27 Something to Like

With the end of the year school holidays upon us, children are busy playing in front of their homes. With snow covering the city, children in District 36 are playing snow wars and making snowmen in their yards.

They enjoyed the day off by playing outside with their friends.

Amanda, who didn't go to work that day because Jhon had an urgent matter, sat on a chair on the small terrace of her house while looking at the children who were playing happily.

"Hmn... When you are born, you can play in the snow here. Play with your friends like that..." Amanda said rubbing her belly.

While Amanda was busy watching the children, suddenly a snowball hit her.

"Uhhh... It's cold." The woman looked around to see who threw the snowball.

As she looked around, a second snowball was thrown towards. However, now Amanda was able to catch the snowball that came out of nowhere with her bare hands.

From behind a plant right beside her house, a girl with long black hair came out and was amazed that Amanda caught the snow she threw.

"Waahhh Miss Amanda, you're so amazing!" she exclaimed in delight.

Amanda turned around and saw the girl who looked a lot like her mother.

"I thought who was throwing me, it was you, Lili..." Amanda said with a chuckle.

"Ehehe... I'm just messing around. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, I'm not mad. Then take this!" Amanda threw the snowball she had caught back at Lili.

The girl was startled and before she could dodge, the ball had already hit her in the face.

"Umnn!"

"Pfft... Ahahahaha... You're okay, right?" Amanda asked while laughing at Lili's snow-covered face.

"I'm fine, but the snow is cold!"

Lili made another snowball and threw it at Amanda. Amanda tried to dodge it by blocking her face with her arm. The two played snow war by throwing them at each other.

Not long after, a fat woman came out of the house next to Amanda. She saw her daughter playing with Amanda.

"Liliana, be careful, poor Amanda, you're throwing snow like that," said her mother.

"Miss Amanda threw it at me too!" replied Lili.

"It's okay, Camille. We enjoyed it, you don't have to worry about it," Amanda said, smiling at Camille.

Hearing that, Camille felt calmer. She remembered that a few days ago, Amanda had told her that she could not control her emotions. She easily felt angry, sad and sometimes pessimistic about some things. She didn't usually feel like that.

But Camille said it was normal that when pregnant, one's emotions would be difficult to control. So she was worried that her daughter Liliana was bothering Amanda and upsetting her but she couldn't tell.

"I'm going to the convenience store, do you want to drop something off, Amanda?" Camille asked offering to help.

"Buy something? Humn... Can I get some macaroni and milk? I feel like eating mac chesse today," said Amanda.

"Oh you have a craving. Of course you can, do you want to buy cheese too?" Camille asked again.

Amanda shook her head, she still had a supply of cheese at home. Hearing that, Camille left Liliana with Amanda and she went to the mini market which was quite far on foot.

In the cold season, Camille went casually to the convenience store and finally arrived there.

Inside she saw a lot of food that was already full of Christmas discounts.

"Milk and macaroni, I remember it was on shelf number 12..." she murmured softly.

While wandering around, Camille saw a man in uniform looking confused at the food on the shelves. Recognizing the man, the woman called Big Mama approached him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Doing your shopping, George?" Camille greeted the man.

"Oh Camille, yes. I'm choosing something. But I'm a little confused about what to choose."

"What do you want to do?"

George explained that he wanted to make something for Amanda. So he asked Camille if she knew Amanda's favorite food. He wanted to cheer her up with the food

"She's always done everything by herself. She's away from her family, she has to take care of her child by herself because his father is dead and..."

"Wait... You mean the father of the baby Amanda is carrying? He's dead?" asked Camille confused.

"Yes, Amanda said so herself. Didn't she tell you that?" asked George.

All Camille could remember was that the man was alive. It was Amanda who chose to leave the father of her baby. Why would Amanda say that the father was dead? Was that what she wanted people to know?

She understood Amanda didn't want to tell anyone but him.

"Camille?" called George.

"Huh? Oh yes, Amanda said it once. Women like me like to forget, ahahaha... So you want to know Amanda's favorite food?"

George nodded.

"So, Amanda is favorite food is..."

*****

"One potato salad," a woman ordered the waitress at a large café in the center of the city.

Beside her, stood a dark-haired man who was also waiting for his order to arrive. When he heard the menu, he thought of his coworker who loved potato salad.

Whenever he went to buy food, potato salad was always the food she would ask him to buy.

Soon, a waiter came and handed me a cup of coffee and two buns in a packet.

"Here's your coffee and buns, Mr. William..." said the waiter.

"Thank you, Barbara." William accepted the coffee and buns and gave her the money.

"Oh yes, where is your friend who used to come here with you?" Barbara asked.

William asked, what kind of friend?

Barbara replied, the woman with brown hair and blue eyes, who was always with William. The man understood who the waitress was talking about. He replied that his friend was very busy with her work, so they didn't get together anymore.

"Well, then have a nice day..."

William nodded and walked out of the cafe and paused on the side of the road to look at the bustling city of Zondalia.

He took a sip of the coffee he bought then sighed. The cold weather did not make him feel tired or discouraged. It was just that, losing someone who was always with him, sometimes made William feel something was wrong.

Even though he has convinced himself that Amanda must be happy with someone she trusts right now. Somehow something inside him refused to believe.

Was that the only reason you betrayed our friendship and left me?

The worry he had felt for her since the beginning of her departure, turned into resentment and anger at feeling discarded after what they had been through.

William walked away from there, deciding to forget everything about Amanda. Stop trying to find her and pretend she was never present in his life.