The Void Between Hearts ~~ongoing~~

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   I don't know when a giggle escapes. "You're kidding right?" 

   She shrugs. "You're always on your laptop or your phone, and when I talk, you just don't seem interested."

   "Mom, I'm a teenager, we do that. It's not abnormal."

   She laughs. "So you ignore me intentionally?"

   "I didn't say that. But it's funny you feel that way, you're the one who's always blogging."

   "Still I listen to all your gist," she says.

   That's true, she listens to the stuff I tell her. Stuff like Quincy, I don't tell her. She doesn't want me getting involved with pesky life issues such as teenage romance. 

   "Okay, fine, your feelings are valid, but when next it looks like I'm doing my stuff, don't give up. Most times I'm not doing anything important."

   "I'll hold you up to that," she smiles.

   "When will you be travelling for the introduction? Do you even know who you're travelling to meet?" I ask her because I also don't know who she's going to meet. 

   "I'm not as alone as you like to believe. I still have uncles and numerous relatives in the village, and I know them," she says.

   I raise an eyebrow, they're not as flexible as Ivan's. "Really?"

   She laughs. "Maybe just a few of them." 

   "Like?"

   "Like, we'll find out when we get there," she says.

   I laugh. "We're so alone in this world. It's quite sad."

   "I know right? I don't think they even know my parents died, or that I survived the accident."

   "Must you even meet them? Can't you guys just do the white wedding, and scratch the traditional? As far as I know, neither of you have any roots in culture. So?"

   I put a spoonful of the oats in my mouth. It's now cold and gummy. Swallowing cold oats is like suicide, so I don't swallow. 

   "So, we want to do it right,"

   I snicker, "Yeah right." 

   She shakes her head. "We were supposed to go out today to put some things in place, but I don't know how it will go now you're not feeling well." 

   "Me–" I feel the oats run down my windpipe, my chest burns and my eyes flood.

   Shit! I struggle to drink some water; 

   "Boma you really should not talk when you have food in your mouth." She's wearing her concerned face again. 

   I clear my throat. "Mom, please, forget me. You guys should go on with the schedule as planned, for all I know, I'm probably even making these things up."

   She doesn't reply. She's taken it seriously; everything that concerns me except the things that really matter to me, like learning to drive and owning my debit card, she takes seriously. 

   "We'll still have to get whatever it is you're feeling, checked, then the wedding plans can resume, the wedding can wait; you could get worse. If you're making it up, we might as well be sure."

   Stopping myself from putting another spoon of the oats in my mouth, I mumble, "the wedding has waited enough."

   "EAT!" she claps in my face.

   I fidget and the oats land on my nose and in my eyes. She walks away laughing. I'm laughing too.

   "Make sure you drink that whole cup of water." 

   "Sure!"

   Once she's out of sight, I gulp down the water, take the barely touched bowl of oats to the kitchen, wash it down the sink, wash my face, clean the dish, and run back to my room to listen to Billie Eilish's album. I'll take any excuse to keep my mind off the hospital.

~♡ Tamunosakiogaree ♡~