Never Good Enough

TW: Parental neglect and parental emotional abuse. Victim-blaming. Implied gaslighting.

Estella’s tail swished to and fro as she sat in the living room with her mothers. She was grateful that all five children had gone out to the mall with Bianca and her grandfather. The tension polluted the air and she didn’t want it to affect the kids.

“New haircut?” Trista, Estella’s mom, asked after she stared at her daughter for several minutes.

“Why yes, it is,” Estella forced a smile, “My ponytail had been entangled in a branch and I had been forced to cut it,”

“It looks ugly,”

“It’s not like I have a choice, Mom~,” the baker spoke in a forced sing-song voice.

“Well, I think it looks adorable,” Wilhelmina, Estella’s mother, stated as she gave a reassuring smile, “While I prefer it when you had long hair, it’s a nice change,”

“Thank you, Mother,” Estella finally managed to find her voice after her initial shock of the compliment.

“Ugh, you and your lying mouth again,” Trista groaned as she rubbed her forehead with her hand, “Always talking all sweet, despite feeling sour about something,”

“No, I’m not!” Wilhelmina protested, “I used to be like that, but I learn how to voice my actual opinion in a civil way without being rude…unlike you!”

“Ugh, again with the personal jabs and acting as if everything’s my fault,”

“Mom! Mother! Please, no fighting!” Estella warned, “We were supposed to have a nice, quiet visit today without any fighting. I know both of you have been estranged ever since Mom left when I was eight years old, but please behave,”

“Sorry, Sweetie,” Estella’s mother apologized sincerely, “I am trying my best,”

“Judging by how you act, it’s definitely not,” Estella’s mom mumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes.

“Oh, have I told you that I have successfully opened four new Sweet Upper Crusts since last year? The customers from each planet reacted quite positively and we’re making a decent profit. The other twelve Sweet Upper Crusts’ buildings will be ready to open within a couple months,”

“My, that’s pretty impressive!” Wilhelmina beamed as she clapped, “You are doing so well, Estella! I am proud of you!”

“Opal and Karen Lee are both younger than you, yet they are known galaxy-wide. Face it, Estella, it’s pathetic,” Trista clicked her tongue.

“Pathetic? Pathetic?” Estella’s face became dark blue as her eyes became bright pink. The energy rings around her wrists suddenly appeared and they glowed brightly, “How can it be pathetic when I actually started and succeeded with my first Sweet Upper Crust on my own, and without any fundings from my grandfather? I left my first Sweet Upper Crust in my best employees’ hands while I decided that Bianca, Lyra and I will go and move to Planet Nebula 54Z!”

The baker heaved as her anger boiled over, all the frustration and hurt over the years bubbled over.

“When I got the building for Sweet Upper Crust from a retired baker, I had to pay for the building with most of the money we made! I worked hard advertising Sweet Upper Crust! I made my own NebulaVee where I did baking videos and told viewers they could buy those treats at my bakery! My Nebula Sterlite is filled with photos of what we serve and telling people that they can visit Sweet Upper Crust! I advertised all over the Clustermesh to help Sweet Upper Crust grow!”

“It’s still not impressive. Karen Lee and Opal got their business running perfectly from day one! You’re just not good enough!” Trista shook her head.

“How dare you! Do you know why my younger sisters became successful? Grandfather gave them a large sum of money so that they can study further and start their own business. I didn’t have any of that! I became the pastry chef of the king and I had eventually gotten a bursary to allow me to study and become a pastry chef!”

“Funny, I heard that Father had given you a large amount of money to spend on business…” Trista glared before she took her slim, long sooth stick holder out of her purse.

“Grandfather had only given me the money a few months ago after Opal and Karen Lee told him about me. Apparently, he never knew I existed. Fancy that,”

“Of course he wouldn’t. I never tell him about my failures,” Trista smirked before she took a huff when she noticed the shocked expression on Estella’s face.

“Trista!” Wilhelmina gawked in horror, “You must apologize to her right now!”

“Why? I just told her the truth,”

“It’s okay, Mother,” Estella shrugged her shoulders, “Mom never made it a secret how much she dislikes me, especially when the both of you fought. She would always let me know that you two fought because the drama I caused due to the parents complaining I beat a bully up and the bully’s parents not believing their kid is one. Oh, and neither of you believed that I wasn’t a bully either. In fact, she told me on the day that she left that if she ever left us, it would be my fault,”

Trista stopped smoking for a moment when she felt how Wilhelmina glared at her.

“Mother isn’t blameless either,” the baker pointed out, “While I understand that she had to work a number of hard jobs in order to help us, I have been forced to become Karen Lee and Opal’s mother and I was forced to grow up before my time. Whenever I asked for help, Mother would act as if I am just some lazy brat,”

Estella’s eyes and the energy rings around her wrists and ankles glowed a brilliant pink.

“Anything I did was never good enough for either of you!” the baker screamed in frustration as tears streamed down her cheeks, “You never listened to my side of the story! Demand I do impossible tasks for my age and punish me if I failed. As soon as I turned eighteen, I moved out of the house so that I can get away from it all. It hurt me that Mom had the nerve to tell me that she never told me the reason why, when it’s so obvious!”

“I never wanted any cubs, but you decided to invade our lives,” Trista piped up.

“Oh, just shut up with your whining!” Estella snapped hotly,”I know you never planned for me to come into your lives, but why couldn’t you make the best out of the situation and stop moping about how my existence meant that Mother wouldn’t give you undivided attention. I don’t get why you don’t seem to mind the twins, though…”

“Look, I can and never will be a mom to you or the twins,” Trista admitted as she shook her head, “I couldn’t develop any maternal feelings for either of you,”

“I understand, but couldn’t you just try and like us like a friend, or something? You treated my children how a grandmother would…”

“That would be lying, and I hate lying,”

“Oh…”

The three belles became quiet again as they sat in the living room.

“I’ll get us some tea. I have your favourite brand,” Estella announced before she got up and headed toward the kitchen. After she was out of earshot, her mothers leaned closer as they whispered to one another.

“Wait, is she actually saying that she isn’t a bully, but a bully hunter?” Wilhelmina whispered.

“Sound like it,” Trista shrugged before she took another puff

“…Looks like we have some investigating to do and find out the truth,”

“What if she’s actually telling the truth and we had wrongfully punished her?”

“We’ll figure it out if we find out,”

The End