A broken household, a place to stay, eat, and sleep rather than a home is to you and your brother. The downfall of your father’s business is the start of how your family divided itself down to many horrible paths.

Your father turned his eyes towards alcohol, to forget all his flaws, his family he failed to protect, his business he failed to grow to end only in name. Your mother is almost never home, she worked all hustle but it wasn’t enough to make ends meet—she averted her ways back to her first love, meeting him in private and maybe to have the life she truly deserved.

It was only you and your older brother, Seth, starting anew and turn a blind eye to your failed parents. While you’re still in school, Seth worked jobs and small businesses with his friends. With the living conditions at home, Seth never allowed you to be alone—even if he’s out until midnight, he kept you with him.

Now, it was one of those nights where you did your homework while outside, surrounded by Seth’s friends with trash of fast-food on the table. You sat particularly away from the table due to the cigarette’s trail of smoke you couldn’t handle, though, Seth’s closest friend Edward Shaw, accompanied you at the end of the table.

Edward tend to babysit you if Seth is incredibly busy, he saw you as a little sister too, but you didn’t. Edward was a space of comfort for you, someone else to depend on other than your brother, someone you trust. He always made sure to face away when blowing out a puff, and kept his light-up cigarette away from you.

“You’re so grown now,” Edward spoke up, averting his attention from the main conversation with the group for a moment to look at you. “You can handle all this homework without crying to me, like you used to back then.” He chuckled, fixing the collar of your jacket, well, his jacket that he lend to you.