The near empty tub has settled itself nicely between her thighs, the warmth radiating from the petite girl has melted most of the remaining content, leaving the solution stagnant. All motions seemed to have ceased as the girl allows herself to maintain the solitude that has been echoing within the 4 walls for the past few days, a couple of days too many actually.

Mina sighs for the umpteenth time, it was finally the weekends, something she has been anticipating for the entire week, and yet here she was, fiddling with a metallic spoon that somehow managed to produce a disfigured reflection of herself, seemingly to be taunting her. And Mina hates it when she knows that her life was pretty much as disfigured as that reflection, and it’ll probably stay in that shape for a while.

…

It always starts with the parents Mina realised. The budding of the problem should have been sighted the moment Mina decided to introduce Momo to her parents Mina admits, but there was this tiny little hope (now completely faded) that existed in Mina’s heart, whereby her conservative family would accept her uality. The tight smile that the parents offered went unnoticed with an exception of Momo, but the pure existence of that smile was sufficient to calm down the palpating heart of Mina’s as she struggles to comprehends the possibility of her family accepting her, and most importantly, her girlfriend. The dinner went by fine, the usual pleasantry passed with an unofficial interrogation of Momo by Mina’s parents had the dinner run smoothly. But what Mina overlooked was also the occasional looks of contempt sent towards her girlfriend by her father.

And unfortunately, Momo didn’t.

…

So gradually from then on, Mina noticed the conscious effort Momo puts in to know what her parents liked and would shower them with those gifts, back then, Mina had thought that it was cute and adorable, but come to think about it now, it was a soundless desperate plea from Momo for them to accept her. Come to think about it, everything that had slipped through the notice of Mina seems so prominent now.

How the hell did she miss the disregard her parents had for Momo whenever they visited them?

How the hell did she miss the reluctance evidently displayed in every possible body language by Momo whenever she talked about visiting her parents?

Was she blinded by her own bubble where she thought rainbows and flowers were flourishing around the 3 most important people of her life? Probably.

Is she regretting it now? The supposedly cold substance she had fed herself was doing a very appalling job at numbing her god damn heart, and , Mina is regretting it now.

Mina feels her heart constrict a little as she looks at the now empty spot, previously a servant to a guitar, Momo’s guitar. And suddenly she thinks of all the time they sat at the edge of the couch, their special spot, cuddling as Momo attempts to teach her to play the 6-string instruments. Laughter will then follow when Mina fails miserably but still gets a peck on the cheek as a reward anyways. The serene smile that comes after will spread crimson over Mina’s cheek, and Mina will try to have that smile imprinted in her mind. But all that’s going to be ingrained in her mind will now be the parting smile given by Momo, the wistful, sorrowful eyes where the smile doesn’t reach, that’s the last final image that Mina will ever get.

And Mina hates this.

…

The original bud had quickly evolved in a hammer, wielded by Mina’s parents, the presents sent only acted as the catalyst for growth, since they are now aware of the power and control they had over Momo. And boy did they wield it well, striking the well-structured relationship. But these structures had limits too, and the blows began to form cracks on the near concrete structure, and it only became easier for her parents. But it was harder for the two of them, when Momo finally opened up on her insecurities she has towards Mina’s parents, they promised that they’ll work on it and figure a plausible way, together. And they tried, they really did, they waited until Momo was sufficiently brave enough to walk through the doors of her parents’ home before even playing with the idea of entering it. Come to think about it, why did they ever think of walking through it? Wouldn’t have it been easier if they didn’t altogether?

Now lying on her back, with the now forgotten empty container left on the coffee table, Mina think