Placing his dirtied palm onto the pristine whiteness of her baggy top, he felt the minor stirrings of an abnormality residing in her stomach. Her eyes rested closed, although she wasn't quite asleep, as she placed her own mild hand right on top of his. The air was quiet in the small home, still and sweet. No words of volume were needed to interrupt the cottony moment the two shared, but low whispers emitting intangible warmth were welcomed by the ambiance with wide open arms. And so, the couple shared their pleasant whispers with one another.

"Are you sure you've completely set your mind on that name? This is the type of thing you should really think about, not be all willy nilly and impulsive about. The little one's gonna be stuck with it for life." With his warning stated, the man laid his head against her tender stomach, any feeling but comfort absent. He blinked slowly, as if slipping into sleep, when the woman made a tiny tired groan.

"Of course I have..." The women rubbed her eyes with a curled hand, her consciousness fighting to stay alert in the humid room. "A beautiful blossom, that's what she will be."

"Then why don't we name her Blossom? The kids on the playground won't make fun of a name like Blossom," the man gently retorted, nuzzling his cheek against the woman's stomach like a pillow.

"And why would they make fun of her for a name like Misaki?" She asked.

"It's foreign," the man said.

"Are you behind? Of course you are, you're always behind in the times..." The woman raised her hand and brushed it through his coarse hair, or rather, brushed it through the matty mess slapped right on top of his head. "Foreign names, and rather unique names, they seem to be becoming more and more popular. Just the other day I ran into a little tyke named... I honestly dunno... Kunta Kinte?"

"Kunta Kinte?" The man tilted his head up only a tad, so he could see his lovely wife's defined lips, and laughed. "I doubt you really ran into a kid named that in present day Alola."

"I'm sure someone gave their kid that name..." The woman shifted her eyes side to side, similar to how one would do if they were trying to stay awake while driving.

"You would, right Lydia?" The man asked continuing to chuckle.

"Sure," she replied, finally a laugh of her own rising from her throat. "I'll name her Kunta Kinte."

After laughing with the lowest of voices, the man closed his eyes with all the intent of sinking into a state of slumber. Yet, he had one last thing to say before he switched off his mind.

"I love you," he said with his whole heart screaming truth. "I'm... so happy I married you Lydia."

"..." She paused for a lengthy moment, and long after he stopped listening, she finally spoke. "I love you too, Aiden."

Only a few months later, Aiden trotted home with a jolly skip in his step, the potent smell of oil and gas that latched onto him not troubling him in the least. By then again, he has become long immune to that scent. What did slightly bother him was that fact that whenever he looked down, he cringed at the sight of black soot that he has yet to properly scrub off. His hands being dirtied was one of the absolute worst things that could happen to a man like him. However, working in auto repair did not permit such squeamishness.

Opposed to thinking about his less than sparkling appearance, he thought of what was bound to happen when he returned home. He was completely enamored with the hope of greeting his beautiful wife with a hug, a kiss, getting her a little filthy in the process but that sort of thing never really bothered her. She has probably eaten dinner by that point, it was late in the night after all, but he knew she wasn't asleep. She never was, she always waited for him. She's been waiting for him since tucking away the adorable baby, who was the precious image of her mother, for the night. Yes, he thought, everything would be just so wonderful when he would walk through the small apartment's door and see both of their fair faces.

Yet, like truth anonymously lingering around a pure guileless child, a baby's screaming greeted him when he opened that door. He wasn't too concerned at first, and with a calm voice, he asked:

"Having trouble with Saki tonight, Lydia?"

There was no answer.

Lydia had a habit of ignoring him when she was in the middle of a task... an unfortunate habit that has become commonplace only a month or two ago. So, that jump of panic has yet to be triggered in his chest, but it was a simple delay of the inevitable.

He peeked his head into the room with the crib, his expression beginning to twist in puzzlement, as there was no thin figure rocking side to side with a baby in it's arm. No, there was only empty space, and the continuous sound of vexatious crying. Step after step, he approached and peered over the crib's bare wooden rail, and looked at a neglected face. Tears stained the baby's cheeks as she squirmed and flailed both her fists and her feet. Unknown to the man, she's been left there several hours all on her own, making her small body fill with frustration due to her unattended needs. Despite the wailing, Aiden couldn't concern himself with the basic needs of a young child. His mind repeated only one name.

"Lydia?" He called out the name, exiting the bedroom all three of them shared and reentering the living room. He took a glance in the bathroom, it's door wide open, which looked as clean and as vacant as ever. He glanced in the kitchen, which he noticed did not have a plate waiting for him to warm up, usually set aside by his caring wife. The table was naked, as were the counters. There was little space to search and Aiden's body began to become rigid and tight as he realized his wife was absent. Has something happened to her? His anxious mind instantly came up with fabricated stories of a man in dark clothing breaking through the tiny window, grabbing ahold of and whisking away his beloved. He placed a hand to his forehead, stress overpowering his senses as he continued to move at a slow pace, his eyes wild and sporadic in search although he already knew there was no one to find. However, crossing the bedroom's entrance yet again, he noticed a slip of yellow paper sitting atop the couple's queen sized bed.

What the paper said broke the man down, it broke him down to his displayed bright surface to the deep core of his being.

"Dear Aiden,

I wasn't ready. I'm sorry, I wasn't ready. Even after we first kissed, and even after we first made our vows, I always found myself with... other men. I know it was wrong, I hate myself for it, but I couldn't really stop myself. Plus, I enjoy the life of a bachelorette, and when you began to grow close to me, I hated you and your utter devotion. I complained about you and whined about you so often my Mother blocked me on her phone... isn't that funny? I complained about how your jokes were obnoxious and how clingy you were and such but... I don't think that was ever my problem with you. Your love for me was wholesome, and I never was exactly a person who was able to deny anyone, especially anyone so genuine. But... I could never stand you because being with you would certainly lead to settling down, and that idea always irked me. But when you got down on your knee in front of all those people, which you happened to do the same night I planned to tell you about my accidental pregnancy, my impulse and gut told me to say yes. So, I did. I'm so sorry Aiden, goodness, that was a huge mistake. I wasn't built for this, every day in the apartment I feel like I'm going insane. And taking care of a baby? I could be clubbing or being with friends or flirting or doing anything else other than taking care of a baby on a Friday night! I... grew contempt for the baby though she hasn't done a thing to warrant it. I'm... a terrible mother. I know I am, I can't raise a happy and kind child. Wouldn't I have to be happy and kind? I'm... writing down my ranting thoughts aren't I? I should stop. I just thought you deserved an explanation Aiden, as hurtful as it may be. I wish I could have stayed, but staying and being a mother? Being stuck at home every night waiting for some man to come home who stinks up the place with his stench? I can't! I just can't! So, I'm leaving Aiden, though I'm sure you realized that by now. I shouldn't ask you anything but... please take good care of Misaki. Raise her to be kind and happy and smart. Raise her like I always said I would raise her, back when she was still growing inside of me. You know how opinionated I was when it came to the subject of children. That's all I want and expect from you. Goodbye.

Lydia"

Time never stops for anyone though, and it did not stop for Aiden. The two lived without Lydia at their side, the little Saki reaching common milestones without a mother to witness them.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

The baby, now roughly one and a half, leaned her head on her father's shoulder as he carried her on his side. It was raining, pouring, to a point where the sound of the water hitting the pavement became loud, frequent, and seemingly unending. Aiden could barely see, his eyes squinting as they tried to avoid the forward coming mist, but he fought against the natural action to maintain sight. He pushed onward, running as if he were on a track team like back in the day, or alternatively, like he was running towards a distant goal out of desperation. Saki in his arms slowed him down, of course, and his legs were beginning to feel ache and weight simultaneously. The forefront of his mind said to just collapse. Drop the baby, it doesn't matter. Just lay down on the sidewalk pavement and let the rain cleanse your skin, like a shower.

Those heavy thoughts that made his legs begin to slow their pace were chased away by the flash of sudden light behind them, followed by thunder rumbling through the darkness created by the gray clouds above. Saki began to wail, pushing her face further into her father's shoulder and grabbing the collar of his shirt with her hand.The sounds of the horrified toddler slowly chipped at the man's patience and his focus, but he couldn't react to it in the least in the middle of a rainstorm. The heavy load of thoughts vanished his mind at a breakneck pace, his mind clearing, which rose up a bit of bliss in his subconscious. His mind hasn't been clear at all in the past year, so this brought quite the feeling of refreshment.

The soaked pair eventually made it to a motel, one Aiden has stayed at before. It was terrible, nausea inducing, the last time he stayed there he stained the filthy carpet with his vomit. But, it was cheap and close, and he had little options. Entering inside, a unique and forceful scent immediately filled their noses, not helping the screaming toddler being to calm at all. Aiden quickly booked a room, somehow in a hasty fashion despite simultaneously holding the screaming Saki. When they finally arrived in the room, her wailing finally began to quiet, while her father placed her down gently on the bed. Disgusted and exhausted, the man threw the two bags he carried on his shoulders carelessly onto the ground. He collapsed onto the bed aside his daughter, and sighed.

"I hate this you know," Aiden said.

The baby's chubby face turned towards him, her eyes wide and filled with natural curiousness.

"My family may as well be nonexistent... Lydia's family is pretty much useless... your entire family doesn't care about either one of us, you see?" The man placed his palm over his eyes, blocking the blinking light that swung back and forth above him. "So I'm pretty much on my own... I've got to feed your bottomless pit of a mouth and raise you all on my lonesome. And I've got to earn money for both of us to live, and I've got to make sure someone eye is always on you. Ugh, I can't believe Betty quit! Does she have no idea how much I depended on her?!"

Aiden groaned heavily, sulking over Saki's former babysitter who has suddenly abandoned her job and notified him she would be leaving for Kanto in a week. The young Saki was, of course, ignorant to the problem and the massive stress it put on her father. While he ranted, all she did was simply place her tiny hand on his cheek. "Daddy's cheek."

"Yes that's in fact Daddy's cheek... what good does that do for me, Misaki?!" The man sprout up, as if he has just awoken from a nightmare of flames, and released the grip on his stresses. "Is my cheek going to get me a stable income?! Is my cheek going to watch you while I work my ass off and get little in return!? No, Saki! It's not!"

Aiden grabbed onto his own head and grunted in his heated anger, scratching it through his unkempt hair as if it were to somehow create a sudden solution. Whenever his pace at the poor habit began to slow, a thought or an image would pop right back into his head, causing him to scratch his head feverishly once again. The impressionable little girl next to him raised her chubby arms and rubbed her own hands against her head, continuing to look up at her father with the same innocently curious glance.

And for a moment, Aiden halted his horrid method of coping, and looked back at the small little thing. Her brown eyes, he hated them. They were Lydia's exact eyes, a mirror image. A reflection.

"You know sometimes, Saki." He slowly lowered his hands from his head and placed them one on top of the other in his lap. He spoke to the baby the same way one would talk to a doll. You didn't expect a response, you felt like in reality no one was actually listening. But, despite the silliness you perceive of it, it brings you comfort to vent with little possibility of a negative reaction. "Sometimes I just sit and wonder. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you weren't... I dunno... conceived? Would Lydia still be here with me? Would she love me, and speak to me the same way she used to? Would everything be... well... better?"

The baby had no real answer to give, putting her thumb into her mouth. The substance lacking silence was expected, but taunting. Aiden turned his head away from his daughter, swallowing the bitter distaste in his mouth with no one to help him. There was no one for him, no one to lighten all this weight off his shoulders. That weight, emotional baggage coupled with a growing girl, made his spine crack with an intense pain.

He despised it, and in a way, he despised that little girl. Though it was no fault of hers, and he knew that. He completely understood that, but emotions were emotions. Burry contempt deep within you, as deep as you can, but it continues to breath as you continue to refuse to stare at it head on.

And he never looked at it head on. That little girl was his, it was his child. He was never lying when he said he loved her. He did love her, as every father should. But looking at her was painful, and caring for her was painful. Remembering the dream of a happy little family, a dream that at first seemed real with the arrival of the little girl, was painful. To him, her existence was painful, and it was his own inner truth he refused to confront.

What kind of father was pained by their own daughter's existence?

"Nevermind," the man muttered. "I'm just spouting nonsense."

Misery is not an easy thing to hide away behind a curtain, as it will continue to peek through and force its way on stage. Created by unfortunate circumstances, a new persona of Aiden's began to develop, a pitiful one. Never smiling, never cracking a joke, never optimistic, he mutated into a man of only pathetic despair. This is the man Saki grew to know, and harbor only emotions of sorrow when the thought of him occurred in her mind. His image, his presence, it cast a shadow of melancholy on the young girl's life.

Only five years old, Saki was alone in a cheap apartment, sitting criss-cross on the floor. She was bored, the only thing occupying her being a worn barbie doll with a missing arm. She combed her fingers through the doll's hair, staring at its face. Half the paint has been scratched off.

The small room carried a foul odor. Yet, she could no longer smell it, being surrounded by the scent almost twenty-four seven. What did pester her was an emptiness in her stomach, refusing to cease, causing her twisting discomfort. She was too short to reach the cabinets, and she had no idea how to use a microwave. So, she was left starving, for both food and stimulation.

She heard jingling keys from outside the apartment door, causing the child to drop her doll and bounce up with anticipation. The doorknob twisted, Aiden's sagging face revealing itself as the door swung open. He reeked of sweat and oil, and layers of built up soot stained his face. The whites of his eyes stood out against the dark filth, as his nearly black irises focused on the little girl who ran up to him.

"Daddy! Welcome home," she greeted. She forced out a cheerful tone, nearly choking on her high pitched words, producing a false demeanor. "I'm hungry."

'I'm hungry' being one of the first words to come from her mouth made the man grimace, as he slammed the door behind him. The sound echoed through the small room, the wall slightly shaking after the impact. The man's exaggerated motion, and the heavy noise, placed a panic within Saki's head. She quickly stepped back, her whole body tensing. She froze where she stood, making no motion but a tight sudder. Aiden's shoulders loosened while his eyes softened, seeing the fear he has caused.

"I'm sorry, baby," the man sighed in his remorse. "I didn't mean to scare you. Daddy's just tired right now."

Aiden did not wait for his daughter's forgiveness, as he brushed past her without a second thought. His downtrodden face did not change. There was no relief returning home. He simply made his way through the dimly lit apartment, reaching the fridge. Opening the appliance, which was covered in brown marks and scratches, he picked up a beer in one hand, and a container of leftover meat in the other.

Saki followed him with quick, light little footsteps. Once she was behind him, he turned to her and handed her the container of meat. Popping open the beer can, he avoided eye contact with his daughter. He told her, "Warm that up for yourself."

The child glared at the container in her hand as if it were foreign, before lifting her head to her father. She opened her mouth to object. "But Daddy, I-"

"Daddy's tired," Aiden repeated. "Warm it up yourself."

Turning his back to his daughter, the man chugged down the can of beer, and slammed the empty can onto the counter. Not giving Saki a chance to speak a word to him, he shuffled his way into the bedroom, and shut the door behind him.

The hungry child was just as she was before her father came home, alone. Her stomach continued to twist, forging a desperation. She ate the cold meat.

Years continued to pass. Aiden grew more pitiful, and more unsettled, while Saki's needs were almost never met. The older she grew, the less time she spent in that apartment, and the less dependent she became on her father. For her own sake, she had to become self reliant.

On a day that would prove to be a fateful day for the troubled Saki, a pathetic man sat on the stool of a bar. He was drunk, to the point of his speech heavily slurring, which for him was not a rarity. He asked the bartender if he could borrow their phone, acting upon his impatience to give his daughter an interesting bit of news. The bartender agreed. He called his own house phone repeatedly, not accepting the answering machine as a response, until Saki finally picked up.

For a short time the two conversed, while the bartender eavesdropped with curiosity. The conversation reached an abrupt conclusion shortly after it started.

"Who cares?!"

"I caree... an' if you want me to leave ya be, then youuu better' have perfect atte...attendance."

Aiden hung up, ending the argument right then and there. He carelessly dropped the bartender's phone onto the ground, and laid his cheek on the bar stand. The bartender's face flooded with regret, as he ran from behind the counter to retrieve it. He sighed with a relief as he noticed it didn't break, and looked to the man with a hint of annoyance. But also, intrigue.

"Was that your step daughter?" The bartender asked.

"No." Aiden said with a spit.

"Then why would you call her... your 'wife's daughter?'" The bartender tried to gain an understanding of the conversation he just listened to, caught in a small amount of confusion.

"She ain't a daughterrr ta me," Aiden spat, lifting his head. "I don't carre about blood. All she doess... is... is get in' trouble, steal, an' annoy me. She's annnnoyin'. An' she ruined my life. If she weren't hereee... life wouldn't be thisss misreable, I wouldn' be aloneee. But she...she was... was... was my wife's kidd... and she wanted me raise her like she would have. So I gotttta. Stupidddd... stupid Lydiaaa..."

The man's head plumped back onto the counter, as the bartender shook his head. As he walked away from the drunken man, he muttered with sarcasm:

"We've got ourselves a dad of the year, right here."