Blossoms of Friendship

"You call this food?" Hikari's father snapped, kicking the bowl of rice from the table. "Only pigs would eat that."

'But you are a pig', Hikari thought, annoyed at her father's childish behaviour. She quietly cleaned up the spilt bowl of rice from the floor without casting her father a glance. Even after her mother left, there was no change in her father's lifestyle or behaviour whatsoever, always wasting his days drinking and gambling, sometimes beating her up and wreaking havoc in the house depending on his mood. Hikari had to learn to do everything by herself now that her mother was gone: cooking, cleaning, and managing the household while putting up with her worthless father. But grandma Claire was always there to teach and help her though she couldn't do much about her father.

"What a useless daughter I'm living with. Can't do anything right," Hikari's father muttered. "But what can I expect from the daughter of a vile woman? I lost my appetite." With that said, he got up and left the house.

Whenever Hikari was home, she would avoid meeting her father. Showing her face to him only reminded him of her mother who left him. He would then beat her for all nonsensical reasons like why she looked like her mother, or bring up other pathetic accusations to upset her. He felt joy in watching her suffer; he relished the idea of exacting his revenge on Evelyn by taking his anger out on Hikari.

---

"Ah!" Leyon screamed, the paintbrush slipping from his hand. "Hikari, don't sneak up on me like that," he said and turned around only to see Hikari laughing at him.

Crumpling the ruined sheet of paper, he threw it away. This was the third time Hikari messed up his painting. The girl got no chill when it came to playing tricks on him.

"What are you doing?" wrote Hikari in her notebook before passing it to Leyon.

"I was painting." Leyon sulked, disappointedly gazing at the beautiful stretch of the green landscape before him.

"Leyon is really good at drawing."

"Am I?"

Hikari furiously nodded her head.

"My dream is to become a famous artist one day."

"Really?"

"Yup. What about you? Do you have a dream?"

'A dream?' Hikari wondered. She slowly shook her head.

"There must be something you want to become in the future. Don't you have one in mind? A dream or a goal?"

Hikari shook her head once again. She couldn't think of what she'd like to do in the future. The words dreams and goals sounded foreign to her.

"Then I'll give you a suggestion." Leyon thought deeply, his eyes moving up and down Hikari's form. "Hmm... I think you should become a teacher. You're kind and honest and you love interacting with kids. I can picture you as the perfect teacher," Leyon said, smiling widely at Hikari.

'Me? A teacher? ' thought Hikari. Her cheeks flushed with colour. This was the first time anyone had ever given her a reason to look forward to the future. Leyon had just given her a purpose, and she was determined to make it come true.

"Work hard, okay?" Leyon said as he took out another blank sheet of paper from his bag and began to paint.

Hikari inched closer to catch a glimpse of what Leyon was painting this time. She passed her notebook to him again. "Can you draw me?" Hikari looked up at him shyly, waiting for a positive response.

"No. I don't want to draw you."

Hikari lowered her head in shame.

"I'm not good yet. And I can't draw human faces properly." Leyon blushed. "When I improve, I'll draw you then." His voice lowered as he waited for Hikari's reaction.

Hikari slowly nodded, raising her head to give Leyon a wide smile.

"Wait for a while, okay? I promise I'll draw the most beautiful picture of you." Leyon returned his attention to his painting, but the thought of Hikari never left his mind. Over the past few months, his relationship with her had gotten a lot closer. They would play together most of the time, usually after Hikari came back from school. Sometimes, they would fly kites and run around the meadows, laughing and jumping in high spirits. Other times, they would ride a bicycle. Leyon would be the one taking Hikari on a ride, with her sitting silently in the rear seat. Those carefree days flew by like the breeze tickling their skin.

In a world full of ups and downs, they sought comfort in each other's presence. They were like two swallows in a pond, their bond unbreakable, their souls like one, impossible to separate.

An hour later, Leyon finished his painting and tugged it inside his bag. He glanced to the side and found Hikari attempting to copy his painting in her small notebook. She was nowhere near as good as him. He tried to hold in his giggles when he saw the awkward-looking imitation but commended her efforts nonetheless.

"How are you doing?" Leyon asked out of the blue. "Do you... miss your mother?"

Hikari merely shook her head and turned away from him.

"Did he make things hard for you again?" Leyon asked her another question.

Hikari ended up giving him a weak smile this time as if telling him she was doing okay. Leyon wanted to believe her, but he knew she was lying.

Without warning, Leyon grabbed Hikari's wrist and rolled up the sleeves of the shirt she was wearing. From her wrists to her arms, there were bluish-black marks and bruises all over her skin.

"You." Leyon couldn't find the right words to say.

Hikari snatched her hands away from Leyon and hurriedly rolled down her sleeves, refusing to meet his gaze.

"... Hikari, I wish I could take you away from him. I'm sorry I can't do anything. I'm sorry I can't protect you," Leyon said with a defeated look.

Hikari could only smile at him. That was all she could do. She smiled.

She smiled a lot more than normal to make up for the words she couldn't speak. Over the months, smiling also became a way of hiding her feelings, a kind of mechanism to give herself a false sense of security and comfort when she was alone and feeling lonely. Others might find it annoying, but smiling was the only way for her to convey her thoughts to people when she didn't have a note to write on, and only Leyon was able to see through all of that. Leyon didn't need words to know what she wanted to say. He didn't need for her to speak because he always knew what was on her mind with just a glance.

Sighing, Leyon stood up from the grass and gazed straight ahead, aware of a pair of curious eyes watching his every move. "Ah!" he screamed in the air. "I want to grow up soon." He clenched his fists as he forced a smile to grace his lips.

"Hey, boy? Are you Claire's grandson?" Leyon heard a male voice call out to him from the distance. A man rushed towards him, panting heavily, and then stopped to catch his breath when he finally reached him.

"What's wrong, uncle?" Leyon asked curiously. The man looked to be a villager from the area.

"Your grandmother, she's... you need to come with me."