THE PERFECT FAMILY

CHAPTER 2: behind closed doors

Dinner ended the same way it always did: everyone stood up at the same time, chairs sliding back in a straight, controlled sound. The siblings walked out in small groups, some talking, others not. Lily waited for the room to clear before she stood. She didn’t like walking with them after dinner. It always felt like she was tagging along when she wasn’t really included.

When the door finally closed behind the last sibling, the dining room felt bigger and quieter. Lily let out a small breath, the kind she held in all evening without noticing.

She walked out and headed to her room, her footsteps soft on the shiny hallway floor. The Johnson mansion had endless hallways, high ceilings, expensive walls, and doors everywhere. Some rooms she had never been inside. Some rooms she wasn’t allowed to enter at all.

Her room was on the east side, away from the main offices, meeting rooms, and the large library the older siblings used. She still used the same room she grew up in. She liked it that way — it was the only place in the house that felt like hers.

The moment she closed the door, she dropped the polite, quiet expression she had been holding since dinner.

Two small heads popped up from the corner — a tiny white puppy with floppy ears and a snow-white cat with mismatched blue and green eyes.

“Snowball! Marshmallow!” she said, instantly smiling.

The puppy barked in excitement and ran in circles around her feet. The cat stretched slowly, then walked over with a calm, confident pace, like she owned the room.

Lily dropped to the floor and hugged both of them tightly. The puppy licked her cheek. The cat purred and bumped her head against Lily’s chin.

“You guys are the only ones who understand me,” Lily whispered, burying her face in their fur. “I can’t wait to get married and leave here. I really can’t.”

She didn’t mean it in a dramatic way. She wasn’t planning to run away. She just wanted a normal life someday — a place where she didn’t feel judged for being gentle or different. Somewhere she didn’t have to pretend.

After a few minutes, she let her pets go. Snowball ran to his basket, grabbing his squeaky toy. Marshmallow jumped softly onto Lily’s bed and curled up like a small cloud.

Lily stood up and walked to the tall mirror near her dresser. She pushed her hair behind her ears and looked at her reflection, noticing the tired look in her eyes from all the pretending she had to do at dinner.

But something behind her caught her attention.

The mirror didn’t reflect just her room. Because of its angle, she could also see through her open balcony doors into the outdoor lounge area below.

There, sitting on the fancy outdoor chairs that were only used for guests and “important people,” were Leo and two of his friends. The chairs were white, gold-edged, ridiculously expensive, and placed around a small glass table full of snacks and sparkling drinks.

Leo’s two friends looked exactly like the type of people he liked to impress — serious expressions, expensive clothes, and stiff manners. They sat straight, talked quietly, and touched the food like they were afraid of being messy.

But the third guy was different.

He sat casually, one leg stretched out, eating like a normal person. He didn’t pretend to be fancy. He wasn’t trying to match the Johnson way. His shirt wasn’t perfectly ironed, and he didn’t act scared to relax. He looked comfortable in a place where comfort wasn’t allowed.

Lily tilted her head, watching quietly.

He was the only one who didn’t seem… controlled.

While Leo bragged about something, the guy actually looked interested — but not in a fake, polite way. More like he was trying to understand why Leo talked like that.

Suddenly, a large shadow moved behind Leo’s friend.

A lion — one of the trained ones the Johnsons kept — walked lazily across the floor. The lions were never aggressive. They were raised by professionals and trained for obedience. But they were still lions, huge and intimidating.

Leo’s two serious friends barely reacted. They were used to it, or at least they acted like they were. They stayed calm, expressionless, like it was normal to have a lion walk past their feet.

But the normal guy jolted back, gripping the armrest tightly.

“Bro, you keep lions?” he said, eyes wide and full of real surprise.

Leo leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying the attention. “It’s the cheapest,” he replied casually, as if lions were regular pets.

Lily rolled her eyes. She knew Leo loved showing off. If he could brag about breathing, he would.

The lion gave the stranger a slow look before walking toward the shade. The guy let out a long breath and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked slightly embarrassed, but he didn’t try to act tough.

That alone made Lily smile a little.

People who acted normal were rare in this house.

She moved closer to the mirror, trying to see better. She wasn’t spying — not really. She just liked watching people who didn’t behave like her siblings. It made the world feel less strange.

Leo continued talking, his voice loud enough that Lily could almost hear it. “—and that’s why Dad said the investors—”

Lily tuned him out. She had heard enough business talk at dinner.

Her focus stayed on the normal friend, who reached for a snack, dropped it by mistake, then laughed at himself before picking it up. No Johnson would ever do that. They would act like everything they touched was perfect.

He leaned back and looked around the place with curiosity — not jealousy, not admiration, just curiosity. Like he was trying to understand what kind of family lived in a house with trained lions, gold chairs, and strict rules.

Snowball barked softly, drawing Lily’s attention back inside her room. She picked him up and hugged him again.

“I hope people like that guy exist outside this mansion too,” she whispered to the puppy. “Normal people. People who don’t pretend.”

She glanced at the mirror again.

Leo kept talking.

The other two guests kept nodding.

But the normal friend looked… different again.

This time, he wasn’t surprised. He was thoughtful. Watching the Johnsons with the same expression Lily sometimes had — like he wasn’t sure if this was a home or a performance.

Lily sighed and stepped away from the mirror.

She didn’t know it, but that moment — seeing him, seeing his real reactions — would become the start of everything changing.

For her.

For the family.

And for the secret they had been hiding from her all her life.