A Step Closer to Love

FOURTEEN YEARS LATER.

“Hana have you gotten all you need for your trip next week?” Ava asked her daughter.

Ava had moved back to Japan with her kids. While they were in Japan both girls got new name. Arabella became Hana and Seraphina became Yuna.

“Haha(Mother in Japanese), you have asked me a billion times and I have responded a billion times that I have everything ready and my bag is ready for my trip next week” Arabella said.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“I just want you to be extra ready. You have never been away from home before” Ava said.

When Ava moved back with her girls from Crescent Bay City she held on to them with her dear life and never allowed her out of her site.

“And I would be with Aunty Everly all the time” Arabella responded.

After her university Arabella began applying for jobs all over the country in the bid to escape from her moms constant prying gaze. She loved her mom but every time she tried to do something her mom was constantly breathing down her neck.

After she lost her husband she became overbearing and constantly on every matter. Seraphina had gotten into the Japanese entertainment sector and was doing well. Since Arabella was in the book publishing business world she applied for jobs far away from her mom she wanted freedom.

Arabella got a job at a start up firm in Crescent Bay, it turned out to be a coincidence that she was returning to the city she spent half of her child hood. It took all of the families to convince her mother that her going away doesn’t mean she is dying. Her mother reluctantly agreed to allow her move back for work only because she agreed to stay with her friend Everly.

“Don’t you dare sass my young lady” Ava said when she heard the sarcastic tone of her daughter.

“Haha let her be” Seraphina said coming into the room where both Ava and Arabella were seated on the bed. She overhead their conversation and decided to intervene to save her sister.

“I should let her be? I wonder what is wrong with all the start up business here in Japan that she could not chose from. She has to travel half way across the world to give her mother a heart attack” Ava said.

“She promised she would be home for all the major holidays” Seraphina said rolling her eyes at her mother.

“Why have daughters they would only cause you heart ache” Ava said with intense exaggeration.

“One has refused to marry and the other decided to abandon their family because of work” Ava added.

“Why do you have to bring up marriage now” Seraphina groaned. She was doing well at work and was not ready to settle down because she knew settling down would result in a decline in her career and she was not ready for that yet.

“Look at your cousin Ayumi get married over the weekend and she is just twenty two years of age” Ava said.

“Ayumi can get married all she wants I would get married when I want to” Seraphina said sitting and holding her mom.

“Is it when I no longer belong to this world?” Ava asked again.

A brief silence fell on the room. Death was still a touchy subject for the three they were healed and better. But don’t they say that scars don’t heal fully?

“Hana, Yuna all I ask is for grandchild. I’m sure your father would have wanted the same” Ava said holding her children closer.

“I would give them to you” Seraphina murmured as she buried her face in her moms neck.

“I love you mom,” Arabella said hugging her mom.

“Hana call us as soon as you land,” Ava said holding her daughter tightly.

“Haha, I would,” Arabella said holding her mother tightly.

Up until this moment, she had thought that going away from her mother was the best decision she had made after deciding on what to study, but at the moment she felt that leaving her mom was not going to be okay at all. Her mother was overbearing but she knew she only did it in her best interest. Now Arabella did not care how many times her mother repeated a statement she only wanted to hold her tightly till she could not again.

“Mom, can I also say goodbye?” Seraphina asked.

Ava reluctantly pulled from her daughter and gently rubbed her face and allowed Seraphina to say goodbye.

“Ane(elder sister in Japanese), I would miss you,” Arabella said holding on to her sister.

Leaving home was scarier than she thought it would be.

“Ara be good and call often and be good to Aunty Everly,” Seraphina said.

Since they lost their dad both girls grew closer to each other and became inseparable.

“Make sure you come back with a man for Mom’s dreams to finally come through,” Seraphina said whispering in her sister’s ears.

“I hope you get married before me Sera” Arabella whispered back into her ear.

Both girls giggle and spent a little more time hugging.

“Go see grandma, she misses you,” Arabella said pulling apart.

When Seraphina clocked twenty-three years old she had a falling out with her grandmother because she had refused to marry and refused all the blind dates they set up for her.

Her grandmother had a hard time believing that a young girl would rather have a career than have tiny human beings popped out of her and this alone made her angry at Seraphina.

Whenever Seraphina visited grandmother treated her quote poorly which made Seraphina feel bad. Seraphina stopped going there altogether.

“It’s my one wish,” Arabella said when she saw the uncomfortable expression on her sister’s face.

The small family learned to live and do the little things for each other because they learned that a person can leave within the blink of an eye.

“I would do it but only because you asked” Seraphina responded kissing her sister’s cheek.

“Thank you” Arabella responded kissing her sister back.

“I better get going,” she said planting a kiss on her mother’s cheek.

Tears flowed from her mother’s face. She hurriedly cleaned it as she watched her daughter about to leave her for a foreign land.

“Remember what I said, Mom. No one died so no crying”

All the ladies froze a little at the sound of the word died but they all nodded and gave a last hug before Arabella wheeled away her bag to get checked in.