In a Situationship with Mr. Wolf

Chapter 6: Clear Skies

The lady was wearing a mesh pink tutu skirt that almost touched the floor and white ballet flats, a loose white shirt was tucked in the skirt and she wore her black hair in a high ponytail, her cheeks were in a shade of rosy pink and her cat eyes looked sharp with mascara on.

“My name’s Brandi, my mother left this house to me.” She might not have believed me because her pink lips twitched but her sharp expression didn’t change.

I offered her my hand and she looked at it for a second before accepting it.

“Tiffany?” The door swung open and the man that was talking softly earlier gazed at us.

“Yes?”

“You’re still here.” He just didn’t ignore Tiffany, but he pointed at my presence like it was a big joke for him that I’m still here.

I gave him a frown and straightened my posture. “Why should I leave? This is my house.”

The man closed his eyes firmly and ran a hand through his curly hair before seriously looking at me. “I already told you this, kid. I hate to repeat myself, but because of your birdbrain, which doesn’t understand my words, I would say this again. This. Is. My. House.”

“No!” I protested, my frown grew bigger, “I’m not going to leave this house! This is mine, this is the only thing that mom left me!” My eyes stung as I looked at him and shouted those words. He didn’t just know empathy, he even insulted me. The farmhouse was the only thing I could have. My siblings have half of our home in town. Richard doesn’t want me near mom’s belongings. The redness on the back of my neck reflected it very well. Richard doesn’t want to see me again. So even if he called me kid and birdbrain. I’m not leaving this house. I hope my determination to send him enough signals.

“Uhm… Brandi, right?” Tiffany spoke. I turned to her and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. She looked fidgety, her forehead creased and continued talking, “I guess you found the wrong house.”

What?

I thought I heard the wrong words, I thought I became deaf and could only hear the loud thump of my heart as Tiffany showed me outside where a small swing was surrounded by white roses and lavenders and pointed at a small house on the back side of the garden. “That’s the house you inherited from your mother.”

It looks like a cottage house with an A-frame roof covered in vines and dark rubbish, there’s a small table and a sitting area on the porch with cactus, succulents, and snake plants and a string of pearl hanging plants that made the exterior of the house unidentifiable because of it reaching and almost covering the whole exterior of the house.

“H-How?” I couldn’t form the right words to say, the wooden planks of the house looked so unsteady that one move would make the house crumble, the horror of my face was enough for Tiffany to understand. I imagined the house falling into pieces when I stepped my feet on the porch.

“This is the house that your mother left. I learned that after I heard you claim the other house, but as you can see, nobody lived here for almost a decade or two and when we settled on the big house, your house was already there. There’s no way that the house you inherited is the first house you saw. I can guarantee you that this is the house you’re looking for.”

The fact that Tiffany talked to me like a saleslady wanting to sit in all the standing and force smiles she made from the customers that claimed they’re interested from whatever she’s selling got me. Her face is so small, white and smooth, she’s a lady that enchants me to understand her claims to the best of my ability. I’m one of those customers who agrees with whatever she’s selling.

“By the way, who’s the man with you?” I could have said arrogant and sassy man, but I held my tongue and put my hands together, turning my back to the house I was going to inherit. Here I thought mom had prepared me a place to start before she’s gone.

The dejection washed through me and I wanted to sulk and cry in the corner, now this was the truth about my life. I thought I could live a life in the middle of the woods away from my half-siblings and stepfather, who hated me. He wanted to crush me in his palms every time he saw me.

“You don’t know?”

That got my attention. I turned to Tiffany who was a few steps behind me. I thought I could just run away from all of this so I started walking, not knowing that Tiffany didn’t, so I gave her my full attention and tried to erase the pain in my face. I was told that I am a ‘smiling face’, but now I know that what they meant to say was ‘smiling i***t’. I don’t show the pain in my face or the stress I’m feeling. I always make sure to put my smiling mask on whenever I’m outside so that people won’t know, because they wouldn’t care how I feel, they wouldn’t bother to sympathize or empathize. They only know themselves.

“This is the house of the legendary wolf. The man you met is the legendary Wolf.”

I want the ground to open and swallow me whole. Didn’t I exchange sharp sentences with the legendary wolf earlier? I did, right? Oh, holy heavens, I’m sure as hell I got one step closer to death.

The small graceful laugh of Tiffany cut me out from over dramatizing things. “Take a step backward, Brandi.”

I’m still in shock from what I learned but I followed Tiffany’s instructions out of veneration.

“Now you’re one step away from death now.” Tiffany beamed so happily that I thought the sun shone at me for a second.

Her shoulders heaved up from her chest but they slumped back when she noticed I didn’t smile. “No, I’m just kidding,” she took it back, she walked to me and held my wrist.

It’s not my intention to break her smile, I just can’t. I got the nickname smiling i***t for a reason, but I can’t curl up the edge of my lips and my eyes for her, not when I remember the legends about how he annihilates his own pack. But that’s just legends. I don’t believe in that, but I guess your own interpretation of things changes once you meet the real thing and even get mad at him.

“Come with me to my room. I’ll explain it more clearly to you.”

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