Shane started to hear noises coming from the other room as soon as the alarm had stopped. He heard someone coming out of the other room.

  It was a young girl, about 3’ 8”, with navy-blue hair. This girl was Shane’s younger sister, Mona. She was currently in her pajamas and still looked half asleep.

  “Shane, are you up?” She said as she headed over to Shane’s room.

  Shane, who barely changed clothes, replied with “Good morning, Mona. Come on, hurry up and go to the table, breakfast is ready.”

  Mona, who was now fully awake, smelled eggs coming from the kitchen.

  “Did you make omelets today!? Do they have bacon in them?” Mona said, then jumped into the air with joy.

  “Yes and yes. Now hurry up and go to the kitchen and eat up so we can get you to school on time.” Shane said as he pushed Mona towards the kitchen.

  As Shane and Mona sat at the table, eating their food. This is how their mornings have been since their father disappeared: they eat together to maintain a semblance of a regular family routine they once had when their father was there with them.

  “Today, after school, I will be a little late picking you up from school. I'm gonna go out with my friends to have a study session for the upcoming exams next week,” said Shane as he continued to eat his breakfast.

  “Ok, who's going to be there with you?” Mona said with curiosity all over her face.

  “It’s going to be with the same group of people. We always studied together since entering high school, mostly because they're the only group that will talk to me with such a weird hair color.”

  “So the same group does that, does that mean Elena will be there?” said Mona with a teasing tone.

  “Pfft. Why are you specifically asking about her and not about the rest?! What game are you playing?” said Shane with a shocked tone after being surprised by Mona's question out of nowhere.

  “Oh come on, it’s obvious that you had a crush on her since you met three years ago, and you always look happier when you're with her.”

  “I know that you've always been smart, but sometimes it's too much for your own good.”

  “...”

  “Why would you assume that I had a crush on her for 3 years. You were only 5 when Elena and I met. How do you remember something from 3 years ago?”

  Mona started teasing even more by saying, “Oh, so you don’t deny that you like her. And call it sister intuition that I know you like her. You always seem happier when you're with her, everyone knows.”

  “Come on, you know I can only focus on taking care of you and school. Plus, I’m still trying to find out where our dad is, so I slap him in the back of the head for disappearing on us.”

  “How many times do you have to worry about me? I’m not a little kid. I’m 2 years away from being 10, so I’m not just a little kid?”

  “Ha, ha, ha, ha. You're not a kid. Don’t make me laugh. Come on, you're still my younger sister, and I will always protect you no matter what happens,” said Shane as he continued to laugh to the point that he almost fell out of his chair.

  Mona started pouting, saying, “But I’m not a little kid.”

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  “Ok, ok, let’s stop talking about this.”

  “...” Mona stayed quiet because she didn’t know what to say. She knew how much her brother had sacrificed to ensure she had a good life. Mona always had that because she wanted her brother to be happy.

  “Now, to change the subject, how about we go out somewhere to eat dinner tonight, because it is Friday and we don’t have school tomorrow. Plus, I still have to reward you for the good grades that you been getting in school,” said Shane in a caring tone as he finished eating his breakfast.

  “Yes, let’s go out to eat tonight. It's been so long since we went out. Let’s go to the Starlight family diner,” said Mona in a cheerful, youthful tone.

  Shane looked happy as Mona smiled after finishing her breakfast. It showed Shane he was doing a good job of making sure Mona was living a happy life.

  A year ago, Shane never expected the girl who was sitting at the table ever to smile again because back then, it always seemed that she was depressed, thinking that their father left because of her.

  It took Shane about two weeks to get Mona to smile again when he learned to make Mona's favorite food, which was lasagna bolognese.

  The moment Shane finally saw Mona smile again, it brought him pure happiness to see his sister, who had been in a state of sadness for two weeks after their father’s disappearance.

  “Shane.”

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “N-Nothing, it just looked like you were thinking about something. Were you thinking about Dad? It has been over a year since he disappeared.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking about how I would slap him in the back of the head when he comes back. Now come on, finish up your breakfast and change so you don’t be late to school.”

  Mona looked panicked as she said, “Oh, come on, I don’t want to go to school, it's so boring, and I already know everything that they are teaching us. Plus, I don’t know if my friends will be happy to see me after our fight.”

  Oh, that's right, I completely forgot that they got into a fight over something someone said yesterday. I forgot how children always take the smallest things so seriously. How does this keep on happening? It's always something new every month. Why can’t they just get along without getting into a fight? Thought Shane to himself.

  As he let out a large sigh, Shane said, “You know how many times my friend and I have fought. We fight a lot, primarily because we get mad at each other for something idiotic the other person does, but in the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. We always make up, so come on, I’m sure your friends will be happy to see you. So you are going to school today, and you're going to make up with your friends.”

  Mona, who had just finished eating, got up from her chair and put her dish in the sink for Shane to wash before he took her to school. She then walked toward her room.

  As she got to the hallway, she looked back at Shsne to say “Fineeeee. I will apologize today, so stop trying to bore me with your life story.” After that, she ran to her bedroom to change for school.

  “Hey, my stories aren’t that Boring!”

  “If you say so!”

  As Mona left the kitchen, Shane went to clean the dishes. He could feel the warm water hit his hands every time he had to make sure he got a stain.

  Shane was used to his morning routine now that he’s been doing it for a while. At first, he would always overcook the food he made, and he broke a ton of plates whenever he tried to wash them. Saying that he was a mess at taking care of chores was an understatement. It was shocking that their house didn’t burn down, given how Shane was managing it. At first, Shane even admitted he was bad at handling everything at home on his own.

  As Shane finished washing the dishes, he went back to his room to get his backpack for school.

  When Shane got to his room, he completely forgot where he had thrown his backpack; he'd just wanted to rest for a bit after picking up Mona from school yesterday. Shane and Mona would always be home by 5:00 pm because Shane would help with other studies, since they relied on him for his natural academic gifts.

  Shane never minded because they paid him to tutor, and he always wanted extra money on hand to spoil Mona every now and then. The only people Shange never charged were his close friends, because he was always grateful when they stood up for him whenever people talked behind his back about his hair color.

  As Shane looked through his room, he found his backpack on the ground near his desk. When he went through his bag, he saw everything in its place and made sure his laptop was charged, since he needed it to help the others study.

  “Shane. I’m ready to go to school, so could you hurry up and get out here?” said Mona, who was standing at the door looking at Shane.

  Shane got up with his hag on his left shoulder. When he looked at the door, he saw Mona, her hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a green t-shirt with a velociraptor, blue jeans, and black walking shoes.

  As they got to the front door, Shane said, “You sure you got everything for today? I won’t open this door again if you forgot something.”

  “Ugh. Yes, I have everything I need today, and you're the one who always forgets about something,” said Mona as she slapped her backpack.

  “Alright, alright. Let’s go,” said Shane as he closed the door and started to walk to take Mona to her school before going to his own.