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Mafuyu sat at the dining table, her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her mother stood just behind her.
"You've been working so hard Mafuyu," her mother murmured, her fingers gently smoothing down the stray hairs of Mafuyu's ponytail.
The touch was tender, yet there was something about the atmosphere that kept Mafuyu entirely pinned to her seat. "I don't know what I would do without you. You're my only pride."
Mafuyu kept her eyes fixed on the bowl of soup. "Thank you, Mother."
Mafuyu picked up the spoon. The soup tasted like nothing. It never tasted like anything, but she swallowed it down because her mother was watching. If Mafuyu didn't eat, her mother would sigh. that quiet devastating sound and talk about how she must be failing as a parent, how her health was declining from the sheer stress of trying to keep Mafuyu happy.
"I went through your desk earlier," her mother said. "To dust, of course. But I noticed that synthesizer, so i put it in the trash. It will distract you from school anyway."
Familiar numbness spread from the center of Mafuyu's chest. The chords, the hours she had spent trying to find a sound that felt like her own voice.. All gone just like that.
"I understand..." Mafuyu whispered.
"Good girl." Her mother leaned down, pressing her cheek against Mafuyu's. The intimacy felt overwhelming, a heavy weight that squeezed the oxygen out of the room.
"As long as I have my good perfect daughter, my heart is full. You are my everything, Mafuyu. You carry my happiness right here in your hands. You wouldn't want to break your mother's heart, would you?"
"No, Mother."
"I knew you wouldn't..." Her mother smiled, a beautiful, radiant expression that, for some reason, brought a heavy feeling to Mafuyu's chest.
"Now, let's look at the university pamphlets i got for you."
Mafuyu looked at her reflection in the screen of her phone, resting on the table. She allowed her mother to pull her up from the table, stepping willingly back into the warm cage built entirely out of love.