Chapter 0 : The Original Story.. Start!
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"The story of "My extended family adores me?!" was a typical one of romance, hardship and family.
The main protagonist, Leilah Flores was a bright and bubbly girl who always exceeded her family's expectation. Her father, Alon Flores, was a humble toymaker who worked hard and someone who prioritized his daughter and wife.
Her mother Emilia, a blond beauty that raised her with nothing but love, promising her bundle of joy that she was an existence born for the sake of being loved. Living in a world full of magic made their life seem so easy, her mother possessed the power of wind.
Having control over wind gave them joys that could only be described as simple luxuries, like drying laundry, playing airplane, fixing one's hair, it was a versatile and useful ability.
Her father was someone without a power, rare in this day and age, but with his personality, it never brought him down. Truly, Leilah's role model when it came to personality.
But all good things never last, especially not living parents in these types of stories, as tragedy struck. Alon's toy store was engulfed in flames, a strong and righteous man he was, going back and forth, rescuing children who weren't fast enough to get out.
His wife refused to only sob in desperation as she wasn't allowed to use her wind, lest she make the flame brighter, so she hiked up her dress and followed suit, helping the families inside along with searching for her husband.
But as everyone else made it out.
The couple was buried inside.
Leilah was only 8 when her parents disappeared at once, at first, she was in denial. Happy at home, waiting for them to come home from work as she played with her toys, to get a knock from one of her dad's friends.
It was difficult explaining to the child what the concept of death was, but when it clicked, she sobbed for hours, refusing to believe her parents weren't coming home.
When the funeral finished, she was approached by a tall and stoic man with the same brown hair as his father, his pale fingers reached out and gently caressed her head, "you look just like.." he trailed off, kneeling down and offering to take care of her.
The man was Anton Flores, her fathers' younger brother, and the CEO of Flores Co. One of the best producers of magical appliances. Reluctantly, Leilah agreed to be apart of his family, he gently picked her up and brought her home.
When she first stepped into the Flores estate, she was overwhelmed, the opposite of her cozy simple apartment was the luxurious and massive manor that seemed to stretch on for hours.
She was introduced to Anton's children, Miguel and Mateo, twin sons who both greeted her with cold, but polite smiles, and the youngest, Evelyn Flores.
A girl who burst into tears when she saw Leilah.
"I don't want a sister?!"
Miguel rolled his eyes as he went outside to play basketball, and Mateo tried to calm Evelyn down, but when that went nowhere, he left to go read in the library.
A deep sigh made the room go cold, even Evelyn's sniffling sobs quieted, Leilah stared at the disappointed glare Anton held. Evelyn fisted her skirt as she used her other arm to wipe her tears.
Leilah did her best to make peace with Evelyn, but it seemed as if Evelyn wanted nothing to do with her. Leilah could only look at the spot Evelyn stood in before she ran away.
The longer Leilah spent time at the Flores estate, the more desolate it felt. The head of the manor was always out or in his office working, the older sons were always playing with each other or in their own rooms, and all the staff at the house seemed to avoid the glaring issues.
It seemed as if her world had switched from heaven to hell.."
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"That's just cruel.. she's only a child"
A girl grumbled as she read the story again, the final chapter of her favourite story was finally released, so to make it more impactful, she restarted from the first chapter.
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"Leilah was a positive and hopeful girl, she started in a quiet manor that seemed to hold no warmth, but she slowly opens up the hearts of those in the house, all except the villainous sister, Evelyn.
Anton turned out to be the stereotypical character who had trouble expressing his emotions, for as silent as he seemed, his actions always seemed to have Leilah's best interest in mind.
"ah.. is that all you wish for?" was an iconic line that the man would always mumble when Leilah would express gratitude over the smallest of things.
Miguel was snarky when Leilah first tried to get along with him, a rowdy boy who hated his family, she claimed his trust when she followed him outside to where he loved hanging out and saved him from getting hit by a ball.
"You idiot?! I could've handled that, why are you.. let's go get you cleaned up.." Under that rough exterior was a child who was excited to act as an older brother.
The last one was Mateo, the angelic, kind son of the cold businessman. A bookworm who loved baking in the kitchen, at first he kept Leilah within arms length, refusing to let anyone in his heart considering everyone else had failed his expectations.
Leilah tried different things, from giving him gifts, flowers or even just trying to read with him, but he was always returning everything with a fake smile. Polite, but not happy.
It was after she tried to bake him a cake with Miguel that he realized maybe she wasn't so bad after all, he felt warm.. when his family tried to celebrate something that was typically just mentioned.
"Ah? my lovely sister is making a mess- let me help" he said as he genuinely smiled, Miguel throwing flour at him before he retaliated, Leilah laughing softly at the scene.
Though the story paced through her life as she slowly got used to being a member of the Flores family, there was always one constant obstacle in her path, the jealousy of the youngest in the family.
"I don't get it?.. what's so special about you" Evelyn mumbled as she would bump shoulders with Leilah.
Leilah, the kind girl she was, never told anyone about the small aggressions that Evelyn would commit. From shoving, ordering her around, or even spreading rumours at school, Leilah stood firm in trying to stay positive.
This kind, but naive gesture lead to the interest of the male lead, Zander Ognev, he was curious on why she never fought back.
"She's probably going through something.." Leilah would respond, to Zander's concerns."
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"I forgot Mateo tried to blackmail Zander into breaking up with Leilah, haha what an overprotective dude"
The girl chuckled as she caught up to the second last chapter of the novel, she stood up, stretching her arms as she got ready to finish the story that she's been reading since it came out.
"Let's see.. after Evelyn's wrong doings got exposed to the family, they yelled at her, blah blah- she tried to make excuses, whatever- andd oh yeah, Zander framed her so her scholarship got revoked- we ended on the family hugging- aw how cute"
As she got to the last panel of the chapter, saw the comments, with hers right at the very top.
|| Mimix_20X0 wrote : Ahh it's wrapping up now, thank you so much for the story Author!! Although I wish we got to see more Evelyn Salt! She got away with bullying our precious Leilah too much ૮(˶ㅠ︿ㅠ)ა, excited for side stories though!
> Popopipo replied : Agreed!! ^^ so excited for more! Evelyn def got it easy because she's still a Flores' daughter. Guess money rules the world!
> Evelyn.Apologist replied : ehh don't be prickly, I wish there was more exploration on Evelyn's character, compared to everyone else's role, she felt so simple and- barely shown.
> Evelyn.Apologist replied to Popopipo : I think maybe the family still cares? or since ya know- Leilah's really kind that they just didn't punish her for all her actions, but that's also fault on the dad
> Virtual-XoXo replied to Evelyn.Apologist : She's just a villainess- who cares about her character? Plus don't blame our hot daddy?? He's emotionally constipated enough as is.
Show more...
She rolled her eyes, people will always find ways to sympathize with villains, maybe it's because Evelyn was pretty. Well not as pretty as Leilah!
The girl rolled over, sitting up before clicking the "next chapter" button.
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Chapter 0 : The Original Story.. end!