Chapter 3: Family

At least now Ria's mood have improved a little.

Finally she found a place to live.

She can focus on her study without worrying about where she lives or how far she was from the campus area.

She already paid for one year.

Ria actually wanted to pay for two years, but she also wanted to make sure she was still comfortable living there the first year.

Or in the first month...

Anyway, she was more relieved now.

She was now at the inn to tidy up her things.

This place was 45 minutes away from the house she had rented.

She deliberately chose an inn that was a bit far from the city center, because it was cheaper.

Ria tidied up her things and made sure everything was ready and not left behind.

Books, clothes and little other things she valued.

All of that neatly placed in the two medium-sized suitcases and a backpack.

For people who were actually moving house, those were very few.

What else would she brought with her? She really didn’t have much stuff.

Since her parents died, Ria had started to save some of her pocket money. She realized that she only depended on her parents' inheritance which could run out one day. It's not that much, really. But enough for her at least until she was old enough to get a job. Which was now...

That's actually need so much effort. Not to mention, her cousins even asked her for the money, because they said it was also their aunt's money...

Ria could only shake her head slowly, sighing when the scenes came into her mind. That's how the behavior of people who still had blood relations with her.

They don't at least pity her, they rather bully her...

What has she done to them? What make them hate her so much?

Ria, who was still in junior high school in her first year at that time, still needed help to live her lonely life.

They abandoned her, as if she had infectious deseases.

They said, she is a jinxed. 

Ria tidied up several pairs of clothes she had just bought. She patted her cloth from the dust, even though it was very clean.

These were new clothes, she bought it because she was going to have a new life in this city. 

She was happy, now she could bought anything she needed without fear of being caught by her wicked cousins.

In the past, if they knew she spent even a little money for a cake, her cousins would gossip about her as a thief, even snatched her food away. 

Her aunts and uncles will continue to probe for information on where she kept her parents' savings books.

She smiled looking at her new stuff. 

Well... Now she could breath freely...

After everything was finished, Ria realized that it was already dark.

She will leave tomorrow, and take care of her new home.

She quickly took a shower and got ready for bed.

Ria threw herself on the not so soft bed and lay down on her stomach. She turned her gaze towards the suitcases that she still deliberately opened on the floor.

Her eyes caught a little edge of a photo frame, sticking out from under the folds of her shirt.

She got out of the bed, sat down on the floor in front of her suitcase and picked up the frame.

Sadness and loneliness enveloped her heart.

"I've moved out from our home. Mom, Dad, sorry... I can't stay there any longer, not that I don't want to..."

She couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

She caressed the picture lightly by her thumb and looked at her mother's beautiful face.

She inherited her mother's oval face, high cheekbones when she smiled, and her dark hair.

Her mother is smiling beautifully and happily in this photo. Holding her hat which was almost blown off by the wind.

She then looked at the photo of her father, his right hand was around his beautiful wife's shoulder.

She had clearly inherited the shape and color of her father's eyes.

Their eyes are almond shaped with light brown pupils.

She also got the shape of a small sharp nose and straight hair from a handsome man who smiled broadly with two small dimples on both sides of his cheeks.

She missed them terribly.

She really wanted to be angry with whoever made her fate like this.

Both of her parents left while she needed them the most.

She is lonely

But, even if she continues to lament over her situation, that won't make her parents back to live. 

Ria realized that what she had to do was move on with life.

She is the only child in this family.

At the very least, she had to live her life well in order to make her parents proud and calm wherever their souls were now.

"I'm sure you two already in a beautiful place... I promise, I will live my life well. Don't worry about me...." She sobbed.

"...look, I'll be starting my studies in a few days, I've also rented a house to live in this city....

Mom dad... You guys if you were here, I could tell we would celebrate this together.

If you were still around....

If you hadn't left then..."

Ria cried silently, clutching the photo to her chest.

Her parents' death was a deep trauma for Ria.

Plus, she was ostracized by her family and other people in her village, because she was considered a child who brought bad luck.

This made her an introvert and not as cheerful as she used to be.

The more mature she was, the more she used to live with less people around her. 

She was proud of herself for being at this stage.

Breaking away from her toxic family  that only aiming for his parents' wealth.

Ria struggles for her rights with difficulty, facing her cunning uncle and aunt.

But in the end, she still lost their home.

Her mother's family, kicked her out of there. They said she was old enough to move out, and they don't want a jinxed still living in their sibling's house.

She was helpless.

No one helped her. Neighbors and other villagers did not dare to interfere and also thought that Ria had brought bad luck to the family.

She sighed in between her sobs.

She looked back at the photo and kissed the picture of her parents.

"I love you guys..." she said softly.

"Watch and guide me from there, so I can live my life here peacefully..."

She wiped away her tears and took the photo with her.

Ria lay down and looked up at the low ceiling of the inn room with the frame she still held to her chest.

"Mom, dad, please see me in my dreams tonight, I miss you so much..."

That way, she finally fell asleep while hoping that her parents would come to visit her in the dreamland.

Back then, Ria even wished her parents would become ghosts so they could accompany her forever.

Ria just hasn't realized it yet, it seems her hope will soon come true.

Even if not in her father form...

Nor her mother...