Yibo's POV
"What's the best memory of your childhood?"
I hated that question.
Having a schizophrenic mother and a negligent father made it almost impossible to have good memories of childhood.
The earliest memories I have of my life were of my mother and father fighting, my mother crying, screaming, getting paranoid, taking medications, and sometimes trying to end her life.
Getting restrained and what not.
And as for my father, well, he was there but it didn't matter.
Since I was a kid I have been trying and trying to be good at everything, I took up a lot of extracurricular activities, like dancing, singing, painting, and sports a lot so that I could distract myself from the family drama so that I can stay away from home as much as I can.
It was just another day when my parents had a huge fight, my mother thought that my father was cheating, and my father was convincing her that he didn't, she was also telling everyone that she saw someone in the house, but it was just hallucinations.
And I didn't want to hear any of that, I wanted to be at school but eight-year-old me couldn't go there alone and the bus wouldn't be here anytime soon, so I asked Martha to drop me at school when I reached school, I had assumed that the classes would be empty so I just barged inside the class but stopped in my tracks when I saw someone over there.
I knew this guy, he was my classmate, and as far as I knew his name was Zhan, he looked at me before he looked away. And I didn't say anything either, however, that day we were assigned our deskmates and surprisingly Zhan was my deskmate.
"Hi," I said to him just to be polite, he smiled at me and greeted me back, this boy was cute.
"Where is your lunch?" I asked him during recess and he just took out an apple, "That's it?" I asked and he nodded, "I don't have much at home."
"So you will remain hungry all day?"
"I am not going to be hungry, I have an apple."
"Well, that's not enough," I said as I looked at him, he was so thin, I took out my lunchbox and kept it in the middle of the desk, "here, eat."
Zhan's eyes were fixated on the food and he swallowed, "Really? I can eat it?"
"Sure." I said with a smile, "Sharing is caring."
"Thanks."
I smiled as I saw him eat, he looked cute, that day I made a new friend.
When I reached home I had a smile on my face.
"Yibo, my darling..." My mother said as she came to me and hugged me, "How was school?"
I smiled, "It was good...Um...mom..."
"Yes, can you give me two lunch boxes from tomorrow?"
She blinked and said, "Why honey?"
"I have a friend I want to share my food with, he likes your cooking very much."
"Oh, sure," she said with a smile.
"Thanks, mom."
~~
The same night I heard loud voices from my mother's room, it was an everyday occurrence, sometimes she would cry, sometimes she would pray, and sometimes she would roam around the house.
I heard the door of my room opening, and I could hear footsteps, I felt the edge of my bed dip and I knew my mother was sitting on the bed.
She kept her hand over my head and started chanting.
My mother was a Buddhist, she loved god, and she loved to pray., often times she would come to my room at night and pray, and sometimes she would lie beside me and hug me, and sometimes she would hug me and cry.
That's how things were usually around the house.
The next day my mother made two lunchboxes and gave them to me, she kissed my cheeks and said goodbye, today was one of those rare normal days.
I went to school happily and sat beside Zhan, we talked for a while, and during recess, I gave Zhan another lunchbox.
"Here you go."
"Thanks, Yibo," Zhan said.
I looked at his shoes which had a hole in them, "Zhan, your shoe is torn."
"I know."
"Then why don't you buy a new one?"
"My mother told me that she would sew this shoe and we could buy the new shoe in the new year, my parents don't have money for a new shoe right now."
"Why don't your parents have money?"
"I don't know, my mother told me that once both my parents had a lot of money."
"Then what happened to that money?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, she said that she and my dad have chosen between something precious and money and they chose that precious thing.
By the way, your dance competition is tomorrow, right? All the best."
"Thanks. Will you be there?"
"Sure."
~~
"Mom!" I called out her name as soon as I came home, but she was nowhere to be found, instead, Martha came to me and said, "Hi honey."
"Where is mom?" I asked.
"Well, you see she was a little sick, so she had to be taken to the hospital."
My smile dimmed, "when will she be back?" I asked.
"I don't know."
"Then what about my lunch?"
"I will make your lunch..."
"Two lunchboxes okay?"
"Okay."
I went to my room and lay on my bed. I missed my mom.
~~
The next day, my dance competition went well, but my parents were not there, however, I was happy when I saw Zhan over there.
I smiled at him and met him after my dance was over.
"You were so good!" he said and I smiled, he then raised his hand and gave me a rose.
"Why this?"
"My mother said I should get you something, but since I couldn't think of anything I just got the rose from the school's garden."
I took the flower and thanked him, as I looked down at the flower, my eyes went to his shoes, he was still wearing those torn shoes.
"Where are your mom and dad?" Zhan asked.
"My mom was sick, so she couldn't come, they can't always attend my competitions."
"It's okay I will attend all of your competitions."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"And will you give me a rose every time?"
"Sure."
"It's a promise then."
"Promise."
~~
"Mom, I won the competition," I told my mother about the competition once she returned from the hospital.
"Oh my, congratulations darling, I am proud of you," she said as she stared at my award.
"Mom, can I ask for something?"
"Yes."
"I want to buy new shoes."
"Alright."