Mother and Son Talk Writing Commission

Zhard and Ayami 1,000 words for Redreaper1951

One rainy afternoon, Zhard is walking home with his mother, Ayami, from the grocery store. Under Ayami’s large purple-umbrella, both are dry as they hold grocery bags full of ingredients for baking later. Zhard glances behind himself, upwards, and down at the groceries in his hands. His mom notices his distracted behavior. She knows her son loves to bake, but a line of extremities has been crossed with suddenly needing to buy many bags of flour, sugar, preserves, baking powder, cream, and much more.

“Zhard, is everything alright?” Ayami asks.

He startles and looks up. He nearly trips on the skirt of his mother’s dress, the hearts decorating the hem of her petty coat brush the sidewalk at his feet.

“Um, yes?” Zhard answers. “I’m okay.” He reaches up and adjusts the striped tie hanging loosely around his neck. He tugs on it and looks away.

Ayami smiles. “I know you love to bake, as do I, but do you think this is a bit much? What inspired you?” she asks.

“I just wanted a little bit of a distraction,” Zhard says.

“A distraction from what?”

Zhard stops walking. He hugs his groceries to his chest. Ayami rearranges her bags to loop the handles over her free arm. With the umbrella in her other hand, she goes to Zhard, holding the umbrella high to keep him out of the rain, as much as she can.

“Mom, have you ever… liked someone before?”

“Well of course, silly,” she says with warmth in her voice. “Why do you ask that?”

Zhard shifts his feet and tries to not meet her eyes. His cheeks turn red under his dark purple hair that drapes over his eyebrows and curls around his ears.

“There’s a girl that I really, really like. I think I love her,” Zhard says.

“What’s her name? Have I met her?”

“No. Her name is Nekokowa-chan. She reminds me a lot of you actually. She even loves the color purple as well,” Zhard says. He shrugs and looks at his mother.

“Aw,” Ayami says with a sigh. She tries to hide the smile twitching on her lips, but’s its difficult to contain the joy she feels at her son’s confession. She’s excited for him. “Well, she sounds very nice. How do you know her?”

“We are classmates, well, she’s a class below me with Chihiro—”

“Chihiro?”

“Yeah, Chihiro too. She’s so full of spunk and is comfortable in her own skin. She tells great jokes,” Zhard says.

Ayami frowns as she tries to put her son’s words together in her head. The bags of flour in her arms are getting a little heavy. “Wait, are you talking about Chihiro or Nekokowa?” she asks to clarify.

“Both. Chihiro tells the jokes, Nekokowa reminds me of you.”

“Both girls?”

“I like both girls. I think I love them,” Zhard admits. His voice drops and his face turns bright red. A little bit of rain dribbles onto his shoulder. He continues, “but I don’t know what to do. I don’t know who to be with. It’s already overwhelming that one girl likes me back. But two?”

Ayami sets her groceries down and pulls her son back under the safety of the umbrella. His hair looks black as it got wet in the rain. Her heart goes out to her son, she hates seeing him upset, especially over something that should be a happy thing.

“Have you told either of them that you like them yet?”

“N-no,” Zhard answers. He shakes his head. The very thought makes him look like he’ll drop from the stress of it. “I can’t decide who to tell or who I even like the most. Who should I pick to ask to be my girlfriend? I don’t even know if I can make such a decision. It’s like both Chihiro and Nekokowa are playing a game of tug of war with my heart. They both are pulling me back and forth, I’m going to break,” Zhard exclaims. “I don’t want to lose either of them, but I just can’t bring myself to pick one over the other,” Zhard says. He brushes back his bangs and his eyes grow wide at the thought.

Outside the safety of their umbrella, the drizzle pitter patters along the street’s sidewalk. Little puddles pool in the cracks and some people walk by, their footsteps breaking the gathering water. Ayami waits for her son to calm down a little. The warring thoughts in his head can be seen running between his wide eyes.

“Maybe you should let them play tug of war?” Ayami suggests.

“Mom!” Zhard gasps, “they’ll rip me in two!” He stumbles and clutches his chest as if the girls are physically pulling him in different directions. His mom smiles and laughs lightly to herself. She puts her arm over her son’s shoulders and pulls him closer under the umbrella to hear what she has to say.

“Not necessarily. You don’t need to pick which side to be pulled to—pull them both to you instead! That’s the whole point, isn’t it? You want to love both of these dear girls and they want to love you too,” Ayami says.

“Love them both?”

“Yes, love both of them. Love is a beautiful thing, my son. I want you to experience it in the fullest. Be sure to give and receive lots of love. If you genuinely love them both, let them know. If it’s meant to be, it will be.”

Standing under the umbrella in the drizzling rain, Zhard’s blue eyes fill with tears.

“Do you think I’d really be allowed to?” he asks. Ayami steps back to look at him. His brows are knitted with his growing determination to be happy, part of him already knowing what he needs to do even though his eyes still seek her answers and advice. Ayami smiles, seeing who her son has grown up to be.

“Yes. You should allow yourself. That’s the only thing stopping you.”