"Mackie! Wake up! You'll be late for school!"
Mackie grunted as she opened her eyes slowly. She saw the figure of her mother, who opened the huge curtain in her room, basking her with all the morning sun that blinded Mackie's eyes.
"Ahh! Mommy! It's too bright!" Mackie complained and quickly pulled her head with the blanket and fell asleep again.
Chloe sighed, pulled the blanket away, and scolded her teenage daughter, "Wake up, Mackie. It's Monday morning. You'll be late to school. You need at least an hour of drive to reach your school."
"I'll tell Meyer to drive faster!" Mackie insisted.
"Meyer is not a Nascar driver. Get up and get ready!"
Mackie was annoyed by her mother's yapping in the morning, but she still got up and stomped her feet to the bathroom.
Chloe stared at her teenage daughter and sighed again, "That girl, she is no different than her father. Is being a night owl a trait in this family?"
Mackie brushed her teeth, washed her face, and brushed her hair. She had long, wavy, jet-black hair. It always looked shiny and healthy, but sometimes the hair was so long and hot during summer, so she had a ponytail for the entire summer.
Mackie checked on herself in the mirror and clicked her tongue after noticing a pimple on her forehead, "Ugh, another pimple!"
Mackie always suffered throughout the summer because she always got pimples at least twice a week.
Mackie quickly applied some sunscreen before rushing out of the bathroom. She changed her clothes, grabbed her bag, and joined her family in the living room.
"Morning everyone!" Mackie announced her arrival cheerfully. She was already a teenager but still hadn't lost some of her childhood cheerfulness.
She was still the sunshine everyone loved and the third domineering member in the family... after her mother and then her father.
Everyone at the dining table turned their heads towards her and smiled. They all greeted her with good morning as she joined the table.
Mackie looked around the big family she had.
Six years had passed since her parents' wedding. She was fourteen years old now and had two more family members.
Her little sister was born a few months after the wedding and was almost six years old! She had chestnut, wavy hair, just like her mother. Even their facial features were very similar. Valerie was almost like a splitting image of Chloe.
"Good morning, Val. Did you have a good sleep last night?" Mackie asked as she rubbed her little sister's head.
Valerie pouted as she ate her scrambled egg slowly, "Um, not really."
"Why not?" Mackie asked.
Valerie looked at her little brother, sitting on his feeding chair, gleefully slamming his hands on the small table, "Cedric is crying all night. I can't sleep..."
"Guu?" The baby Cedric tilted his head as he got started by his big sisters. He was only six months old, but he already had thick hair.
He had jet black hair, as well as jet black eyes. Mackie suspected that Cedric would be just like her father growing up.
Mackie patted Cedric's head gently and said, "Why are you crying, baby bro? Did something scare you? Tell me, I will beat that scary stuff!"
"Uuu! Aaa!" Cedric looked happy after getting patted by his sister, but Valerie was still in a bad mood.
"Eat your food, dear. It's not good to play with it," Mackie warned Valerie, and the little girl quickly ate her food because she didn't want to get scolded by her Mommy.
"Here's your food, Mackie."
"Thanks, Granny!"
Dorothea smiled at her first grandchild and then continued to help Chloe serve breakfast to all the children in the family.
"You don't need to help me, Dorothea. Don't you remember the doctor said you need a lot of rest," Chloe said as she got worried. But the old lady didn't seem to mind.
"Nonsense, I may be old, but I'm not dying yet! I can still handle helping you serve breakfast, at least," Dorothea said.
Chloe sighed. She served the last plate to her nephew, Aaron.
"Thank you, Auntie."
"Mhm, don't forget to eat it all. You are practicing for a national match, right?"
"Yeah! I promise I will show you my gold medal!" Aaron said confidently.
Chloe smiled at her nephew. Aaron had regained his confidence after years of therapy. He was still the most mature out of all the boys. He was even more mature than Mackie, but at least he had finally let go of the past trauma regarding his mother.
He was thirteen years old and went to the same middle school as Mackie while the rest of the boys were still in primary school.
He was talented at swimming and had been scouted in the middle school swimming team, so Chloe supported him throughout his endeavor.
Dorothea sat beside Aaron, and they all began eating their food.
Chloe then busied herself to make baby food for Cedric. She sat right next to her baby and started feeding him slowly.
Chloe was very patient despite Cedric being a little menace. Sometimes, Mackie observed her Mommy and wondered how her Mommy could have so much patience in taking care of everyone in the family.
"Mommy, where is Daddy?" Valerie asked as she had just finished her scrambled eggs.
"He is sleeping. I will wake him up later," Chloe replied. She paused for a moment, and her eyes widened, "Wait—Mackie, go wake your father up! He has an important meeting in the morning!"
"Okay, Mommy!"
Mackie rushed to the master bedroom on the second floor and knocked on the door nonstop while yelling on top of her, knowing that her father was a deep sleeper.
"DADDY! WAKE UP! MOMMY WILL KILL YOU!"
It didn't take long for the door to open.
Vernon looked at his daughter with eyes half open. He rubbed his eyes a few times and yawned.
"Five more minutes, okay?" Vernon tried to compromise. "I fell asleep around two in the morning."