"Desirae... what, what are we?"

The woman had asked that question three months ago, the day after she had the audacity to kiss Rae full on the lips in public. She had asked that loaded question as if it were the simplest of things to have ever been asked, as if it were a fleeting thought rather than a question that required fifty years' worth of serious philosophical thought to answer, nevertheless come up with and ask.

The woman had asked her as if it were as easy as breathing.

Rae stabbed her share of pastelón with her fork, and without the slightest drop of mercy, sliced off a part of it with the sharpest utility knife she could find in the kitchen. Rae knew better. She knew there was no need for a fork or a knife. With ease, she could've eaten her dinner with a spoon in the same way her daughter was, but she didn't want to. The back of her throat burned at the thought. She didn't want to resemble the way her jolly daughter stuffed herself with the pastelón, not in the slightest, even if it was just the spoon that they would've had in common.

She shoved the sliced piece of the plantain lasagna in her mouth and chomped away as bitterly as her jaw allowed her to. Her taste buds rejoiced as soon as they met with the feel and savory flavor of the dish. Rae hated them for it, but she couldn't stop herself from grabbing another bite every time she swallowed. In simple words, it was deliciously irritating. That goddamned woman knew her stuff── and there was no excusing it── her experience as a Cheeseburger Factory manager had nothing to do with it.

In their younger days, when both were nothing but starved servers from that same restaurant, the woman always brought a homemade meal to eat on the side, between tables. She'd share some with Rae at times, and every time she did so, Rae's world shined a little brighter. Over time, Rae convinced herself that the woman's family had taught her as soon as she was out of her mother's womb. Years later, Rae's theory was a proven fact, and now, as she sat on her wooden chair and ate from a dish made by that woman, facing an excited puppy gobble their own, Rae couldn't deny the fact regardless of her thoughts on said woman. And it's not like the woman's skills were limited to cooking, either.

Rae knew that perfectly well.

"There's half a cup of almond milk there, and honey, with a pinch of── "

Brown sugar. Brown, brown, brown.

Minutes before the woman had asked her the question, she'd handed Rae her favorite drink. Who would've known Rae would get a good, sweet taste of something before the most bitter of things would overwhelm her soul and mind?

"Seconds!" Diamond suddenly hummed. She held out her plate to Rae with the brightest of smiles.

Rae took a moment to look down at Diamond's plate. It was squeaky clean. If Rae looked hard enough, she was sure she would have seen her own reflection on it. Diamond had eaten all of the peas, mushrooms, and carrots stuffed in the ground beef between the sweet plantains. It was so ridiculous Rae let herself laugh at the fact. That damned woman worked with the devil.

Diamond's eyebrows rushed up to the clouds. "Uh, my bad Mama. I meant, seconds please!"

Rae shook her head and served her daughter dinner for the second time that night.

" ...what are we?" the woman had asked without a care in the world, and then, as if it weren't bad enough to ask such a thing, she dared to drop by out of the blue to a place she wasn't welcomed in. Ridiculous!

How did she even come in?

Oh god, god please, don't tell me I forgot to grab her copies of my keys on my way out of her house, please!

Rae rubbed her temples as a groan left her. She definitely forgot to grab the keys, and that shameless woman took advantage of it to do the most grand of gestures, one that has completely won over Rae's daughter and filled Rae with an unbearable amount of fury. She was sure that the woman had planned for this, too. For months. Rae just knew it, it had to be the case. And all for what? What!

" ... what are we? I can't handle all of the riddles and puzzles anymore."

So bold, so shameless. Spilling everything out of her dangerous self without a second thought. The audacity, the fucking audacity that woman had knew no bounds! What in the world was wrong with her? Asking the hard questions in such a calm, collected manner, demanding answers── no shivers, no twitch of an eye, no nervous tic── nothing, nothing! As if she only had to initiate and it would all go her way. As if she somehow knew Rae felt the same when in fact that woman couldn't have been any more wrong.

Crazy woman, I'll show you... !

Rae clawed at the smartphone in her sweatshirt and unlocked its screen with a tap of her finger. She scrolled down its contacts for the woman's phone number, and typed the first thing in her mind: "What the hell's wrong with you?!!! don't step into my house ever again do you hear me? n give me back my fucking keys!"

To make sure the woman would receive it, Rae unblocked her number from the smartphone, and with a triumphant air, locked the screen and slammed the phone onto the table.

"Mama?" Diamond suddenly squeaked, bewildered, visibly ready to run out of the kitchen.

Rae bit her tongue. The high of her triumph withered away into nothingness. She didn't mean to scare Diamond. She'd never want that. "Sorry. Just... keep eating."

That woman was dangerous. Without being physically present, she could inject venom directly into Rae's bloodstream and make Rae forget or throw away all of what she had dedicated her life to, everything she worked for since the day she learned there was a whole other person growing in her.

In the snap of a finger, because of that woman, Rae could easily become the black sheep of her family, more than she already was. The ultimate black sheep, she'd say; all of their low expectations for her and her daughter would be met. They just didn't understand all she'd done for Diamond since day one, or anything Rae had done before her. Perhaps they never will, and that was perfectly fine. They weren't who she lived for. But they still were a pain in the ass, one she had no choice but to keep around, and she needed to prove them wrong. She needed to prove herself wrong.

She had no time for distractions. She had a child to feed and care for, one that would one day grow up and have everything she would need to be happy and successful in life.

And for that sole reason, Rae hated that shameless, dangerous woman with all of her bitter heart. She needed to.

" ...what, what are we?"

She stared at the dinner on her plate and bit a side of her lip. She hadn't noticed the itch on her arms until that moment, but she couldn't bother to scratch them. What was the point anyway? She would just make the small abrasions on them even worse. No amount of aloe vera she'd lather on herself would be able to fix them in a day if it got any worse.

"Mama," Diamond suddenly mumbled. "Are you still mad at her?"

Rae raised her head from the table and made sure to keep her voice leveled. No more scares. "What do you mean DD? Mad at who?"

Diamond peered at her mother and hid herself into her shoulders. "Amaya."

Rae took a deep breath and allowed herself to remain silent for three whole seconds. "No." She shrugged. "I'm not mad at her. I'm not mad at anyone."

Diamond's tiny doe-eyes stared right through Rae. "When are you going to make up with her?"

"We── " A ping from her smartphone startled Rae, kept her heart running on the marathon of a lifetime. "We don't... need to make up."

"But you fought with her."

"No." Rae's voice cracked midway. "I didn't."

Diamond finally let go of her hold on Rae's eyes and poked her seconds with her spoon. "But... but then... why doesn't she come over anymore?"

Rae couldn't take the suspense anymore. She grabbed her phone in a feverish fervor, only to find herself deflated a second later. She'd received a notification for a new message in her digital inbox, nothing more. Rae locked the screen of her phone and slipped it into her sweatshirt again.

"I don't know. Finish your food Diamond," she sighed.

Rae and Diamond ate the rest of their dinner in silence, save for the screeching of their utensils.