Girl In The Winter's
Chapter 2
Ten minutes later Ayumi was already at her college in UBC, her face still bent in annoyance at the behavior of her rescue angel who seemed to be turning into a shitty Loki today.
"Goddessa!" A petite woman with shoulder-length black hair ran over to greet the girl with a wide smile.
"I have some good news for you." Yuki, a girl of Japanese descent and one of Ayumi's best friends on campus.
"Tell me, 'cause I need it so much today." Ayumi continued to walk into the hallway of the medical school and into the classroom followed by Yuki beside her.
"You know that every descendant in Canada has their own association, like you who follow the Indonesian society?" Yuki asked enthusiastically, whereas Ayumi still looked not so interested in the theme of this conversation, she took out some books inside her bag then put them on the table.
"Yes, then?"
"As soon as the Japanese, we have our own society," Ayumi began to understand the direction of her friend's conversation, he shifted his gaze from the lesson notes to the narrowed eyes of the smiling Japanese girl and nodded his head excitedly.
"My mom, did you find my mom?" Ayumi almost screamed out of happiness, finally finding her mother after a two-year search.
"Hey, calm down." Yuki took a breath before continuing her story, "I've asked almost everyone I know in my society about your mother, but it's a pity no one knows her." Ayumi exhales in disappointment and then resumes her activities reading a notebook about human organs after as usual information about her mother always ends in a dead end.
"Don't drown, I haven't finished telling you." Yuki smiled looking at her pouting friend.
"Listen, you know my mom's friend from Toronto came to visit last night, and I was actually just a prankster when I asked her if there was a Japanese woman there named Minami Takeda?" Yuki fixed her minus glasses then looked at Ayumi with a serious look.
"And she said there was," Ayumi widened her eyes in disbelief, her heart pounding at the news that almost made her desperate to find her mother for the past two years.
"Mother? She know my mom?" Ayumi's voice sounded nervous in disbelief that she had finally heard the news of someone who knew her mother.
"She knows your mother!" Yuki is no less hysterical because he is happy than Ayumi, they hug each other while jumping around no matter their feet hit the table.
"Ok enough, my legs are starting to hurt." Yuki stopped her jumping show and stroked her knee that hit the table, in contrast to Ayumi who was smiling happily no matter her leg pain.
"I forgot, do you have a picture of your mother?"
"Yes I have it, but it's an old photo, even before I was born."
"No problem, my mom's friend asked for a picture of her who knew Minami Takeda who she knew was the same person as your mom, so are you taking her now?" Ayumi took her purse and opened it, inside her purse was a photo of her with her Father and younger sister Rama, under the photo was a photo with a paper that had turned slightly yellow.
In the photo is a girl in Yukata clothes who looks very beautiful, her eyes are round like Ayumi's eyes, next to her standing gallantly Ayumi's father wearing Yukata as well, as well as some of their other friends in similar outfits, the photo was taken during a summer fireworks festival in Japan.
"Here," Ayumi gave the photo to Yuki enthusiastically.
"Wow, your mother is very beautiful, very similar to you," Ayumi smiled at the compliment, Ayumi indeed very often heard her father say that she is very similar to her mother, she said, but it is different when others say it, there is a feeling of a little pride, at least there is a feeling that his mother will know him when she meets him.
"You keep this picture, we'll see my mom's friend tonight." Ayumi nodded excitedly, she couldn't wait to find out the news regarding her mother.
****
They sit in the living room of Yuki's house, an oriental minimalist style house with a touch of Japanese decor.
"So, you're Minami's daughter?" the middle-aged woman who still looked beautiful looked at Ayumi with a full search.
"Yes, Madam," Ayumi replied nervously, from the first time she stepped on her foot into this house she felt cold sweat drench her body and her heart was racing with nervousness, from the first moment she stepped on, Ayumi unceasingly squeezed out her ice-cold fingers.
"I'm sorry, you must be nervous about my attitude. I just didn't expect Minami to have a daughter this big." The woman Yuki called Megumi Sama smiled gently after seeing Ayumi sitting nervously before her.
"You brought a picture of your mother? Just to be sure, I'm afraid that we're talking about different people, even if you have the same eyes as my friend." Ayumi nodded then did take the photo she had prepared in the wallet then handed it to the woman.
"You are my friend Minami's daughter" she looked at the photo with a sense of haru.
"I remember this photo I took at the time of my last hanabi matsuri before I got married and moved to Canada" The woman smiled again as she looked at the old photo.
"So what's your name, son?" The woman now looked at Ayumi with gentle eyes like a mother looking at her child.
"My name is Ayumi Maheswara." The woman slightly frowned when she heard Ayumi's name.
"Maheshwara? You mean you're Minami and Radit Maheswara's daughter?" The woman looked at Ayumi in disbelief.
"Yes, Madam, my father Radit Maheswara, you know him too?" Ayumi asked with curious eyes.
"Yes, I know Radit, we went to the same school, but despite different courses, I know your father was a good man, smart and handsome, I just didn't think Minami was finally married to Radit." Ayumi was a little confused when she heard the explanation of the woman who was now looking at the photo seriously.
"Say, son, how old are you?" The woman looked at Ayumi seriously.
"Last July I was 21 years old" The woman squinted her eyes, frowned and looked back at the old picture as if she was thinking, suddenly paled to Ayumi in disbelief.
"Mrs, is everything okay?" Ayumi was surprised to see the change in expression of the middle-aged woman who was now as pale as a corpse, she looked at Ayumi as if looking for answers inside the girl's black eyes.
Ayumi gave her the tea that Yuki's mother had provided, after a while the woman was finally able to control herself, she regained her composure, at this time they were indeed the only two in the room, yuki's family deliberately gave them a bit of personal space.
"I'm fine, son, I'm sorry I just remembered your mother," the woman smiled again, but a little forced, Ayumi nodded her head in understanding and then sat quietly in front of the woman.
The woman stood up and walked around the table and sat down next to Ayumi, before returning to tell her about Ayumi's mother.
"Your mother is a beautiful and smart woman, many men are in love with her but only one person makes her fall in love" she smiled as she clasped Ayumi's tiny hand, the woman's hands were very cold and slightly trembling, Ayumi did not know what had happened to the woman beside her, now she looked back into the girl's black eyes, she said, his brows furrowed slightly as if he was back looking for answers there.
For a while the woman managed to control herself, and went back to normalcy, "I lost contact with your mother when I moved to Canada, she said, but two years later your mother called me and said that she was moving to Vancouver, I was happy to hear that because I wouldn't feel alone in this foreign country." The woman looked at Ayumi and smiled gently before continuing her story.
"Your mother lived in Vancouver for only a few months, her husband got a job in Seattle and then they moved there, maybe your mother forgot to tell you about the move." The woman looked at Ayumi with sympathetic eyes.
"So, my mom's in Seattle right now?" Ayumi looked at the middle-aged woman with hopeful eyes, after a two-year search she was finally able to meet her mother.
But the woman was just silent, suddenly the room was gripped with a sense of silence, Ayumi's heart skipped a beat waiting for the answer from the woman beside her who began to teary-eyed.
"Mistress?" Ayumi's voice was full of fear.
"Oh dear, forgive me," the woman began to sob, Ayumi was confused to see the woman crying for no apparent reason.
"Mrs, are you okay?" Ayumi tried to calm the woman down nervously.
"Darling, I'm sorry," that's all that came back out of her mouth behind the sobs of the woman.
Ayumi's feeling was that if something was wrong here, her heart was racing again, her body was cold, she was frozen to try to understand the woman's words. No. This can't be what he thinks.
*****
