Unexpected

It was Hexa’s eighteenth birthday. The day was special for multiple reasons. It was the day she entered adulthood but it was also the day she got to travel to the town center to find out who her soulmate was. She wasn’t exactly sure about how it worked but the technology had been implemented into everyday life for decades, it was just an everyday thing at this point. She had looked forward to this day since she had found out about it. It was every little girl’s dream to find their one true love, Hexa was no exception of that.

It was a rather cheerful morning. The sun was bright, the birds were singing, and there wasn’t a single sign of a cloud for miles. The day was going to be perfect, Hexa knew that much. She stood tall, well tall for a girl that was 5 foot four, in front of her full length mirror. She was wearing her usual reflective rainbow Dr. Marten’s, she kept those suckers cleaner than anything else she owned. Along with her shoes, she was wearing heavily ripped and frayed black skinny jeans, fishnets peeking out from underneath every rip. Moving up, she decided to match her ripped skinnies and fishnets with a cropped checkered crewneck, roses decorating the sleeves. She had this look planned since she had received the crewneck in the mail by a brand that was looking to set her as an ambassador. It was one of her favorite pieces in her wardrobe at the moment.

Hexa took her time as she took photo after photo of herself, and her outfit, in the mirror. She constantly changed poses, looking for that perfect one. After a whole thirty minutes of dancing around in front of her mirror, Hexa had finally gotten the one picture she absolutely adored. Her long, curly black hair danced around her shoulders perfectly and every part of her outfit was perfectly shown off. She couldn’t have planned it better if she could. She hurriedly exited out of the photos app on her smartphone and quickly opened up her social media. It was a daily thing that she post her outfit of the day to social media, her followers loved her sense of fashion. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have been following her in the first place. She hit the ‘Create Post’ button with her thumb and the quickly picked out the photo she liked from the dozens she had taken already that morning. “Happy 18th to your girl. Big day today. Love you guyssss! <3 #OOTD” She captioned her post before sharing it to her 6.5 thousand followers. It didn’t take long for the birthday wishes and likes to pour in. Knowing she had that many people who cared about her birthday was heartwarming, she couldn’t help to smile widely.

With her big smile and bright eyes, she swung her bedroom door open and walked down the hall, through the living room, to the kitchen where her mother was working hard on breakfast. Her mother took her birthday seriously and always tried to give Hexa the best birthday’s she possibly could. Hexa thinks that her mother always tries to outdo the previous year and she certainly does. Though, she wishes that her mother would not tire herself out for her. She already does so much for Hexa and while they do live comfortably, there was no way Hexa wanted all of this money spent on her. She’d rather it go to something her parent’s needed or to fund something nice for her parent’s. Being the only child, Hexa’s parents spent their time making sure that Hexa had everything she needed and wanted, which is why she rarely told her parents what she wanted nowadays. As a child, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell her parents when she wanted something but as she grew older and saw the way her parents struggled with working long hours or just not paying one of the bills on time, she held off. She didn’t need new things anyways, she was perfectly happy with all of the things she had now.

“Hey mom, whatcha makin’?” Hexa asked, giving her mother a quick squeeze and peck on the cheek before standing beside her mother to watch. She absolutely adored watching her mother cook. It was a skill she admired and hoped one day she would acquire. With her current skill though, her best option was to stay far, far away from the kitchen.

“Just your favorite. Over Easy eggs, bacon, sausage, mini pancakes topped with strawberry cream cheese and powdered sugar, and hot cocoa.” Her mother replied, still completely focused on the meal she was making.

“You’re the best mama, you know that right? Don’t overwork yourself for me though, it’s just another chapter in the book we call life.”

Her mother stopped herself right there, wiping her hands on the perfectly white apron she was wearing that had her name stitched into it. “Now, it is not just a normal day my dear. You don’t get to celebrate your eighteenth birthday everyday.” She huffed before turning her attention back to flipping the bacon. Hexa had known that her mother would go off on a tangent of the sorts the moment those words came out of her mouth. Her mother was a perfectionist and always had to celebrate every little accomplishment Hexa had achieved because they only happened once in your life. Hexa shook her head at her mom.

“Where’s dad? He’s going to be here to celebrate, right? I mean, you made enough food to feed an army.”

“You’re father had to leave earlier this morning for an emergency meeting in some other country. He won’t be back for at least a week. I guess something pretty big happened.” Her mother replied, a hint of sadness could be heard in her voice. Hexa agreed with it. It was sad that a father couldn’t even be with his child for their big day. It would be the fifth birthday that he’ll have missed in a row. He was rarely around for the majority of the time due to his job but both Hexa and her mother knew that is was mandatory in order to have a stable income. His job did pay for the majority of the bills so they learned not to complain. Besides, he always made it up in someway when he got back from wherever he had traveled to. It was still a bummer that Hexa couldn’t have her father there though, the disappointment never faded or got easier to handle.

It didn’t take Hexa’s mom much longer to complete the delicious and humongous breakfast she had made. Even though it was so much, the White family would make sure that it didn’t to go waste. Hexa’s best friend Sam would surely be over later in the day to eat a good amount of the food. Hexa grabbed a couple plates from the cupboard right above the dishwasher, one for her mother and one for herself. Her mother was busy showcasing the food on platters which would be moved to the table after Hexa had set it. Hexa placed the plates in their normal seating spots and moved her way back into the kitchen to grab silverware and serving utensils. She then grabbed two glasses and filled them with her mother’s freshly made hot cocoa, topping them both with whipped cream, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips. She moved the cups to their places on the table and helped her mother carry the platters to the table. Their table was made of cherry oak and was rather large for their family size, but it came in handy when they had family or friends come over for dinner or something. The fact that only two people where sat at it made it seem that much larger.

Picking up a spatula, Hexa began loading her plate with mini pancakes, sausage, and eggs. She’d go back in for bacon when she finished her sausage, if she had the room. She was sure glad that she had taken her outfit of the day photo before eating because there was no way she wasn’t leaving this table with a food baby.

“Thank you for making my birthday breakfast perfect as always, mama.” Hexa said, giving her mother a appreciative smile. Her mother just chuckled at her.

“Anything for you, my lovely daughter.” Her mother replied before taking a sip of her cocoa. Hexa could swear that in another life, her mother was a renowned world famous chef, having a bunch of successful chain restaurants while making millions off of them all. Maybe that would be her gift to her mother one day, in thanks for all of the hard work that was put into raising Hexa.

After breakfast was cleaned up and put away, Hexa made her way back to her bedroom to tidy herself up. It wouldn’t be long until Hexa and her mother took the forty-five minute drive to the town building to find out who her soulmate was. All she had to do was wait for Sam to show up. To pass the time, she put on some of her favorite music at the time through the bluetooth speaker she had gotten not long ago from a sponsorship through social media. It was in the shape of a ghost and changed colors with the pace of the song. It was definitely one of the things she used daily from any of her sponsorships, besides for some clothing items. It was time for a full on jam session. Hexa didn’t have the coordination to be completely good at dancing, but that didn’t mean she didn’t shake her body around and have a fun time doing so. Despite what her looks and clothes say, Hexa actually enjoyed all kinds of music. Her favorite jam session music was club-type rap or hip-hop. Anything that could make her get up and dance. So much for Hexa tidying herself up.

Hexa danced and sang her heart out to her music for what seemed like hours but in reality, it was forty five minutes max of extensive dancing. She was sure that the breakfast this morning was well beyond worked off with how hard she was going. Taking a break, she turned her music down and flopped on her bed, breathing heavy. She closed her eyes and in no time, she drifted into a light sleep. She was quickly jolted awake from her nap but a soft knocking on her door frame. It was her mother and she was holding two seperate gifts in her arms. The first one was a larger box, with who knows what in it. The second one was way smaller and most likely jewelry.

“These are for you, my dear.” Her mother said as she moved into Hexa’s room and sat on the bed beside her. She handed Hexa the smaller gift first with a smile on her face. Hexa took no time to unwrap the gift and open the box. Inside was a diamond necklace with matching earrings. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She had been eyeballing this exact earring and necklace set for months.

“I-What? How?” She said, the absolute surprise radiating off of her. “How did you know I even wanted these?”

“Your father and I saw you looking at them every time you walked past the jeweler. So we saved up just enough to get it for you in time of this day. I just wish your father was here to see the look on your face right now. He knew you’d be surprised.” She said with a smile.

“But mom, you guys didn’t have to get me this. There’s loads of cheaper stuff that you could of gotten me.”

“Oh hush, Hexa. You know your father and I don’t mind spending extra on you. Our finances are fine, you don’t need to worry.” She said with a smile. Tears started gathering in Hexa’s eyes.

“Thank you so much mama. I love you.” Hexa stated before pulling her mother in for the biggest hug she could possibly give. Her mom quickly responded by putting her arms around Hexa and squeezing slightly.

“Anything for you.” She responded, giving Hexa’s back a soft rub. “Now check the other one.” She added in an excited tone. Hexa closed up the box with the necklace and earrings and carefully set it on her nightstand. She rubbed her eyes before unwrapping the next gift. She got serious shoe box vibes from this box. Maybe she got another pair of her favorite Dr. Martens? When Hexa finished ripping all of the wrapping paper off, a shoe box was indeed revealed. Though, it wasn’t from Dr. Martens. Instead, it was from what Hexa assumed to be a more designer brand. She opened the box slowly and moved the tissue paper out of the way. In doing so, a pair of elegant studded heels were revealed. Hexa was not the type to just casually own heels. She much prefered combat boots or slip-on skate shoes, but these heels were making her feel some sort of way. Her heart was fluttering at the sight of them.

“How did you afford these?” Hexa asked her mother, not taking her eyes off of them.

“We didn’t. These aren’t from your father and I.” She replied.

That was weird. She hadn’t seen anything about sponsoring a brand of heels in her email. Nobody that Hexa knew would be willing to buy designer anything, let alone heels for a girl whose primary footwear was a pair of boots that she treated like rare pieces of china. Hexa was thrown out of her thoughts when her phone started going off like crazy. She quickly shuffled to get it out of her jeans pocket before looking at the notifications. Her social media account had suddenly blown up. She went from have 6.5 thousand followers, to 7 thousand followers in a matter of minutes. But how? She furrowed her brows and scanned through her list of new followers.

“What the heck?!”