Hey guys! A quick 'sorry' for not updating my other stories! Working on all the Valentines' Day stories now and rushing them out! Hope you guys enjoy the little Valentines' Day special I have here and please review if you liked it! I wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year, Valentines' Day ( Or Forever Alone Day, your choice xD ) and a nice day! ^^
"Daddy! Let's go another round!" Emilia yelled, happily. "Sure thing Em! But this time…do you wanna try cycling without those training wheels?" Her father said warmly, bending down to her level. The little girl looked genuinely shocked for a moment before hanging her head low, fiddling with her fingers.
"What's wrong, Em?" He asked, concerned. "Fine. But can I just fail this and have my wheels back?" Emilia muttered under her breath. He gave a little chuckle before lifting his daughter's chin up so that they made eye contact. "Oh sweetie, what does daddy always tell you?" He said, a small smile on his face.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing well!" They both said at the same time. He then grabbed her tiny hand and walked towards her bicycle when suddenly, she rooted her feet to the ground. "Em?" He looked down at her. "I…I'm still scared…" She said, on the brink of tears.
Taking off his dark grey cycling gloves, he picked Emilia's hand up and slipped the oversized pair of gloves onto her shaky hands. "There. So long as you have my gloves, it will be like I'm still supporting you, when you don't have your wheels!" He then gave her a toothy smile before picking her up and placing her onto her red bike.
Soon, Emilia picked up the skill of cycling without training wheels, so much that she excelled in it. She kept racing her dad and he would always deliberately lose to her, even when he could easily beat her hands down.
"Daddy! Race you across the street!" Emilia laughed, taking advantage of the fact that her father was not on his bike and sped off with her bike. He was just about to follow behind her when he saw that there was an oncoming truck.
Not thinking, he hopped onto his own bike and peddled as fast as he could out to the road. He then pushed Emilia's back that was in front of him to the pavement. Looking to the side, he knew that this was it and as fast as he peddled, he could never beat the truck.
Emilia fell and scratched her knee and small streams of salty tears rolled down from her eyes as they left a trail on her rosy cheeks. Emilia tried her very best not to cry, maintaining the strong and tough exterior she had. As she slowly picked herself up, she looked around trying to find her daddy.
"Daddy…?" Emilia's voice was even softer than a whisper. She had already caught sight of the accident. She took small steps towards her father who laid motionless in a pool of red. It was a messy accident.
"DAD!" Emilia yelled, immediately sitting upright. Looking around her, she mentally tried to calm herself down. Drawing her legs close to her, she pulled them towards her chest. Burying her face in between her knees, Emilia quietly sobbed. It was just a nightmare. But the only difference was, that it actually happened. Her father died, because of her impulsiveness and recklessness and she could never forgive herself for that. Her mother's face when she found out what had happened and her father's laugh haunted her till that day.
Emilia then stretched her hand out so that she could open the drawer of her end table. There was only one glove in that drawer. As she brought the glove near to her heart, she remembered where the other went.
Bending down, 5 year old Emilia unzipped her red backpack and took her lunchbox out. It was a Batman and Robin themed lunchbox that her dad got her for her birthday. As she walked out of the classroom, she felt…sad. Many of her teachers asked her that day what was wrong with her. That little girl they were teaching wasn't the same bubbly and energetic Emilia as before.
Earlier that week, her father died in a tragic car accident. Emilia's mother took her as the cause of her husband's death. The only reason she hadn't put Emilia up for adoption was the fact that her husband adored their little girl so much, she felt it was the best thing she could do for him.
Still, it didn't mean she showered Emilia with love or anything. Just the basic essentials like food and lodging, minus all the care and warmth a home should have. Every single time Emilia tried to talk to her mother or show any forms of affection, she was ignored. The teachers didn't know this.
Emilia shuffled her feet as she walked out into the open playground. Looking at her fellow classmates happily playing on the swing sets and sliding down the slides didn't brighten her mood either. She was never one to make many friends. Regardless, she remained her happy self because at least she had a warm home to return to. But even that was taken away from her.
She sat on the wooden bench at the far corner of the entire courtyard where no one could bother her. Opening her lunchbox revealed a ham and cheese sandwich very messily assembled. She put it together herself since her mother refused to stay within a ten foot radius of her.
As Emilia was about to sink her teeth into the sandwich, she saw a couple of older boys walk towards her. "Hey! Kid! Give us your lunch money unless you want us to beat you up!" They yelled at her. One boy even walked up to her and grabbed the collar of her shirt. "I…I don't have any money." She said, her eyes watering.
"Don't lie to us!" They said loudly. As that same boy raised his fist about to punch her, they all heard a sound behind them. "Hey! Leave her alone!" She looked over her bully's shoulder to see a boy with blonde hair. He was wearing geeky glasses and his shirt was tucked in completely. It was one of the boys in her class.
"What can you do about it, punk?!" The boy holding her collar dropped her to the ground as he walked towards his likely new victim of bullying. At that same moment, the school bell rang. "Count yourselves lucky!" the bullies said in unison before walking off. The last one pushed the blonde boy to the ground before continuing.
Emilia immediately ran up to her savior. "Are you okay?!" She yelled, panicking. As she helped him up, he pushed his glasses up before turning to her and giving her a goofy smile. "I'm fine! You should try sticking up for yourself sometime! But we should really be getting to class!" He then quickly ran off. "WAIT!" Emilia yelled before running up to him, stopping him.
She grabbed one of the gloves her father gave her before presenting it to him. "Here! This is the best way I can thank you!" She shoved it in his hands before running off. She obviously didn't understand what death really meant but who could expect her to? She was only five and she really wanted to thank him.
Emilia couldn't fall asleep. She then walked down the stairs to get something to drink but she saw Bodie watching soccer instead. She didn't want to bother him and neither did she want to stay up and watch with him since she was so depressed.
Instead, she quietly made her way to Bodie's room. Once, she asked him why he could sleep so well and he boasted of this bottle of oil then helped him to fall asleep all the time so she decided to sneak in to borrow some of his oil and get out before he even knew she was in there.
She creaked open the door and started opening random drawers. Emilia worked her way up to the end table drawers. Opening the last drawer, she finally found what she was looking for, but something next to the bottle intrigued her. She put the bottle away and picked up the grey glove.
It…it was the same one her father gave to her. He…he was the boy that stood up for her. It was him all this while and she didn't even know. Suddenly, she heard the sound of the bedroom door open. She swiftly turned to see Bodie standing there, shocked. "Em? What are you doing in my room?" He said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"B!" Emilia ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Bodie had no idea what was going on but he just briefly hugged her back. She pulled away after a long time. "It…was you…" She said, looking down at the glove in her hands. Bodie looked down as well.
"Why were you touching my glove?" Bodie then snatched it back. He was a bit pissed. After all, it was his prized glove that that really cute girl in elementary school gave to him back then. Even though Emilia was his best friend, it didn't mean she could touch it…
Emilia then ran out of the room and shortly came back, the other half of the pair of gloves in her hands. "B…That's the glove I gave you, back then." Bodie then silently took the two gloves and put them on Emilia's hands. She could've crumbled down right there and then, because the sizes and warmth of Bodie and her father's hands were about the same. She closed her eyes and pictured her dad slipping those gloves on once more.
After Bodie was done, he looked up at her face and saw little tears fall from her closed eyes and her lips were in a frown. Bodie then lifted her chin with his hand and lightly kissed her lips. Emilia was shocked, but she welcomed it and hugged Bodie.
Bodie then stepped back a few minutes later and held her hand, leading her to his bed as they sat down. "B, I'm sorry I was snooping." Emilia said, looking down at her hands. "It's okay Em. Those gloves look like they mean a lot to you. Mind telling me why?" Bodie said calmly, comfortingly putting his arm over her shoulders.
Emilia stayed in that position for a while, thinking of how to tell Bodie. She then got out of his grasp and turned to him, their fingers locked together tightly. "My dad, uh… died, saving me from a car crash when I was little. Those gloves were the last thing he left me… I guess I'm so hung up about those gloves because it feels like I don't even have a mom anymore. She blames me for dad's death." She said slowly, new tears replacing the dried up ones on her cheeks.
Bodie felt very sorry for Emilia. She went through such a painful childhood, yet she could still be the happy and energetic girl he knew and loved. He used his index finger to gently wipe away the tears that were rolling down from her eyes.
"Well, Em, no matter what happened, I'm proud of you. You managed to pull yourself together and that's all that matters." Bodie smiled at her lovingly before giving her a kiss.
Emilia felt so grateful for Bodie. She had the longest crush on him and even though she was completely distraught, she could handle anything that came her way, so long as she had her Bodie.
Please review if you liked it! ^^