A book in which Sasuke Uchiha finds himself falling for a girl struggling with mental illness.
The Uchiha household invites their family friends over to their holiday home, and brooding Sasuke finds himself falling for a girl who is slowly losing h...
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part 03 —- photos and memories
The two families were sat around the round kitchen table, situated a few feet away from the spacious black and white kitchen. The house was dim, with only the light above their table lit, creating a cozy atmosphere.
Hana felt far from cozy. Her stomach remained in a tight knit as she tried to force down the oyakodon that Mikoto had managed to prepare in less than an hour, while everyone else unpacked their bags. She hadn't spoken to Sasuke and Itachi yet, and the energy in their presence made it difficult for her to do so.
The tension between the two boys had rubbed off on her, causing her own heart to stress despite not knowing them. If it weren't for her mom, Mikoto and Fugaku speaking with each other, the table would be completely silent.
Haru scoffed down the rice as if he had never been fed a decent meal before, and all three of them watched from the corner of their eyes. Hana opened her mouth to tell him off, when Sora suddenly mentioned her name.
"Hana went overseas to volunteer with the children at a remote village in Ghana," she spoke proudly. "She did it through a program, I can't quite remember the name of..." She looked up as she tried to remember the name.
Mikoto and Fugaku looked at her, surprised looks on their faces. "Is that so?" Fugaku said, a warm smile planted on his face.
Hana could feel heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment, now noticing Sasuke and Itachi were both looking at her. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat but remained smiling, "yes," she nodded, trying to hardest to avoid eye contact with the boys.
She accidentally allowed her eyes to stray too far to the right until she met Sasuke's mean ones. The heat grew even more and she quickly pried her eyes away in embarrassment.
"Hana's goal is to go to war-struck countries one day, when she's allowed to." Sora placed a hand on her daughter's back proudly, looking at her as if to say, 'isn't that right?'
However, her daughter remained silent, her eyes boring into the small lines detailed in the mahogany table. How could she explain that that wasn't the case anymore? That she had lost all her passions a long time ago, and if she couldn't help herself, how could she help the world? All this 'show and tell' that her mother had been doing was only making Hana feel more discomforted by the minute, and she mentally prayed that she would stop.
Sora's smile faltered and she pulled away, rubbing the back of her own neck nervously.
Hana sensed this and immediately felt bad for her mother. She lifted her gaze up again, landing on Mikoto's, and put on the most genuine smile she could muster. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for now.
"Yes, that is true. I'd love to visit, but currently there are no programs available for me to take."
She noticed the smile return to her mother's frail face. She reached down into her pocket to pull out her phone, and Hana internally groaned, knowing exactly what her mother was about to do.
