185 Lily 21 (1/2)
While considering going to Gale, Iris realized that there was a more important matter at hand. Tears were streaking down Lily's scrunched up face. The girl pulled back from the door frame and tried to wipe them away, but they still continued, not stopping.
”Lily?” Iris asked gently, not knowing whether she was still allowed to come close. Lily's change back then had left many things uncertain.
The girl didn't answer. She just stood with tears on her face, her lip quivering, and tried to forcefully calm herself. But it wasn't working.
With hesitation, Iris wrapped the girl in a hug. Since they'd been sneaking and not standing straight, they were on around the same height. ”I don't know what happened, but tell me and I will try to help. What do you say?”
”You can't!” Lily screamed back, wrapping her hands around Iris' neck and starting to sob on her shoulder. ”No one can. Don't you see? It's always brother, brother, and brother! Even if he kidnaps me, they come to ask HIM to comeback! They didn't even bother to come and check up on me!”
Lily's voice grew louder and shriller with each sentence, and her grip around Iris' neck tightened, but Iris didn't admonish her. At this moment, she was finally coming to understand something.
”It's ALWAYS him! Whenever I do something good, they say 'Your brother could have done better', 'Your brother did that and that by your age', 'Your brother was already studying that by now, you're two years behind him'. Him, him, and him! Always! Even… even now.”
The words soon became indistinguishable from wails, and Iris just held the little girl in a tight hug, allowing her to cry her heart out. Ir pained Iris to see Lily like that, but she had no way to make the situation better. All she could offer was a hug and a shoulder to rest the head.
Soon, her feet started to go numb, but she kept on crouching without moving a muscle. The fact that she was thinking about something as how uncomfortable she was at this moment annoyed her, but reality was always less pretty than one expected.
Luckily, Lily pulled away after a few moments, brushing away the tears once more. ”I actually really admired him at first. I thought he was something akin to a god among men. But then he didn't notice me… When parents told me to hide how they were treating me, I knew it wasn't good, and so I tried to reveal it to brother through small hints, but he never looked my way. He never noticed… So how is he better than them?”
Her face twisted with emotion, and it looked positively frightening. Blotchy red cheeks, puffy eyes, and tear remnants glistening on her eyelashes. ”You all spout how it's all for my good, but did you once asked if I wanted it? Just once! Of course not. What can this stupid girl know, right?”
”Lily…” Iris sat down on the ground, her legs giving out on her. She wanted to massage them, but it came second to the angry glare aimed at her. ”I'm a stranger in this situation, so I won't lecture you on who's good or bad here. All I want to say is that you should not give up just yet.
”Gale, your brother… he's not perfect. He's not the god you imagined, nor the ideal son your parents delude themselves into seeing, but he does wish to be a good brother. Even if he doesn't know how to be one.” Iris smiled a little and scooted a little closer to the girl. ”Do you want to know a secret?”
Lily didn't look convinced, but she didn't pull away. ”Secret?”
”Yes! In truth, before this, me and your brother, we didn't get along at all.”
”Huh? Then how come he asked you for help?”
Iris looked around as if making sure that nobody was listening in on them, then whispered, ”He wanted what's best for his sister. Although we didn't like each other that much, he knew that you'd have a better time with me than him, and so he begged me to come over, disregarding his own pride.”