OUR MOON HAS STRINGS

"Lily, do not cling to the door. Aunty dislikes that." Valery steadied herself behind the steering wheel, occasionally stealing glances at her niece to ensure she was not playing with the locks.

She smiled, seeing the six-year-old pick up the stuffed frog, which had been ignored a while back. They loved the Muppets. Although Miss Piggy was her favourite, Lily adored Kermit the Frog.

 It was only a short time until they reached the mall. Valery slowly followed the other cars through the entrance, quietly peering around for a good place to park. Once she found her spot, she reeled over, initiated the brakes and turned off the engine.

"Come, little Kermit." She opened the door for Lily.

 A few steps forward, Valery recalls leaving the grocery list behind. "Lily, stay right here!" She said sharply and ran back to the car.

 "Where the hell did I put it." Valery combed hastily through the front seats. She hated handling pieces of paper, yet her elder sister refused to get a small notebook for the grocery list, no matter how many times she nagged about it. "Ha! Gotcha." Valery bent down to pick up the neatly folded sheet beneath Lily's seat. Lily had been holding on to it earlier, glaring at the letters as if she understood what they meant.

All was well when Valery locked the car and turned around; that was before she saw Lily walking towards the entrance on her own, not minding the road. Struck with fear and obviously out of reach, Valery yelled- waving her hand, telling Lily to stop while she dashed towards her. A car was approaching rather recklessly down the narrow road.

Worried she won't make it on time, Valery tried signalling the diver to slow down, but it was useless. The driver had drowned the car's insides with loud music and was also not paying much attention.

 Out of nowhere, a figure swooped in and grabbed Lily out of harm's way, frightening the child, who did not understand what was happening.

 Shaken by the ordeal, Valery ran faster and grabbed Lily, who was put down by her saviour.

 "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME!! ARE YOU A DODO BIRD? WHY DO YOU LOVE RUNNING INTO DANGER LIKE THIS!" Valery panicked.

"Excuse me, but the fault is yours for not keeping a better eye on her." The stranger called her out on her mistake. "Had I not seen her earlier, that bastard would have run her over and not even looked back. "

 Valery sighed, forcing out a breath of relief. "You're right. I should have been careful. It's okay, baby, don't cry. I was wrong to have left you like that. Come to Aunty. I'm not angry, okay." She tried to comfort Lily.

 Valery reached out, slowly grabbing Lily's hand and pulling her closer to hug her. Then she rose to her feet to address their helper. "Thank you very much, I...I... Derrick?" she stammered after getting a proper look at the man. It took him not less than a second to confirm it, recognizing her as well.

Derrick's eyes widened as his lips curved upwards. "Violet. I mean Valery," he said, not knowing how to process this rush of mixed feelings coursing through his veins.

(Three hours later.)

*Music in the background*