"Hillary Smith!" She rolled her eyes and stopped by the door as soon as she heard her mom's hysterical voice calling out her name.

She took a deep breath, plastered her usual demure smile on her face before she turned around to face her mom.

"Yes, mom?"

"Why didn't you told me that you were home?!" Hillary kept her mouth in a tight smile before she walked over to her mom and clung her arms with hers.

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm so busy with work lately, I just dropped by to get some documents." She reasoned out and acted like she was in a hurry.

Her sister should make this up to her! She was only instructed to get some documents for her sister's late mother, bumping into her mother was never a part of the plan!

"That's why I'm telling you to hit it with the guys I'm setting you up with!" Hillary silently sighed after her mother opened this argument once again.

"You don't want to handle your Dad's company! You'll soon see, Maeve will have it all for herself! What would be left of you now that you also don't want to marry anyone from the men I've been introducing to you? What do you want to do with your life?!" She exasperatedly took her arms away from her mother as her face went grim with the mention of her sister.

"Mommy, Maeve studied to handle the business, my field is so far away from that. And the men you've been setting me up with, if they're not jerks, they were men half of my age!" She defended.

Maeve's the most precious person in her life. Her sister was the only one who can see through her. Although she's cold, Hillary can feel that her sister truly cared for her.

She was the only one who supported her dreams.

She was the only one who was there to help her carry the pressure her parents had put on her.

She won't let anyone talk ill of her sister. Not even her own mother.

"But they have good backgrounds!"

"The hell with those backgrounds, mom! I will never be able to bring myself to sleep beside a man, old enough to be my father!" Hillary felt the stinging pain on her left cheek as soon as her mother's palm left her face.

"You ungrateful brat! Why can't you see that I'm just securing your future?!"

"I don't need it. I can secure my own future--"

"Shut up, Hillary. Don't talk big, is this what you learned from your bitchy sister?"

"Mom! Stop dragging Maeve in this mess!" She shouted, forgetting all those elegant and feminine etiquettes her mother had her trained since she was young.

"Look at you! So disrespectful!" Aria Smith looked at her daughter with incredulous eyes.

"I'm out of here," Hillary said as she left their house. She tried to calm her nerves while she waited for a cab.

She sighed when minutes had passed and there's still no sign of cabs entering the subdivision. She decided to just walk until she reached the main road just outside their subdivision.

"No! No! Where are you taking me?! Daddy! Yaya! Stop it! Help!" Hillary's attention was suddenly caught when she heard muffled screams and words of a little girl.

She's a kindergarten teacher. Of course, she can recognize a child's voice.

She followed the sound and was shocked to see three huge men pushing a struggling young girl inside a black SUV.

"What are you doing with a child?!" She shouted, catching the attention of the men.

The trio was startled when they heard a feminine voice behind them. When they turned around they saw a pretty woman, dressed nicely in a chiffon gray dress. She looked harmless but they were ordered not to leave any witnesses. So the leader signaled one of the men to deal with this pretty but nosy woman.

"Help!" The little girl screams continued as she keeps on struggling against the hold of the other two men.

"Let the child go, assholes!" Hillary said as she held on tightly to the strap of her shoulder bag as one of the guys tried to approach her.

The guy licked his bottom lick in a way that disgusted Hillary. He looked at her like she was some type of a delicious meal served before him.

But before he can even lay a finger on her, his comrades turned around to the bumper of their SUV where a banging sound was heard.

Their eyes widened and their jaws were left hanging when they saw the guy unconsciously lying on the dirt, a large dent similar to his size was seen too.

"What the---" one of the guys felt a sudden attack on his left ribcage as Hillary surprised him with a kick when he tried to check his friend.

"Stay away!" The larger guy, whom Hillary viewed as some sort of their leader threatened her as he positioned a knife by the child's neck.

"Don't you dare! I won't think twice to have this knife cut through her throat!" Hillary halted as she watched the guy threatened her with the child's safety.

She sighed and slouched a bit to meet the little girl's eyes. The child looks two to three years old and obviously came from a well-off family. But what fascinated her was that the child wasn't crying.

Her eyes were brimming with tears but she's not crying.

Hillary showed the smile she always used to capture the hearts of her toddler students.

"Hello, baby girl, what's your name?" She asked, not minding the guy who was still holding the knife by the child's throat.

"Dove," Hillary smiled wider as she softens her tone once more.

"Alright, Dove. This would be quick. Just closed your eyes and took a deep breath okay?" The little girl stared at her face for a while before finally nodding.

Dove closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when the guy took a quick glance at the child, Hillary used that opportunity to expertly took the knife away from his hand and he just found himself being pinned on the ground.

Hillary called the police to take care of the three a-holes as she brought Dove to the hospital.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly as she gently caressed Dove's soft jet-black hair.

Dove was hugging her tightly and refuses to let go of her even when the doctors and nurses asked her to do so.

"Dove?" She called out but the child didn't answer, she just felt her small arms around her tightened.

Her heart aches for this tiny little girl. How can people even think of harming this cute little human?

"What's your name?" Hillary smiled when she finally heard Dove spoke once again. She was starting to think that the kid got extreme trauma from what happened earlier, it was a relief that it doesn't look like it.

"My name's Hillary," she said as she continued to caress Dove's long hair.

"Then, Hillary?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you be my Mommy?" Hillary froze after hearing the child's question.

What the hell?!