Keeping my hood over my face, I continued staring out the bus's window to avoid making eye contact with either Lily or Ruby.
But seriously, why the hell was Ruby here?
Why had she chosen to join the travel club out of all the other club options? I hadn't even told her I was in the travel club or anything.
As the bus sped up, entering the capital's streets, I continued staring at the fleeting buildings and crowds of people who had yet to leave after the Celestial Festival had ended.
Getting a headache from my eye's overload of information, I sighed as I forcefully closed my eyes, attempting to drift off to sleep to pass the day.
In front of , I could hear the constant sound of the chair twitching as Jin and Han kept turning around to try and keep an eye on .
Sohow, these two reminded of my parents...
They were annoying... yet at the sa ti, deep down, I knew that they cared for and were trying to keep safe.
How were they doing right now?
Recalling my last day on Earth, I involuntarily clenched my fists while reopening my eyes for a slight second.
It had been a normal day: after finishing school, rather than going straight ho to study like my mom wanted to do, I decided to head to a karaoke place with so of my classmates.
"Co on, Silas, you never co with us."
"Yeah, your parents won't care if you stop studying one ti!"
"Hurry up, man. Are you coming or not?"
Slinging my backpack around my shoulder, I stared at my smartphone for a second, contemplating whether to ask my mother if I could go.
Didn't this already happen countless tis?
Not even a month ago...
Standing at the front door of my house, I finally gathered enough courage before unlocking the door with my house key.
Hearing the door open, my mom walked from the kitchen to the front door and nodded to , confirming my presence.
Seeing her turn her back to head back to the kitchen, I clenched my fist before nervously asking.
"Mom... my friends are going out after school tomorrow, can I g-"
Stopping mid-walk, my mom turned around to face before replying.
"Don't be stupid, Silas. Let them go; it only benefits you."
"W-what do you an, mom..?"
"The more they go out, the less studying they do, which ans their grades are worse. That ans less competition for you and more college spots."
"B-but mom, I want to go..."
"Silas, you'll have all the free ti in the world once you finish college and get a good job. You'll be giving up your advantage by going out with them right now."
"That's in over six years, mom..."
Ignoring my complaints, my mom guided from the front door to my room before handing another packet of work to do.
"You'll thank yourself for listening to when you're older."
Hearing the door slam shut as my mom headed back to the kitchen, I furiously grabbed my pencil before forcing myself to solve the problems in front of .
Why was my mom the only one who didn't let their son go out?
As my furious thoughts grew, I turned away from my sheet and stared out my window, seeing countless students younger than walking around and enjoying the winter with their friends.
As the winter snow fell, I could see countless middle-schoolers and younger students throwing snowballs at each other or lying down, attempting to make snow angels.
*KNOCK~KNOCK*
Snapping out of my thoughts, I heard my mom knock on my door for a second before cracking the door open.
Standing in front of my door with a plate of takoyaki, my mom carefully slid the plate through the crack in the door and onto my desk.
With a smile, she said.
"Here's your favorite, Silas!"
Slowly shutting the door and leaving behind the plate, I could hear my mom's hurried footsteps back to the kitchen.
Ignoring the plate, I pressed on with my problems.
Snapping back to the present, I heard the sound of a video playing from Lily's smartwatch.
Ignoring the sound, I reopened my eyes and continued staring out the window.
...thinking back on it, did I even like takoyaki...?
No...I was angry at my mom for not letting out, so I had specifically asked for an expensive snack that took a long ti to make.
But, no matter how difficult the task or how expensive the ingredients were, my mother still delivered the plate to every day.
Yet, I left the plate of food untouched every ti, purposely leaving it on my desk for my mother to see.
I had thought my mother would be angry, and it would be the perfect revenge if my mother saw that the food she had worked so hard on was wasted.
...But I was wrong.
With the sa smile and content expression, she continued delivering the snack to my room daily, not even ntioning how I had left the plate untouched earlier.
"Did you enjoy the snack, Silas?"
Lying, I replied.
"yes."
With a smile, she would just move on from the topic, inquiring about my progress with my studies.
Just how many hours had she wasted in that kitchen making a snack for —just to not eat it?
How did she feel after spending all that ti making the food and cleaning the kitchen just to see it untouched?
Our family was low-inco and middle-class, yet sohow, she still had the money every day to make the takoyaki despite its expensive ingredients.
The money that my father and mother worked so hard to gain was wasted on because of a petty grudge I held.
Even with a scholarship for my outstanding grades, my father still had to fork over more than a fourth of his inco just for tuition, not including textbooks and study resources.
A fact I had only co to realize after my entrance to this world.
What kind of son was I?
I was here criticizing Ren's father's parenting earlier... but was I even qualified to do that?
Closing my eyes, I reentered my flashback of my last day on Earth.
Tapping my cellphone and checking the ti, I approached my classmates before saying.
"Yeah, you're right..! It's just one ti; she won't care that much."
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