A MERRY MAFIA CHRISTMAS (GxG)

XXXVII

My Christmas List: December 15th
Make me an only child.

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"Goodness, you're so clumsy," Millicent laughed, nudging me as her eyes stared down at the open container that spilled the pasta on the floor.

My face suddenly felt hot. Great, so now Armani gets to witness my sister degrading me. How much worse can this get?

"I'll have someone clean it up," Armani said, her tone slightly defensive, which made me feel a little better. At least she's not mad about the spilled food.

Millicent laughed. "I'm sure you have someone clean up a lot then," she said, her tone joking, but I knew it was just a subtle stab at me.

Armani narrowed her eyes, eyeing Millicent in disapproval. "No, actually, I don't," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

I looked back to Millicent, forcing a smile, "Anyways..." I trailed off, figuring out how to put this next line nicely, "What are you doing here?"

Millicent smiled, and I hated how condescending it felt. "To stay with you silly," she said. "We normally do our usual Christmas festivities remember?"

My forced smile grew wider. "Oh yeah... well I'm not so sure I can do those—not with my current workload."

Millicent rolled her eyes, and almost immediately I knew some sort of rude remark was going to be said.

"Why am I not surprised that you have to work two times harder?" she said, shaking her head. "At least the outcome will be good—your designs at least have that going for them."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Armani's brows furrowing and her arms tightening as they continued to sit crossed over her chest.

Millicent sighed as if she had concluded something. "I suppose I can just chill out for now since my job allowed me to take work off, but we absolutely have to do something before Christmas eve."

I pursed my lips, deciding that I can try to find some time. "Okay, sure," I said.

Millicent clapped happily. "Finally, you aren't an annoying worker bee for once!"

I smiled, clenching my white teeth together. "So uh why don't you go get settled in?"

"Yeah, that's an excellent idea," Armani said, her tone filled with fake enthusiasm. "You're on floor two," she said, her voice suddenly dropping cold.

The statement itself made me side-eye Armani. I don't have time to challenge my sister right now. I already have enough on my plate at the moment.

Millicent gathered her luggages, but suddenly paused, turning to me. "I forgot to tell you, Mom's really upset that you haven't visited her all month."

I furrowed my brows. "I've been busy," I said, motioning around me. "Clearly."

I've literally been living somewhere else this entire month... I don't understand what she expects from me.

Millicent frowned, placing her hand on the side of my shoulder. "That doesn't give you a reason to not visit the woman who gave birth to you Mir," she said, her dark eyes disapproving. It easily made my heart race and my eyes jerk with unwanted tears. "I know it's hard, but you wouldn't have any of this without her."

Don't cry. Don't cry. Do not cry Mira.

Millicent sighed. "I'm not saying you're a bad daughter Mir, but you're definitely possessing some of the qualities of one," she said, which easily made me look up in an attempt to withhold the warm tears from falling. It's not that big of a deal. I shouldn't be crying. "That's coming from me as your sister."