THAT HOLE IN HER HEART | KURAPIKA ❀

iii. happy birthday

THREE

A ring at the door, caught my attention. Placing the spatula back onto the table, I wiped my hands on the apron tied around my body before opening the door.

"We're here for Rowan!" Leorio cheered. Gon and Killua stood behind him.

Footsteps coming behind me made me step out of the doorway so Rowan could see them.

"UNCLE LEORIO!" She cheered, throwing her arms around the tall man.

"We're here too, y'know!" Killua complained, stepping into the house.

"And uncle Killua and uncle Gon." Rowan laughed, hugging the two.

"So you're really turning fifteen?" Killua rhetorically asked. "God, I remember when I had to babysit you. Time really does fly."

"Happy birthday, Rowan. I'm so so happy for you!" Gon was on the verge of tears.

"Dude, don't cry in front of the kid." Killua mutters, nudging Gon with his elbow.

"(Name), where can we put the presents?" Leorio asked, holding up all the gifts for me to see. Leorio was holding at least five and Gon and Killua each had a couple gifts in their hands.

"Just in the living room is fine. I just finished dinner, so we can go ahead and eat if you're hungry."

"Oh, you did? Thank god I'm starving!" Killua sighs. Rowan giggles quietly to herself. She's always found Killua's insanely childish behavior hilarious.

Once everyone was seated, everyone began to quickly dig into the food.

"Ive missed your cooking so much, (Name)." Gon sniffles. He seems very emotional today. "Your so amazing at this!"

"Thank you, Gon. I'm glad you like it."

Leorio and Killua nodded in agreement, bringing a smile to my face.

I feel like these boys feel in debt to me, like they just have to pay me back because they're Kurapika's friend and Kurapika ended up being my husband. It feels like they think they have to be here for me just because he's gone. I don't think I knew them as well as Kurapika did. Throughout our childhood, I just remember myself chasing after Kurapika. I feel I should have spent more time really getting to know these guys. But what do I know? Maybe I really do mean this much to them.

I hope that Rowan can also mean something to them. She's really such a sweet girl and I hope that they can see more to her than just her being 'Kurapika's kid'. Because she is. Me and Kurapika literally made a whole other human. And I hope that's how they see her.

"You'll be driving in a year." Leorio said, glancing up to Rowan. "Maybe I can teach you."

"Absolutely not!" I chuckle.

"Come on! I'm a great teacher, (Name)!" Leorio pouts.

"I'm pretty good." Killua says, stabbing some of his food with the fork.

"No, you definitely won't be doing that Killua." Killua has gotten in a total of seven car crashes in the last month. He claims that he just experienced 'really bad road rage'. I don't think I need someone with such awful road rage that they always end up in a crash teaching my daughter to drive. Leorio, on the other hand, isn't such a terrible driver that he gets in crashes, he just gets distracted very easily. I don't want my daughter to pick up on his tendency to text while driving. The best candidate to teach Rowan to drive is Gon, but he's getting tickets for driving too slow. Wait, no. Maybe that's nothing to really complain about.

"Mom actually said I'm going to a drivers school for the insurance. Thanks for the invitation, though."

I took up all the plates after everyone was done. I just sat them in the sink so I could watch Rowan open all her gifts. After taking my seat, I was able to count that she received a total of seventeen gifts just between the three of them. It felt selfish of me to invite them over just so they can shower us with gifts. And all I give them is a sad excuse of a meal? They definitely feel obligated to come here and celebrate with us. We're just 'Kurapika's partner' and 'Kurapika's daughter' to them. And it makes sense. Why would we be anymore to them than just that?

"Leorio! How'd you know I wanted this?" Rowan smiled, pulling Leorio into a tight hug.

"I heard you talking about someone at school having one of these and how jealous you were."

"Thank you so much! I love it!"

She continued, opening all seventeen presents. They all ended up getting things for her that she loved. As time progressed, everyone started to loosen up and just let whatever came to mind leave their mouths.

"So, Rowan," Leorio starts. "Any boys you interested in in your school? Because if so, I can help you out!" Leorio says, wiggling his eyebrows.

Rowan's eyes and face each turn a dark shade of red.

"Ohhhh!" Killua laughs.

"No, there's not!" Rowan says, attempting to defend herself.

"Come on, obviously there's someone." Leorio laughs at her horrible attempt to cover herself.

"Okay fine!" She exclaims. "Maybe there is someone. Well, okay, there's this girl."

"Oh?" Leorio questioned. "Didn't know you liked girls."

I hadn't either. I never usually asked Rowan about any crushes she had. I thought I would make her uncomfortable by asking. I decided I'd just let some things like that stay private with her. Part of me wishes she told me though. Does she not think that I love her? I'm glad that she's out here finding someone she likes. I don't care what they identify as, I only care for her to be happy. Does my own daughter not trust me?

"Yeah, she's really cute. I don't know how to really talk to her, though. It's really scary."

"I know how you feel, Ro. The ladies can be very hard to impress." Leorio nods. "All you have to do is say something like super sexy and then they'll be all over you."

"Yeah, I don't think so, Leorio." I chime in. "Rowan, just be yourself around her. It's best if you just build a relationship off of a friend ship, so take things slow. Hopefully, she likes you back, but if not, you'll just have to move on."

"Yeah, thanks."

I did something useful today. I gave my daughter some advice. On her fifteenth birthday. It could be possible that I haven't quite failed yet.

WORD COUNT : 1076 words . . .