Looking Back

"Why did you choose this table, Kaia?" The woman asked as they drank a hot cup of hot chocolate.

Kaia pointed to the flowers on the table.

"Oh, the Snowdrops or is it the Anemone. Well, both are flowers with deep meanings behind them." She said with a twinkle in her hazel eyes.

"What do they mean?" Kaia asked, but she wouldn't tell her. They talked a little more about the different eras in history. She is most interested in the mid two thousands, with all their absurdity.

Finally, it was time for her to go back. She tried to help her clean up but Layla, the woman, would have nothing to do with it.

"You need to go home and warm up." She said as Damien came out with a cloth bag.

"This is for you my dear." He said handing the bag to her. It is almost bursting with the stuff in it.

Taking it from him, she looked into the bag and the smell of food filled her nostrils. There was even a flask there and a packet of marshmallows.

Kaia quickly shook her head and tried to give it back to them but they wouldn't accept it.

"Now, go on dear." She said pushing her out the door before she could do anything else. "Do visit us often."

They closed the door on her and Kaia was just standing in the snow-covered land, confusion on her face.

She wore her mask and just decided to make her way home, forgetting why she went into the forest in the first place.

At home she took out the packets of food and stifled a cry, there was enough food to last her a while. She cant cry twice in one day.

That's what she thought, until she took out an envelope. In there is a letter and the two flowers from the table she sat in. Nothing was written on the paper except the names of the flowers and their meanings.

*Snowdrops symbolize the hope for a friend in need and Anemones represent the end of cold, dark days and the return of the sun.

May you see the return of the sun and be able to bask in its warmth soon, dear.

Come by anytime.

Love,

Damien and Layla Coleman.*

It is safe to say that Kaia cried twice that day. She worked and saved up as much money as she could by juggling several jobs at once. She put up with so much mistreatment just so that she could pay for a proper meal from them this time.

When she finally went to visit them again, she found that Layla had died only a few weeks prior due to an accident and Damien decided to close the café because of injuries from that same accident.

He followed her not too long after and Kaia became all alone again.

She never did find people like them again, the flowers they gave her are pressed and stored in between her books with the letter. She never looked at them again. It hurt too much to do that.

But she cried when she lost the book she kept the flowers and letters in. Turns out, some people from her school burnt all the contents of her bag to 'purify' it.

She shoved all memories of them to the back of her head and went on with her life. One numb day after the other.

_________

They stopped in the middle of the road as Alex said, "Here we are."

"Here?" Ran asked, looking from left to right out of the window. "It is a fairly empty road. What are you planning Alex?"

"Nothing young master." He said, holding his hand up. "The café is here. Well, up the road anyway."

Kaia was the first one out of the car and, without waiting for the others, she booked it up the road.

"Kaia!" Max shouted as he ran after her with Carlotta. Ran and Shia stepped out of the car and exchanged exasperated looks between each other before following after them.

"Fine, a safe parking spot and I will call you when we are done," Dor said as they continued to trudge up the snow-covered path.

"Yes, sir." He said, driving away with a visible smile on his face.

"And I just got warm." Ran huffed, pulling the jacket closer to his body.

"I apologise, but Kaia is their main concern at the moment," Shia said, laughing at how fast he got cold again.

"I know. I understand that." He said, breathing out a puff of cold air. "I am just whining."

"Do you like Caitlyn that much?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I like her." Dor said quickly, "That's all I know and am sure of."

"What if she doesn't like you back?"

He shook his head, both voices melding together, "Doesn't matter. I told this before. She doesn't owe me a thing. Whether she likes me or not, that's her choice. I like her and that's enough for me."

Shia stared at the shivering boy and smiled, hitting his arm "You are so mature for your age, grandpa."

"Ouch." He said, rubbing his arm. "Well, you could use some more maturity. Given that you are the oldest of us and is still hitting me."

"Me hitting you is considered immature?" She asked with an overdramatic gasp. "Not the fact that I still whine and sometimes behave like a child?"

Dor shrugged, "It's ok to act like that sometimes."

"You are contradicting your words, Dorran." She laughed, hitting him again.

"Stop that." Ran said, rubbing his arm again.

"Sorry. I hit my dad all the time and he does the same. That's just how we show affection in our family."

"Then please refrain from showing that affection to me." Dor chuckled a little. "You can do it only sometimes."

"Right." She grinned. "I will remember that."

"We better hurry. They are disappearing from our sight." Shia said, pulling Dorran with her as she picked up speed.

"Race you there." Ran said, running past her.

"Oh, you're on!"

___________

Kaia stopped in front of the café she knew so well from passing by every day and trying to work up the courage to walk in. But she always left saying that she didn't have enough money yet.

Today. Today is the day she has enough money to pay for her meals.

"Since when did you learn to run that fast?" Max asked as he tried to catch his breath, putting Carlotta down. "Caitlyn, you need to run with me from tomorrow onwards."

"I can run. I was a little tired." She said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Kaia. Why did you run?"

"Sorry, I just got excited."

"Kaia? Excited? I didn't think you would feel that way about spending money." Carlotta teased, "Why are you excited anyway?"

"This." She signed, pointing to the café. "This is the reason why."

"Did this have anything to do with your life before?" Max asked, having finally caught his breath.

"Something like that." She signed a sad grin on her face. "The people here were the only ones that treated me like a human after Caitlyn died."

"Ohhh~. They must be very special people then." Carlotta said, putting her arm around Kaia.

"They are." She looked sadly at the doors and the smoke coming out of the chimney, remembering what drew her to the café in the first place.

It still has a very homely vibe to it and she felt warm just seeing the lights on and the 'open' sign at the door. Little sounds escaped from the lonely café in the middle of the woods, amidst the white, snow-covered ground and trees.

The fresh smell of baked goods and food filled the air and their stomachs grumbled. They hadn't eaten that morning as Dor was insistent on reaching the school long before the other people did so that they didn't have to wait too long.

But everyone had the same thoughts as them and they ended up waiting though not as long as they would have to, had they not left that early.

By early, Dor meant eight o'clock. No one will be awake before that, not in this snow anyway.

They got everything in about an hour or two while others were still lining up in the snow. The school could have just sent everything to the students but they wanted to be unreasonable so they are providing their syllabus and materials only in the first week of February.

Even though classes start a month after.

Carlotta complained the whole way through as Ran agreed to her every word. He's not being biased, he just really agrees with her sentiments.

Kaia stared at the house. The longer she looked, the more it seemed to loom at her in an almost accusatory way. There was nothing she could have done to prevent their accident, but she still felt responsible somehow.