Yeah.
Oh my God. Look at this house. It has such a nice view
and it has such a cool porch.
Maybe we can live here next year,
Ash. And I said maybe we can live here next year.
Sorry, I'm trying to be a student here.
You do you
but we'll come back to this later.
Can you explain me this sentence?
Sure.
What class is this for
Japanese literature?
But for now we're studying about the culture.
Yeah.
It says Mono
no aware refers to the bittersweet realization
of the ephemeral nature of all things.
I see. Uh
ephemeral means temporary.
Ephemeral.
Yeah.
I
don't know. Where is the awareness that everything in existence is temporary
and it should be cherished or embraced.
That sounds like Buddhism to me.
Yeah. It says actually right here that mono
no
aware originated from Japanese religion.
It has a ton of Shinto beliefs
and it also was influenced by Buddhist principles.
Kind of interesting. We don't have that here in the US.
Yeah. People like happy endings here,
right?
Oh, look, it's a cherry blossom.
This is pretty much a
perfect example of mono
No aware because it blossoms for a short amount of time, but it's very beautiful.
Kind of reminds me of a flower back home. It's pink too usually. And it's sacred
secret.
Sacred.
Oh,
ok. What's it called?
It's called the Lotus. It's India's National Flower.
Um, it represents spirituality and
like
waking up spiritually.
I remember when I was young,
um,
when I was sad, my mom would take me to the lake full of these flowers. Very peaceful.
Sounds super cool.
This looks like it's really, really long. Is this all due tonight?
Oh, no, I would die.
You know, I don't know.
She's constantly criticizing me and telling me I need to make more friends.
It just stresses me out so bad.
Don't worry, just take a deep breath
and don't care about what you say.
You know, those breathing exercises really don't work for me.
It's because you never give them a try.
I'll see you tomorrow. Catch you.
Are you just gonna stand there?
I'll just watch you go.
Ok. Weirdo.
Hey,
I was just about to text you.
Are you OK?
Yeah, I'm fine.
Don't worry.
All right.
Well,
I've been thinking,
how about we hang out at your place today?
Why do you suddenly want to see my place?
I
mean, we've just never hung out there before
but you've been there already.
I've been to the outside, not the inside.
Yeah.
My mom doesn't like us. She might feel uncomfortable.
I don't know.
We've been friends since like the first day of school.
But I just feel like you've been acting distant lately.
I'm not distant.
Ash.
Can we just sit
what's going on?
It's nothing personal. It's just some complicated things with my family.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
If you
don't mind sharing,
could you tell me what's going on?
Yeah.
When I first came here
I didn't feel like I belong
and my mom.
I'm so shit. I'm so sorry. I what
I had an
I had to meet my advisor
and I was supposed to leave way earlier than I did.
I'm so sorry
we're meeting tomorrow at the same time, right?
If you feel comfortable, then will you tell me? Maybe?
Yeah, definitely.
So what's the meaning about?
Um So you know how I failed that math class?
Uh
Hi.
May I help you?
Hi, I'm Liv
Ash's friend who coming to check on her.
I'm, I'm sorry. Who are you asking about?
Uh
my friend Ash from school?
I thought she was living here. Are you her mom?
There's nobody named Ash that lives here. Just me and my family.
Maybe you're confusing us with another house.
Is there anything else I can do for you?
Uh No, no,
sorry to bother you.
It's ok. Have a good day
dear, Liv.
I wanted to talk to you face to face about this, but it's very difficult.
So I'll write,
I don't think I'll be around when you get this
long story. Short, my mom can't stay here anymore.
It's complicated and we need to leave her home as soon as possible.
I'm embarrassed. I felt like I had to lie to you about many things. Trust me.
You wouldn't like to see me where I really live.
I just wanted to thank you for making my days much better.
I don't know if I will be coming back someday,
but even if I can't, I know you will not forget about our memories and good times.
I know I won't either.
Love Ash.