AmeriPan Cinderella

Second Day Without Mother

Kiku was on the attic, putting her father's old stuffs away. She coughed a bit when a dust surrounded her whole face. Her eye caught a box. The box was glimmered with gems, and it was color green. Her sisters were still sleeping, so she snuck in the attic and started cleaning.

As she held the box, she swipe off the dust and opened the lid. She gasped in shock as she saw the pictures of her father's childhood. She smiled as she shuffled through the pictures. Her eye caught something that made her stop shuffling. It was the picture of her father in a silly outfit. Beside him was a cute girl who was laughing abruptly at him. That must be her biological mother when they were kids. Then, she shuffled and shuffled until another picture caught her eyes. It was her father, again. And seems like he was crying, crouching on the floor. A girl with the grumpy expression was scolding another boy on the side of the picture. Three girls were sitting a bench, seemingly witnessing every detail in the scene. He laugher at the exact picture, and moved on with the others. The other one has three girls, same from the previous picture, walking through the balcony. It seems that one of them was her mother, who was very pretty and lovable. She decided to finish cleaning up the attic, so she returned the pictures in the said box and removed all the things that needed to be thrown away. She took a lot of time lifting the things, with no one helping her, as she scurried up and down the attic. She puts all the useless things in the storage room.

By the time she was finished, she walked into their old playroom and was shocked on what she had seen. It seems like the room has been cleaned  a few years ago. There were still papers scattered around the floor. She picked up one of it and smiled. On the paper, a drawing was inserted. There were valleys, then mountains, then the earth itself was drawn. It was the drawing that she had first drawn. She was proudly showing it up on her daddy and the man will just smile and watch her draw.

Realization hit her. Today was not the time to tour around, and she still had some cleaning to do. So, she hurriedly scuffled away all the papers that were strewn on the floor and placed it on the garbage can. After that, she sprinted towards her room and fixed her bed. Her sisters were still sleeping, and the whole house was already cleaned up, so she decided to sit down and listen to the new stereo she bought. She makes sure that the sound was heard on the whole living room only, so her sisters won't come and brake it again.

The music soothe her, making her a bit drowsy. Not wanting to fall asleep, she turned off the stereo, took her home keys, and walked out for some fresh air. She walked through the fountain park and looked at her reflection in the water. Then, she walked at the buildings and everywhere she goes until she bumped on someone.

"Oof!" She fell to the ground and the man immediately helped her up. "Sorry, miss. Haven't seen ya!"

Kiku looked up, and was strucked to see a handsome man. His golden hair was gleaming through the rising sun, and his glasses was a little foggy. He was wearing a suit that makes him look like a businessman. She must be from a wealthy family. Kiku thought to herself.

"No, sir. I should be the one saying sorry. I'm not watching my step!"

This earned a smile from the man. "That's ok. The name's Alfred F. Jones. How about you?"

An American, huh? "Well, I'm Kiku Honda. Nice to meet you Alfred-San." The American was grimaced. "So, you're a Japanese?"

The Japanese girl giggled. "Isn't that obvious, Alfred-san. My name sounds like a Japanese, hai?"

He lifted his eyebrow in confusion. "I didn't say hi to you though." Again, Kiku giggled. "I'm not saying hi. I said hai. H-A-I. It means yes in Japanese."