Chapter 2 — The Day My Daughter Asked for Another Mother

Serena's POV

I dialed his number ASAP.

After about two rings, he picked up. “What do you mean by…”

“I'm about to join a meeting.” He said, cutting me off just before I could finish my sentence. “We'll talk when I get home.”

I didn't even get a chance to say another word before he disconnected the call.

Why the fuck did you text me if you knew you were in a meeting?

Fucking asshole!

The moment I pulled into the driveway of the care home, I buried my face in my hand for a moment as I let the tears fall freely.

My heart felt like someone was squeezing it, and I could barely even bring myself to breathe properly.

It was as though the air in the car had suddenly vanished, leaving me to suffocate from lack of air.

I had to stay in the car for a long moment, long enough for the pale expression on my face to fade.

I took out a wet wipe and cleaned every sign of tears, checking myself in the rearview mirror for the last time before letting out a sigh and then taking a step out of the car.

The moment I stepped out of the car, I was a whole new woman. I grabbed my camera bag from the passenger's seat, hanging it over my shoulder, then my purse in the other hand.

I had put on that bright smile as usual, covering up the years of pain, loveless marriage, and constant humiliation.

I walked through the hallways with my head up high. And even before I could get in, I could already hear their cheerful voices.

“Serena is here!”

“Ma’am, Serena is here?”

“Yeah, I can already smell her.”

Their voices echoed, making my smile grow a lot wider.

But this time, it came naturally.

By the time I stepped in, I was greeted by genuine smiles; they looked like they had been waiting for me forever.

“Hello, my stars!” I greeted.

“Hello, Serena!” They said almost in unison.

I went around greeting them one after the other. These people just knew how to make me emotional. Their words, smiles and even gifts. The way they greeted me every single time, like I hadn't visited for ages.

I made my way to the middle of the room once again.

“DARE TO LIVE!” I chanted.

“RISE ABOVE YOUR LIMITS!” they responded.

“DARE TO LIVE!” I said again.

“LET EVERY DAY BE YOUR BEST DAY!”

“DARE TO LIVE!”

“GIVE YOURSELF THE LIFE NO ONE ELSE GIVES YOU!” They responded.

Another warm smile made its way up my lips.  “WHY?”

They answered together. “BECAUSE THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN YOUR PAIN AND DISABILITIES!”

The room erupted into applause immediately after.

A sense of pride filled me as I watched the proud looks on their faces.

“They always get so active whenever you walk through those doors.” Mrs Andrew said, walking up to me.

She was the matron of Westhaven care home.

“Trust me, I'm more excited than they are whenever I step in here.”

I wasn't lying.

Outside of these walls, my life was a living hell.

I don't need to say much; you already saw what happened this morning. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

If I wasn't sane, I would have thought that's how poor orphans should be treated. I mean, why not? They have absolutely no one to look out for them, so they deserve to be mistreated.

I caught myself before I could further dive into self-pity.

Tessa Morgan and Ryan Mitchell walked up to me.

They were my teammates as long as Dare to Live was concerned.

I was the heart of the brand, but they made sure everything was running fine.

Dare to Live is a brand formed to make people whom the world has condemned and tagged as helpless see that there's more to life than their disabilities and that their age or the number of days they had left wasn't to make them stop dreaming.

“Welcome, Serena.” Tessa greeted, with a small smile across her lips.

“Good to see you again,” Ryan said, holding one of our magazines.

“Thank you, Tessa. Good to see you too, Ryan.”

I took the magazine from him and glanced at it. “The shoots from last week have been published?” I said, eyes wide.

He nodded.

“That was fast.”

“You look like you could use some water.” Tessa said all of a sudden, stretching a bottle of water towards me.

I didn't even realise how dry my throat was until she mentioned water. Of course I had cried out every last drop of water left in me.

But what worried me the most was the fact that she thought I needed water.

Did I still look pale?

Was it obvious I had cried just moments ago?

I took the bottle of water from her. “Thank you,” I muttered.

We did our daily stretches, did some extra activities like crocheting, painting, and many others, then we took some new shots, and that was it.

I was on my way down the stairs when Tessa rushed to join me. For a moment she just walked quietly by me.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, brows raised.

She shook her head, then continued the silence for a little longer. Then, when she was sure everyone was out of sight, she said.

“I saw you crying in the car earlier.”

I froze.

Before I could get defensive, she added. “You know that you don't have to carry everything on your own, right?”

I smiled, then squeezed her shoulder lightly.

“I'm fine,” I said, giving her a smile, which of course wasn't enough to convince her.

“I noticed the traffic on our I* page,” I said, changing topics. “You're doing a really good job.”

Tessa swallowed hard, but she didn't give any reply.

I didn't wait for her to say another word; I doubled my pace and quickly made my way to the driveway and into my car.

The moment I sighted Vale’s mansion, a wave of sadness washed over me. I could already feel the dread in my stomach. Then Marcus' words came playing back to me.

I remained in the car for more than five minutes before finally getting out of the car.

“And where exactly are you coming from so late at night?” Amanda said the moment I stepped into the house.

I let out a sigh of frustration. “I was at the care home.”

“The care home? You really expect me to believe that?”

But before she could cause a scene, the front door fell open.

Lucy ran in first.

“Grandma!” She called, rushing at Amanda while dragging a teddy bear along. “Look what Mom Alicia got me,” she said, almost shoving the teddy bear in Amanda’s face.

“It looks so beautiful,” Amanda said, her scowl suddenly turning into a bright smile.

“Let me see it.” I requested, smiling along.

“Get your own stuff!” Lucy yelled.

The smile on my face instantly disappeared.

The next moment, Marcus stepped in, holding another teddy, a much bigger one.

“Here, Lucy!”

“Have you told your Aunt Alicia thank you?” Marcus reminded her.

Lucy went over to where Alicia was standing and grinning like a proud mom. Then she did something I didn't expect.

Lucy kissed Alicia on the cheek. “Thank you, Mom Alicia.”

Lucy hardly ever kissed anyone on the cheek. And if she ever did, that means she approves of you.

I was still reeling from that when I heard her say. “Please, Mom Alicia, come be my real mummy. I want you to be my real mummy.”

Alicia's eyes seemed to meet with mine in that instant. A mocking smile spread across her lips.

She placed her hand on her chest dramatically. “Oh my, Lucy!” She laughed softly. “It's not up to me, you know. Your daddy has to get married to me for that to happen.”

Lucy turned to Marcus.

“Well, Dad, why not get married to Mom Alicia?”