...Clack

...Clack

...Clack

"Son I think you should rethink this absurd idea of yours." A fair-skinned woman with red full lips states in a clipped tone as she walks towards her son who is standing at the center of a large hallway.

"Mother, I think we had gone through this." The equally fair-skinned boy whines, while rolling his hazel eyes at his mother.

"Well, that is new; you whined, then rolled your eyes. Have you been watching those Americans again, River?" The woman asked in a strict tone, glaring at her son sharply.

"Mother," River replied softly bowing his head, dejected.

"And what is wrong with watching them? At least we do not get to eat their food, that is what matters." His mother said with a smirk playing on her cherry-red lips.

"Mo-"

"No baby." his mother cut him off.

"I have been doing everything within my power to make you stay back home Riv, but you have been unyielding." his mother says, frustrated, then raises her hand to give a soft pat to his mop of platinum hair.

"But Eomma-"

"Yeah, yeah, we have talked this through, but are you not happy here with me?" She asks, looking at her son with a pained expression, knowing that she would get to her son if she used the guilt trip card on him.

Let's just say she was a manipulative woman- nothing she is ashamed of.

"No, Mother," River said embracing his mom in his frail arms.

Hearing this, a pleased smirk appears across the woman's spotless pristine face.

"I am always happy with you Mom, always, I have been in Asia all my life and I think I should travel around the world and do some exploring, Mom." He explained as if he was speaking to a child, still clinging to his mother tightly.

"Son, you call traveling to the white men's country exploring?" She asked raising her head from her son's temple, her pleased smirk, long gone.

"Mom, I am tired," River said in a cracky voice looking up at his mother with teary eyes.

"What about your father?" She asked looking straight into her son's eyes.

"He hates me, omma." River softly said while looking at his feet.

"He does not." She sharply said, her glare turning twice as cold.

River could only hum in answer.

"River, I can not let you go." his mom said firmly.

"Mom," River now has tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"River look at yourself, you are too soft for your good; you are too soft-spoken, gentle, and too nice for your good, you would be taken advantage of, and do not get me started on your health. America is not a place for you, son." She said in a matter-of-fact tone, now desperate to do anything to convince her son to stay back home.

"You promised," River said with a broken voice, backing away from his mother slowly.

"You promised," He repeated, softly.

"Mama." This time the tears were already gliding down his rosy cheeks.

"Ruby," His mother says sternly.

He knows his mother only uses that name whenever she wants him to behave; her words.

"But you promised." River feebly said as choked sobs escaped his little full lips.

"You left me with no option Ruby, you refused to come out of your room for five nights, and refused to eat anything, I could hear your sobs through your door and the thick walls of your room, I had to give a promise even though I had no intention to fulfill it." His mother said with no emotion whatsoever present in her facial expression.

"You made a prom-"

"Promises are made to be broken, son," She says stoically, raising her voice a bit. She then turned to leave, walking away from her son, her head held high with her heels clicking on the marble tile. A sound that torments River in his sleep.

River broke down, he felt a very familiar hole reclaim its place in his shattering heart. The betrayal he felt at the moment only fueled the ache in his heart as he clenched his cloth-covered chest right above his heart.

He had always wanted to leave Asia, he wanted to go to America to live with his cousin, he had been in this golden cage all his life; that was why when he heard his cousin moved to America, he became enthusiastic- thinking that his mother would let him move in with his older cousin, so he tried to convince her to let him go. After locking himself up in his room for almost a week, and refusing to talk to anyone, his mother was forced to temporarily agree to his demands, but she backed out last minute.

He does not know why his mother is so against the idea of him leaving the huge manor. He continued to quietly sob on the cold tile for what felt like a lifetime, but was barely a few minutes before gathered enough physical and mental strength to lift himself from the floor. He had been anticipating this day; he booked a flight, packed his clothes, and said goodbye to all the workers in the manor already, but it was all the same in the end. Still the same gaping hole.

He dragged his feet slowly and mutely to the garden located at the courtyard of the manor, settled down on the green grass, and started brushing his fingers along the top of the bush of flowers. He stayed there for a few minutes before he stood up and plucked a black rose.

"Ouch," He winced when he felt a sharp pain coming from one of his fingers; he gazed down at his punctured finger to see that a thorn had pierced the ring finger of his right hand and a thin string of blood flowing from the injury to the body of his finger followed, but he was unfazed by the slight sting.

He then smiled beautifully when he was able to get the black rose of rebirth in his hair without further damage.

"I guess it is just me and my thoughts again," He softly muttered with a sigh as he closed his eyes, allowing the wind to brush through his face and his platinum hair.

-

"Morning young master,"

"Morning Grandpa Lee," River replied, groggily.

River was once again woken up by his butler; a daily routine he has gotten bored of. He cried throughout the previous night and did not get a wink of sleep until dawn, he had barely gotten any sleep, and his eyes hurt from crying too much on the night before.

"Grandpa Lee, you should have woken me up later," River said burying his head in the pillow.

"Orders. Moreover, it is almost noon." The old man chuckled with a shrug.

"Mother?" River asked with a heavy sigh.

"Having her soiree in the study, young master." Old man Lee replied while folding River's laundry neatly on the side of his bed with a smile playing on his lips.

"Mama said no." River dryly said.

"I know," The wrinkle-faced man said with a friendly chuckle.

"Everything will be just fine," The old man said and raised his hand in an attempt to tame the bed hair of the young lad who was now sitting upright at the edge of the bed with his legs folded above the silk beddings.

"You do not know that." River replies with a pout as he sulks.

"Oh, I do." Grandpa Lee mutters while taking a short trip to River's closet.

"Grandpa Lee?"

"Hm?"

"Do you love me?"

"I am not helping you escape, Riv." The old man deadpanned.

"No, not that. You love me right?"

"Of course," the old man said walking towards River to sit beside him on his queen-sized bed.

"Riv, our relationship has far passed a butler-to-young master relationship. I see you as my grandson, not just as my young master who hates mornings." Old man Lee jokes which made young Ruby chuckle softly.

"Am I that grumpy?" He asked with a pout.

"Yes, you are,"