Chapter 8:In the wide shadow of a close one part 1

Yue's eyes glazed over, and for a moment, remembered it all.

11 years ago….

Her dad was in the kitchen, cooking a meal of fried rice. Yue vividly remembered the smell of the food, the spectacular aura around it, the beauty and magnificence, the everlasting awe she had towards his cooking. Back then, her mother had a constant smile on her face, with her eyes shining like diamonds. Yue was 4, when that day came.

Her father walked into the sitting room, with a solemn look on his face.She and her mother were sitting in the sitting room. Yan Ichika,

Yue's mother, turned her head and asked, "What is it dear?"

"I have something to tell you both." He stated with a slight dilation, not noticeable at the time, but noticed in hindsight.

"Is it about the suitcase daddy?" she said, with blind ignorance.

Her mother was pondering about that to, but said nothing.

"I'm...I'm leaving."

"Where are you going daddy,?" Yue asked again.

Ichika was shocked into silence.

And without a further moment of delay, he walked out.

Yue's mother lay silent on the couch, with her hand stretched out towards the door. "Where daddy mum, where daddy going?!"

Yue said constantly before descending into a cry. Yue's mother and herself curled up on the sofa, and cried themselves to sleep.

After that, her mother changed. At first, it was small things, like being more snappy, being more solemn. But the change became more and more and more a easy to spot. Her eyes warped from joyous and naive, to hard and unforgiving. From complementing, relaxed mother, to a more vindictive and determined person. By the time Yue was 10, any trace of her mother's old self was consumed by the new her. A person, in which Yue found it ever hard to confide in, and even harder to accept. Even still though, she followed her parent's orders to a tee.

So when she found that she had an interest in starting to learn martial arts, she wasn't sure if there was any point in asking. But in the end, after practicing what she would segue from and how she would say it, she approached her mom.

Yue, knowing how her mother was now, knew that a direct approach would be her best bet.

"Mother, I would like to start in the hobby that is martial arts." There. Straight to the point.

Ichika thought about it for some time, then said "Why not?"