"There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul."
-Arnold Bennett

Wednesday. Late morning.

My alarm clock blared loudly and pulled me out from a good sleep. "Darn it…" I cursed as I pushed myself out of the bed.

It's an obvious fact that I'm not a morning person. Usually, my mind drifts off to another dimension if I just woke up, so it was not a surprise to my mom when I came down the stairs, tumbling my way, with blonde hair sticking out in odd places.

"Ouch. My back hurts," I groaned. My mother was giggling lightly as I entered the kitchen holding my back in pain. I slouched on the nearest wooden chair and dropped my head on top of the table.

"Haruka, dear, you might want to consider moving to a room in the first floor of our house," once again, she laughed at her miserable daughter. "Would you like to have some bacon and eggs, dear?" She placed a few plates in front of me.

I picked first at the eggs before putting them between two slices of bread and stuffing them into my mouth. "Thanks, mom."

"Anytime, dear. By the way, Li-san called early this morning. She wants you to drop-by the stadium tomorrow, at around five in the afternoon."

"What for?" I blinked in confusion. What would the grouchy woman want now? I just talked to her yesterday. Maybe she'll tease me again about that 'my boy' thing. Yargh.

My mom took the empty plates after I was finished with my sandwich. "I'm not sure, dear. She just said that she has a surprise for you."

"Okay. Thanks, mom. Uhm," I hesitated a bit. "About what happened last night…" I trailed off.

"Don't worry, Haruka. If you want to go that party, then by all means, you should. Don't mind your brother," she gave me a maternal smile and held my hands in hers. "You know I only want the things that would make you happy."

I saw tears in her eyes. "Thanks…again, mom. For all the things that you've done for me. For loving me," I said quietly as I stood up. "I'll be dropping by the campus today. Riku mentioned that there'll be a tryout for varsity spots after lunch."

"Okay, just be careful, dear. I'll be leaving for the grocery store, so you're on your own now," she blew me a kiss and went out of our front door. "Bye, dear. I love you."

I intended to say 'I love you too, mom,' in return, but I didn't. It's not that I don't love my mom, it's just that…I have trouble expressing emotional stuff in the open. It would only make me look like a fool. It would only make me look vulnerable. And I hate being vulnerable.

"Okay. Bye," I waved at her before trudging back upstairs to prepare for my third day in school.

Author's Notes:

Since I'm addicted to MMORPGs again, future updates may become twice a week from now on. But if I get enough death threats from people, then I might just get enough inspiration to write chapters every other day.
RaiTenshi's threats not included. :)

References:

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English novelist, playwright, essayist, critic and journalist.

Disclaimer:

Haruka, Michiru, and the rest of the BSSM gang belong to Naoko Takeuchi. I'm just borrowing them for a little while.
And Mr. Bennett owns his quote.