remember when I knew

CHEN AZALEA

"ARE YOU BEING serious right now?" Chen Azalea asked her mother, completely baffled.

Cherry grimaced and looked at her with soft eyes. "Sweetie..." She put a comforting hand on her shoulder (Azalea freed herself from the grip). "I wish I could stay, but... It's impossible."

"You were supposed to stay!" Azalea protested. "You were supposed to be with your daughter. For the first time in years."

"I wanted to. But I can't. I have to travel a lot for work and you know that."

Azalea hated Cherry. She was just a stranger providing her food, a home, money... But she still thought that maybe, just maybe, it could finally change. Apparently not.

"I'm doing this for you, Azalea. You are my daughter and I must make sure that you live correctly. I work for you. I care about you," Cherry added.

"Right," Azalea snorted. "All you ever cared about was my success at school."

"School is important! You are lucky to follow those classes, get a proper education. Some don't have that! I feed you. Some don't get that! You have a roof over you for when you sleep. Not everyone has this chance! I see children starving. I see children helping their parents and working instead of going to school and build their future. I see so many awful things and when I get home, all I can see is how lucky we are. How lucky you are."

This again. Azalea was never allowed to complain. Because she was lucky. Because some had it worse.

"I'm just annoyed," Azalea honestly replied. "I'm annoyed because I'm supposed to be some damn robot. I'm supposed to be perfect at everything. Spoiler alert, I'm not. I'm human. I have my weaknesses, I have my issues, my problems. So do others."

"Azalea, I-"

"No! None of this! You can't just tell me that you're sorry and you're trying! You can't tell me that you understand something  when clearly you don't! I'm not you daughter. And you aren't my mother. You are not my mother!"

She felt tears in her eyes and did her best to make them disappear. If there was something she didn't do, it was crying. Not wanting to see Cherry's face any longer, she ran away quickly, slamming the door behind her.

Why couldn't she have a normal mother, a normal relationship with her? Why couldn't she just be normal?

Panting, Azalea stopped running, resting against a wall. Her mind was fuzzy because of the exercise and she couldn't think clearly. One thing was sure: she couldn't stay there, outside, on her own.

Her first thought was Jai. Just his name brought a waterfall of feelings and thoughts she didn't need at the moment.

***

"Hi! I'm so happy to- Are you alright?" Chloe stared at Azalea with furrowed eyebrows in worry. Behind her, a younger boy looked at them curiously as he used his sister to hide shyly.

"No."

Chloe's eyes softened and she smiled sweetly. "Do you need to tell me what's wrong?"

Azalea looked away and felt her eyes water. She hated it. She hated crying, being weak. But it was useless and soon enough, tears were gliding down her cheeks. "No, I- I just need to punch something. Or someone."

The little boy's eyes widened and he quickly ran away. In less than five seconds, he'd completely disappeared.

"Aww. You can't just stand there," Chloe told her. She guided her friend to a small living room and they sat on the couch in silence.

"You can tell me anything," Chloe assured. "I'll listen."

Azalea had never opened up to someone before. Maybe a little with Jai. But she'd never had a friend she trusted enough to tell about Cherry. Somehow though, she felt like she could trust Chloe. There was just something that made her trustworthy after one glance.

And if she did betray her, she'd regret it.

So she told her about Cherry, about having to move from one town to another every year. She spilled it all out, staring at Chloe's T-Shirt that claimed that "after the rain comes the rainbow" with some childish drawings.

"I'm so sorry," Chloe said, looking honest. "It really sucks. Maybe you could talk about it with your mum, tough? She could try to find a less on-the-field kind of job?"

Right. As if.

"Do you know what I think we should do?" Chloe asked when she felt that her advice didn't really help. "Twister."

"Twister?" Azalea repeated blankly.

Chloe jumped on the floor and grinned. "Twister!"

"I am not playing Twister," Azalea countered.

Chloe pouted. "Awww. But it would make you feel better."

"I seriously doubt it."

There was no way she'd play Twister.

***

"Right foot on red!" Chloe announced.

Azalea looked around her and groaned. There was no way in hell she'd reach the red. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am!" The girl exclaimed as she tried to jump to the red without getting her feet off their spots. She landed heavily on her stomach and groaned. "I forgot I suck at it."

"No shit Sherlock," Azalea muttered, smiling a little.

"I just hoped that maybe, just maybe, it would work," Chloe explained. She then looked extremely proud for someone who'd just fallen like that.

"What?" Azalea asked.

Chloe shook her head. "Nothing. I just got you to smile! I'm so happy right now. I was like 'no sir, I'm getting her to smile' and you smiled! The best thing right now would be getting Reece to smile... But I'm afraid he just happens to be physically unable to smile..."

Azalea stopped listening as she rambled. She just felt happy to finally have a friend. A real one. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be?

"But I want to play again!" Chloe decided. "I am going to defeat you."

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