"Cousin Keiko~ How have you been! We haven't met since your parents' graduation~ And, Oh my... did you grow your hair?! The golden orange, luscious and beautiful locks of the Luo family really suits you~" she complimented. Exaggeration vividly clear in her tone while her hand ran through my hair and out of the jacket for her to see.
"Thanks..." I got my locks away, eyeing her from head to toe. The girl looked younger than me, her height reaching up to my nose as she looked through her eyelashes; looking innocent with a smile. Her brown hair cut into a bob; which got me confusing -- did she mean it or was it an insult?
"Aha-ouch~ Cousin~~ The judge-mental stare really hurt!"
"Wha?" I stand corrected, falsified innocence. I stood there, deadpan while she faked her cry and ran to a short woman.
"Mother! I found cousin Wèi chūshēng!" she cried, falling towards the woman's arms while she smiled and pat her daughter's head.
"Well done, child. Here, son, take your sister," the woman gave the girl to a tall guy only for the girl to fall face-first on the floor. The guy even moved away from his sister. 'Yeesh'
I stood there, pitying the girl, while the short woman came towards me with a yell, "YOU! How dare you stare at my little girl with such malice!!" my face turned, my cheeks stung red when she hit me with her hand.
"You and your mother's cursed eyes!!" she was about to hit again when the guy from before stopped her from moving forward. I winced, even though I was not yet hit, and stood still in place.
"Mother, we shouldn't dally on her, there's a much important matter, remember?" he said, persuading the woman. She stopped and with a 'humph' she walked away. My gaze returned back to them, just when I had considered to thank the guy, he gaze me a stone cold death glare that could've killed me if stares were knives.
My eyes widened from shock. I was stupefied, stunned, stood there like a statue. "Ho~ Da Ge gave you that glare again~ Remember that one time you peed on your pants by just staring at him? HAHAHAHA!" she went on with her laugh as I lowered my head. "I wonder if you did just now! How indecent, cousin~" with that she left skipping, brimming with smiles as she giggled.
Despite such annoyances, I kept my cool. "I remember..." the whisper blew along with the wind.
The fan from the small store stayed and blew my hair for a while before the awkward silence was cut off by the lady behind the counter, "So... would you still like to purchase the 15 other sandwiches?"
"Oooh~ Yes please!" The sandwiches were delicious, just like what the lady said. As I ate the sandwich from before with a smile and a satisfied look, I thought about what the woman said.
"You and your mother's cursed eyes!!" -- I haven't looked in the mirror before, I never expected anything from my appearance, but it seems like I have my mother's beauty. 'What a treat!' I skipped a bit of my walked as I proceeded to move to the next flight of stairs.
'Still, the fact that she insulted Mama... how shameful,' I thought as I took a big bite that finished the sandwich. 'Hmph! What ever did we do for her to be such a stuck up?!'
One step up, my heart skipped a beat. My head ached and the tissue wrapped around the sandwich fell from my grasp. The ring in my head came back again.
"Such nuisance!" an old man pushed a little kid over the kitchen counter. "Don't get in the way of other's work!" he walked away after.
"What a mistake. If only she wasn't around, my luck could've been better!"
"Her existence is useless." their whispers echoed. "She can't even help us with kitchen work. Why is she here anyway?"
The little kid got up and ran outside. "Hahaha, aw~ is the little baby gonna cry outside again?" voices of the boys joked.
"Run along now! Leaving the house is much help to the family, thank you! Hahaha!" another yelled and laughed. The kid didn't stop and left without saying a word.
"What the..." my eyes suddenly went blur earlier and bright light flashed. 'These people are no better than monsters from the pits of hell!' I thought, following the kid outside.
Once I stepped out of the door that emitted bright light, I saw the kid sitting down under a tree crying. I ran up to the little kid but stopped when another child went to them and offered a hand.
"Wait hold on, that kid was... me." I came back to my senses, I realized I was holding onto the staircase and didn't notice how the lights went off.
"Um, miss? Are you okay?" a young man flashed his flashlight at me, "The light bulb suddenly broke, please step aside and let us--" without a second to hear him out, I left and ran back to Mama.
I don't completely remember what had happened in the past, but my instincts tells me that these people didn't come for Mama with good intentions. I ran across the hallway, heard a nurse call out "Miss!! No running--", but I continued.
For some reason, I had the urge that I can't let the people I met early to meet Mama. But I was too late... the moment I grabbed the knob of the door to our hospital room, I already heard shouting. When I opened the door, Mama was on the floor, and the woman had eyes full of rage, hitting Mama over and over again.
I moved fast, just as Auntie was about to slap her again, she slapped me instead. She was surprised, but for a short while, when she tried to continue, the doctors came in.
"Are you..." his eyes stuck to the clipboard and stopped once he focused on us. "Oh, pardon me, are we interrupting something?"
Auntie put on a smile and lowered her hands before the man noticed, "Nothing, doctor. Can we... see my brother, Luo Kai, now?" while she spoke to the doctor, I knelt down to help Mama stand up. She was bruised yet she didn't mutter a single thing. Hurt was seen all over but she didn't react against the assault.
Meanwhile, my "cousins" stood still in a corner, stance like soldiers. The guy, Li Qiang, as I remembered, was actually a soldier. However, judging by my 13-year-old cousin, Li Hua, she still acted childish and only mimicked her brother's stance. Pathetic.
I cursed the duo in my head while helping Mama pack up our essentials, they left when we started. I may not remember all the memories of my so-called family, but I do recall that they were bunch of sissies unable to accept the fact that their precious perfect eldest son, Luo Kai, who is my father, to have committed a sinful crime of adultery... which led to.. me.
I hate this.
"I'm sorry," Mama finally spoke after that incident. We had finished packing, ready to go whenever. "I'm really sorry, Keiko... Kei had always took care of his family's hatred to you... but without him. You and I are not welcome here..." her meek voice whispered.
"Kei's family had never accepted me. They even banned us from coming to your papa's funeral..." her gaze shifted, my eyes widened but lowered. I should've expected that. "One bad luck after another..." she blinked and stared back at me. "Let's go... to where we planned to go."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Haha, my cute little daughter," she pat my head, ruffling my hair and pushed my head so our foreheads met, she sniffled. "You've grown strong, tall, and brave... I'm sorry about earlier." Mama took a step back and caressed the cheek that had been slapped twice.
I held onto her hand in defense, however, I didn't know what to say. Should I console her? Or should I just stay silent? Won't that be even more awkward??? What am I supposed to do in this situation?? Argh, what would the kdrama character's have done?? Uwarhhhhh-
She sighed, pain clear in her tone. Her throat sore when she coughed. I went to get the bottle of water on the bedside table and gave it to her. "Thank you," she drank, gathered the bags, I followed along and we left.
After buying a few bandages from that sweet lady in the store, and patched Mama's injuries, we exited the hospital building.
Right outside the hospital, we waited for a taxi to come by; the silence was overwhelming yet it brought along peace. Mama looked like she was in deep thought. When I tried to speak, she spoke first, "Keiko Hitoshi..." I was taken aback, she called my name...
"That's your full name from now on, Keiko," she turned to me with a smile. The pain she felt earlier gone. I didn't know how to react, was my name different before?
"And mine will be, Yui Hitoshi -- your father's: Kei Hitoshi." she looked up to the heavenly skies when she said my father's name with a smile. Her small grin quickly turned into a sad one when she looked back down. "Of course, that was until the accident happened..."
"Your papa and I had planned to change our last names, and him changing his name altogether." she briefly chuckled before continuing, "You know how your papa hate the Luo family. So much that he didn't want to be branded by their awful name, haha." it was a sad laugh... I couldn't smile. But I have to!
"We... we can get through this, Mama. Like you said, it was what Papa would've wanted, right?" I made my voice sound cheerful yet as much as I could, but the reaction I got from Mama was different.
"..Mama...?" she repeated, then laughed. '???' my face was in utter confusion when she giggled. "So you've lost your memory...?" her laugh died down with a smile when she asked.
Surprise wasn't the first, I felt guilty and looked down; bowed, apologized as a I stuttered, "I-I'm sor--" .
"The doctor already told me..." she said, with a small smile. I looked up, "He said it was a possibility for a tumor in your brain, causing a mild amnesia... it WAS a possibility... until you confirmed it." her smile wasn't scary nor was she mad as I anticipated.
It was sad.
This woman had gone through hell for her to be so calm, not a tear in sight. I stood back up when a taxi pulled over. She went to talk to the driver; we packed up the things we had at the back of the car; closed doors shut, and we drove off.
We didn't talk throughout the way to wherever we had planned to go.
"We're here."