TOGETHER (completed)

𝕀𝕀 𝔾𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ - 𝑈𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 (5)

I wake up in the morning and it's raining. This time, I cannot forget to bring my umbrella, or else I feel bad if I see Ian. He's way too nice. I head downstairs for breakfast but I don't see Aaron at all. I wonder why or is he skipping breakfast, but why am I concerned about this?

"Sweetie, sit down," my mom says.
"I will be getting my first payment today, I'm so excited," I say as I have a bite of the scrambled eggs.
"I'm so proud, money that you earn from your effort makes it even more meaningful," my mom smiles at me.
"Ava, where's Aaron? His dish is gonna get cold."
"It's today," Aunt Ava looks at my mom.
"Today? What's today?" after a short pause, "OH! It's raining! Poor Aaron..." my mom gasped.
"What about rain?" I curiously ask.
"Luna, Aaron will not come out when it rains. He just can't." Aunt Ava explains.
"He can't? Why?"
"Marvin, my husband, was murdered in Aaron's room."
I put my fork down, "Aaron's...dad? His room?"
Aunt Ava continues, "it was a rainy night when it happened, Aaron witnessed it in front of his eyes."
"Is that why he doesn't come out? Because it's a bad memory?"I look upstairs.
"Luna, when it rains...Aaron locks himself in there and suffers. The pain that can't be forgotten, he's going through it right now as we are talking," my mom gives a pitiful look.
"Isn't it traumatizing when he's in that room? How did he stay there?" I look concerned.
"Yes, it's traumatizing for him. But, it's the only place where he can be alone. He feels sorry for his dad and at the same time, he blames himself," my mom added.
"Mom, is there a way to fix this?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Is there a way for him to overcome this?" I ask.
"Only he can decide it." My mom nods slowly as she says it.

Aaron is going through pain. Right now, even though he doesn't say it, we can tell that he's not okay. He tells me to improve if we are not okay, so is he improving? I'm wondering. I walk upstairs and look at his door. There's no sound or anything, I can tell that he's going to keep quiet until the rain stops or he's crying silently. Crying silently is the worst feeling a person can ever have, it pricks through your heart. I look at the bottom of the door, there's no light or anything, I can tell that he's sitting there in the dark looking down. I want to help, but he wants to be alone. Somehow, I also feel sad.
I go into my room to get my bag so I can head to the bakery store. On my table, there's a lot of cards, I'm wondering if I can write something to him and toss it in through the door. I sit down and take a card.

(Tᕼᗴ ᑕᗩᖇᗪ)

☽ Aaron, the rain must be pretty ugly right? To the point where you wanna go to the above and complain. Would the world be a little better for you if rain doesn't exist? Or...that incident never existed? It's not your fault for what happened in the past, but because you were there, you feel like you are responsible for it. You don't want your dad to be sad because you are blaming yourself right? He would be so happy if he sees his son happy. I'm sure even at your dad's last moment, he was thankful to you. You are alive and well.

-𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘆

I walk out and toss it through his door. I hope this card can heal him a little, even if it's 1%, that's all it matters. From there, that 1% will become 2% and 3%, everything will get better. I hope, at least for him.

✌︎︎

I arrive at the bakery store and we all are trying the new bread that is coming out soon. It tastes good, honestly, everything tastes good as long as you have room for it.

It's lunchtime and we order delivery food again. We all will never ever get tired of delivering food although sometimes we bring our own lunch boxes.

"Luna, try this, Mia makes it," Ian gives me a cookie.
"Wow, this is amazing! Tell her I enjoy it," I smile at him.
"Here, a box of cookies for you, Mia says I have to personally give you this."
"Aww, she makes it for me?" I feel happy.
"I think she must have liked you when you two first met."
"Tell her, I will not waste any of these," I eat another one.

✌︎︎

It's 4 PM, me and Ian both wait for the bus. Soon, Mia hurries over.

"Hey Ian, hey Luna!" She shouts.
"Hey, you just got off school?" I ask.
"Yup, um, you like my cookies? I personally made them for you," she sits next to me.
"It's beyond delicious," I compliment her.
"It is always my dream to make things for my future sister in law, so yeah!"
"MIA!" Ian raises his voice at her.
"What? I just say future I never say current, why are you mad," Mia stands up.
"Luna, I'm sorry, she just speaks whatever she wants and never considers one's feelings." Ian apologized.
"Oh no, it's okay, she's just excited," I assure him.
"I hope you don't mind."
"It's really okay," I assure him again.

The bus comes after a while and we get on.

"I want to learn how to bake more things, but Ian never agrees," Mia complained.
"Ian, your sister wants to learn how to bake..."
"Luna, I just want her to focus on her study. She has too many dreams, the last time was a florist."
"Um... I don't think it's bad to try what she wants. Hey Mia, you want me to teach you? Although I'm not an expert, I can still bake."
"Oh YEAHHH!!! Really? I'm up for it. YAHhh!" Mia screams on the bus which makes everyone look at her.
"This weekend, you can come to my house. I will teach you how to bake, I have ingredients. Ian, you can come along too, so you can give me a hand. Haha."
"Are you willing to give up your time for this?" Ian asks.
"As long as I like to do it. I love to bake. No problem." I smile.
He smiles and says, "good, then see you this weekend."

✌︎︎

I'm home and head upstairs to take a shower. Once it's dinner time, I head downstairs.

"Hi mom and Aunt Ava," I take out my paycheck.
"Wow, you are earning something." My mom looks proud.
"Have some," Aunt Ava put the food on my dish.
"Is Aaron not out?" I ask.
"He's out, but he's in the backyard," Aunt Ava replied.
"Oh..."

✌︎︎

After dinner, I walk upstairs but stop midway thinking whether I should go to the backyard or not. You know what, let's just go. Did he read my letters yet, I think to myself on my way to the backyard.

"He should be here...," I look for him.

After a few seconds, "there he is," I go up to him.
"Hey," I say.
He's sitting on the chair swing and looks up, "noisy?"
"Yeah...what are you doing here?"
"None of your- well why you care?"

He's not mentioning my letters, did he read it yet or not.

"Well, I sometimes come here too. To look at the stars." I smile.
"So cheesy," he says.
"Not really, it's just fascinating, that's all," I look up at the stars.
"What makes you think that?"
"I feel like my parents and my brother are watching me from the above. Even though they are gone, I still feel like they are here. Besides me. The stars shine for a reason."
"You believe in those?"
I sit down next to him, "it's because it makes me feel safe. So I have to live a good life so they can also be happy when they look down."
He nods, "you think...my father is watching me?" He looks at me.
"Of course, you just have to believe it. If you believe in it, then it's true. Your father wants you to be happy, so make him proud." I look at him too.

There is a pause before he says, "noisy, can you stop being around me?" His eyes stared at me intensely.
"What's wrong...about that?" I ask him.
Seconds of silence again before he says, "because...you might grow on me."

As soon as he says that, he stands up and walks his way into the house. But turn back and say his last words.

"Noisy, are you always so good at writing letters? I bet it's not your first time. Thanks for that, goodnight," he walks back for real this time.

I just sit there confusingly. What does he mean when he says that I will grow on him? Does that mean he is trying not to get close to me, but why? But, he reads my letter. He did read it. For some reason, I'm looking forward to the next day and the next day. It's unexpected, that's why I'm looking forward to it. It makes me excited....

because of Aaron.

                                                          ☀︎︎𝔸𝕟𝕡𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕒𝕟☀︎︎