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It shouldn’t have suprised him. It’s not like it had ever been different, it’s not like they had ever cared.
But still, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed as a tiny scrap of hope had still been lingering inside of him, as much as he tried to suppress it.
A small part of him had still clung to the hope of things being different this time. But of course, they were not.
Today was Damian Desmond’s 7th birthday. And like all the years before, neither his father, nor mother, nor his older brother bothered to call or visit him on his special day. Not even a letter was sent. Nothing. The only one he received a call from was his butler, Jeeves.
He tried his best to put up a brave front during classes and to not let anyone notice that something was off.
He had a particularly hard time hiding his current state of mind from his best friends Ewen and Emile, who had become more and more aware of his feelings and struggles over all the time they had spent together.
They both also tried their best to make this a happy day for him and even had bought presents for him. Hoping to disguise his sadness and frustration, he gave it his all to appear genuinely grateful and happy. One place he couldn’t put on an act though was inside his own mind.
When particularly sad thoughts clouded his mind, he could suddenly feel someone’s gaze falling upon him. Looking straight ahead from his seat, he could make out that the emerald green pair of eyes staring at him belonged to none other than Anya Forger.
It was not unusual for her to look at him, but her usually either annoyed or cheerful expression seemed to be replaced by… If he didn’t know better, he could have sworn that it was worry. Worry… for him? That seemed completely impossible. Besides, he had really tried his best to keep up his usual stoic demeanor, so unless someone was actually able to read minds, there was no way that anyone could pick up on his current mood. Or was there…?
After a short while, Anya turned away from him again, facing forward towards the blackboard. Damian shook his head and pushed the thought of Anya being worried about him away. He probably was just imagining things.
-
Damian had never felt as releaved about hearing the bell announcing the end of the school day ring as he did in this very moment. He felt drained from keeping his composure all day long, and just wanted to finally be alone.
The boy fabricated some lie about a stomachache and not feeling well to his two best friends, and excused himself to presumably go to the nurse’s office.
In truth, however, he made his way to a certain spot in the gardens of Eden Academy.
It was a quiet and well-hidden spot under a big and beautiful maple tree that had a soothing and comforting effect on him. He looked around carefully to make sure that no students were in close proximity at the moment before sitting down under that consoling tree.
Finally being alone, he could no longer stop the tears from falling. He wept like he had never since leaving pre-school, all the pent up feelings over being abandoned and forgotten by his family coming out at once.
He had sat there alone bawling for a few minutes, when he suddently heard some footsteps approaching.
Startled, the boy immediately turned his head towards the direction of the sound, and what he saw was none other than a certain pink-haired and stubby-legged classmate of his.
He hastily wiped at his face before calling out in an irritated tone: „Stubby-legs! What the hell are you doing here?!“
Damn it! Now stubby-legs saw me crying like a loser! That’s so embarrassing! Could this day get any worse?!
„Uhm… Sy-on boy…“, she started with a shy voice that was very unusual for her. „So I know that today is your birthday and… Here! I made you something!“, she exclaimed in a happy and bubbly manner that fit her regular demeanor much better.
She smiled brightly and cheerfully while proceeding towards him with a piece of paper in her hand.
Once she finally reached him, she nonchalantly put that piece of paper into his hand. He could see that it was a hand-made birthday card.
On the outside, it was plastered with stickers of characters featured in the cartoon „Bondman“ (which Damian of course would never watch a single episode of, he wasn’t a little kid anymore, after all). He looked at the card with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity. „Look at what’s inside!“, Anya demanded.
At her request, he slowly opened the folded piece of paper for it to reveal the words „Happi birthdae!“ written in all caps as well as the ugliest and poorest attempt at a drawing of a Griffin he had ever laid his eyes upon.
Its wings were tiny, its beak ginormous and its proportions in general all over the place. And what was up with those googly eyes?
„Mrrrmpf…“ As much as he tried, he couldn’t hold back at this sight. A roaring laughter escaped his throat.
At first, Anya’s face showed an offended expression at his reaction, but after a while, she joined in on the laughter. After all, she had never seen Sy-on boy laugh wholeheartedly like this, and for some strange reason, it made her feel happy herself.
As they both laughed to their hearts content in unison, the young scion felt like maybe, just maybe, this birthday wasn't so horrible after all.
-
It took Damian a few minutes to calm down and catch his breath again. Then, a thought suddenly struck him.
„But, say, stubby-legs… How did you figure out it was my birthday today?“ He shot her a questioning look. As far as he remembered, he had never told anyone about the date of his birth except for Emile and Ewen.
Oh no. I can’t let him know that I found out because I am a tellypath.
„Uh, well… Anya…“