(Art is by @jane.tetcher on TikTok!!)

Sevika was helping her father out with some boxes of merchandise for his vending booth—not like she wanted to anyway. She wanted to be hanging out with Zed, her friend from The Last Drop. Not being reprimanded every second because apparently everything she does wasn’t at her fathers liking.

Sevika didn’t like her father. After her mother past, things got worse. He blamed things on her constantly—one time, he literally called ENFORCERS on her for not making his stupid dinner correctly.

But despite all of it, she still respected him. He was her dad, right? That’s what mattered. He gave her a roof over her head..right? Sevika had hope he would change. That he would love her like her mom used to. She hoped a lot.

Sevika grunted as she picked up another heavier box, having to shift it in her very lightly muscular arms just to make sure it didn’t topple over. In the back of her mind, Sevika knew they’d barely get sales on her dad’s merchandise. This whole thing was a bit useless to her.

Before she could place the damn box down behind the booth, she heard a weirdly cheerful voice come up behind her.

“Hey! Do you need help?” The voice asked, causing Sevika to jump a little and spin around quickly. Her panic decreased when she saw it was a girl about her age. She looked..friendly enough.

“..uh…Yes please…” Sevika muttered, averting her gaze to the ground as she was feeling a tad bit embarrassed she was excepting help from this girl. She was kinda cute—but dad said no dating. Hm.