Family

Jan: " I'm so bored! Can we play a game?"
Me: " No."
Jan: " Pleaseeeeeeee, da jie. Pleaseeeeeeeee..."( pulls really hard on my sleeves)
Me: " Fine. Let's play the quiet gam-"
Jan: " No~ We always play that game."( tugs on my sleeves harder)
Jo: " How about the silent game?"
(Janice stomps foot and glares at us.)
Me: " I have an idea. How about the 'let's pay attention to the road game'. "
Jan: " I don't want ! I'm not even driving! Daddy is. I want to play 'Simon says'."
Me: " Okay then. Simon says be quiet."
Jan: " Not fair~ I want er jie to be Simon."
Jo: " I know! Let's play I spy. I spy with my little eyes...something green."
Jan: " So easy la! The trees."
Jo: " No."
Jan: " The grass?"
Jo: " No."
Jan: " The plants with flowers?"
Jo: " No."
Jan: " Your face? (Jo shakes head) Your eyes? ( shakes head again) Your hai-"
Me : "Your booger-Ow! Why did you pinch me?"
Jo: " No!"( gives me the evil eye) "It's the gates! See?"
Jan: " Ohhhh. Ceh."
( We reach the restaurant. Sits down and waiter comes to take order)
Jo: " Here's another one. I spy something that looks like a pyramid."
Jan: " Nasi lemak!"
Jo: "Nope."
Jan: " The lantern?"
Jo: "No."
Jan: " Um-"
Me: " Ugh!" ( throws up hands) "This game is so boring! Can't we just be quiet and ignore each other like a normal family?"
Jan: "Da jie!"
( waiter appears with a plate of Nasi Lemak. Places it in front of Janice )
Dad: " Eh, eh, kita tak ada order ini."
Waiter(shrugs and points to Janice): " Dia yang order tadi."
Dad: " Tak Ada la. Mana Ada. ( turns to Janice)Janice, you got order or not?"
Jan: " Where got? I didn't! "
Dad: " Dia cakap tak ada. Boleh ambil balik tak?"
( waiter grumbles and takes plate away)
Me: " She did say you know. In the game."
Family : "..."
Me: " What? It's true!"
Family: "..."
Me: "...."
Jo : "...Let's just quickly eat and get out of here before they find out."

Girl behind the cherry flower tree

There she hides,
Behind the cherry flower tree.
Her eyes bright and full of innocence,
Her smile shy and speak of hesitance.
You'll never know that,
She writes out your name in the sand,
Over and over again,
Only to be blown away,
Scattered and lost, like dead leaves in the winter.

(She still writes anyway.)

There she hides,
behind the cherry flower tree.
You caught her by the hair, pigtail and all,
Together, you tumbled, crashed, rolled and fall.
You'll never know that,
The moment you leaned in,
She was holding her breath,
Counting to ten,
Wishing you would just kiss her already.

(And you did.)

There she hides,
Behind the cherry flower tree.
The day you left without saying goodbye,
Was the day she woke up from the tangle of lies.
You'll never know that,
She took all your pictures,
gave them one last look,
all your perfection,
all your imperfection,
Until the lines blurred and shapes were just shapes.

(She lit the match.)

There she hides,
behind the cherry flower tree,
Like the good friend she was, she kept her promise and showed up at your wedding,
Like the good old times, you laughed and you talked and she even gave you her blessing.
You'll never know that,
She sneaked out the back door with a bottle in hand,
She had a sip,
and then another,
and then another,
Before she knows it morning has came and she was all alone in her apartment that suddenly felt too big for her.

( Life sucks.)

There she hides,
behind the cherry flower tree.
You'll never know that,
The girl who loved you so, was me.

Reality

She kept scrubbing and scrubbing although her skin was already painful and raw. But his scent lingers still, like a ghost that refuses to fade away. The blood stains were the most difficult to remove, clinging onto her hair and the underneath of her nails, which have dried and harden to ugly,brown crusts. She watched the dirty water circle down the drain and tried very, very hard not to throw up again.

She wanted to sit on the bathroom floor and never move for the rest of eternity.

She wanted to run and run and run until she forgets the reason why she needed to run in the first place.

She wanted this guilt to go away and be able to tell herself that it's not her fault, that she have tried everything in her power, that no one could have survived from a stab like that.

She wanted to hold onto that guilt and never let go because it's the only proof that the whole thing was real, that he was real and not a figment of her imagination like her parents claimed it was.

The hesitant knocking on the door snapped her back to the present.

" Your highness, I brought you lunch."

The maid placed the dish in front of her gingerly as if she was threading dangerous waters. She noticed that the maid's hands trembled a little. Why is everyone so afraid of her?

" I shall leave you to enjoy your meal, my lady." The maid curtsied and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" She needed to know. She needed to know that she was right. " Have you ever heard of a man named Eugene Fitzherbert?"

The maid appeared confused. " Who again, Your Highness?"

" Oh. Silly me." She laughed in a high pitch voice. The maid flinched. " I forgot that no one knew his real name. Flynn Rider? Have you heard of him?"

" The fictional character in those children stories?"

" No! Well, sort of. He did named himself after that character. But no, I'm talking about the Flynn Rider. The real one."

The maid looked uneasy. " I don't think I know who you are talking about, my lady."

" How could you not know? The most cunning thief in the kingdom? The man who stole my crown? The guy with the weird nose on those wanted posters!?"

" My lady, perhaps I should call the court physician for you. Maybe you need to increase your medication..."

" Stop lying to me! "She screamed and shook the maid by the shoulders.

 " They put you up to this, didn't they? My parents? Didn't they?"

" Please...prin..cess."The maid struggled against her hold.

" Tell me! Tell me he's real!

" I...I don't know!"

" Tell me!"

" I...really don't know anything! I'm just following orders!"

At those words, she released her grip and sank to the floor.

" Princess?"

" Go away! Just.. Leave me alone!"

The maid quickly fled the scene and almost ran into a figure in the hallway.

" Your Majesty! I'm sorry, I didn't see you..."

" No worries, young one. How is she doing?"

"The princess? Not so good, I'm afraid. She still rambles about that Flynn Rider guy every now and then."

"Did she bring up the witch? The talking chameleon?"

" Not today,sir."

" Good, good. The new medication is working then."

" I hope so, sir. I hate to see her like this. She barely left her room after that dreadful fever."

 "She will be fine. I know she will."

" Sir? "

The king was no longer looking at the maid. His gaze was focused hard on the door of his daughter's
room. A room he have not set foot in since she slammed the door in his face and said she hated him.

" She has to."

Painting

" So? What do you think? And be honest, because I'm a manly man and I can handle criticism."

" Well, uh, the sky is really pretty." 

" And?"

" The grass is very...nice. So many colors."

" Aw, come on Blondie! You can do better than that! Look, I even drew your frog over here."

" That's Pascal? Why does he have horns?"

" Those aren't horns! Those are his ears!"

" Um, Eugene, Pascal doesn't have ears."

" Of course he does! Don't you, Pascal?"

"..." Pascal just sticks out his tongue.

" Great. Even the frog hates my drawing."

" It's not that bad. I love how you drew Max."

"...Blondie, that's your father."

"Oh. Um. Did I mention that the sky is really pretty?"

I knew you were trouble

He pushed her against the wall. Hard.
He didn't pause to check if she was okay, his hands continued to wander on her skin, hot and desperate. She was a bit annoyed at first but he gave her that smile then, the one that made her heart melt and her legs go weak. She forgave him because that's all she ever does.
"So, we're an item now right? Like together, together?"
As soon as the question escaped her mouth, he froze. A few seconds later, he recovered and shrugged like it's no big deal." Sure." 
She could tell that he was lying, from the way he refused to look at her in the eyes and his pathetic attempts to distract her with his kisses.She knew that the right thing to do was to push him away, say no before it's too late for regrets.
But she didn't.
And that made her hate herself a little.