Breaking Point

Chapter thirteen

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"Make sure that the walls you build to protect yourself do not become a prison." - inward

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👨‍💼 Daniel 👨‍💼

Dad had to go to one of our daughter companies to fix a businessdeal. He didn't want to leave Maya at home but she has all five of us. She will survive a day without him, I hope. 

Since dad is out, I work at home. At around 15.00 I hear the car pull up in front. Walking into the lobby I see Martín and Mateo walking upstairs, talking about an assignment. Probably left it to the last minute again. 

Hugo is talking and talking to Maya but she is looking down at the floor. "How was school?" Maya looks up exitedly but when she sees it's me her expression dims. It's like she can't distinguish our voices yet and thought I was dad.

"School was great! Maya made friends and then Mateo wanted to beat them up but Martín got him to calm down and they didn't know we were Maya's brothers so they were like "what do you want with Maya" and then we were like "just checking if she is okay" and they were like "why do you ca.." 

"Hugo, slow down. Don't you have homework to do or something?" Hugo looks at me like I just stabbed him in the heart. He has always been a drama queen. 
"Oh yeah, I'll go do that now, I guess. See you at dinner." 

"Princesa, how was school?" She looks at me and gets her phone out. 'It was good. Made friends, they are nice' 
"Okay, good to hear that. Do you maybe want to do something together till dinner?" 

She looks at me like I just proposed to rob area 51. "Let's go to the living room, okay?" She gives me a small nod. 

When we take a seat on the couch, I notice her fidgeting with the hem of her sweater. "Princesa, are you okay?" She gives me another nod but keeps fidgeting.
"Maya, can you type it out? I know something is bothering you. I just want to help, princesa."

She hesitantly takes out her phone on the notes app and types something. 
'I need a routine' A routine? I noticed she is not good at handeling new things and changes but I thought she was doing better now.

"A routine? For every day?" She gives another nod. 
'I need to plan every day. I can't function without a routine.'
"Maya, princesa, I know your entire life has been uprooted in a course of two days, but you can't expect everything to go to plan. Sometimes things happen and we just need to be able to adapt to the changes."

'I've never wanted anything to change!' Shit, she's using a exclamation mark and I can see the tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh princesa, that's life. It's all change."
'Well, that's terrifying' at this point she can't keep the tears at bay anymore. 

"Maya, come here." I scooch over and take her into my arms. She has started uncontrollably sobbing again. I pick her up and put her in my lap. She needs to calm down. I stroke her hair remembering it calmed her down when she was asleep on the plane.

She just sobs into my chest. "It's okay, get it all out, princesa. You will be okay, I'm here." 
She calms down after a few minutes and looks up at me with a small smile. That's when I realise

I would burn the entire world down to make her smile.

After sitting there for a few minutes, just me stroking her hair and Maya almost falling asleep, I get an idea. 

"How about we make a compromise? We make a weekly plan with school, extra curriculars and sports, the things that have starting and ending times every week. And the rest of the time, you can plan before but it's still flexible, those plans can change.
That way we have a few set in stone hours a day and a few flexible hours a day. Does that sound like you will be up for it, princesa?"

She is thinking really hard about it but after about a minute she looks up and gives me a hesitant nod. "Okay, let's plan the week!"

Planning the week was pretty easy since Maya doesn't have anything aside from school yet. When we get to friday I tell her about the icehockey practice situation. 

On fridays I work at the office with dad and Lucas is not home. That would mean there is no one to pick Maya up from school except a driver when the boys have practice. Since none of us feel comfortable with her being home alone we hoped she would be okay with watching the practice of the boys and riding home with them. 

She seems okay with the proposition. 'That's a 'set in stone' hour right?' she types on her phone. "Yes, princesa, since it would be every week it will be a set in stone hour. Shall I put it on the planner?" She gives a nod. 

"Now let's find you a sport!" She looks up at me with a lot of enthousiasm in her eyes. "What kind do you like?" 
'Don't know, never played a sport before.' Never played a sport before? "Then what was your day planner like before?"

She takes a while to write it all down 'Wake up, make breakfast, go to school, come back home, clean the house, make dinner, go upstairs, sleep. Life was normal'. I swear to god if I ever see her step-father in real life I'm gonna kill him. She's a child, not a house maid. 

"Oh, princesa, that's not a normal life. Not for a child. I am so so sorry you never got to experience what it's like to be a child but you can catch up on it all now. You can be a normal teenager now. And talking about sports, would you like to try a team-sport or single?"

She puts up one finger. "Team-sport it is! I will look into every sport school has to offer and filter out the team-sports for you. Then we can look into joining them. Sound good, princesa?" She looks so happy when she gives me a nod, I can tell this has been really good for her. 

"It's almost dinner time, why don't you take the planner upstairs to your room and have some free time. Be down for dinner at 19.00, okay princesa?" She gives me a thumbs up followed by a small hug. I didn't see that one coming, she has only touched others without freezing when she was full on sobbing. 

Something about her life before still didn't sit right. 
Why does she flinch at sudden touches?
What did her step-father do to her?

A/N - and another one is out :)

I love Daniel, and Álvaro, and Hugo, and Maya, and Mateo, and Martín AGHH i love them all

Just like I love you <3