———

"ken will be having new friends to play with, i think it will be fun." she smiles at him trying to console, it has been a tough morning for the kid, first day at school seems to be like a nightmare for ken. the boy was crying, it's honestly adorable about the reason why he cried. he asked why her mommy cannot be the teacher so he can stay home and play instead of going to school. after hours of consolidation and a little bribe seasoning, she finally got him to step in the car with him still sobbing and keep asking her to stay on his side.

jes has her eyes on him the whole ride, a smile not leaving her face, hand holding his little one. there's always a pang in her heart every time she looks at him. a human this precious, does not know cruelty and only he recognises the world is all sunshine and rainbow, it breaks her to think about the chance of him knowing the truth. his own father does not even want him. she could see the honesty in his eyes that were unspoken, to finally met with the reality of him not wanting to take ken as his son, to chose leaving jes and her son alone and the next month only to marry someone else, showered her with nothing but lies. her son doesn't need to know all that but it's a real fear to keep this locked knowing a boy would grow older and have consciousness to ask.

she looks down at him who's been staring inside the class with his body hid behind her legs, his head poking out curiously as he looks up to her. "it will be okay, my sweet." crouching down to meet his eyes, she takes his hands before giving one a kiss, adjusting the yellow hat and his small sling back on his shoulder. "ken will be studying just fine because he's a very smart boy, isn't he?" she pokes the tip of his nose that makes a scowl on his face turns into a smile and with that he nods, giving her the last hug as a teacher comes up to them, greeting her.

****

the muffled roar of a car approaches closer as it grows louder with the screeching, the tires sliding on the wet pavement, making its way through the bend. jesslyn has been watching with wary with this endurance race, the weather is not helping. the schedules were set, there are non existent gaps in between where she could squeeze another date to follow up with the race. the team messed up with the launching date and she decided to not put a hand into it, to let them take a responsibility of a mistake they made, she still managed to attend this endurance race nonetheless, providing a major safety with the fact of letting the racer drive on a wet tracks.

"good work." jesslyn looks on her back, finding her father walking close to her. she inhales the freezing wind until it stings her nostrils, she averts his eyes. she sets back on the car approaching slower to the crowd with a deep rumble, a heaven noise.

"you should be praising the racer." she turns to her heels, stepping away from the previous spot as her father catches up to her side. in the brief moment of her looking down to her feet, she spots her father's hand on his sides, a complicated sensation kicks in then she squeezes hers back in the warm of her own coat's pockets.

jesslyn spent a quite long time thanking the durability test team as well as the racer who happily took part of the race, her father does the same but she does not care to act like they came up here together to work on something whatsoever. as people left, leaving the space empty but a car and a father and daughter, she stands on the side of the car, lining up her arm with the top of the window, "yeah, i did a good job too." she looks down on the new gtr and smiles, knowing this assembled metal, iron and machines are the result of a hard work, lack of sleep, lots of coffee and cigarette break. "thank you, dad."

he smiles. jesslyn sees it only for a moment as he moves to sit on the edge of the hood. silent strikes and she doesn't mind, sure her father too don't mind either. they're used to it. she remembers how silent became normal, standing in between a father and daughter who used to have at least something to talk. if someone would say tomie is a cheery, chatty kid with a smart mouth, no one would believe it and she understands, it doesn't matter anymore.

she remembers her first ride with the ae86, through the mountain in osaka, a fresh, beautiful scenery and window down, wind against her face, splitting her fringe in half making her face as round as an orange her father would laugh at her. she remembers him hoisted her up on top of the hood, sitting there as her father took several pictures of her. pain isn't what growing in her chest now but a question in her head, how does everything feel so strange now? it's like, those memories were never there yet they are too vivid to even be something she made up. she never made them up. they are real. she treasured them dearly. in the carnal of her heart.