ZARIA

Chapter 8

Zaria

Zaria ran her fingers down the front of her new sweater, something she had been doing quite often since Christmas day, while she walked through the house in search of Ren, a small smile on her face as she thought about the man who had given it to her.

She had been doing that a lot lately, thinking about Kei, even though she tried not to. There was no point in getting her hopes up and fantasizing about a man so far out of her league that she could barely see him. But it was proving too hard. Kei was handsome and kind even if he sometimes appeared cold, and he was so good with Ren; his love for his son was so evident in his every action that she couldn't help but swoon whenever she saw them together.

She was crushing on the man and feared what would happen if the man in question found out about it. A tiny part of her, a hopeless romantic hidden deep inside of her, thought that perhaps Kei would be glad and return her feelings, but the rational part of her knew that it was just a dream.

Zaria sighed and shook her head as she entered the living room, her eyes falling on the boy sitting on the ground with a book in his lap. Though it was clear to her that Ren wasn't actually reading it. He stared at the pages with his eyes glazed, his mind obviously a million miles away.

"There you are," she said as she sat on the ground next to Ren. The boy barely reacted, sending the slightest smile she has ever seen her way, a frown between his brows as he did so.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit sad."

Ren set the book aside, interlocking his fingers in his lap while staring at the opposite wall as he nodded, looking more world-weary than a boy his age ever ought to be.

"You sure?" she asked, nudging his shoulder with her own as the boy so often did to her and frowning when there was no reaction. She was instantly worried to see the usually exuberant child looking so down, so she turned around to face him.

"You know you can tell me anything, kid. Right?"

Ren nodded, biting his lip as if debating whether to speak before finally looking up.

"Do you have a mom?" he asked, his voice so quiet that she had to strain herself to hear him. Her eyes widened slightly once her brain processed Ren's words, the question so unexpected that she wasn't sure how to react at first.

Zaria swallowed the lump that had immediately formed in her throat at the mention of her mother, her mind spinning with the memories of the emaciated, dark-haired woman that she used to call mother. She hadn't seen her in years, not that she wished to; she would be quite happy if she never saw a hair of her again. The wound caused by her and her father's betrayal was still deep and gaping, and she wasn't sure if it would ever heal.

"I... I do, but I haven't seen her in a long time. She... she left me when I was just a few years older than you." she said after a moment, unsure if she should say anything about her to Ren.

The boy was so innocent, unmarred by the horrors of the world, and she didn't want to dirty him with talk of the piece of trash that was Fatima Khalil. But she also wanted Ren to trust her; for that to happen, she needed to trust him, too.

Ren was exceedingly brilliant, and she was sure the kid would have seen right through her if she had dared to lie or evade the truth.

Ren's eyes snapped up at the words, wide and unblinking.

"She did?" he asked, surprise etched into every line of his cute face when she simply nodded. The boy bit his bottom lip, worrying it between his teeth as he thought about the newly acquired information.