I merely stare from the doorway, hands in my pockets. Guilt doesn’t stir in my stomach; satisfaction does. This is just one step out of the way to finally get rid of Naomi and the blasted marriage she insisted on. One way to finally reach Marriane.’
- An Excerpt from Don’t Blame a Daydreamer, Rowen’s POV
Naomi sashayed down the grand staircase, holding the polished marble railing with a dainty hand, footsteps carrying a quiet echo with each step of her descent. The stone in her ring glinted faintly under the gleaming crystal droplets of the intricate chandeliers, the crimson hue like fresh wound, vivid and striking.
Hannah was already waiting for her downstairs, Naomi’s blue blazer folded neatly over her forearm, showing the insignia of Ignus Academy stitched on the front left-side of the garment. Seeing her personal maid prompted Naomi to notice the notification box glowing beside Hannah’s head.
[MINOR QUEST UNLOCKED: THE HEART OF A SISTER (IN PROGRESS: 0%)
Hannah Gomez is the newly employed personal maid of the Young Miss in the Cunningham family, working at 19 to support her mother and provide for her sickly younger brother. Unfortunately, her younger brother has fallen gravely ill, and the treatment required is costly. Hannah is desperate to save him yet she is starting to lose hope he will be saved.
Help Hannah with her brother’s treatment and earn promising rewards!
REWARDS: Hannah’s Loyalty | Gomez Family’s Loyalty]
“You are like a younger sister to me, Young Miss,” Hannah says to Naomi, blue eyes shining, as she softly dabs the alcohol wipes over the scratches on her arms. “I’ve already lost a sibling once. I won’t lose another again. So, please, Young Miss, stop hurting yourself.”
Recalling the brief passage in the novel, Naomi drew in a quick breath and composed herself. “Come. Father must’ve started already without me. He detests waiting,” she told her, turning on her heel to head straight to the dining area, Hannah automatically following behind her. “Is it your first time meeting my father?”
“No, Young Miss,” Hannah responded, surprise adorning the tone of her voice. “He met with me the first day I started working here. He wanted to see me when he heard I’m your new personal maid.”
“Ah, then things will be easy for you later if you met him already. Father is an intimidating man. He’s a perfectionist that hardly allows anyone to make mistakes, and he rarely gives second chances. I’d hate to see you leave our family so early because he thinks you’re not good enough for me.”
A bunch of nonsense she garnered from reading the novel and the Original’s memories. Naomi was the one meeting ‘her’ father for the first time. But she could hear Hannah’s sharp intake of breath, and Naomi knew she received the implications of her message.
“Don’t worry.” Naomi glanced at her over her shoulder, plastering a genial smile across coral-stained lips. She allowed the corners of her eyes to fall languid, crafting a genteel expression with graceful ease. “I won’t let him do anything to you. So, if he or anyone else tries to intimidate you in some way, tell me. I’ll set them straight. I hope you trust I have your interest at heart, Hannah.”
Hannah’s shoulders loosened in response, tension draining from her spine—just as Naomi intended. “Yes, Young Miss,” she answered.
[HANNAH’S FAVORABILITY: 81/100 (+3)]
They crossed the marble-floored foyer before making their way down a long hallway lined with priceless art pieces on the walls. They passed by elaborate rose arrangements in large ornate vases above tall, slender pedestals, their velvety pink petals unfurling and spilling over the edges.
Servants scurrying to and fro paused at her appearance, gazes lowered to the floor out of respect. They cleared out of her path, tucking themselves against the wall as she walked by, and she smiled and greeted them a good morning without missing a beat.
At the end of the hallway was a set of open twin doors, awaiting their arrival. The first thing she laid eyes on, once she entered the room, was a middle-aged man sitting at the head of a grand mahogany table, cutlery held by long, tapered fingers, barely making a sound against fine china as he ate.
[OBSERVE SKILL (lvl. 5 MAX): ACTIVATED]
[CHARACTER INFO: IKARUS CUNNINGHAM
OCCUPATION: CEO of Cunningham Luxe Estates
AGE: 54 years old
PERSONALITY: Serious, Generous, Strict
FAVORABILITY: 93/100
IMPRESSION: She finally arrived. I thought she wouldn’t come. Hmm, I shouldn’t have started eating…
AVAILABLE QUEST: 1]
Ikarus Cunningham cut an imposing figure with broad shoulders, and an angular face emphasizing the sharp slant of his aged, whiskey-hued eyes. The thin streaks of salt peeking through short pepper curls amplified his sophistication and superiority while his thin, wire-rimmed glasses emphasized his scholarly and professional image.
He didn’t stand when he finally noticed her, as etiquette dictated. But he did lower his cutlery to appear less rude.
“Good morning, father,” she greeted, waiting for Hannah to pull her chair out before sitting on her father’s left. “Please, don’t stop eating at my account. It’s my fault for joining you so late for breakfast.”
“Then, why did you join me, knowing it’s already late?” he asked, a sharp gaze trained on his plate, resuming cutting his Belgian waffles into bite-sized pieces.
Naomi’s smile strained at the tips, sitting straighter in her seat, as if bracing herself against him. “Can’t I?” she replied, quiet and submissive, lashes casting downward.
[IKARUS’ IMPRESSION: What’s going on with her? She’s acting very strangely. She usually doesn’t want to see me when I’m at home. What changed? Why now?]
She snatched her hand from the table to her lap, hiding it from plain sight. However, she doubted the occupants paying attention in the room hadn’t caught the slightest quiver of her fingers, betraying her unease and anxiety.
Hannah already prepared a plate for her—a bowl of coconut yogurt with strawberries and a sprinkle of chia seeds. A handful of almonds on the side and a steaming green tea. A healthy selection meant to reduce weight, one that the Original insisted on a few days ago after finalizing her engagement with Rowen.
She eyed the French pastries across the table, her hand twitching in her lap. She stopped herself from grabbing a croissant or a macaron or a dozen. Instead, she ate a strawberry dripping with yogurt, and ignored the other tantalizing options in front of her.
“You normally don’t join me for breakfast,” her father remarked, “not even when your mother is here. I thought the same thing would happen today until Vincent informed me you’ll be taking your breakfast with me. It’s not the norm in this household.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Naomi pressed her lips together, unable to refute. The Original rarely met with her parents, not only because they were busy, but because she stubbornly refused to see them. She avoided them despite all attempts from her parents and advice from her friends, straining their relationship to the point of stagnation.
The Original’s character all boiled down to one factor: her parents. Parents rarely realized their actions could cause serious consequences on their children; one that children carried to their adulthoods and ultimately shaped their futures. In this case, it led the Original to her tragic circumstances in the novel.
Feeling neglected, unloved, and unsupported, the Original sought Rowen out in an attempt to find the affection she wanted from her parents (a rather cliché excuse the author had given for the readers to discredit her feelings for the male lead). But even Rowen couldn’t and didn’t give her the love she sought.
So, she did everything she could to force him, with marriage as the solution, completely giving up on reconciliation with her family. Needless to say, just because someone was rich and beautiful didn’t mean they weren’t susceptible to daddy and mommy issues. Really, there was no such thing as a perfect life.
“I’ll be leaving the family soon,” Naomi reminded him patiently. “I thought it would be best for me to at least spend time with my parents before joining the Kade family. I will no longer be a Cunningham soon after all.”
[IKARUS’ FAVORABILITY: 90/100 (-3)]
“Who says you will be leaving?” he retorted, irritation bleeding into his curt tone. “You will always be a Cunningham, Naomi, whether you join the Kade family or not.”
“Yes, but that’s—that’s different,” she countered with a dismissive wave of her hand, rejecting the idea as if preposterous. “I am born a Cunningham but that won’t change the fact that I’ll be marrying into the Kades and become like them. I’ll be embodying their values, and take Rowen’s name as my own. I can’t be both a Cunningham and a Kade. It doesn’t work that way.”
His lips swiftly curled downward. He abruptly dropped a silver knife on the plate; Naomi’s shoulders jerked at the startling noise. He grabbed his napkin and dabbed his mouth, moving in sharp, clipped motions, creases forming between his furrowed eyebrows.
With a quick flick, he flung the napkin on the table, and finally turned to address her. “Do whatever you want. I am leaving for work.”
Naomi went agape as her father rose from his seat, the chair making a skidding noise against the marble floor. She scrambled from her place, rising immediately, when he marched toward the door, turning his taut back to her.
“That’s it?” she called out, voice thin and shaking, laced with hysteria and fraught with disbelief. “You’re leaving? Just—Just like that?! I’m… I’m making an effort—an effort to spend time with you before I leave, and you can’t even give me that?”
His steps faltered into a halt, and she gritted her teeth when his back stayed turned to her, an unmoving barrier that kept him miles away. The silence ensued felt too damning—too final—the brittle strings of their relationship stretching further, on the verge of a snap. If she let him walk away now, she feared they would never recover.
“Just once, act like my father!” The words ripped from her throat, her frustration resounding against the walls and returning to them like a whip. “Don’t just walk away from me. Talk to me! I’m not—I’m not a child anymore. You can’t just leave and tell me it’s because of work when we both know it’s an excuse to avoid me.”
He rolled his shoulders and straightened his spine, the tension rising to its boiling point. He swiftly pivoted on his heel, facing her with a haughty and prideful rise of his chin. His apathetic gaze morphed into a burning stare nearly scalding her and rooting her in her spot.
“I am not avoiding you,” he responded in a carefully calm and measured manner, his hands clasped behind him. “I simply have work to do. If you don’t want to be treated like a child, then you should start acting like an adult. Throwing a tantrum and crying in public is hardly befitting of a Cunningham.”
“Though, I suppose”—his tone lowered, lips curled in contempt, bitterness coating his next words it almost tasted like poison—“you would rather not be a Cunningham anymore since you’re so eager to become a Kade when you haven’t even married yet.”
[IKARUS’ IMPRESSION: She’s so eager to get away from her family that she thinks marrying into a new one would erase us from her life. She’s so young though; she’s still seventeen. I shouldn’t have agreed. But she’s my daughter and she loves him. I can’t make him stay away. She already hates me enough.]
Eyes slitting, Naomi scoffed, shredding the air with a derisively loud and harsh sound. “Is that it? Are you upset because I’m marrying into the Kade family? Is that why you don’t want to spend time together? I don’t understand. If you didn’t want me to marry Rowen, you could’ve just said so.”
“And risk you hating me?”
Naomi drew back, blinking her eyes at his whispered confession. His clenched jaw flexed, his gaze averting to the side. His rigid shoulders lowered slightly until they fell in one swoop, letting go of all the weight and tension with finality.
The love of a parent, too difficult to express, was heartbreaking to witness; the same as the child mistaking the love for apathy. Neither the Original nor her parents were at fault for the way they ended, yet they were the ones suffering from the pain they’ve caused each other.
A sigh escaped his mouth like a quiet surrender, his hardened expression faltering. It was only for a brief moment until his spine stiffened once again, a stern mask placed perfectly over his face to hide his anguish. Her fingers twitched at her sides, wanting to reach out, but the distance between them felt too massive to conquer.
So, she didn’t.
“I will be late for work,” her father uttered gruffly after clearing his throat, fixing his black tie around his neck. “Let’s continue this discussion after I return. Eat your breakfast, and don’t be late for school. I’ll see you later this evening. Have a good day.”
He was already in the doorway when Naomi’s somber reply reached him. “Take care.”
His strides only paused in acknowledgment before he finally left the room. She struggled to swallow the lump in her throat, sucking in a breath to loosen the tight grip squeezing her chest. All too aware of the oppressive silence he left them with, she sank into her chair, her body cushioned by plush upholstery she hardly felt.
She looked down at her lap—
[IKARUS’ FAVORABILITY: 94/100 (+4)]
—and slowly, her lips curved into an inscrutable smile.
“Young Miss,” Hannah’s soft voice calling her effectively broke her out of her stupor, the notification panel disappearing from her sight.
Naomi raised her head after a moment, her composure a steely shield that barred anyone from seeing through her. Her gaze roamed around the room, eyebrows lifting as she noted the remaining occupants, as if realizing their presence for the first time.
“A-ah,” she breathed out in a stutter, “I apologize. We let you see such a shameful sight in front of you. Please, don’t think badly of me or my father. It’s not everyday that my father and I… talk. I’m afraid that we let our emotions get the best of us. Hopefully, it won’t happen again, but…”
Her words scattered into the gentle breeze, chased after by a delicate exhale.
“It was my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed him too far,” Naomi whispered, rising from her seat and gesturing vaguely at the dining table. “Please, clean this up. Hannah, call the driver and tell him to prepare the car. I’ll be leaving for school soon. Thank you.”
She left the dining room and proceeded to the foyer, Hannah at her heels, speaking to someone in her earpiece—likely the driver. Her steps faltered, hesitating, before she turned to face her personal maid in the middle of the room.
“Hannah,” Naomi called, and immediately captured Hannah’s attention. A silent swallow rippled down her throat as she attempted to convey her thoughts. “Do you think… I made the right choice?”
“Young Miss?” Hannah responded, her brows hitching for a split second. As if sensing the fragility of Naomi’s question, her next words were spoken with careful consideration. “Is this because of what happened earlier with your father, Young Miss?”
Naomi averted her gaze. “I know my father loves me, both he and my mother do. But sometimes, they make it hard to remember, and other times, I wonder if they ever do. I hardly see them, although I suppose that's my fault as well for avoiding their attempts. They try to make up for lost time, but it’s difficult for me to play pretend and act as if they hadn’t hurt me.”
Hannah’s eyes flickered with warmth at Naomi’s vulnerable confession. “Young Miss, I don’t know much about your situation with your parents, but I do know that you will continue to hurt if you don’t communicate your feelings properly to them.”
“It’s not that simple, Hannah. It can’t be,” Naomi refuted, a hint of irritation bleeding into her voice, eyebrows knitted in exasperation.
“Nothing ever worth it is simple, Young Miss, and family is worth a lot. I’m certain that as much as you’re hurting, they’re also hurting. They’re not perfect parents, but you also have to understand that they’re also first time parents as much as you are their first daughter. Talk to them honestly, Young Miss.”
“And if nothing changes after I talk to them? What then?”
A forlorn twist of Hannah’s lips leeched the warmth from her gaze, only a lukewarm flicker remained. “That’s when you decide if they’re worth forgiving for the hurt they’ve caused you, Young Miss. Until then, you won’t know if you don’t try.”
A contemplative quiet kept Naomi from speaking. Hannah, with the patience of an older sister who worked hard at a young age to provide for her family, gave her the space to breathe—to think.
It was too late for the Original to mend the strains of her relationship with her parents. She was no longer here, on the path of reincarnation without the chains of a tragic ending caging her. Hopefully, she would finally receive the love she hadn’t felt in this life in her new one.
“I have much to think about, it seems,” Naomi finally said, a sliver of a smile ghosting her lips. “Thank you for answering me honestly. If you ever need anything, don’t be shy to approach me. Your advice has been helpful, and I want to help you as much as you did to me.”
A flush colored Hannah’s cheeks pink. “You’re welcome, Young Miss.”
Naomi turned on her heel, hearing the car pull up outside the driveway, a triumphant grin stealing the corners of her mouth.
[HANNAH’S FAVORABILITY: 84/100 (+3)]
[MINOR QUEST: THE HEART OF A SISTER (IN PROGRESS: 30%)]
[TWELFTH WORLD STATUS: 1% COMPLETE]