Penguin: Hello chibis! So it's spring time! My favorite season, woohoo! So I decided to make a one-shot series about the springtime, and the main focus on spring is the flowers. So, all of the one-shots will be based on flower meanings. The first meaning is from Cherry Blossoms, which a certain reviewer loves to say ;P

Cherry Blossom

"The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life. It's a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short." ~Huffington Post, August 30th, 2013.


"Mommy, push me higher!" a squeaky voice yelled, giggling. Alya smiled and pushed her higher. "Wow, you're really getting some air kiddo!" Nino chuckled. "Watch out for the camera."

The little girl smiled brightly as her mother pushed her on the swing. "Mommy, watch this!" she exclaimed. "Watch what?" Alya asked with a confused look on her face. The little girl swung up and jumped off the swing. Nino ran over to her and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Melanie, you need to be careful!" Nino chuckled as he held his daughter in one hand and filmed Alya's upset face with the camera. "Oh come on babe, she didn't get hurt!" Nino teased behind the camera. Alya started to chase them and Nino ran with Melanie. "Can't catch us, mommy!" Melanie giggled.

"Turn the video off, Nino." Alya said to Nino who was sitting on the couch, watching the video. "But Alya-"

"I SAID, turn it off!" Alya repeated angrily, packing up boxes in the living room. Nino sighed and pressed the power button on the remote, making the tv go silent. He looked around the house and saw that almost everything was packed. He didn't want to leave the house.

But Alya didn't give him much of a choice.

"Nino, can you help me move these boxes outside?" Alya asked him as she taped the boxes closed. Nino looked at her with a blank face. Alya turned to him and said, "Nino, can you please help me? The truck will be here any minute." She turned back to the boxes.

"Melanie wouldn't have wanted this." Nino said quietly. Alya froze and slowly turned to him. "Don't ever say that name again." Alya hissed at him.

"Why not? She's our daughter, and she wouldn't be happy with this-"

"Melanie was only 7, Nino. 7! And she's not here anymore, okay?! She's gone!" Alya yelled at him, clenching her fists tightly. Nino stood up and walked behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Alya, there's not a day when I don't think about her. And I know you miss her too. Why do you have to pretend she didn't exist?! You threw away all of her pictures, you refuse to see her videos, and now you're packing everything away to pretend she never even lived here! Why are you trying to forget her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alya replied, shoving his hands away. She picked up a box and went outside to put it by the mailbox. Nino stormed after her and grabbed her wrists tightly. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Alya screeched.

Nino dragged her inside the house and upstairs. Alya looked at the doors and saw one at the end of the hall. On the white door, it had the word 'Melanie' on it with pink letters and glitter. Melanie also had put stickers on the door, Tinker Bell and kittens. Her two favorite things.

"Nino, don't do this!" Alya growled. Nino opened the door and pulled her inside. He shut the door and locked it, standing in front of the door so Alya couldn't get out.

"Nino, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Alya screamed at him. "You think you can just pack everything away and move to a new house to forget about her, but I can't do that. You think you've dealt with it, but you act like you don't even care about her!"

"Of course I cared about Melanie, are you mad?! She was the light of my life, she would be the first thing I think about when I woke up! Don't you DARE accuse me of not loving our child!"

"So why did you throw away all of her pictures? It's like you want to believe she never existed. You don't want to be reminded of her."

"STOP IT!" Alya screeched, gripping her hair and pacing around Melanie's room. "No, I won't. I've been asking you to have more kids for two years now. But you make excuses every time. I want to know why you refuse to have more kids."

"I'm not discussing this with you Nino." Alya marched to the door but Nino stopped her, grabbing her wrists again. "We're going to discuss it whether you like it or not."

Alya tried to pull him off, but he kept holding on to her. "Nino, I swear I will-"

"Melanie would want us to be happy Alya."

"STOP SAYING HER NAME!" Alya screamed at him. "Alya, I know you think you're to blame for Melanie's death. But you couldn't do anything about it. That drunk driver didn't know what he was doing."

"I should have never taken her out for ice cream that day." Alya murmured. "Stop blaming yourself, Alya. It's not your fault. Melanie's…in heaven. And she was the best gift we've could have ever asked for. But throwing away her pictures and trying to forget her isn't the best solution to this."

"…"

"Having another kid wouldn't replace her. She'll still be the first child we've had. And once another kid grows up…they'll get to know about their big sister. And watch her videos and see how beautiful she was. They'll want to be just like her when they grow up."

Alya slowly took his hands off her wrists and looked up at him. "We need to move the boxes outside. I'll…pack up Melanie's things and put them outside."

"Alya-"

"I'm not throwing it away. I want to keep it for the new house." Alya whispered. Nino nodded slowly and unlocked the door. "I'll be waiting outside for you." Nino slowly kissed her forehead and left the room. Alya looked around.

Melanie wanted her room pink, because it reminded her of the ballerinas in the movies. She wanted to become a ballerina when she grew up.

Melanie had a small queen size bed in the middle with white bedsheets and a pink comforter with kittens on them. They haven't been touched in two years. Alya glanced at the crayon drawings Melanie did on the wall.

She loved to color, and when she ran out of paper, she colored on the walls. Alya touched them with her index finger gingerly. Melanie always colored with purple crayon. It was the only crayon she liked.

Alya crossed her arms and walked to Melanie's window. She saw the boxes outside and she stared at them.

"Mommy?" a voice said. Alya turned around quickly. "What?" she muttered. "I'm over here, on the bed." Alya turned to the bed and saw a little girl with cocoa skin and brown curly hair that went to her shoulders. She was wearing a green dress and black Mary Janes with white socks.

The clothes she was wearing when she died.

"Melanie?" Alya blinked and rubbed her eyes. She was still there on the bed.

"Mommy, you're not dreaming. It's me as an angel."

"Melanie…"

"I want you to make Daddy happy. It's okay if you have another kid. And promise me something." Alya nodded slowly. Melanie jumped off the bed and hugged her mom's legs. Alya looked down at her and Melanie looked up at her. "Promise me that you won't blame yourself anymore. Be happy."

Alya crotched down to her level and hugged her, stroking her hair and closing her eyes. "Okay baby."

"Alya!" Nino shouted from downstairs. "Are you done?!" Alya opened her eyes and Melanie wasn't there anymore. Alya blinked and stood up. "I'm coming!" She shouted, running downstairs and grabbing more boxes.

Outside on a tree branch, Melanie sat, swinging her legs back and forth. She watched her parents packing up her room. She smiled and blew a kiss to her parents before disappearing from the tree.


Penguin: And that's all for today! I don't know how long this will last, but I'm gonna update every Wednesday for this. You can request any flower you want. Bai!