Chapter 8

Mira felt like her world just stopped when she saw the caller's ID. There was no way she could answer in a room full of people. Immediately, she tugged Rani on her sleeve, indicating her sister to follow. She was thankful for Rani for not questioning why as they went into the elevator shaft.

She answered the phone with trembling fingers as Rani stood beside her without saying a word. Despite being shorter, her sister was still the oldest in the family and will always be here even when she was exiled by their own mother.

"H-hello," she squeaked, barely above a whisper. Her heart was already in her stomach when she heard someone else on the line that wasn't a match from the caller's ID. "Mira! Where are you? Do you want me to fetch you from somewhere?"

"N-no!" she managed to protest despite the persistency of the person on the other end. She felt Rani wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Despite being shorter, her sister's warmth was easing her from having a panicked mind. She stood up straight as she whispered, "I'm okay. Hanging out with friends and will be back."

"Oh, you don't like spending time with me? Your grandmother and I paid a lot to spend the whole summer with you," the voice asked in a hurtful tone. No amount of pitiful pleading was going to make her feel sorry for him. If anything, she was torn to stand her ground and tell him 'no' or risk getting interrogated by her mother about why she was disrespecting her grandfather.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly. Mira immediately squeezed Rani's hand in response to her final answer. "I-I have something on with m-my friends for assignments. S-sorry...I will explain tomorrow morning."

She wished she hadn't said that. As the call ended, indicating that her grandfather reluctantly allowed her on such a short notice, Mira turned towards her sister. Rani said nothing except bringing her into a hug. "It was him, wasn't it?"

Mira nodded, crossing both of her arms across her chest. Despite being kicked out the family, Rani still showed care and love for her. "Do you have a plan to tell him or Mama?" Mira glanced at her, giving her a 'so-so' gesture. All her life, she wanted her family to be happy from the school she enrolled in, the course was carefully selected for her and the life plan she will follow. She didn't think that it would involve her grandparents, who want to be with her throughout this journey.

One would ask, "What's wrong with that?" when she wanted to do this journey alone. Mira stayed silent because it was easier to bend the knee and to rear up and fight. So long as she could swim and do what she loves, the young woman doesn't have to put up a fight. But Rani's expression was grim. "Mira, you can't let our grandfather and Mama walk all over you. I know this is rich coming from someone like me, but it will be better. It doesn't have to be big but..."

Rani's trailed off sentence gave Mira a mix sense of doubt yet hope for herself. There's a chance that her grandfather might babble about it to her mother and father but she would worry about that later. Right now, she's worried about ruining the mood of her sister and the Good Guys' invitation.

There was a reason she hardly used her voice.

"You don't have to say anything, Mira," Rani told her gently. "Not everyone is ready to do some things so suddenly. From what Papa told me, he sent Ayu to live with his parents in Malaysia, right? Must be hard for both of them."

Mira merely nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. As much as she misses her baby sister, she knew that sending her away to live overseas with her other grandparents was for the best. Immediately, she felt Rani enclosing her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Mira. I don't know what else to say but I'm sorry. Hey, if anything happens, you can always sneak out and bunk in at our place. It's not much but it'll be safe. Wolf does that whenever Snake and him are back from a mission."

'Rani, thank you so much...' Mira had wanted to say but couldn't due to the tears that flowed down her cheeks. After a brief moment of silence, Rani stood up straight and gestured. "Come on, the guys are probably worried about us."

Wiping her tears quickly, she followed her sister back to where the Good Guys were. Mr. Wolf was the first to realised what was wrong. "Hey, the phone call was alright? Not a creep right?" Mira immediately shook her head and gestured between herself and Rani.

"Ooh, is this a charade?" Mr. Piranha asked excitedly from his seat. Before anyone could correct him, he began to bounce in his seat. "Lemme guess: family matters?"

"Winner winner, chicken dinner. I'll order some chicken tenders after this, Piranha."

Mira could not make eye contact with anyone despite their warm welcoming. Excusing herself from the gang, she immediately made her way out of the elevator before heading for the nearest bus stop. She couldn't stop herself from feeling her hammered heart beating wildly.

'I can't do this,' she thought to herself as her shaky fingers began to book an Uber driver to pick her up. But where will she go? Back to the 'home' where her mother and grandfather would lock her away for themselves or...

"Mira! Wait up!" a voiced called. She was surprised to not find one, but two members of the Good Guys racing after her: Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha. When they finally caught up with her, Mr. Shark was heaving from running while Mr. Piranha looked at her with concern. "You just took off like the wind, Chica. The both of us wondered if we had done something wrong."

Mira glanced away. How was she supposed to tell them that it wasn't their fault without uttering a single word? She knew Rani had accepted her silence and was patient to wait for her to speak when she was ready. She wanted to be friends with both of the fish but it was going to be difficult.

Without realising, she had begun to cry silently. All her life, she was trained not to cry in public because she would look ugly and people would be uncomfortable. Her mother was always particular about how her daughters act in public. The way she dressed, her food and show her off to her friends and elders.

"You know what I think?" Mr. Shark pipped up. Both Mr. Piranha and Mira stared at the great white, who had a big grin on his face. "Let's catch some waves for the night. It's quiet and there's less of a crowd at the beach."

Excited by the prospect, Mira smiled and nodded enthusiastically. She wanted to scream 'yes' but nothing came out of her mouth.

...

Mr. Piranha never felt so refresh after a swim in the sea. Although saltwater wasn't to his taste, he loved how cool it was to his smooth scales. He could tell that Mr. Shark was also enjoying himself with how much he was leaping out of the water to show off a few tricks.

"Are you trying to be a dolphin, amigo?"

"Don't ever compare me with those psychopaths," Mr. Shark scoffed as he made a splash. He wondered what the shark meant by that. Aren't dolphins suppose to be cute and save people from drowning. At least...

"Hey," the great white shark swam besides him. " Where's Mira?"

Now Mr. Piranha's blood ran cold. The three of them were swimming together and he forgot that Mira's quietness can cause a problem. In this case, letting them know where she was going! Cursing to himself, he dives down into the sea to find her.

However, his freshwater biology couldn't handle the pressures from the saltwater. His yellow eyes could make out Mira was struggling with something. Swimming as fast as a torpedo, he caught her in a mess with two dolphins.

The dolphins were...let's just say they were getting too close to her...

In fury, he began to bite on the dolphin's tail, causing the pair to snap their attention to him. He hoped this would buy time for Mira to get away. Now he realised why Mr. Shark had beef with these "cute" sea mammals. Plus, their tail tasted like rubber with high amount of salt!

Thankfully, he managed to show those dolphins who's boss as he swam up to the surface. He found Mr. Shark kneeling next to an unconscious Mira. He rushed to where they were, taking her hand to his fin. He was glad that there weren't any serious bruises caused by those psychotic flipper freaks.

A pulse; faint but it is still there.

"She's alive, Shark," said Piranha, feeling his heart calming down. Patting his friend on the knee, he quipped, "Now I know why you don't trust dolphins."

Seeing his friend's worried face, Piranha sighed. "Shark, it's not your fault. None of us knew that the dolphins would be swimming out this late at night. I mean, we enjoyed ourselves, right?"

But Mr. Shark growled, shaking his head. " No. If I wasn't so deep in the water, I would've sensed them. Maybe those people at the gala were wrong about me smelling blood miles away in the water. What if...Mira could die because of me! I almost killed her, and this is happening again!"

The great white began to cry as he held Mira in his arms. Mr. Piranha said nothing despite the questions that threatened to spill out of his mouth. Instead, he wrapped his small arm around Mr. Shark's back. He had never seen his best friend like this before.

Just then, a soft hand made contact to Mr. Piranha's face while the other stroke Mr. Shark's snout tenderly. In the moonlight, the freshwater fish had never felt something when he watched Mira's eyes fluttered open to gaze at them with those beautiful brown eyes. As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Piranha swore he could hear something through the breeze. What he heard was:

"...thank you..."

Sorry I'm late with my update. I had some personal issues and mental problems I need to handle

But yeah, there's a reason why the media always portray sharks as the bad guys when in reality, dolphins are the spawn of the Devil!