Chapter 5

Aurora kept her eyes fixed on Nana’s laughing face while reminiscing about what happened 15 years ago. She remembered how, at that time, she considered her aunt as her mom. She remembered how she drew a little picture of their family with her aunt and uncle behind her, and Nana in front, all smiling, even though she was the only outcast with black hair. As she looked at the picture she drew, she felt proud. In her moments of happiness, she ran to her aunt, wanting to try and earn praise. Her aunt was sitting at the table in the kitchen, tightening her hand on the phone as if she had received bad news, with a cup of coffee in front of her.

Little Aurora, oblivious to that, called out to her, only to be splashed with tea. She was quick to dodge, but unfortunately, it splashed on her forearm, running down to her hand. She let out some sobs, but her aunt didn’t care and said to her that she wasn’t her mom, but hers was a bitch. But what can a 5-year-old understand? After venting her anger.She turned towards the sobbing girl, took the little girl’s arm that had been scalded rather harshly, earning a sob from her. She observed, then left and brought back an ointment that she gave to the girl to apply herself.

She left shortly after, leaving the five-year-old girl to her own devices. After two weeks, her left arm that had been scalded was completely cured.

She composed herself and looked at Nana with a smile, "Thank you for the information. You don’t know how important it was." Nana observed the other party's face for a while with narrowed eyes.Exactly, this wasn’t the reaction she wanted.

She was looking forward to seeing a crying fit, but what she saw was the opposite, as if this wasn’t something that concerned her. And so Nana turned around to leave, but after thinking about something and suddenly stopping, she turned towards the girl on the bed. "I woke up this morning with an ache on the back of my neck. Did you do something to me yesterday?" Aurora, who was staring at the door, answered absentmindedly, "No, you fell asleep on a sofa, so I carried you back to your room." Nana looked at Aurora for a while before turning with a humph and left.

When Nana left, Aurora fell back on the bed, covering her eyes with both hands. Her heart ached. In the end, she was abandoned by her mother, lost her father. In the end, all her efforts, blood, and tears, time, and patience were all in vain. Those were the emotions that circulated in her mind. The most was supposed to be happy of knowing the truth, or sad knowing that my father died before I even got to know him, or that my mother didn’t want me and decided to abandon me. In the end, I don’t know.

I would have preferred if I never knew you were still alive. I would have preferred to still be bathing in the illusion that I lost you and father in an accident because it was more bearable. It was more bearable when children were mocking me when I was still a little girl for being an orphan. Then, if you didn’t want me, why did you give birth to me? I never asked to exist, but now I’m here, and you left. And while lamenting on her fate, she fell asleep again.

Only to wake up after two hours, she took her phone that fell off the bed while she was sleeping to look at the time. It was already 9:45 in the morning. Only to face-palm herself, she had less than an hour to reach the agreed place, especially considering the traffic jam and the fact that it was at least kilometers away from the house. She pulled her worn-out blanket away and ran to the bathroom to groom herself. She wore a sky blue dress, and her silky black hair was tied in a messy ponytail, her eyes glinting with excitement, for the reason that she is going to meet her friend but also taste her favorite milk tea. It seems as if the information she got earlier was thrown somewhere in the back of her mind.

As she moved down the stairs, she felt that the house was a bit too quiet. So she moved down the stairs as quietly as possible. When she reached the kitchen, which was just a few steps ahead on the left, her stomach grumbled since she hadn’t eaten since yesterday at midday.

She craved warm food and a warm cup of milk. When she reached the kitchen to make a simple meal for herself, she made a beeline for the front door. When she saw her aunt inside, she remembered the last time she tried to whip up a quick meal to reduce her hunger after a huge journey, but she got punished by her aunt, who said that she didn't deserve the food and so she didn't have to eat for a day.

So she decided to leave the house with an empty stomach, with a word in her mind: it’s better to avoid problems if we can. She caressed her grumbling stomach, consoling herself that she will eat a lot when she meets her friend.

She hired a taxi that brought her to her desired destination after a 20-minute travel. She paid the driver and got out of the car. After seeing the car leave, she looked around the familiar building and felt like it had been a long time since she came here. She looked behind her and saw her favorite milk shop. Her stomach grumbled just at the thought of the taste, but the noise was loud enough to attract some eyes on her. With a bright red face flushed from embarrassment, she entered the shop, half running.