Girl In The Winter's

Chapter 4

"Do you know what's going on with that little girl?" Marry whispered to John who was at the cashier's desk, he turned his gaze from the money sheet he was counting towards the front where a black haired girl was eagerly cleaning the cafe tables and at the same time he was also serving the cafe visitors.

"No." John shrugged his shoulders and refocused on counting the dollar sheets in the cash register.

"Today he was acting strangely, even he had not rested from this morning."

John immediately fell silent and immediately returned to focus on Ayumi who was recording the orders of customers who had just arrived.

"He hasn't eaten yet?" John's question was immediately answered by a serious nod by Marry, Ayumi's body is indeed tiny and slim but if the business of eating the girl almost matches John's eating ability.

"It's weird." John furrowed his brows and remained focused on observing Ayumi who was now approaching Marry to give her the order she had just received.

"Marry, this is a new order for you," Ayumi gave the middle-aged woman a piece of paper that shot straight towards the kitchen to prepare her order.

"Ayumi, come with me for a moment." John came out of the counter and before he stepped out he yelled at Marry to bring him some tuna sandwiches, fries and milkshakes. Ayumi followed behind John who walked towards the outside door and sat at the corner table.

"John, I have to work."

"No, before you eat, ok?"

"I'm not hungry yet, I'll eat later."

"Now, little girl." Ayumi could not argue back when John had already issued such a commanding tone, he lazily sat down in front of John and not long after Marry came up with five pieces of sandwiches, one large plate of potatoes complete with its sauce and one large glass of strawberry milkshake.

"Oh my God, I can't afford to spend all this." Ayumi's round eyes grew rounder when she saw the food in front of her.

"Trust me dear, you'll be able to spend all this." Marry smiled before leaving the still gaping Ayumi. John orders Ayumi to start eating by raising her eyebrows, lazily picking up a sandwich and starting to eat it.

"So, what's going on?" John started his question, waiting for an answer, John took the pieces of fries and ate them.

"Nothing." Ayumi was silent for a while and went back to eating her food.

"There's nothing, it's just last night I just found out that my mom died four years ago." John widened his eyes to hear the words of the girl who was now eagerly continuing to eat.

"Oh, dear, I'm sad."

"There's no need to be sad for me, John, I don't even know him." Ayumi ate her sandwich with a bigger bite until her cheeks bulged.

"You know, John, as long as I've lived I haven't even met her once." Ayumi spoke with her mouth still full of food, she drank her milkshake before continuing to speak.

"He never even looked for me." Ayumi spoke excitedly, she picked up another slice of sandwich and started biting it, "She left me when I was a baby." Ayumi put the big slice of sandwich back into her tiny mouth, several times she almost choked and John gave her a drink to relieve her throat.

John let the girl take out everything that had been a burden in his heart all this time, he just silently listened to the girl tell a story full of anger, he said, he knew the girl was sad but he was too disappointed to admit it. John knows how Ayumi two years ago struggled to find her mother tirelessly, she was just an ordinary girl who missed the figure of a mother who was never present in her life, John could understand the disappointment of the girl after all her struggles and sacrifices all along but ended in disappointment.

"Tell me, John, am I a bad boy if I don't cry over my mother's death?" Those round eyes were now staring at John fieryly but John could see the lightning of sadness there, even John could already see his eyes begin to glaze over.

"No, honey, you're not evil." John shifted his seat next to the girl while holding his tiny hand.

"But I'm evil, John, I." Ayumi did not continue because she could no longer hold back her tears.

"I'm not crying, John, this is because this chilli sauce is too spicy." Ayumi violently wiped away her tears that kept flowing down her cheeks, "Oh, damn, why do my tears keep flowing?" Ayumi started sobbing and John immediately pulled the girl into his arms, he did not say anything, he just stroked the butt of Ayumi gently giving comfort to the fragile looking petite girl.

"Did she hate me so much that she went to a place I couldn't go?" Ayumi said between her sobs.

John still didn't say anything because he knew what the girl needed right now was just a place to pour out her heart, someone willing to listen.

"Why isn't he waiting for me." John stroked his head fondly, "I only want to meet him once,” continued Ayumi with a voice in the form of a whisper that made John vibrate, "I just want to tell him." Ayumi took a deep breath before continuing her words, "If I have forgiven her, and. I miss her."

Although John slowly could still hear the sentence, a sentence that he had been denying wholeheartedly because of disappointment to his mother who had left him from the baby, but he could not deny his heart, after all she is her mother. No matter how bad the woman is, she is still her mother, the one who gave her into the world at the stake of her own life, so how can she hate the one who gave her life, his head could have refused to admit it but not with his heart, and he could not have lied to his heart.

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