MOTHERS

“Okay. Then try to avoid me at school if you can.”

“At… school? What?”

“Oh, they didn’t tell you? I’m coming to the same school as you from Monday on. We are going to spend a lot of time together from now on, BROTHER.”

« Don’t ever call me like that! » Kris yelled at her but she had already left the room.

Kris let out a heavy sigh and fell in his bed exhausted. He couldn’t believe two days ago he was happier than ever. Then everything fell down in his world. Just because of HIM. Like if he was reading in his head, at the moment he was thinking about his father, his phone started ringing. He searched for it in his room and finally found it under his pillow. It was HIM, his father.

He threw his phone through the room and watched it bursting at the wall. He wished it would be his father bursting on the wall like that. He deserved it at all, after all he had done.

His breath became heavy and anger rose in him. Then he thought of his mother and remembered that she would want to call him. He sat on the floor to pick up the pieces from his phone in despair. He sat on the cold ground a long moment and finally to get up to go in the bathroom.

He couldn’t believe it was him reflecting in the bathroom’s mirror. His hair was a real mess, he had bags under his eyes and he smelled like he had drunk a whole bar alone.

“What if someone sees me like this now?” he said then watched himself in the mirror and smiled at his own awesomeness.

But he noticed a bruise on his cheek and all his memories came back to his mind.

Alcohol… kissing girls… meeting Sora…

Wait, Sora?

“What have I done?”

That day Sora woke up with the thought that she didn’t want to spend her journey thinking about yesterday. Like it’s said: “sleep on it”. And she thought a lot last night. She thought about Han Sora, the one she was before Kris decided that he would enter in her life. She was strong yet selfish. She wasn’t the kind to think about others because on what she had learnt from life, nobody will think about you before thinking about himself. How did she suddenly become the kind of girl she hates the most? The kind of girl which lives because of a man. She knew a lot about that, because this kind of girl, her world will always fall in pieces when the guy breaks her heart and sometimes you aren’t able to overcome the pain. She had grown up seeing the consequences of that kind of love on her mom.

Talking about her mom, every first Saturday of each month she had to visit her at the center where she was living for 3 years now. Sora’s mom knew very well how much her daughter hated seeing her like that. She knew the hatred Sora felt against her father for leaving her, the hatred she felt for her mother for becoming so weak after he had left. That’s why three years ago she had decided to live in that center rather than with her daughter.

Sora was familiar with the odor of these corridors. It was crowded with the most hypocritical nurses of the world. Indeed these girls were always smiling, like if they said “everything is okay” when it was obvious that they were just pitiful and relieved that they weren’t the ones sitting on wheelchairs and taking medicines as lunch.

“Omma.” She whispered when she entered her mom’s room and found her sitting in front of the window, looking outside.

Han JiHee had been a beautiful woman in her young days. Fair skinned with big eyes and silky dark and smooth hair. But it was all the past. She was skinny now, with wrinkles all over her face even if she was just 46 years old. Alcohol and pain made her like that. Sora usually was a strong girl, but even wonder woman has her weak moments. And she always becomes weak when she sees her mother like that; she always feel like dying.

“Hey Sora you came.”

“Why should I not come?”

She approached her mom and took her hand, kneeling in front of her.

“You seem like you have lost a lot of weight again. Please eat what the nurses give you.” She advised her mom.

“I will. Unlike me you look so bright. How have you been? Tell me everything that happened this month.”

As every time she visits her, they sat on the bed and Sora told her the story of a life that wasn’t hers. She always lies, telling that she lives well, has fun and meets friends when it’s totally false. She avoided telling her about the dance school. She wanted to share a mere moment of intimacy with her mom, far from the problems. Fortunately, her mom had that capacity to make her forget about even the worst things that would be happening in her life.

It was dark in the night and a little 4 years old boy was playing with his toy car to the back of a car while his parents were talking at the front. He was too innocent to understand that they were actually arguing. Before he could realize what was happening, the car violently braked. It was so sudden that he got projected in the front and bumped his head on the front seat. He only had time to hear his mom worry about him when another car came at high speed and collided with theirs. He heard his parents scream. In a few seconds their car got thrown several meters away. A few seconds which sound like an eternity for him. Once the car stopped, he could hear nothing but his heart beating in his chest. Instinctively he tried to move, but his left leg hurt him terribly. He called his mother then his father but they didn’t answer so he started to cry. He cried hard for minutes and no one answered. Finally when he heard a siren and when two men managed to free him from the damaged car his tears had dried. During an entire hour, he had cried and called for help. Perhaps he was young but he realized that something had changed and that nothing would be the same again.

Kris’ eyes widened as he was lying on his bed. His forehead was sweating and his heart was beating fast. It had been years since he last had this nightmare. It was always horrible for him. As if he was living that day once again. The worst day of his life.

He straightened as he heard the sound of a car outside. He put on a shirt and went down to meet with her mother. She entered the enormous house’s hall wearing bags. He went to her and helped her with the bags.

“Oh you’re here. I was worried yesterday after you left. I tried to call you the entire night and your phone was off.”

“I’m sorry. I needed… to run away from here.”

“Please don’t frighten me like that again huh? You’re the only one that’s left to me.” Her mom told him holding his cheeks with her both hands.

“I won’t do it again.”

Kris was known to have some confidence when he was talking but he was totally different with his mother. He was always talking to her like he was the most obedient child of the world.

“But why were you at work? Why do you keep going there? You don’t have to take care of his business anymore.”

She avoided his questions and asked “Have you eaten?” as she went to the kitchen with Kris following her steps. He didn’t insist and answered her question. It seemed like she didn’t want to talk about that.

“No. I slept all day.”

“What do you want me to cook for you?”

He placed the bags on the kitchen’s table and sat down.

“Don’t bother to cook for me I can do it by myself.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re able to burn water for tea.”

She had had a furtive smile on her lips when she said that and it reassured her. At least she was still able to smile.

“Since you’re insisting, I want fried rice.”

“Give me a few minutes.”

She had the back turned to him and was collecting ingredients for fried rice when Kris quietly said

“Don’t worry mom. We will survive with or without him. You still have me.”

His mother became motionless and didn’t turn but he could feel that she was crying silently.

______________________________

Nothing special happens here it's more like an update which gives you hints about Sora and Kris family's life. I hope you'll like it. It will help you understand the characters' personnality and story. Thank you again for your subscriptions and comments. It means a lot for me.