Poppy and Lotus [COMPLETE]

•❀Three❀•

CREAAAAK.

"Ayame."

I curl up under my blanket, wiping at my eyes as quickly as I could. I clear my scratchy, aching throat from crying for hours and try to speak to the intruder as firmly as I possibly can. Digging my nails into the bedsheets, I frown deeply.

"Get out of here, Daisuke."

"But, Ayame...I came to say---"

"I know!" I sit up, wrapping myself in the blankets from my bed and wince at the harshness of my bedroom light. I'd been under my blanket in the darkness for awhile now. Once my eyes start to adjust, they fall on my little brother standing in the doorway of my room messing with his thumbs. His eyes are downcast and his brows are furrowed into a nervous frown.

"If Dad made you come in here to apologize, don't bother!" I grab the nearest pillow and toss it in his direction, but I miss purposely. I just wanted him to get out. Whether he got hit or not didn't matter anymore because I was no longer enraged with him. Just an aching, annoyed feeling remained after hours away from the dinner table.

Daisuke shook his head of dark curls and a few strands fell in his big Hazel eyes. I immediately felt what was left of my anger melt away at the puppy dog look he gave me. It really sucked having a miniature boy version of you (down to the stubbornness) running around the house and pissing you off when you couldn't stay mad at them! Our family members always went on about how he and my sister Airi looked exactly like me. And they were hopelessly adorable. Not like I could call them ugly when we fought.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry." Daisuke walked cautiously over to my bed and unexpectedly gave me a hug. I was surprised for a moment, but I remembered he could be quite affectionate when he was being sincere. I hug him back briefly before pulling away to look into his eyes.

"What's the matter with you snapping at me at the table like that?" I take one of my arms from him to wipe at my face. Daisuke let out a long, frustrated sigh and started pacing my room. I couldn't help but smile.

"You've just been sulking around the house ever since your friends stopped hanging out with you. Then that thing happened when you joined tennis and you were like a whole other person! So I was like, If they treat you like this then they're not really your friends, right? So I was so mad cause I couldn't figure out why you were even sad over idiots like that!" When he finished his rant, he stopped to look at me, and I smiled bitterly.

"You....have a lot to learn about friendship."

"What happened when you came home from tennis a few months ago?" Daisuke plopped down like it was story time and stared up at me so expectantly that I hadn't the slightest inkling to kick him out and leave our conversation where it was. Shaking my head at his childish ways, I clear my throat and throw off my blanket to get ready.

"I'll tell you..." a sickening feeling begins to make my stomach churn. Before I know it, my entire body seems to have run cold. The images in my mind from the horrible memory I was going to relive through story telling placed me right back in the exact moment of time. Feeling the exact mixture of shame, betrayal, and shock.

"I'll tell you, but it might not be easy." I say with a small laugh, but unfortunately, it was the ultimate truth.