What happens when the unapproachable Xiao befriends Venti?
Xiao a boy who holds in his present a many burden.
Venti a boy who holds a past he cannot erase.
At the same time, the story will also focus on our side characters!
We have-
Kazuha
Ganyu
H...
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Venti had mustered up his courage and just as he was about to ring the bell, the door opened!
Venti was startled but there was no one inside.
Huh?
How did the door open by itself?
The only probable answer was-
"The door was already open"
He was greeted with a foul smell the moment the door opened. The smell was of... Gas!?
A look of panic filled his face as he immediately barged into the house. There was no mistaking this. It was the smell of gas!
He followed the intense stench and reached the kitchen where the smell was the strongest. He noticed that the gas knob was still on with nothing on it! He hurriedly turned it off with sweat dripping down his chin because of all the tension.
He opened all the windows in the kitchen and finally took a breath of relief. If he was even a second late, something terrible might've happened by now.
"Who are you?"
The sudden unknown voice made him flinch. He turned around and stood facing the women who looked at Venti with red eyes which seemed deprived of rest and peace. She had an empty bottle of liquor in her hand as she held onto the wall to support her body near the door to the kitchen.
"Who the hell are you,?...and what are you doing here?"
The voice of the woman was harsh. Was she Xiao's mother? She looked so different from Xiao. Not how Venti had imagined.
"I... I apologize for suddenly barging into your house ma'am. I am actually here to see Xiao. I am one of his classmates. The door of the house just happened to be open and-"
"Just because the door was open, you came in without permission?"
"No... I was greeted with the stench of cooking gas the moment the door opened. So I hurried inside and found the gas knob turned on. I really do apologize for coming inside without permission. But some sort of accident might've happened if I had just left it just as it was."
The woman looked at Venti with her brows twisted . Venti noticed that she was taking unusually deep breaths.
The glass bottle she held slipped through her hands as she barely kept herself standing against the wall. Venti immediately kept the tiffin box which he had brought with him on the floor and ran to hold the woman right as she was about to fall on the ground.
"Ma'am, are you alright?", he asked with a worried voice.
The woman did not reply. She collapsed at that very moment,losing her consciousness.
Instead of panicking, Venti somehow brought her into the nearest room and placed her onto the bed. She had a very high fever. Her body was all bones and her complexion resembled white clay. She was like a dusted old photograph from ancient albums.
Why was she drinking in such a state?
Venti went to that same kitchen and looked through the freezer. The lack of food in it and the abundance of instant ramen made him baffled. Such an unhealthy diet!
He properly locked the door of the house and went to the mart by himself. He bought a few ingredients and came back within minutes and started making a porridge and some sort of a juice.
As time went by, the woman slowly showed signs of life as she slowly opened her still red and tired eyes.
"You are awake!", Venti exclaimed and helped the woman to sit on the bed. He then immediately handed her a galss with a reddish fluid.
"Umm... this will help you feel better. Its a drink to get rid of your hangover.", he said with such a caring smile that the woman almost subconsciously took the glass from his hand and drank it entirely. Maybe she was hoping that it would poison her so that she could finally die. But it was indeed like a medicinal drink.
"I... I used your kitchen without permission. I am sorry.", Venti said as he brought a plate full of deliciously steamy porridge.
"You... you made this?", the woman asked with a heaviness in her voice.
"I did... It might not taste the best..."
"There's no need for such food. I don't eat at this time of the day"
"But you are not well ma'am. I... I went to the market and bought the ingredients for this myself. So please don't reject this plate.", He said and gently placed the plate in front of the woman.
She hesitantly took a spoonful of the porridge. Then another. Followed by another big bite.
Venti smiled with relief.
"Who did you say you were?", she asked Venti after taking the final bite of ther food.
"I am Venti. Xiao's classmate. I.. am here to meet him. He hasn't been to school at all for the past 3 days. So I was wondering if he was sick. But I suppose he was looking after you-"
"Why wold he look after me huh?"
The sudden words of the woman did not make sense to Venti. She was his mother. Of course he would care for her right?
But the woman spoke before Venti could say anything.
"Xiao has no reason to look after me."
"But... you are Xiao's mother right?"
"I am not", the woman said, "i am not his mother. I hate him. And he does as well"
Anyone hearing these words for the first time would have a mind flooded with questions. But Venti gave a small little smile at the woman.
"I am sure that he does not hate you."
The woman looked up at Venti with widespread eyes.
"Maybe because he acts distant from everyone else... he is very hard to approach at times and has a cold air around him... now that I think of it, I can name more than a few reasons as to why you would feel like he doesn't care about you.", Venti gave an awkward smile and laughed at his way of speaking. But he continued with a soft smile. "I am sure that Xiao does not hate you. I... have only known him for a couple months. But the Xiao I know is not capable of hating anyone. Hate is a very strong word afterall."
The woman did not speak until Venti was done with his words. She slowly got up from her bed and stood up on her bony legs.
"Venti was it... You remind me... remind me of a certain someone.", she mumbled with quietness so that Venti could not hear her.
"As I said, I am not his mother", she said.
"I had not known that until now " Venti replied. "But even still... a relation by blood is not always necessary."
"A relationship by blood? Its far from that. That Xiao... he resembles that monster... that monster who took everything away from me. Everytime I look at him, I am always reminded of that bastard father of his! That man who brought home the child he had with some other woman!"
The dots were finally starting to connect in Venti's mind as he was beginning to understand why the woman in front of him hated Xiao.
