RETROUVAILLE

S1 C10: Mahsa

"You know, I haven't been in your house for so long. So many things have changed." Soleil says, walking into the humble abode. The picture frames catch her interest, all of them just having pictures of Mahsa's parents, Mr and Mrs. Sachdeva.

Mahsa closes the door behind them, putting her shoes in the designated racket. She looks at the same pictures, a bittersweet smile on her face. "My siblings have moved out a looooong time ago, since then, my parents replaced the pictures with.. yeah."

Soleil continues walking at a slow pace, you could say that she was taking a stroll if she was outside. "That's a bit.. sad. Anisha and Dev, right?" She asks quietly. Mahsa sighs. "Yup, since then, no one's really home anymore when I am. My parents are always at work, they gotta work hard for the house, you know?"

"But.. there's no point in working hard for it if they don't even stay here most of their time, right?"

The lights were always turned off in the house, almost like no one's home. If you were here, you'd have to rely solely on the light from the window to see. But it's not eerie in any way, it's actually pretty warm and cozy here. Like a classic American house, except she wasn't exactly American. Mahsa walks up the staircase that leads to her room, and Soleil follows her. Walking through a hallway once again, the girl who was unfamiliar with the surroundings noticed that there once again were paintings, but now there was a warm light illuminating them.

Pictures of her and her siblings, the only ones in her house. They were displayed here, upstairs which was away from visitors. The majority of them are not even showing the present Mahsa, just pictures of her when she was still a kid, however, her siblings were around her age now.

They haven't visited her in a while, and sometimes, Mahsa hates being the youngest out of the three of them because of that. Don't get her wrong, she really does love her family. They get along, make fun of each other, and basically are the reason why she's here right now. But whenever it's something serious, it's like she isn't there. Whatever she says at a family heart to heart talk would be guaranteed to be ignored. And that got worse once her siblings moved out for college, it would just be her and her parents.

Growing up, she would always beg them to hangout with her, do stuff with her, but they'd always have the same excuse. They were "too busy." No wonder why Mahsa had to surround herself with people her age, get good at initiating and keeping conversations, and just had to make lots of friends. It was because she didn't receive much of it at home. She can't really blame her siblings and parents, they didn't do anything 'physical' or 'mentally' bad to her, so she doesn't have the right to complain about how they're "not giving her attention".

But, it still affects her.

Gosh there she goes again, only thinking about herself-

"Are you gonna go inside or.." Soleil says after a long dramatic silence, at least that's for her perspective. Mahsa's mind was never silent, the extrovert she is.

They walk into her room, and they're greeted by the legitimate album cover that she calls her room. There were fake hanging vines all over her walls, a notable amount of posters above her bed which was positioned right beside her window. Her desk was littered with make-up products, she probably got up late for classes.

Mahsa turns on this moon-like lamp on the ceiling instead of her regular lights which illuminates the room, casting a night glow all around. She also had glow and the dark stickers which were shaped like stars on her ceiling, she clearly put a lot of effort into her room. She's in here most of the time, so why not?

Soleil pauses, realizing something. "I didn't bring clothes with me." She mutters sheepishly.

Mahsa stands there for a bit, but then sets her bag down by the door and rushes to her closet. It was decorated with drawings, it looks like whoever drew them used crayons and went for a child-like style. "..I have extras, you can just wear my clothes for the night!" She says, already opening her closet and pulling out a jacket with shorts.