Chapter 5

I smile in content as I think about the day. Aunt Rosie is coming. It has been a while since I saw her, and I miss her so much. As I open the door, my smile instantly disappears into thin air as soon as the sight of him, sitting on the stairs with his back facing me, appears in front of me.

“What are you doing here?”, my voice is higher than usual.

I am beyond shocked to see him in front of my door this early. By the way, I keep asking him the same question. Again.

He turns his head towards me, a smile lit up his face as his eyes met mine. Then, he stands up and turns around to face me. He takes something out of his pocket and hands it to me.

“I come to give this to you”, he says with a smile that never leaves his face.

I eye the transportation card in his hand before looking at him. Seeing the big smile on his face makes me want to smack it off so badly.

“I asked you to give it to Luna, right? Plus, I don’t have any classes today, so it’s fine”, I say calmly despite having an urge to let out a sigh.

I don’t even know how to describe his stubbornness.

“Oh”, he comments. He is confused for a second, and I don’t want to admit that he looks cute like that. Like a lost kitten.

“It’s okay. I want to give it to you personally”, he quickly recovers with that silly smile on his face.

I am about to scold him when the thought of Aunt Rosie shows up in a second. Panic filled my entire body when I realized that he was still there. Without wasting my time, I snatch the card from his hand.

“You have to go now”, I tell him nervously.

He must have realized the panic on my face because his smile disappeared all of a sudden.

“Why? What happened?”, the worry in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed by me.

Worry? Why would he worry about me? I must have seen things right now. He even takes a step closer to me, making me more uneasy.

“I got my card back. You give it to me personally, so please leave right now”, I say, my voice cracking at the end of my sentence.

“Hanna, tell me. What is wrong?”

Instead of leaving like I told him, he is still here, asking me questions. My mind went blank at the thought of Aunt Rosie seeing him. No, they can’t meet.

Out of panic, I grab his wrist and swing the door open before dragging him into the house. I don’t give him a chance to ask me questions as I bring him to my bedroom.

As soon as we are in my bedroom, I let go of his wrist and face him. He looks confused. Of course, he is. Who wouldn’t? I am acting like I am kidnapping him or something.

“Listen, I know you’re confused right now, but I promise I’ll explain everything to you later, alright?”, I ask, and he just nods his head at me.

He wants to ask questions, I can see it written all over his face, but for once, he doesn’t talk against me and obediently follows my words. It is rare for me to see him like this, but at the same time, I am grateful that he is like this. I don’t have time to thank him as I hear the knock on the door. My eyes widen in panic, but I try to shake it off.

“Do not open this door no matter what happens, alright?”, I warn him, and he seems worried, but he nods his head anyway.

I collect my mind and try to be as calm as I can. Giving him an apologetic smile, I turn around and walk out of my bedroom.

Then, I quickly went into the front door and swung it open. All of my worry, panic, and guilt down into nothing as soon as Aunt Rosie is in front of me. I hugged her as tightly as I can. I miss the warmth from her. I miss her calming smile. I miss her sweet voice. I miss her so much.

“I miss you”, I say, a bit teary at the sudden gush of emotions.

She pats my cheek lovingly, soothing my heart in an instant.

“I miss you too”, she said while smiling at me.

After realizing that she had a lot of things in her hands, I let go of her and took them from her.

“You shouldn’t bring too many things for me. It’s heavy”, I told her.

She always has stuff with her when she comes to visit me. I have always told her not to bring them to me, but she had never listened to me. I am both guilty and thankful to her at the same time.

She pinched my cheek lightly before entering the house. I follow her from behind.

“It’s not that heavy. Don’t worry about this old lady. You have many other things to worry about instead of me”, she said as she eyes me putting the bags on the kitchen counter.

Then, I walk towards her and hug her again before assisting her to sit on the stool. I sit down beside her and grab her hand.

“One, it’s heavy. Two, I don’t have anything to worry about. Three, I will always worry about you, so don’t ask me to not do that”, I pout.

It was rare for me to put such a face. I only let myself do it in front of her. Only in front of her, I can smile and laugh like there is no tomorrow.

“How’s school? Is everything alright?”, she asked as her hands held mine tightly.

I don’t dare to lie to her when she looks at me with those loving eyes, but I will never say anything to worry her, although it means lying to her.

“Everything's just alright. School is fine”, I say without meeting her eyes.

She is quiet after that. We both know that I am lying to her. I am ashamed to do that, but I don’t want to make her worry about me.

“How’s the job? Is it hard?”, she asks.

I shake my head at her.

“Everything is fine. Don’t worry about me, okay?”, I said cheerfully to mask my lie.

“Quit the job. You have me. I can give…”

“Aunt Rosie, I think we have reached an agreement about my job. Everything is fine, please don’t worry about it. I will tell you if it’s getting difficult, alright?”, I quickly cut her off because I knew what she wanted to say.

She has been sending me money, and I refuse to take it. It is her hard work. She should spend her fortune on herself, not giving it to me.

“You know you can tell me everything, right?”, she caresses my cheek, and I lean into her touch.

I nod my head enthusiastically, although we both knew that I wouldn’t tell her anything. I keep everything to myself. It is how things should be.

“Now, help me to take this to Maria”, she pats my cheeks before standing to take something out from one of the bags.

The thought of going to Maria’s house made me straighten my back all of a sudden. For a moment, I have forgotten about Kai.

“Can I give it to her later?”, I ask.

Don’t get me wrong. Maria is my neighbor and she is always kind to me. But, I am afraid to leave Kai here alone. Aunt Rosie doesn’t know about him, but the thought of leaving him makes me scared.

“Give it to her, now, hmm”, Aunt Rosie already hands me a basket of oranges.

I am hesitant, but I can’t let her down, so I stand up as I take the basket of oranges from her. I glance at my bedroom before I leave the house, praying that everything is going to be fine.

Everything is totally not fine.