"Enough, I'm not going to tell you again to leave now!" Samuel yelled.
"Do you three have anything else to do than come here? Get out now!"
"What? Why? We didn't even joke at you! You starving for attention now?"
"Sheesh, don't listen to that man, champ. Samuel's head is like a ticking bomb for a loser."
"Oh...well, he's not a loser...because he didn't lose anything, right?" I muttered.
Samuel was making these humans angry with himself. It seems to be necessary for me, but it also wasn't too nice for a human who only wanted to play with Doorwell. The human woman didn't get to see the face behind the shroud of mine, which is relieving to say compared to what he gave them.
But they are starting to get into a fight with Samuel. Samuel was standing proud with what he said to them before, making all of them furious with him as if they were ready to deliver a blow to his lips. I couldn't help but hear so many tones raised in one room.
"What's the matter with you, Samuel? You've already left this place, so what's bothering your head now? You're just ruining the mood for us now!"
"We're all leaving this place, too. Wouldn't it be great if you smiled for us once? Maybe put up some makeup on those blimps if you can stop wrinkling like an old man!"
"Oh, just shut up! Get out now! I'm tired of meeting people like you here everyday?"
"Why? Afraid we're stealing off your awards again? Not that we did it!"
"Yeah! You're just a sore loser..."
"GET OUT!!"
"Alright, guys. Leave him be! Samuel wants to be alone like always! The frowny boy he always been."
"Frowny? Aww..."
That was a sad meeting between Samuel's friends and me. But at least they left Samuel from being too angry and sad. I didn't know what to say about my brother's anger towards them than a loveless encounter between them. How could he waste such friends?
"Are you sure we didn't have to ask the girl first? I don't like not knowing why a little girl was here with Samuel..."
"Not your business." Samuel slams the door shut.
We are returning to the box, and I was wondering if he might need my help for that. So I came to ask him about his well-being and hope to see whether he needed some personal company from a Joyling like me. He clearly needed some love after that.
"Brother, are you okay? You need some music?"
"No, I don't need music. I need my stuff's done immediately and I need you to help me with that. Can you?" He muttered with such anger.
"I...guess I could."
"Good. Good...just do as I say, Dorriel. Stay here and do as I say..."
It's only me picking up boxes now for my brother, who loves me as much as he keeps me away from danger. I didn't know he could be so careful to me, much to his words. But having this distance between him and his family didn't feel like something I could enjoy.
I feel like the old janitor again, but better. At least now I didn't have to clean off my siblings' remnants on the stage or a heavy load. Even better, I get to do so while being a sneaky little cookie with so much fame. I just had to remember that I cannot do any of that.
"One box..."
"*Pant* Two boxes..."
"*Pant* *Pant* Three boxes..."
"Just take the light ones if you can't lift the others. I'll deal with the heavy ones. There are five..."
"Okay! Four boxes...five boxes—huh? Hey, where is it?"
When I was about to pick the last box, I found it vanishing before my eyes. It was there on the table near Samuel's bed before, but then it disappeared like dust. It might have fallen into the open window beside it while I was not looking, so I decided to go out there and retrieve it like a good sister I was.
"Don't worry, I got the fifth box, brother! I—" I reached the window.
However, I didn't realize that we were on the second floor, which is why my face was suddenly planted on the ground before I could stretch my wings. It gathered so much attention from humans, and my brother was the attention I didn't mean to give.
"What was that? Someone just fall!"
"Hey, kid! Are you okay?"
"Ugh...umph...augh...huh?"
Amongst the crowd, I saw my brother's face from upstairs with a glare of a lion. Fortunately, this veil of mine does not give the humans a chance to look. Unfortunately, the humans now know that I am here.
I couldn't speak to them. My voice can be distinguished by these people the moment they hear it, and the dust and grass on my body would only make my body taste sour. And to make it worse, I can't do anything to escape.
"Uh oh..." I mumbled to myself.
"Kid, are you okay? You look like you just fall from the sky."
"She's falling from that dorm over there. It's Samuel's dorm!"
"Hey, mind the child? Looks like you need help. Is there any wound around you?"
I saw Samuel heading out of the window, possibly downstairs, as he was about to come meet me. But the humans were drawing suspicion on me for being too silent. If only I could talk to them, but it's not Wednesday yet. Why does it have to be tomorrow?
I held the box over my face and waved at my human friends. How can I not do that? They are friendly, and I would be rude if I walked off without an answer. But doing so only made them even confused, as if they were asking for more.
"Kid? Are you okay?"
"Why are you holding that box? That's Samuel box..."
'That kid is still here? Ugh, terrible. No wonder this alumni gets boring. Who invited that guy, anyway?"
"Kid, are you okay? You don't have to hold that, you know?"
"Wait a second. Who's child is lying off in this adult place? Are you Samuel's sister or something?"
"Hehe..."
"Nonsense. Samuel didn't have a sister. Poor guy lost her many years ago."
"Really? I thought he never had one. Never told me he had one..."
These people were talking about my brother as if he were a Frowling. But the more I heard about him from their ears, the more I learned how closed and mysterious my brother was. And I'm not even saying this as much as Pearl was towards many Joylings before.
"Well, well, well...look who comes univinted here? Samuel Valentine? Care to tell us what happened?"
"Samuel...?" I vividly muttered.
"Get upstairs, now." He gave a look around the people before looking at me.
"Oh, right...Hm!"
I walked away with the box while Samuel distracted these humans from looking at me. However, I couldn't fly or run because my ginger is so weak, and it was a long way upstairs with a stare of suspicious fans. I swear that someone was looking at my poking wings when I walked past them.
Those people are so impatient to see me. Why would the surprise be so close? And why couldn't Doorwell go with her friends instead? I could hear more interesting things from the children than the adults here, who were holding books and bags that I'm about to carry tomorrow.
"Hey, brother. I finished the boxes now! Does that mean I did well now?" I placed the last box. Now my job's done.
"Dorriel, what did I tell you before?"
I managed to reach the dorm and close the door, finishing my one last task before anything bad happens to me. Samuel returned upstairs after me, and his stare wasn't as good as I thought it would be. He wasn't happy after I fell there like a clown.
"D-do as you say?"
"And what did you do down there...?"
"I was just taking a falling box, and I didn't realize there was another floor! I'm sorry..."
"You were only told one thing, Dorriel. Stay with me. If you do that again, you would not only get yourself in trouble like you did before there..."
"You would also get me in trouble. Do you want me to get in a trouble, too?"
He was angry. It's happening like the old days when I was a Joyling. Everyone thought I had it, but the humans read through and found I was from it. Doorwell was crying because the day she failed to become a matchmaker, every cookie laughed at her, and every human scolded her. She was crying because she wasn't ready to bloom like others.
"Understand, brother." I scared. Strawberry tears on my eyes.
"*Sigh* Dorriel, listen. I won't hurt you. I'm physically incapable of doing so."
"But I need you to listen to me more, okay? Because the world here is not going to give you what you want or what you need. You're on your own now..."
"People are not going to trust you as much as this 'Joyling' does, but you can be better than a trust."
Samuel might be a heartless man, but he's no Sebastian or Churnik to me. I saw through his eyes that hatred turned into empathy the moment I cried. It happened twice when I cried, but this time, there's something different about him. This time, he's being kind.
Something about those words finally felt right for me. I've felt strange hearing that, but that might have been the real brother in me. No man has ever spoken like that to me, not when they are too obsessed. It feels relieving to hear some sense from my brother after everything that happened.
"So I need you to do as I say, and nothing bad will happened to us, okay?"
"Okay, Dorriel?"
"O-okay, brother. I'll do as you said!"
"Thank you. Augh..." He hugged me with a pressed face. He didn't look calm until I said the words. It must have been a rough day for him.
We quickly finished all of these boxes together. I'm becoming jealous now because why didn't I get to unpack my stuff in the Institute here, too?
"Ugh, Samuel is here..."
"Must be his cousin. Of course he's bringing his cousin to help a simple job."
"I can't wait for him to leave this place!"
"Gee, I feel better staying in this class suddenly...no more rant from a boy like him."
"Rant? He barely rant! He just look at you like a rat looking at a cheap trash. The next thing you know, he'll disappear without a word..."
"Never change, Samuel. Never change..."
They couldn't stop talking about us, mostly to my beloved brother Samuel. Many of those words are heartless, and it felt like it also struck me as his sister. But they didn't know that yet, and they better not know it as much as what lies under my hood.
As soon as we were getting close to the front gate, we were stopped by the same humans who were messing around in Samuel's dorm. They didn't like being ignored, just like how my cookie friends are when the humans leave us waiting backstage.
"Uhm, brother...?"
"Done with the renovation, grunty boy?"
"What are you trying to hide from us, Samuel?"
These humans are after my brother, but they wanted to go after me when he went too bold on them. When I tried to talk peacefully with them, my brother stopped me by signalling with his hand. It was a gesture that asked me not to be involved in his own act.
"Get off. We're not doing this..."
"Or what? You barely had a fight on us! You think words can stop us?"
"We're just going to give you one last prank before you go."
"Huh?" I looked back in surprise.
The humans didn't play fair, and on the script. While some of them are talking to my brother about his rude demeanour, one of them is sneaking past me! It took me by surprise when their hands were lying on my hood. A show was happening against my will—our will. Everyone was keeping an eye on it.
"Hrgh...w-what?" I was grasping my hood tightly, but I wasn't strong enough against the human. I could hold it only for a moment.
"What's happening there?"
"Hey, is this a fight here?"
"Samuel? What did you there?"
The whole people are watching us! And we have no way to leave the place. Samuel was too busy talking and fending off two humans, while I was stuck with this irritating human. He almost had my hood open. I was on the verge of an unwanted plot twist.
"Get your hands off of her!"
"No need to be afraid, little one. We just want to have fun. Don't you want to have fun?"
"No, no, no!"
He opened it! They opened it! I couldn't do anything about it. My hood was opened before everyone else. My cotton hair, my brown dough face, and my berry cheeks were shown before the eyes of these humans.
"I'll tell you what, Samuel! You're done!"
"Get off of—huh?"
Samuel looked back. The fight was not over, but he was surprised to see that I was out of my hood against my power. We were frozen, as everyone watched me standing here like a star. I am powerless, and I am afraid, with my face ready to tear with fear.
"What the..."
"No, no, no...I'm sorry, Samuel...I'm sorry..."
"D-Dorriel..." Samuel whispers to me.
"What in the world...?"
Everyone was looking at us in disbelief, like I was making that one stage call for the children of love. I was gasping with nervousness, fearing that now everyone in this Institute is after my brother for the secret we kept before them. I was ready to accept it—accept the people's judgement on us. But something was different from what we thought.
"Ow, my bad! Kid, you don't have to be afraid. We're not going to judge you by your skin color."
"W-what?"
"Well, Samuel. If you really think we're going after bigotry, then you should've think twice. This place is not for an inequality."
"What? W-well, so what if you do? She's... a cousin of mine was not from this town or land..."
These people weren't surprised by us. Instead, they mistook me for another human with a...different skin? I wasn't suspected despite my Joyling form! Now that I think of it, I do look like some of these humans from the outside. I have their hair, eyes and skin like them. Though the human said it was different for some reason.
"Wow. You really are that low, aren't you?"
"Just let us go now! She's not going to stay here..."
"So is that it? Not even a goodbye for us? You left us so early, Samuel. We really hoped you could've talked with us at least!"
"I don't talk with people like you who only knows how to bully others. Not like you are that important to talk with, anyway."
"Wow. Coming from a man like you..."
It returned to normal with the audience, but my brother and these humans' tension is getting wilder. All I can say is that I had to leave quickly without my brother the moment I had a chance. It's not like he wanted me to stay here, anyway.
"I don't like what you're now, Samuel. Whatever you are doing here, it only makes things worse for others even just for a visit."
"We still remember how you started the day here with that same glare. Why do you never felt happy for us? We didn't do anything."
"Just know that nobody here cares for you as much as we do."
"Then be glad I'm not returning. I'm not coming back to see your face, either..."
All that humans finally left us alone, and I'm staying on the carriage with the same driver with my hood on, talking about things together without blowing my cover this time. We were having a rough day on the railway in Plymouth. Maybe it's time we leave with all those boxes my brother packed on the back of the carriage.
"That was weird, isn't it?" Samuel and I are finally in a better place to talk.
"Yeah. How do they not know it was me? Do they not know who Doorwell was?" I thought as I sat beside Samuel. "Maybe it's because my fans are not made of teenagers like them."
"Just remember what I asked you before, Dorriel." I can feel the carriage moving away.
"Stay by your side! Don't worry! Still got it..."
"Good. Tomorrow would be different, Dorriel. Tomorrow, everyone would know you...the real you..."
"The bloomed me..." I muttered. Never had I been more excited for tomorrow.