After a bitter and awkward breakfast, I quickly rushed back to the room where I slept earlier. It was the guest room, I knew all too well. It would had been uncomfortable for both of us if Akashi placed me in his room. Internal shudder.

I turned off the lights and flopped on the bed, rubbing my palms on the soft, silky bedsheets. My mind was all over the place. I heard my ex husband's engagement news, got on not one but two life threatening accidents where I could have literally died. My soul would had been floating around the place right now if it wasn't for Shu and... well, Akashi.
I wonder who would go to such lengths to kill me. I mean, who was I? No one.

My subconscious mind instantly zeroed onto a specific person.

Aihana?

I frowned deeply. Did she know about me and Akashi? I don't think so. Akashi would never make that mistake of letting her know. Still my mind didn't feel at ease. Something about her bothered me yesterday. I didn't understand what is was, but her stare felt different, her looks felt different, as if she knew something I didn't. I I didn't have the guts to ask about it directly either.
My stomach churned in a strange way. She was Akashi's fiancee now.

Suddenly, I heard some faint noise from downstairs. Hearing the commotion, it felt there was a lot of people.
Confused, I went towards the window, from where I could see the garden and the entrance gate. A shiny black car sped away as soon as I looked outside the window. Seemed like someone came to the house; even though I was curious, I didn't feel like going downstairs right now.

And another reason that made me glued to my spot was the scenery in front of me. The majestic garden of the Akashi mansion looked so lovely and glorious under the bright sunlight that I became speechless momentarily. The enchanting garden was filled with various kinds of flowers. Roses, sunflowers, lilies, daisies, jasmine, daffodils, azaleas and lots of other other flowers turned the garden into a colourful paradise.

Staring at it unblinking, I was awed by it's ethereal beauty and at the same time, my mind drifted off.

I remembered why I used to love this place so much aside from the fact that I was living with the man I loved. Then my gaze zeroed on a specific breed of rose.

Ena harkness.

This specific dark red breed of rose held so much memories that unwittingly my eyes watered.
I remembered how Akashi used to say that how this flower reminded him of me. And how it perfect symbolizes our love.

The color red as him. The name Ena as me.

My mind snapped back to reality when I heard the door of my room slowly creaked open. Wiping my eyes, I turned around hearing the noise and saw no one.

"Ena-san."

I jumped when I heard a voice right beside me and I saw a teal haired man looking at me with the same coloured eyes.

"Kuroko-kun!" I exclaimed clutching my chest in fright. "You scared me there! What if I'm prone to heart attacks or something. You can never know!"

"Are you really?"

"... um no, not really."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you Ena-san."

"It's alright. Chill." I smiled cheekily.

Then he stared at me for some time. I raised my brows, my smile became a confused one. His eyes roamed over the bandaged places of my body and he heaved a deep sigh.

"How are you feeling now?"

I smiled. "I'm okay now. Don't worry. The doctor said I can jump around in three days."

"Yeah, Akashi-kun said that too."

"He said I can jump around?"

"No, he said you'll get better."

"I am better."

He looked straight into my eyes, his usual emotionless facade turned a soft as if he was looking past my efforts of acting cool and okay behind all this jokes and smiles. He reached out and gently held my hand. His thumb slowly rubbed on my knuckles, in a way that soothed my mind and cleared away my previous foul mood.

I smiled. Genuinely this time.

"How do you do this, Kuroko?" I asked.

He looked at me confused. "What, Ena-san?"

I chuckled loudly at his innocence. Then I wrapped my arms around him. His body froze for a second realizing my action before he, too, embraced me making me feel at home with his warmth and a scent that was so uniquely Kuroko.

"Everyone is here." He said as I felt his chest vibrate against my body.

"Who?"

As if on cue, the door burst open and before we could realize what happened and detach ourselves from each other, we saw six people standing at the doorway, looking at us.
I hastily released Kuroko who seemed more nonchalant compared to me.

The Generation of miracles along with their prodigal manager stood there wide eyed.
I saw Akashi stood a little behind them, his face stoic and expression unfathomable.

I awkwardly scratched my head. "H-hi, everyone!"

It was Momoi who first made a beeline towards me followed by Kise, Aomine, Midorima, Murasakibara and then Akashi. Momoi clashed onto me and hugged me so tightly that almost made me choke. The other guys stood there behind her with soft smiles.
Then I realized that she was sniffing softly against my chest as her tears soaked my hoodie. I slowly patted her head, her soft pink hair brushing against my rough palm.

"Oi, Satsuki, stop crying and release Ena!" Aomine scowled.

Then the pinkhead slowly released me from her death grip. She was shorter than me so I looked down and wiped her eyes with a softly.

"Momoi, don't cry." I gave her a light smile.

"Oh my God!!" She choked on her tears. "It's been so long since I heard your voice, Ena-chan!! I thought-- we all thought we'd never see you again!"

I stole a quick glimpse of Akashi, who was standing there devoid of any emotion etched on his face.

"Ena-cchi!" The blonde exclaimed and hugged me too. Kise released me quicker than Momoi and thankfully he wasn't crying and all. "We were all so worried about you when we heard about the news."

"Even this Midorima called Akashi countless times cause he was worried." Aomine's sly gaze made Midorima scowl.

"I didn't call countless times nanodayo." He said, annoyed and pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Just three times."

Then Midorima looked at me. "But it's true that we all were worried when we heard about the accident nanodayo."

"They said you would've suffered a major injury if it weren't for Akashi-cchi." Kise added.

I stole another glimpse at Akashi. He was staring at me.

I smiled at Kise. "Yeah, I'm saved... thanks to him."

Everyone was silent for some time as if they were looking for some hidden meaning underneath my tone. But I really was thanking Akashi.
But the Generation of miracles knew everything about us, our past and right now they were probably cursing Kise internally to mention Akashi like that in front of me. But I was cool with it. He was standing right in front of me and I wasn't having a panic attack. I was cool as a cucumber.

"Ena-chin~" Murasakibara drawled in a bored tone, munching on his maiubu. "Here. Eat this. You'll feel better."

He offered me a single packet of maiubu and I took it gratefully and smiled at him.

"Don't give garbage food to patients nanodayo." Midorima adviced Murasakibara who didn't pay a heed to it.

"It's okay." I said to Murasakibara with smile then turned to Midorima with a fake offended look. "Don't call me a patient."

Midorima was thrown aback for a second before he composed himself. I could see the light pink dusting his ears as he looked away from me. "I apologise."

"It's alright, Midorima."

"Yosh!" Momoi clapped her hands loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Now to celebrate Ena-chan's recovery, let's have a friendly basketball match."

"What the hell!" Aomine exclaimed.

"Where did this come from, Sacchin?" Murasakibara asked, bored.

"Don't be like that, Dai-chan and Mukkun!" Momoi scolded them. "Basketball was what that brought us togther. Let's play play a friendly match as a way of celebration of a friend's recovery."

"No, no, it's alright, Momoi..." I tried to interject even though the sound of playing basketball again with everyone sounded exciting.

"I think it's a good idea." Kuroko stated making Aomine jump.

"Don't just appear like that, Tetsu!"

"Yeah! It's sounds fun!" Kise agreed with a dazzling smile.

"But I don't think Ena is in a right condition to play now though." Midorima said, looking at me.

"She can watch us then~" Murasakibara suggested.

"Then what's the point of playing if she can't play?!" Aomine exclaimed.

"No, it's okay. I could just watch." I said with a smile though I wanted to play. I had to understand that I couldn't play in this state right now. "Besides I'm not that good of a player anyway."

"That's true though..." Aomine said thoughtfully.

"Dai-chan!" Momoi smacked his arm that made Aomine grunt.

"If everyone agrees to play," For the first time Akashi spoke, his eyes boring into mine. "Then I will inform the butlers to prepare the court." He suggested.

I gave away no emotion in front of his haze. It was like we had a silent agreement. We would show no emotions in front our old friends. There would be neither hatred nor longing in our eyes. Nothing. And it was easier that way for me since I was still indecisive.

"Rich people," Aomine muttered under his breath.

"Did you say anything, Daiki?"

"Nope, nothing, Akashi." Aomine shook his head vigorously.

"Okay, then it's settled. Let's meet in half an hour." Akashi stated before leaving the room. "Everyone give her some time."

With that one by one everyone left, giving me words of encouragement as if I lost a limb or something. However I smiled at them patiently. I wasn't annoyed at them or anything. At least I knew that they were sweet enough to care about me even after all these years and everything.

Unlike my mother, who got rid of her responsibilities as a mother by selling her own daughter. For 30000 yen.

I still thought she could've done it for 50000.

I refuse to think that I'm ugly.

Every once in a while, the thought of my mother resurfaced my mind, and I try to block them out as much as I could. Honestly I couldn't even remember much about my family even when I wanted to; it was blurry and most importantly painful beyond words to think about it. I didn't even remember her as my mother anymore. She was just a woman who gave birth to me and brought me into this world only to make my life a living hell.

No need to think of a person who abandoned me.

I looked at the closed door of my room. They didn't abandon me.

At least he didn't.

_

A/N: I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!

I DIDN'T UPDATE FOR LIKE WHO KNOWS WHAT AND I HAD TO REREAD MY OWN BOOK TO REMEMBER WHAT WAS HAPPENING! I was working on other stories and all...

As an apology, I wrote this HUGE chapter and brought out my trump card--- Kiseki no sedai!!!

I'm just kidding. I know this book doesn't have any readers anymore.

*cricket noise*

No, seriously though, with all the coronavirus epidemic, situation of all countries is deteriorating everyday. I hope everyone is safe and taking necessary precautions. Please do.