May... Take A Long Time

It was two o'clock in the afternoon when the sound of the door being opened was heard. Selena, who was in the backyard, picked up a dry clothesline, hurriedly walked into the house.

"Mom..." She calls it slowly.

Her mother; Lyana just came from work. The mature woman has a pretty face and smooth clean white skin. Her figure is very graceful with long hair that has just been in the store.

Arguably, Lyana was the prima donna of the village. If it wasn't for her squeoque, cold-looking attitude, maybe the grown woman would have a lot of friends in her neighborhood. Unfortunately, Lyana's harsh temperament, making the neighbors know, behind the angelic beauty there is a demon that dwells in her soul. Didn't hesitate to hurt her children. Especially her own eldest daughter. 

"Get me a drink," said Lyana shortly. As always, indifferent. 

Selena immediately placed the shirts on a long chair near the television room. Then it slides towards the kitchen. Took a bottle of mineral water that she had filled. 

Her bandaged right hand forced Selena to thrust the bottle with her swollen left hand. But Lyana, who was tired of working, didn't pay much attention to her daughter's bandaged hands. The woman mistook her daughter for being insolent to her. 

"Disrespectful!" Lyana's rebuke was harsh, coarsely displaying the bottle in Selena's hands. As a result, a bottle of water that had been opened was spilled wetting Selena's trousers and her bandaged hand. 

"Sshh~" Selena's lips a trembled voice as Lyana's hands' rough edge hits her swollen right hand. Despite her painful hands, Selena still held out the bottle using two hands. The left-hand holds the bottle and the right hand is outstretched as well as a form of politeness. 

But Lyana didn't see it and focused only on Selena's impolite attitude of handing over something with her left hand. 

"I didn't teach you to give you something with your left hand, what did you just try to do?!" 

Selena stood with her legs trembling as her mother's roar hurt her eardrums. The girl hid her wet right hand behind her back. 

"I'm sorry, Mom," She said with her head down. 

"Get lost!" 

The cold-sounding command immediately kept Selena away from her mother's presence. Because even if she stays there and tries to explain to her, her mother won't listen. 

Every word of explanation that came from hers, she knew, her mother was too fed up to just find out. Any problems related to her, the mother is not allowed to know. Or if not, with the hard temperament and high self-esteem that her mother has taken to the skies, it will only cause bruises all over her body to increase. 

From the moment Lyana severely punished Selena at the time. Selena no longer complains much and the girl also tries hard not to cause problems that can embarrass her mother. 

Selena didn't go far. She went to the kitchen again. Preparing her mother lunch at the time. Inside the serving hood, on the dining table, there are already sautéed kale vegetables with side dishes of tempeh and fried tofu. 

Luckily, the mini-market where she works also sells vegetables that she can buy using her salary. At least, when her mother hasn't earned her income, Selena can still help to just buy food for her family. 

Selena picked up a navy-colored sling bag - a gift from Cristine - in the room. Then came out to say goodbye to the mother who was still sitting in her original place. 

"Mom, I'm going to work first. If you want to eat, I'm cooked."

Lyana didn't even bother to answer her daughter's words, the grown woman seemed to close her ears and eyes. It doesn't matter. 

Selena glanced at Lyana's right hand hanging from the seat handle. To be honest, she longed to be able to kiss her hand, like she used to do in her childhood memories. 

She can't remember exactly when her gentle and caring mother turned into someone she couldn't recognize. 

The mother figure who often held her soft and whispered soothing sweet words is no longer there. The angelic figure in her memory becomes blurred and overlaps with the figure of an adult woman in her current home. 

Selena sighed tiredly. Her head was raised when a gust of wind hit her face. A wry smile is reviewed as she thinks, it may take a long time to see her mother back. 

Back like in her childhood dream.

***

The store where Selena works is not far from the school. Using the bike the father gave her, the girl pedaled carefully along the way. It took just a few minutes for the girl to get to the store where she worked. 

Selena put her bike next to the store behind the employee-only entrance. Because the store was open, the back door was never locked at all. As a result, as soon as Selena went inside, she was surprised by the presence of a man who was none other than the son of the shopkeeper. 

"Selena..."

"Brother Adam." 

Adam, a man with an ordinary face, but because the man is very expressive and often smiles, the man appears to glow his face. Even so, only a handful of people closest to him could see the man's hospitality. 

"Brothers Adam's here," Selena said. They felt surprised by the man's whereabouts here. Usually, Adam rarely comes because of the busyness of college that the man did later.

So it's not wrong if Selena asked that because she was quite astonished.

Although Selena has been working with Adam's mother for a long time. You could say the girl wasn't close to the man in front of him. Aside from Selena's shy nature, adam also doesn't like to interact with strangers who are not his friends.

"Rina took the day off work, so I changed it for a while. Cause you've come, I'll leave it to you, Selena."

That's the longest sentence Selena's heard from Adam. Selena became ashamed of herself and didn't know what to answer. So all she could do was nod her head. Although she is quite curious about why Rina is off work, Selena can only swallow her questions into her stomach.

Adam had just placed a used cardboard box in the corner of the room near the bathroom when then his gaze was directed at Selena's bandaged hand.

"What's wrong with your hand?"

***

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