Pleasant(ly) Ever After
Lilith Pleasant
[Part One]
(WARNINGS: Mentions of affairs, slight child neglect and sim swearing. I'm not an expert on putting warnings so apologies if I miss any!)
Daniel Pleasant had had a long day at work, followed by a long afternoon with his twin daughters fighting (again!) and his wife blatantly ignoring him.
Mary-Sue had installed herself her makeshift office upstairs. They had untaken some house renovations in past few years, and had made Lilith's half of the upstairs smaller, cutting it into a small storage area/office.
Lilith hadn’t complained, her room had so few things in it that it wasn’t a tight squeeze in there.
Mary-Sue had said she needed the space to not overwhelm the downstairs living area with the many papers and documents that she needed to review constantly as she prepared to run for the primary election of Mayor of Pleasantview.
As if she hadn’t overwhelmed her own household with the immense pressure and scrutiny that her office would put on them, Daniel thought bitterly.
Lilith had scowled but surprisingly hadn’t said anything negative. But she hadn’t approved of the idea at all.
Angela had been more tactful, sensing the tense atmosphere in the small room with the strong personalities of her family.
“It’ll all be worth it when I’m able to pursue a dream I’ve had for many years!” Mary-Sue said, quite oblivious to her environment, unless she was deliberately ignoring the growing tension.
To Daniel’s surprise Lilith had remained quiet throughout the entire meal, almost poking at it, not eating.
Her shoulders had slumped slightly and whilst he never paid much attention to her (she was far too much trouble than it was worth) he did sense that he ought to feel pity for her.
It makes no difference, he thought as he leaned his forehead on his hand, mentally drained. I’m still as unhappy as I’ve been for years.
Was it his own fault? Was he a bad father? A bad husband?
He winched; yes, he most likely would be seen by all parties beside him and Kaylynn as a bad husband.
He cared for Mary-Sue as a person, barely as a friend because she mostly ignored him. It was like he was a stranger in his own home, or someone who was there to pay the bills.
Whereas when it came to Kaylynn, he knew he loved her.
Loved her more than he’d ever loved his wife.
It wasn’t that he was heartless, it was because he knew that Mary-Sue and he may have been somewhat compatible when they were younger but they weren’t anymore.
Kaylynn was a kind, sweet and attentively young woman who cared if he was feeling low, was happy to have him lean on her shoulder if he needed to vent. Moreover, she wanted to touch, hold, caress and kiss him.
Like he was desired, but also loved as a sim, not just someone to woohoo once in a while because ‘that what all older marriages do’.
But she was also the family’s maid.
Yes, he knew it was cliché but he hadn’t chosen to fall in love with her.
Hell, he’d never intended to cross that employee/employer boundary. Whilst he’d been miserable with his life, he’d not thought proactively about changing it.
He was a coward.
The phone in the hall rang. He went to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Good evening! Could I speak to Lilith Pleasant please?”
“I’m her father, who is this?”
“I’m sorry for the late phone call Mr Pleasant, I’m Miss Lamington and I teach Lilith in mathematics. I just wanted to check something over with Lilith. The latest assignment was supposed to be completed so we could discuss it in class tomorrow morning. I haven’t had Lilith's work in yet online and I just wanted to check that Lilith hadn’t encountered an error in sending it. I don’t want to accuse her because a few students have had issues sending-.”
Daniel cut off the woman’s kind-hearted but annoying rambling. “I’ll pass the message onto her.”
“Thank you, Mr Pleasant. I’ve already spoken to her a length about having an aid in class to sit next to her as she’s mentioned that she struggles with math-.”
“An aid?!” Daniel burst out indignantly. “My daughter is almost sixteen, not six! Has she not leant to count properly by now? She doesn’t need a person next to her to count for her!”
There was a brief stunned silence at the other end of the line. “Have a good evening Mr Pleasant.”
“And you too Miss Lamington(!)” he replied sarcastically and almost threw thew phone back onto the receiver.
Where was that wayward daughter of his?!
She stressed the difference because Angela still said both swings were her property and that Lilith was trespassing when she sat out here.
The only reason that there were two seats was so Angela and her best friend, Meadow Thayer could swing outside together, leaving Lilith to her sad and bitter thoughts alone.
Do my parents really wonder why I am as I am? She mused.
She knew her family’s attitude to her was borderline child neglect but because she never had any bruises or went hungry, it never got picked up by social services. Not even their grandparents really saw what happened.
But that was long before Lilith had learnt to unload her problems with her beloved grandparents.
Since then, she’d learnt to control her anger a bit better but she wasn’t perfect.
No sim was. Angela still insisted she was though.
Entitled spoiled brat.
It was then that Lilith noticed her father heading outside in her direction. She’d seen him gesturing on the phone through the large windows but hadn’t thought much of it.
She was glad to be out of the firing line for once.
Or at least for more than five minutes.
She just wanted his approval.
But then he scowled at he always did and Lilith felt her heart crack as the hope she always held for her parent’s affection was swiped aside as an impossible reality.
“What did I do this time Dad?” she asked good-humouredly.
“Did she mange to persuade them to get me a helper? I swear algebra is so useless in real life!”
“How would you even know Dad?” Lilith challenged, hands on hips. “You never ask me how I am, if I’m struggling or if I need help!”
Luckily her father hadn’t heard her.
In a louder voice she said “And I have sent the assignment. But mum’s taking up all the bandwidth on the Wifi so it’s still in the process of sending. That is if precious Angela hasn’t deleted it to make me look bad again!”
“But it’s true! It’d be the fourth time she’s done it now! But you had always decided to hate me, the black sheep and love and gush about her the bool-propping angel!”
“How dare you-?!”
Daniel wasn’t about to admit it but his daughter had stunned him into silence for a brief moment.
Whilst it hadn’t been centre stage when they’d named their daughters, Mary-Sue had commented on it less than a week after their births although admittedly suffering from some form of post-natal depression.
“Go upstairs now and make sure you’ve sent that assignment” he ordered, recovering, going into father-mode that he always spoke to her in. “I can’t let your mother go through the shame of you failing another subject!”
Lilith sighed but knew she ought not try her luck.
Nowadays her father’s temper was as bad as hers and she never started fights anymore.
“And go to bed! It’s almost eight o’clock!” he snapped, impatiently at her retreating figure, not even bothering to turn around and watch her go.
“Bloody kids!”
“Watcher, I hate my life sometimes!”
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