Shrouded Seascape

Donna didn't dare to be careless. She examined the contract carefully and made sure that she was staring at a normal property transfer agreement before holding the pen with trembling hands and signing her name on the document.

Donna was embarrassed at her crooked penmanship on the document. "Sorry, I... I haven't touched a pen in a long time."

"No, no, no. Your penmanship looks great, better than most people."

Leonardo took away the copy of the contract and placed a few copper keys in Donna's palm. "Great, Ms. Donna. This house is now yours. Tomorrow, someone will come here to take you to one of our factories for work."

"As for your child... the Governor of Hope Island has decreed that every single child on the island must receive compulsory education. Don't worry about the payment; education for children here is free."

Donna stood in a daze before her two-story house. Leonardo had already driven away in his car, but Donna had yet to recover from her daze. Everything just felt too surreal for her.

Using one of the copper keys in her hand, Donna unlocked the front door. Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran her hand on every single piece of furniture in the house.

Everything here belonged to them; they finally had their own home.

"Mommy, what's that?" Nene asked while eyeing something that looked like a black mirror with a protruding bottom in the living room.

"I don't know, so don't touch it for now. It'd be bad if you broke it accidentally. I'll go and ask the kind Mr. Leonardo tomorrow."

Donna toured every nook and cranny of their new house, and she did not miss even the four corners of the basement. She just couldn't get enough of their new home, and her reverie lasted until Nene said that she was hungry.

"Remember to lock the door from the inside whenever I'm not home, okay? I'll be back home soon. Also, do not open the door if the voice of the one knocking on the door isn't mine. Do you understand, Nene?"

With that, Donna went out to purchase some food, leaving Nene alone at home.

Donna had just left when Nene saw Sparkle crawling out of her luggage.

"Sparkle!! Long time no see! I missed you a lot!" Nene beamed. She spread her arms wide open and pounced on Sparkle, giving the latter a bear hug.

The next moment, Nene noticed that Sparkle was biting her lips, looking aggrieved. Even her tiny fists were clenched and were trembling ever so slightly.

"Sparkle, what's wrong? What happened?" Nene asked, sounding concerned.

Sparkle blinked her green cross-shaped pupils, and she sounded upset as she explained, "Mommy and I had a fight. She—Mommy scolded me, but what can I do? I really couldn't control myself."

Sparkle proceeded to confide her troubles to her good friend. "Mommies can be wrong sometimes, right?"

"Hmm... I don't know. But... aren't mommies supposed to know more than us?" Nene said, and the bewildered glint in her eyes made it clear that she couldn't quite understand what Sparkle had confided to her.

"But why? Why do I have to listen to her every time she wants me to do something? And I really didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to help as well, but I really couldn't move at the time," Sparkle said, stomping hard on the floor.

"But... Mommies are older than us, so... they should be right. I think?" Nene responded.

Sparkle walked over to the khaki-colored sofa and plopped down on it. The TV across from her came to life and started playing an exaggerated puppet show.

"So what? It's not like she's much older than me. Her body is over six hundred years old, but Daddy's mind gave birth to her consciousness only five or six years ago."

"I'm two years old this year while she's five years old. What makes her think that she knows more than me? I learn so much faster than her as well," Sparkle said, continuing her rant.

However, Nene was staring at the dancing puppets on the screen in shock, and she hadn't heard even a word of what Sparkle had just told her.

"Nene, are you listening to me?"

Nene snapped back to reality and shifted her gaze from the TV to her good friend's face. "What?"

Sparkle sighed lightly and said, "Anyway, I'm not going to apologize to her. I didn't do anything wrong. She should be the one who should apologize to me. She was wrong, and I wasn't wrong."

Nene thought briefly and sat down next to Sparkle. Then, Nene held Sparkle's little hand and said, "But your mommy definitely loves you, right? Even if she did something wrong, you should forgive her. She's your family, after all."

Sparkle thought long and hard about it before finally sighing. "All right, then, I'll forgive her."

"That's great." Nene grinned. "Mommies will always be good to their children."

Sparkle stared at Nene and spread her arms wide to give the latter a bear hug. "Nene, thank you. I feel much better talking with you."

"You're welcome." Nene giggled. "We're friends. You can always come and talk to me whenever there's something troubling you."

"Mmhm!" Sparkle nodded with a sweet smile.

"Oh right, Sparkle, I heard your daddy is working on a ship. Is it true? Wow, your daddy is amazing! We got on a ship on our way here, and I was sooo uncomfortable during those few days. I can't imagine being able to work for so long on a ship."

The two chattered animatedly, and Nene was taken aback upon realizing just how fluent Sparkle had become at speaking.

Just then, Sparkle paused briefly before asking, "By the way, Nene, where are those two little actors? Do you still have them?"

Nene shook her head with a regretful look and said, "I don't have them anymore. Things got too chaotic when the 'death light' appeared. They ran away quietly at some point."

"Is that so? Maybe I should look for their island, so I can catch a few more of them."

Sparkle's words had yet to finish echoing in the air when her expression stiffened, and she turned to look at the window next to her. The next moment, she vanished and reappeared with a green-haired young boy in her hand.

The green-haired young boy appeared to be around five or six years old; his face was dirty, and there was snot dripping from his nose.

"Who are you? Why were you peeking at us?" Sparkle asked.

The green-haired young boy looked terrified. He struggled violently, but he refused to say a word.

"Put him down, Sparkle," Nene said. "Look at how dirty he is... He's probably an unwanted orphan. I think he's hungry...."

Sparkle pondered briefly before thrusting her right hand into her own chest and pulling out an apple.

The green-haired young boy looked at the two girls in front of him. Then, he snatched away the apple from Sparkle's hand and took big bites as if it had been several days since he last ate.

"Didn't Mommy say that no one goes hungry on Hope Island?" Nene muttered, staring at the green-haired young boy with pity. "Why are you not talking? Can you not speak at all? You really are pitiful..."

Thump!

A dull noise echoed as Sparkle let go of the green-haired young boy, allowing him to fall to the ground. The green-haired young boy sprawled out on the floor with the apple in his arms. He took big bites of it and devoured everything, including the apple core.

"I know this guy. His daddy was a crewmate on my daddy's ship. His daddy left one day, and he hasn't come back since then," Sparkle said.

Nene found the green-haired young boy to be even more pitiful upon hearing Sparkle's remark. "My daddy was just like your daddy—he left and never came back.

"Whenever you're hungry, just come to our house. Mommy says that we're going to live a happy life from now on, so I'll try my best not to let you starve, too."

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦