Darling of the Wild

A Breakfast on the Gomez Household

The sound of the ringing alarm clock woke me up. I immediately turned it off and yawned. I leaned my back on the headboard with my eyes closed trying to wake my nerves up. I slept late last night that’s why I am still so sleepy.

Me and my brothers talked about what happened and how they rudely treated Aiden. They asked me what happened and why I was crying but I don’t want to tell them about it because I am so scared for them if ever they knew about it, they might act rashly and just throw punches on any guy they will see. And I can’t seem to bring myself from telling other people about it, maybe I can tell Philomena and Chantal but not my brothers.

I almost drifted back to sleep if it wasn’t for the knocks on my door followed by the voice of my eldest brother, Lennox, “Maia!”

My body seemed to be in love with the bed today, it wanted to be with it for another couple of hours. But I have 9AM class today so I need to break the heart of my body and take it away from its love which is my queen-sized bed. So heartbreaking.

Wait.

Why am I thinking like this? Am I crazy? Does my body have a different heart aside from the heart that I have? Does that even make sense? Do I even make sense?

I shook my head and try to remove all the nonsense thoughts in my head. I should never sleep late again. It’s very bad for my mentality. I even gently hit my face hoping for it to wake me up.

“Maia! Are you awake?” I heard Lennox behind the door. His knocks are getting louder and louder as the moment pass by and I still don’t answer him.

“Yeah! I’m awake” I answered and yawned after. I remove the blanket covering me and left the bed to open the door.

I came face to face with my eldest and sweetest brother, Lennox, who look fresh and good in the morning with his white long-sleeved polo paired with his black slacks. He smells amazing while I stand in front of him fresh from the bed wearing my favorite pink PJs.

“Good morning” then he gave me a smile.

I stretch my arms wide, asking for a hug, “Good morning” I greeted back when he finally gave me a hug.

When he let go, he patted my head and said “I need to go first. I need to finish something in the office.” 

“Huh?” I looked behind me to see the time then I asked him, “But it’s still early. It’s 7AM”

“There are new investors in our company, and I need to finalize some things” he explained. Looking at him he looks passionate in working in our company, he is one of the most committed to work in our family, next to my father of course. I know he is the most pressured one because he is the eldest and he need to help our father to grow our business. He can’t make mistakes because he is leading the whole company with my father.

I pouted and hugged him again, “Okay Lennox. Just make sure you eat. You told me that mom doesn’t want us to skip our lunch, so don’t, okay?” I looked up to him and smiled, still hugging him, “And if dad is pressuring you too much, tell me. I’ll scold him.”

He chuckled, “Okay, got it.”

I let him go, “Be sure to be home before dinner. We need to eat together. No overtimes” I added.

He patted my head, “Too many reminders.” He complained but smiled after, “I’ll go now. You should take a bath already. You smell bad” then he scrunched his nose.

I rolled my eyes and turned my back at him, “Whatever” then I closed my bedroom door.

Lennox is the sweetest, but he is still my brother whose goal is to get into my nerves and make fun of me.

After that small talk with my brother, I did my morning routine and chose an outfit to wear. Since yesterday, the touch of those guys in my arms, shoulders and thigh cannot leave my mind. I feel like their hands are still in my body. That’s why today, I chose to wear a high waisted jeans and a cropped white hoodie. Up until now I still don’t know why those guys approached me and do bad things to me. I don’t really know them, and I hope I won’t see them again. The campus is huge, so I’ll pray that I won’t see them again.

I checked myself in the mirror after I wore my ID. I stared at my reflection and let out a deep sigh. I gave myself a smile for being so strong. You did good, Maia.

I put mascara and lipstick then I picked up my things and went out of the room to go to the dining area. My dad and all my brothers, except Lennox, are there. They are all eating breakfast already.

I walked towards my dad and kissed him at his cheeks, “Good morning, dad!”

He removed his eyes from the iPad he was holding, where there are charts and some documents that he was reading, to look at me, “Hey, sweetie! You’re finally ready. Come on and eat.”

I went to my seat and one of the maids pour an orange juice on my glass. They also put pancakes on my plate which is my favorite breakfast.

“Uhm, can you also make me a cup of hot choco?” I asked the maid which she answered by just nodding. I thanked her and when she left, I glanced at my brothers who are silently eating and there’s a heavy aura here.

I look at my dad then my brothers then back to my dad. I think my brothers got scolded by dad. They act like this when dad get mad at them.

“Lloyd!” I was about to take a bite on my precious pancakes when Maverick called out the name of my another brother in an annoyed way.

“What?” Lloyd answered in a sarcastic way obviously teasing Maverick.

Okay, it smells like a breakfast fight.

“Can you keep your elbow off me? It’s been hitting me for the past five minutes.” Maverick asked in a controlled way. He’s trying his best not to raise his voice because daddy will be mad.

“I don’t remember hitting you. It might be an accident” then Lloyd gave Maverick a smirk. I glanced at dad and I saw him seriously reading on his iPad. It must be work. My brothers won’t like it if they disturbed daddy.

Maverick forcefully put down his utensils and glared at Lloyd, “Are you really teasing me? You just hit me with your elbows again!”

I looked around the table and saw Lewis, Marcus and Morgan minding their own business and finishing their breakfast.

“Why? Are you teased?’ Lloyd answered back.

Maverick quickly stood up and pulled the collar of Lloyd. Some chairs fell down, as well as the utensils of Lloyd which created a noise that made dad look at them. His face quickly turned angry and about to shout, but,

“Dad!” I called out trying to stop him from scolding my brothers.

He regarded his sight to me and raised his brows, “Yes?”

I bit my lip trying to think of what to say, I just wanted to save my brothers from being scolded. This kind of scenario are normal, like every breakfast expect that they will have an argument and dad will scold them or take their credit cards and car keys as a form of punishment.

“Uhm. . .” I looked around and when an idea popped out, I asked, “You don’t have work today?”

“I do have work today, sweetie. I have a meeting with our investors later” he answered calmly and put down his iPad on the table, giving his full attention to me.

I nodded, “But why did Lennox needed to go to work so early?” I jokingly gave him a glare, “Are you slacking off and let Lennox do the work?”

He shrugged, “Maybe? Maybe not?” he answered then chuckled.

I pouted and called out, “Dad!”

He laughed at me, “Don’t worry, Lennox is just finalizing things. I’m giving him extra workloads because I trust him.”

“Reasons! I know you’re just too lazy and Lennox is so diligent” I told him, jokingly looking so unconvinced with my arms crossed.

He let out a laugh and I ended up laughing too.

I felt like I did what I needed to do. I have distracted my dad and my brothers are safe from scolding. I’m so good! What would they do without me? Perks of having me as their sister huh?

Dad went back to what he’s reading with a smile on his face, so I look around and saw Lloyd and Maverick, sitting and continuing their breakfast. Maverick even showed me his thumb gesturing ‘good job’. I rolled my eyes and flipped my hair, basically learning from Philomena. I heard Maverick chuckling, but I just continued eating.

After breakfast, I stood up and walked towards dad to kiss him goodbye, “I’m going to school now, daddy.”

“Okay, take care. Who’s gonna drive you to school?” he asked while holding my hand to stop me from leaving.

“Uhm” I looked at my brothers, thinking. I don’t want Marcus and Lewis to drive me to school, Maverick is going to work, same with Lloyd, so the only one left is my cocky brother,

“Morgan” I answered.

“Morgan!” dad called my brother who just finished eating his food.

“Yes, dad?” he politely answered like he’s a good boy and not the loudest Gomez in this household.

“Drive safely to school, okay? Make sure that your sister will get home safe and sound” Daddy reminded him.

He pointed at himself, “Me? I’ll drive Maia to school? I thought it was Lewis and Marcus’ duty?”

I smiled at him, “I want you to drive me to school today.”

He went to me and put his arms around my shoulder, I freeze and the memories of yesterday flooded in my mind. Fear started crippling in.

“You want your only handsome brother to drive you to school huh?” Morgan jokingly asked.

I faked a smile despite the discomfort, “Yeah.”

“Okay! I’m the reliable brother so I’ll take care of the youngest” he added sounding really cocky.

I rolled my eyes and tried to kick away all the memory of yesterday.

“Stop with the unsolicited banters, Morgan. Take care of your sister” Dad told him, and Morgan quickly stood straight and turned serious.

“Noted, Dad. We’re leaving now” he politely told our father. All my brothers are really scared of dad and they mostly act serious and tamed in front of him.

I waved my hand and smiled sweetly again at dad then I turned my back to leave. However, before we finally went out of the dining room,

“Lloyd. Maverick. See me in the office. We need to talk” I heard dad said in a stern voice.

I tried to take a glance, but Morgan stopped me with his arms on my shoulders, “Don’t. Let’s go” he told me.

“Huh? Why?”

He smiled while basically pulling me to walk, “You have failed your mission successfully.”

“Huh? What?” I asked, confused.

“You did well, sis” he told me then he patted my head.

“Can you explain it to me, Morgan?” I demanded while looking at him.

He smirked, “Dad knows that you’re always trying to distract him every time we are fighting during our meal. And you know who told him?” he eyed me then pointed at himself, looking so proud, “Me.”

“What? Why did you do that, Morgan? Dad will confiscate their cards” I asked him in disbelief.

“I need to buy something, and I need their part to buy it” he answered while shrugging.

I frowned and asked again, “How did you know that Maverick and Lloyd will fight?” we are now standing in front of his car.

He opened the car door for me, “They are our two hot headed brothers. They are the closest, but they are also the two who always fights.”

“You are the worst.” I glared at him before going inside his car.

“And the most handsome” then he closed the door. He jogs to go the other side to get in the driver seat.

Morgan is the wittiest in the most irritating way. All my brothers share the same account for their credit cards and there’s only a certain limit every month. He wanted to get Maverick and Lloyd cards to be confiscated so he can take their part on the credit cards. He is so awful.