Staring at the brown translucent liquid on her cup as the flowers floated on it. She continued to explain to the twins with her heart aching a little.
"I don't understand why the other children wanted to die when those children who weren't given as much life as they do want to live but they can't. But because we wanted Airi to live a life without worries, we didn't tell him anything. But as time passes, we became even more attached to him. We became unable to let him go."
"Back then, I realized that James already gave up on himself after Amira died. He...without a second thought...decide to give Airi everything he had..."
"But why do so? There are a lot of other ways to help him" Kira asked in confusion.
"It's because Airi's condition is lot worse." She simply replied. "As you may have known, Airi may be a half-blood to the sacred realm, but he is a pure-blooded Rose. James might be an adopted son, but with the use of magic, he was a legit Darkrose. He was not as pure and as capable as Meijin or Mira, but he was still a rose. As for me, my father married a distant pink rose from the branch families, as said in the Rose clan's tradition. As for James and I, he was actually my first cousin with his mother being the younger sister of my father" she giggled
Her smile faded again as she continued. "Airi was indeed special. Your generation is very special as well. To think all of you have very unique traits and capabilities. You have far exceeded us, the first generation of E-class much more than we expected you to. All of us are gathered purposely by Amy-sensei from all over Harmonia, while all of you are born together from the very beginning."
She sighed. Shaking her head, she sipped some tea and looked at the door where Airi ran off to. "Anyway, going back to the subject, I had no choice but to agree with James. Honestly, I thought I was selfish. I willingly sacrificed my husband so I could continue to live with our beloved Airi." She said with a bitter smile "I can't blame Airi for being like this. I let his only father do something he wouldn't want him to do, we made experience the sufferings he shouldn't have. He was supposed to be a lucky child, but we made him unfortunate. We weren't the best parents for him after all...."
"But you still love him, don't you? I mean, to go that far to be with him" said Kira
Neon beamed her as she nodded. "Yes, we loved him very much..."
"Then I believed that Airi is indeed lucky" she said cheerfully making her do nothing but smile.
"Yes....of course darling..."
Kira was smiling, yet deep inside she felt jealous of Airi. Other than her dear brother, she never knew what it feels like to be loved. Airi however, was simply adored by everyone around him.
Knowing what she was thinking, Kishi placed a hand on her head to comfort her. She looked at him, and he merely gave her a gentle smile. Clutching the glass ice-cream cup on her, hand, she mustered all the courage she can get and looked back at Neon.
"Say aunt Neon, do you...think that we were loved too?"
Stunned, "Kira, don't ask such things! You shouldn't--" Kishi said to her but was stopped as Neon suddenly jolted up.
Taken aback by her sudden question, her lips formed into a beautiful arc and stood up, making her way toward them and giving both a tight hug.
"Of course, I'm know Jen and Mira loved you both so much..."
"Y-you think so...?" Kira asked her as her eyes moistened.
"I know, sweetheart, I know...If you only knew how much they loved you, Mira and I would usually spend quite some time together every day while you're still in her womb, and she would always tell me all the things she wanted to do with the two of you. If only...if only fate isn't this cruel, I bet you'll be just as lucky"
That was a big IF. But then again, life isn't easy. And even though the twins might think that their parents left them because they don't want the two of them, Neon knew that they were loved, so much that they abandoned their own desires to be with them, just to rise their chances of having a good fate. As a fellow mother, she knew how much suffering Mira had to go through even though she usually kept mum about it. Her eagerness to be with them is also the reason that she perished with regret and was given a second life to live as flower. Literally.
The children won't understand now, but she wished that Clover would give them a chance to experience the things a child should have. To know what it feels like to have parents who will care and protect them, and love then unconditionally. After all, the two of them may aid each other's loneliness, but a parent's love is different from that of a sibling or friend.
She invited them to stay longer but they refused and went back home to the palace. Their only purpose for being there was only to check up on Airi but since he did not want to see them, they had no purpose for being there longer. And besides, it had been long since they last been there.
***
Days seemed to pass by quickly as of lately. Kira was sitting by a river near a high water fall, enjoying the cool wind as it touches her cheeks and playing with some of the animals.
The water was clear and was reflecting the beautiful sky and bright sun. The pebbles near it was shining like gems, and the wind smells fresh and cool. The rustling of trees and the singing of birds was very relaxing to hear. It was a beautiful day to spend time outside.
However, as beautiful as it is, it was still February. The surrounding outside of the magical place was still cold and was covered in a thin layer of snow.
Kira looked behind her by the sudden rusting of the bushes. Meijin was there, making his way through the bushes. He didn't expect to see her there and neither did she expect him to just come there so suddenly.
"Kira...What are you doing here? And where's Kishi?"
"Nisan is doing some paper works for me. But, how come you know this place?"
He sat beside her and birds that looked one of a kind, colored with pink, green, and blue started sitting on his head and shoulders as they caressed his cheeks with their smooth beaks.
"I've known this place far longer than you two did, I just don't come here often."
"Oh? What reason did you come here for then?"
This time, Meijin didn't answer and just stared at the water as it ran down the water fall. It was relaxingly beautiful, that it eases his mind.
As Kira looked at him, she noticed that his eyes were still lifeless and the grief he felt was still seen on his face. Because of it, her question was answered, and he was there to enjoy the pretty place and his mind off the past occurrence of his brother's death. Even though weeks had already passed, the pain in his heart was still torturing him, and he himself doubted whether it was still possible for the wound in his heart to heal after losing both his dear siblings.
"I heard you visited Rosarose's mansion," he said, easing the awkward silence between the two of them. "You've been a lot closer to the Roses lately"
Kira raised her hand and made the butterfly on her finger fly away as she answered. "We're only doing that because we wanted to know if Airi's okay."
"You sure care about him a lot" Meijin said.
"Of course, Airi may not have realized it yet, but he...well, he's like a brother to us. Or...family, was it?" she said, but slightly doubtful is she said it right. Smiling, she continued, "Though he isn't much like us at all. He didn't like anyone lying to him; he wanted to know everything."
"Really?" he said, and she nodded.
"Yes. You see, Nisan and I are okay with all of you lying to us, we don't really care as long as the two of us can be together."
Meijin's smile stiffened in her claim. Kira however, didn't notice as she fiddled with the flower beside her and continued speaking.
"You see, the two of us known all along from the very beginning that you, Sychi, Aunt Kail, everyone are all lying to us, not telling us the truth. We can saw through those lies, but we still don't know the truth but we can at least know it wasn't true. But Nisan and I didn't care." She said enthusiastically. "After all, we know you guys have your own reasons for lying. The only thing we wanted was for the two of us can be together forever. But of course, we were delighted when you started telling us the truth."