100 Ways To Love Her

Having no Family

“Dear! Wake up!”, Josh slowly opens his eyes. His phone was still in his hands, “Honey wakes up, the breakfast is ready!”, Daniella was shouting on his door,

 “Ok, mom, I’ll be there in a minute”, he told her, 

“All right but you should be there immediately, or your pancakes will become cold”, she then leaves. 

Josh yawns and folds his blanket, he puts his leg on the ground while still sitting on his bed, he stares at it. He tries to stand up without holding something, or someone assisting him, “I did it!”, he told to himself. He walks straight downstairs, only quite limping, his father saw him, 

“You...You are getting better!” he then takes a bite of the pancake.

“Yeah”, he sits beside Kam, 

“It’s nice to see that”, Daniella said to him while putting piles of pancakes on his plate, subsequently, she handed him the syrup. “Can I help you guys around the store later?”, Josh asked both of his parents, Daniella and Kam looked at each other, “Yeah”, she uttered, 

“Are you sure with that?”, his father wondered,

 “yup, I will be just fine”, Josh said.

Kam and Josh drive their way to the store, while his mother was still in the house, cleaning. Kam goes out of the car first,  and when Josh was about to come out as well he offers his hand to him. Josh looks at him, “I can do this dad” he grips on the car door and stands up, 

“Impressive”, Kam slowly nods. 

Afterward, he opens the shop, and both of them go inside. Josh picks up the broom and started sweeping around, without someone helping him. Kam was staring at him, “Guess what? Are you doing this for your game next week, son, you really want to join, you still have next year?”, he asked, 

“Yes, and I also have another reason” he told him

“What?”, 

“Uhh nothing”, Josh looks away from his father and proceeds on what he’s doing he then sweeps on the other side of the shop, Kam just smiles at him, and gets the newspaper at his side, he puts glasses on afterward reads it.

It was now seven in the morning At the Cook's house, Andie was at the kitchen preparing their breakfast, all of a sudden, three knocks were heard from the front door. She puts down the pan and spatula, and opens the door, “Hey! Are you Andrea Anderson?”, a woman wearing formal attire shows up, with two men behind her and one of them is a police officer, “Yes”, she told them, 

“Can we talk with you and to Mrs. Cook?” the woman asked. Andie just looks at her, and nods gently, “Sure”, she uttered slowly. She was puzzled after seeing authorities goes to their house out of nowhere. Her eyes were following them, as the three people enter the house and sat on the couch.

“Auntie, Uncle!”, she yelled. 

After a minute, Amy goes down, “What is..”, she yelled, “Oh, Ma’am, Can I help you”, she approaches the woman, “Hi, Mrs. Cook, we are here, to talk about Andie’s stay with you”, the woman told her, 

“Is there something wrong?”, Amy asked, 

“We heard, that your husband lost his job and you have no source of income, we’re afraid that you can no longer keep Andie by your side if you will not able to have a stable income”,

“What? So what will happen you are going to take her away from us!”, Amy wondered.

Andie was sitting beside the policeman expressionless. she stares at the two of them, while her mind keeps attention on their discussion after hearing her name mentioned. 

“I am afraid that’s what will happen”, the woman spoke,

 “I am fine here”, Andie stood up followed by a few seconds of silence, “You have nothing to be worried about”, she added quickly to her statement,

 “Well, that’s good to hear, but we also have another issue here”, the woman looks back to Amy, 

“Since you don’t have a source of income, we found out that you are using the childcare grant, for the entire family which will not be enough”, 

“Wait. Childcare grant?”, Andie suddenly becomes bewildered, 

“You don’t know about it?”, the policeman asked, 

Amy stares at her and their eyes locked and tightens her lips and she shook her head gently. 

The woman comes closer to her, “Ms. Anderson, you don’t have an idea about this?”,

Andie’s hands are sweating she looks at the woman then to Amy, her heart was beating so fast, “I..uhh”, she gulps, Andie can’t decide what to say, she knows she will be in trouble if she admits the truth but if she didn’t she has to remain living with her auntie, being free with her, is a dream come true for her. 

“Andie”, the woman held both of her shoulders. Andie gazes at Amy once more,

“I don’t...know, I have no idea about it”, she uttered, but her eyes got teary as well, as different emotions are battling inside her. 

“You brat!”, Amy yelled at her,  causing all of the person present looks at her, and now because of her action, she gave them a reason to take Andie  

“Ma’am we will go back tomorrow, to pick her up, then we can discuss everything at court”, the woman said to her, 

“What! Court! I am her aunt! You have no right to take her from me!”, 

“Ma’am like what I said, we can talk about this in court”, the woman’s voice higher, 

“Andie get you things now, we are taking you with us”, the police officer uttered, 

Andie is just standing there, emotionless, not knowing what to do, the situation was going on a dizzying speed, she was just cooking this morning and now she will leave the house,

 “Where are you going to take me?’, she asked, 

“To a place where you will gonna be safe”, 

Andie was staring at them as she walks backwardly to the stairs, she then turned her back to them and runs upstairs. 

In her room, she opens her cabinet and grabbed everything, she could and puts it inside the bag, the police officer then knocks at the door, “Let me help you”, he approaches Andie and carries some of her bags, “Yes thank you”, she smiles from ear to ear, she felt the chains on her hands was finally broken, she saw a new world, where she can live for herself, Andie paused as the thoughts are entering on her mind, 

“Andie”, the policeman uttered, 

“Yeah?”, she quickly zips up her bag, but suddenly her expression changed, her face went straight, 

“Hang on, where am I going to stay then?”, she turned her head to the policeman, 

“For now, to the orphanage”, he told her, 

“What! I don’t want to be there”, she said, 

The man gets closer to her, and sits beside her on the ground, “That’s for temporary only, once you find a family..”, subsequently Andie grabs her bag and runs downstairs. “Wait!”, the police officer follows her. The front door was wide open, so she no longer needs to stop even though she’s carrying two bags with her, as she passes by the woman, Amy and the other man looks at her, the policeman then comes down, “What’s happening?”, the woman asked him, but the man ignores it and chases her. As he goes outside, he can no longer see her, still, he tried to guess where she can be so he ran at his left path. When Andie saw the policeman left, she gets out of the bushes and quickly walked away while looking around to see if someone might be following her.

She went to the park and sits on the nearby bench, she was panting and trying to catch her breath, Andie afterward picks her phone from her pocket, and calls Josh, the phone keeps on ringing but there is no answer, she dials the number again, “Please answer”, she pleaded.

“Hello”, Josh suddenly answered, “Hey! Uhmm, are you free today?”, she asked. Josh was on playing a video game when Andie called, so he pauses it. Josh hesitated for a second, as he remembers Fred’s words the last time they met. “I am busy actually, I am helping my parents at the shop...I need to go now, bye”, he hangs up the call.

“Wait..”, she then drops her phone. Andie covered her face with her hands and starts to cry, “What have I done?”, she told herself, her phone suddenly chirped, she looks for who it can be, “Hey, I just want to ask about the lecture in English, do you have it?”, Mya texted her. An idea then entered her mind, she starts to type something, Andie only needs to click the phone to send her message, but something inside, is pulling her to do this, she then sighs deeply, and still sends it. A few minutes later, Andie was just staring at nowhere thinking of the scenes that happened earlier, at the house, suddenly her phone chirps again, she quickly opens it and reads the message, “I talk to my mom already, she agreed for you to stay with us”, Mya texted her, her message flipped her upside down situation which cause her a delight and excitement inside her. Afterwards, Mya told them their address. Andie picks up her bags and immediately left the place.

It only took her ten minutes to arrive at the place. She was walking slowly gazing at the neighborhood, Andie then saw a small cottage with trees and flowers in the backyard, she takes out her phone and reads back Mya’s message to her, “Lot 52”. Andie goes near the mailbox to see if there is a number engraved, and she’s right, there is a number 52 in it, “Maybe this is it”, she uttered. The gate outside is a fence which is easy to reach the hook, she puts her hands on it, but hesitated, “Nah”, she hesitated thinking she was breaking inside if she opened it without the owner's permission. Andie didn’t open the gate, instead, she texted Mya, “I am outside”. She drops her bag on the ground because her shoulders feel sore, she massages it gently, and moans, suddenly the door opens and Mya shows up, “Hey!”, she walks towards her, and unlocks the gate, “Come in, oh let me help you”, 

“Thank you”, Andie said to her, and they both come inside.

As they enter, Andie’s eyes wander around the house, she gazes at the different antique furnitures, different styles of vases, and paintings, “Andie!”, Mya touches her arm and shakes it gently, “Are you ok?”, she asked, because Andie was just standing at the door, “Yeah, sorry”, she produced a faint smile, “Your house is very…”, she paused and starts walking around looking at the art pieces, “Weird?”, Mya uttered, “What! No, it’s classy and beautiful”, she told her, “Really? I find them weird”, Mya scoffed, “My mom is obsessed on collecting antiques and art pieces, she is actually on the couch watching a classic movie, let’s go”, she uttered. The two of them walked to the living room.

A woman was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed on top of each other while holding a glass of wine, she’s wearing different bangles all over both of her arms. When she saw Andie and Mya coming, she puts the glass on the table and stood up, 

“You are finally here”, 

“Hi Mrs. Martin”, Andie bows her head down a little,

 “No need for formalities”, Mya’s mother giggles, “My daughter talks about you a lot”, 

“Mom!”, Mya abruptly uttered, 

“Ok! I prepared a meal in the kitchen you can come thereafter Mya will show you to your room, I’ll wait for you there” 

“Come on!”, Mya goes upstairs and Andie follows her.

When Mya opens it, the room is quite big, the bed looks soft and the room is  spotless and clean, “This is your room for the meantime, is it ok with you?”, Mya asked

 Andie puts her bag on the nearby mini couch inside and sat on the bed, “It’s perfect thank you very much”, she said to her,

, “So what happened?”, she asked,

 “It was a long story, but it’s just about misunderstanding”, 

“It happens a lot yet in my opinion, you are not gonna be able to solve it if you run away”, she uttered, 

“I know..”, Andie sighs, and closes her eyes for a second, “Its just I don’t have the courage yet”, 

Mya rubs her back gently, “It’s fine, but now, what you need is to eat because it’s pass lunchtime”, 

 “Ok, I will be there later”, she told her, Mya then gets up and walks away, 

“Wait!”, Andie suddenly uttered, “Thank you very much, you don’t know how much this means to me”, her eyes gets watery as she smiles at her, because in the past few years no one helped her in the lowest moments of her life

“No problem”, Mya subsequently goes downstairs.

“This is so good”, Andie moaned as she chews the food inside her mouth, 

“Have some more if you want”, Mya’s mother places a newly cooked mac and cheese on the table, Andie’s eyes widened as she saw it, but she hesitates to take one, as Mya was eating she noticed her staring at the food as well, “Have some”, Mya offered her the food

 “Is it ok with you?”, Andie asked, 

“Of course, you are guest, feel free to eat what you want”, she chuckles,

 Andie immediately grabbed the food and put a ton on her plate, she then paused, “Oh sorry, I got too much”, she then tries to bring back the mac and cheese, “No! Its fine, you can have it”, Mya uttered, 

“I am sorry, it’s just the last time I ate this kind of food was years ago”, 

“What!”, Mya was surprised “Years ago, then what are you eating then?”, 

“Bread, a lot of it”, she mumbles, afterward swallows the food, “Sometimes if they felt generous towards me, they will let me eat eggs and hotdogs”, she added,

“That’s so mean!”, Mya’s voice heightens,

“Its fine, they have no responsibilities in taking care of me”, she said to her, Mya’s mother then sits with them, as she hears the conversation, “Are you adopted?”, she asked,

Andie fell silent. Surprised by her question she suddenly becomes expressionless, 

“Mom!”, Mya shouted, 

 “Oh sorry, if I offended you”, 

“It’s ok”, Andie smirks, 

“I am, since my mother died, I was raised by my aunt”, she told her,

 Mya and her mother glanced at each other, “What’s your plan, now is she not going to find you?”, Mya asked, “I think not, but I don’t have plans yet”, Mya’s mother held her hand, “It’s ok, you can stay here for as long as you want”.