Asher found Rei sitting in front of her mother’s grave. Judging by the fresh flowers, her father had also visited recently. Rei sat on the ground, not bothered by the snow, with her knees brought to chest and hid her face in her arms.

“Rei,” Asher said.

“She hates me doesn’t she?” Rei referred to Delancy.

“She doesn’t,” Asher said, taking a seat next to Rei. “Konbanwa Mizuhara-san, your daughter is doing fine.”

“I didn’t mean to run away,” Rei said, her head still buried in her arms.

“We know,” Asher said, rubbing Rei’s arm. “All of us have bad relationships with our mothers but we forget that you have it the worst out of all of us. Having a mother who’s never around verses one who can never be around are two very different things isn’t it?”

Asher thought to his own mother. Even though he rarely saw her due to her working all the time to keep the lights on, he couldn’t picture a world without at all.

“Can we stay here a bit longer?” Rei asked. Memories of when her mother was alive flooded back along with the tears.

“Yeah.”

Back on the rooftop Diego sat with Delancy and similar to Asher, tried to calm his crying friend.

“I, I didn’t mean to. It’s, it’s just, just that sometime, and Rei hates me now.” Delancy had mostly calmed down from her crying but she still had a hard time forming sentences.

“Del, Rei will understand. Why don’t you go help Isa? I’m pretty sure he’s baking something and I think Rei would be happy to find out that you helped.”

“Okay.”

The two headed down to the first floor and Isaac quickly put them to work. Delancy managed to calm down and her breathing returned to normal. While working, the three friends were talking about their holiday plans. Delancy mentioned that her sister would be bringing her boyfriend over and Isaac accidentally dropped a mixing bowl.

“You okay?” Diego asked.

“Yeah sorry. What are your plans for the holidays?” Isaac asked Diego.

“Who knows, probably just the usual. You?”

“Well considering my present was forgotten about for the past two years I don’t have high hopes.”

“We’re back,” Asher announced.

“Del,” Rei said.

“Rei,” Del said.

“I’m sorry,” both girls said at the same time. The two ran to each other and hugged it out.

The three guys laughed it out while snacking on the treats that were fresh out of the oven. The five friends were back to normal expect for Isaac who got a bruise from Delancy when he tried to steal Rei’s cookie.

“See you later,” Diego said after he received a message on his pager.

“Bye!”

Diego headed up one level to the fifth and his father was putting the finishing preparations on dinner.

“Welcome back hijo, can you tell your madre that it’s almost time for dinner?”

“Si.”

Diego headed into his mother’s office and knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, Diego entered to see his mother working away as usual.

“Mama, it’s time for dinner.”

“Okay,” she said signaling that she heard him.

“Madre,” Diego said, closing the door.

He had thought back to Rei and Delancy’s fight and he knew he had to do something. Contrary to what he knew Rei would have said, having a mother who was never around was just as bad as having a mother who was gone.

“Mom,” Diego said again. “Mom, mom, mom. Madre!”

No response, Clarissa Alvadaro continued to write away.

“Mom,” Diego voice was but a soft whisper. “Emilio isn’t here but I am. Please look at me. I know you lost your son but right now I’m losing my mother.”

She finally reacted, the pen in her hand stopped writing and she finally looked up but it was too late. Diego had already turned around missing the action. Without looking back, he closed the door.

If I could have warning signs for anything, it would be for a person’s sudden change in personality. It would have been helpful regarding my brother and even more with my mother after what happened to my brother. Today I would still wish for the same thing as seeing my mother joining us at the table was something I never thought would ever happen again.