𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 • jung sungchan

➜﹒⪩﹔005﹒☆﹒

"Kochiyo," a small shake caused the poor girl to stir but not awaken. "Kochiyo." The voice, a little louder now, seemed closer - the shaking more violent. After the third call of her name / shake, she cracked open her eyes to see her father towering over her.

Kochiyo's eyes quickly glanced over to the large clock on the wall: half one in the morning. Still fully dressed, her father seemed like he had only just walked in, his fingertips still carrying small hints of chill that seeped into her skin from where he had his hand softly laid on her arm. Seeing him stood there, his eyebrows knitted together as he looked her up and down, Kochiyo couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.

"Do you need the couch?" she asked bluntly, getting her arms ready to sit up and slide up the stairs. "I must've drifted off."

"No, no." he lightly chuckled, a small hint of hurt in his voice at his daughters initial reaction. He couldn't blame her for the last few months. It'd been a pretty consistent pattern with him and her mother. Usually, one ended up on the couch. "I heard your mother ranting to Grandma about your ankle - I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Now slightly more awake, Kochiyo nodded, sitting up and moving back so that her dad had a bit of space on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine - I just landed funny towards the end. It was fine till I got home, I don't think walking on it helped at all." She let out a small chuckle.

"I fed Fuwa for you. I know you love feeding him, but I didn't want to wake you, and he was getting hungry." he nodded, sighing as he looked down at her ankle. "The ice pack got warm too, so I replaced it just before I woke you up. There's no swelling, but if I were you, I'd take it easy for the next few days."

"If I could, I would," Kochiyo sighed, raking her hair back. "But I've got a big recital, and mum went crazy when she heard I'd hurt my ankle. She thinks it'll -"

"Your mum thinks a lot of things. I'll talk to Madam Kang."

"No, no, it's okay," She panicked, shaking her head. "If there's no swelling, I'll be fine in the morning. Promise."

Shaking his head, Kochiyo's dad simply placed his hand on his daughter's head, scanning her face. He knew that she was only doing what she thought was best for herself and to keep her mother happy, and it broke his heart. Ever since she was little, it had been the same;

All Kochiyo had ever wanted from her parents was their approval: mostly from her mother. She was a people pleaser, a trait that ran straight through both sides of the family. Seeing how Shotaro avoided it, she got it two times worse. Her mother was someone she had always looked up to, adored, from when she was younger to now. Ui, their mother, was a strong young woman - a former ballerina herself (of course she never got far, as she now works a dead end office job) - and Kochiyo set her on a high pedestal, it was just a shame her mum put Kochiyo on one ten times too high. It affected every aspect of Kochiyo's life, how hard she worked for school, how long she practiced her ballet, both at the cost of her own physical and mental health - all she wanted was her mother to be proud of her.