and gasped.

“Bloom, you ate my breakfast!”

Bloom grinned sheepishly. “Ur… Oops?”

“Why you…” She grabbed the remaining bowl of soup and ran off. I stood up and ran after her. “Come back here you little worm!”

“Haha, Sakura is being mean to me again!”

“Sakura, leave your little sister alone!” Mom shouted.

“But Mama, she ate my breakfast!”

“Bloom!!!”

“Sakura, why don’t you come eat with me?” Reece suggested. He was more than willing to sacrifice his meals for either of us.

“No, have mine,” Rosita said with a chuckle. Bloom whimpered.

“Neesan, you didn’t give me your food,” she cried.

“Because you ate yours and another,” I said and stuck my tongue out to her. She did the same and rolled her eyes. I ignored her and went to eat with neesan, a death certificate if I don’t blow the food cold.

After breakfast, Rosita and I left for the café to see if she could get a job. Surprisingly, she made us go to another café, a much expensive one. I remember the café belonged to one of the idol’s parent, it was where the students came out to get early morning coffee and snacks and hang out after school if they wanted to. By students, I meant the idols and way higher class students.

“What are we doing here?”

“Getting a job,”

“Why? This place belongs to the school, extra bullying for me.” I cried.

“Not only students of your school comes here, other business people comes for easy business deals. This place is the home of information, at least for what I need.” Was her simple confusing reply.

“But…”

“You don’t have to work here, only I have.” And with that, she made me sit and went into the backroom. I waited patiently for her to return. Fortunately for me, it was Saturday, the students barely came on Saturdays.

“Hello, can I sit?” I looked up to see who was asking. My face moulded into a scowl at seeing one of the idol group. There were seven girls, a nice idol group that didn’t interfere with anything or bully people. In fact, most times, they moved around with normal students and smile. They were sweet, but as usual, their sweetness didn’t extend to me.

“No, you can’t sit.” I replied coldly. They opened their mouth with shock. I hate all idols and rich people.

“But…”

“Leave it, Meena, she certainly doesn’t want us to sit,” the second leader said to the first.

“Sakura,” Rosita called calmly. I looked at her to find her already walking out of the door.

“Coming, Neesan!” I grabbed my bag and ran after her. When I got to her, I slowed down. “Did you get the job?”

“Yes, I did. Who were they? Were they bullying you?” She asked upsettingly.

“No, Neesan, those girls are nice, really. They just don’t speak to me or extend their kindness to me, neither do they bully me. I was like that because all idol snd rich people disgust me.” I said with hate.

“I’m a rich kid,” she said with a chuckle.

“Neesan is different, she is humble and sweet. Those people aren’t.”

“But how will you know if you don’t know them?” She looked down at me as she asked, eyes shining with a secret knowledge. I shrugged and looked away from her intense gaze. “I’m beginning school on Monday, would you take care of me?”

“Obviously, not. If you stay away from me, my bad luck won’t rub off on you.” I said pleadingly. I had been pleading with her to avoid me, but she wouldn’t hear of it. As usual, she only chuckled and continued walking.

Neesan walked very slowly, not sluggishly slow, leisurely slow. She walked like the world had nothing to her, like she didn’t need to run no matter the situation. Her strides were graceful, majestic, elegant and above all, sexy. Neesan managed to pull off sexy walking without even trying. No one needed to be told twice to know that the lady was from a rich home.

“Neesan, how old are you?” I asked the first question that popped into my head.

“Eighteen,”

“You are only a year older than me, but I feel like you are older.”

“I am,” she said simply, looked at me and tapped her temple, “in here.”

“Oh, can I still call you, Neesan?”

“As long as you want, My Blossom, as long as you want.”

“Why do you always call me, My Blossom?”

“Because that is what you are.”

Rosita’s standpoint

The love of a mother and family compares to nothing else. Two weeks with them and I was smiling fully, being happy for the first time in my entire life. Happiness with Romi, Terry and Tenny were different, smiling with them was partial. My new family was bringing out a whole new side of me, one that I never knew existed. Rosita Donahue was happy for real, she was enthusiastic for real.

As much as I want to remain like that, I have to remember my mission. Two weeks of silence had my father bothered and the last thing I needed him to know was that my mother and I was back together. Father might have spared her because he loved her or as the only thing he could do after separating us, but he would not tolerate disobedience and our reunion. I wasn’t ready to risk their lives and safety for it.

Work had to be done, I had to strike. I sat on the armchair in the office of my first victim, tapping my foot in air as I hummed silently. By dust the whole police force will be on high alert because the deadly golden rose killer would make herself known.

I didn’t specifically told them or anyone my name was Altansarnai, they just guessed. How? My golden roses had ‘A’ printed on it. So the American smartass put two and two together, searched for names that might mean it and somehow, they knew my name was Altansarnai. Too bad for them, I wasn’t registered with that name. I was Rosita Jemisha Donahue, my father named me that.

I played with the pointed edge of my rose, the sharp blade that did most of my kill. The door opened and the man stepped in with his mistress. Poor wife was at home waiting for him to return to her when he was busy fucking her best friend. Traitors, both traitors. But they weren’t the reason I was going to kill him. He had some score to settle with dad.

The happy fools kissed their way to the sofa bed, not bothering to turn on the lights or even notice the girl sitting there. “Humans are so primitive,” Romi said through the micro chip installed in my ear.

“You said it, bestie, you said it.” I lazily threw the rose and it hit his temple. The man dropped dead on top of her. She didn’t notice why at first. I stood up and ran to the open window, climbed onto it and smirk as she screamed at the top of her voice. I threw myself off the window and disappeared with the darkness of the night.

_______________

Mondays, am I the only one who loves Mondays? Note the sarcasm. It was time to go to school, even if I didn’t need it. I was true with high school and college, advantages of being born with my kind of brain. I told them I was eighteen when really I was twenty one. Nobody needed to know my real age, at least not yet.

I brushed my hair in front of the mirror as I stared at the uniform and smiled as Romi went on and on about this new upgrade she wants me to work on. She wanted me to install a home simulation in her control and create a cute boyfriend with the face of Tenny and body of Terry. She was insane, even said I would later add kids. According to her, she wants a husband she can return home to after the day’s work.

The uniform was merrily pink and white. Of all the colours, it had to be pink. The button down shirt was white with diamond shaped steel pink buttons, flowery chest pocket and a gold name tag. The collar, pink, the hem of the short sleeve, pink and the short gathered-knife pleaded skirt was also pink. Then there was the white jacket with the school badge on it, and of course, pink. The precious stones forming the shoulder blades and surrounding the hems of the jacket was pink; steel pink. I didn’t wear socks, I hate socks. But I did wear a beautiful white T-strap heels. So yes, I look amazing. Sarcastic by the way.

“Neesan, are you still dressing up?”

“I hate pink,” was my reply. Bloom giggled.

“At least it’s not Barbie or shocking pink or even bright or cerise pink.” She said drily. I chuckled and nodded in agreement, that would have been really bad.

“The colours helps us identify each others class,” Sakura said as she walked into the room I shared with her. “Barbie pink for the female idols, ultra pink for the real time celebrities, carnation pink for business people… You know, daughters of wealthy people that owns this company or that, candy pink for the politicians, bright pink for law parents students, florescent pink for the medical ones, deep and steel pink for just average students–students whose parents are just rich by one means or the other, hot pink for people who can afford the school, China pink for the scholarship students and piggy pink for the extra poor ones like me who are maids and slaves.”

“Piggy pink, that’s just being cruel,” Romi said in my ear.

“How do you even know all those colours? Candy pink? I can barely tell between pink flamingo and flamingo pink!” I exclaimed.

“Pink flamingo is prettier and has a little hint of lavender while flamingo pink has a tint of orange,” I frowned at Bloom. She giggled.

“Don’t worry, Neesan, they won’t bully you with this colour. Oh yeah, you should know the boy’s as well. Their uniform is the same, just that they were trousers instead of skirt and their jackets don’t have pink gemstones, just epaulettes. Gold for idols, silver for real time celebrities, red for stinky rich, raspberry pink for politicians, yellow for law…”

“Sakura, don’t care,” I said with an eye roll. “There is no way I’m wearing this,” I huffed.

“You can’t do anything about it,” I smirked at Bloom.

“Sure I can and I will. Sakura, go to school ahead of me, I’ll be late.”

“Are you going to change the colour of the uniform?” Romi asked. I chuckled because I couldn’t answer her with them with me. I was going to change it and go with my own colour. No, not rosegold, too obvious.

Odin’s standpoint

I rolled my eyes as Alvin kept talking about this model he slept with and how good she was in bed. That is mostly what he talks about with the others. Well, except Zedekiah who was quiet like he always has been. It wasn’t just his nature to be quiet, the responsibility of shouldering the team added to his silence. I always wondered why, until I was made leader for seven days when he fell ill. It isn’t a easy job, especially when it came to our team.

It was like fathering three difficult kids, three because I wouldn’t add myself or Isaac to it since we could take care of ourselves. In fact, together, we cared for the troublemakers. The number one problem was Cedric. The boy was both flirtatious, promiscuous, trouble magnet, disaster creater and cruelty first born. We had to make sure he didn’t get in more trohbke which was almost impossible to achieve.

“You know nobody cares,” I sighed.

“I do,” Cedric said with a glare.

“And me too,” Darra chirped.

“Oh boy,” Isaac murmured. “Why don’t we talk about our next concert, Zed?” Zed glanced up from his book without a word. Book nerd.

“Okay, just eat in silence, have you all ever tried that?” I asked frowningly. “For once, girls isn’t surrounding our table…”

“Because he chased them away with his eyes,” Cedric said chidinging, pointing at Zed who smirked. “He’s a monster and enemy of enjoyment…”

“The meanest father in…”

“I am not your father, Darra, I’ve said that about a hundred times already,” Zed snapped.

“Millions actually,” Alvin laughed. Zed glared at him. Zed, easy to anger, hard to control. He’s a really piece of work to deal with.

Commotion broke out, another student or that same girl being bullied again. Sometimes I wonder why they can’t just leave the innocent girl in peace. I closed my magazine and looked down since we were sitting close to the railing. I glanced at Isaac to see him looking away as usual while Cedric watched with glee. He created the whole thing along with the remaining devils. Remember, cruelty first born.

It was that girl again. For some reason, they found joy in picking on her. Obviously because she’s one of the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

“Let me go,” she cried. Isaac sighed.

“I’m getting tired of this,”

“Tell me about it,” Darra murmured. The seven girls were having fun spraying mustard and ketchup on her, painting her uniform again. I wonder how she even manages to make her uniform clean after almost everyday food shower.

“Oh come on, Thing Four, don’t you like painting anymore? It’s beautiful, just like we are making you.”

“Aoi, stop, stop,”

“She even called my name, can you imagine? Pour her more, she needs more.” The whole cafeteria laughed, including the so called idiots I call friends.

“Shame on you, Sora,” Meena scolded. Sora shrugged.

“That’s what she gets for not being born into the right family or thinking she can enter a school as prestigious as this,” I rolled my eyes. I can’t believe I used to date that snake.

“What in the world…” Alvin gasped. We all turned to him. “Look,” he pointed at the door. I turned my attention to it and saw what he was gasping at.

My jaw dropped as my eyes flew open. At the door, staring at the whole mess with a furious pout was a girl. Long white hair, cute almond shaped glasses and her uniform colour was different. Pacific blue, Picton blue and celestial blue carefully and beautifully mixed into each other; a hue of each colour. Her lips were as red as my mother’s favourite shoes, and her eyes, no human should possess such eyes. There is no way this girl is human.

I looked around and realise that I wasn’t the only one who thought she was too fake to be real. Is she? The white hair looked natural and her brows were white too. Her lashes white but a paler shade.

Okay, who’s this?