Amelia comes home and heads to the kitchen. "Good evening mother, father. Why are the two of you gathered here in the kitchen?" Her eyes s.h.i.+ne with curiosity."Amelia, today we got another marriage proposal for you. Unfortunately, this is one that I am unable to turn down. I know that it is not what you want in life but would you go to the meeting and turn them down yourself." Her father looks down.
"Father, I can do that. There is nothing wrong with going to a marriage meeting. I will go. I really don"t mind." Amelia smiles sweetly and sits at the table. "When is the meeting so that I can go and prepare?"
Edward smiles at his daughter. "I really am truly sorry. It"s for tomorrow at noon. Here," he pushes a marriage folder towards her. "This is a picture of the one you will be meeting tomorrow. If you need anything just let myself or your mother know."
Irene looked at her daughter sadly. "I bought you a new yukata for the meeting. I know that you would be okay with an old one but this family may look down on us if we did that. So, please wear the new yukata that we got for you."
Amelia sits down at the table and pulls the marriage folder towards herself. "It"s quite alright father. I am at the age where marriage proposals would normally happen. I will do as you suggested, mother. There really is no reason for your concern. I will do as you ask. May I please have some soup for dinner? It has been a long day and soup would be nice after a long day." She smiles at her mother and father.
"Yes, of course, dear. I will go get it from the kitchen for you." Irene gets up and heads to the kitchen to fetch her some soup and a meat bun.
Edward looks at his daughter. "How did I get so lucky to have a wonderful daughter like you. Oh, here," he slides a package towards her and smiles. "The vitamin powder has been prepared for you by the doctor. He dropped it off this morning and he stated that it might be a little more bitter than usual."
"Father that is fine. As I grow the dose has to be altered until the dose is adjusted to the perfect fit for me. I have only two more years of schooling left and most of the girls in my cla.s.s are already getting ready to be married. If I can find someone who I fall for, I too will get married. There is no need to worry about this at this time." Amelia smiles and moves the marriage folder over to her left then opens the package and pulls out one of the neatly folded packets and sets it to her right. Closing the package up she placed it on top of the marriage folder.
Irene came back with the soup and meat bun. She walked over to her daughter and placed it down. "Eat what you can and don"t force yourself to eat it all." She looked at the vitamin package before walking back to her chair.
"Don"t worry mother, I have been able to eat more because of the activities at school and also the vitamins help out as well." Amelia slowly eats the soup and about halfway through she stops to take the powder and its bitter taste fills her mouth. "Definitely more bitter but this is something that I absolutely need to take in order to not worry them." She drinks some water and then eats half of the meat bun, then looks at her parents. "Thank you for dinner, I am going to retire to my room. I wish you both a good evening." She bows and grabs both items then heads up to her room.
"Do you think this is really the right thing to do, Darling?" Irene watches her daughter leave for upstairs and looks at the leftover food. "She seems to be eating less rather than eating more."
"What else can we do? I couldn"t say no to this. Trust me, I tried but their son has taken an interest in our daughter. If she herself denies him then the matter will be put aside." He watched his daughter walk up the stairs.
Amelia entered her room and looked at the yukata hanging up. "It is beautiful." She put the box her father gave her down by the almost empty one and finally opened the marriage folder. She sighs. "I knew it would come to this but that person is not the one I want to be with. I know he said he would get me one way or another but I am just not interested. I will formally turn him down tomorrow. This yukata is wasted on him but I will wear it at the request of my mother and father. It looks like I am more tired than normal. Is it because of the new concoction the doctor made or because I worked too hard at school today?" She changed her clothes and laid down in her bed. She grabbed the handkerchief and coughed into it. She placed it back on the night table and made herself comfortable before pa.s.sing out.
Irene walked up to her daughter"s room in the morning and knocked on the door. "Amelia, it"s time to wake up to get ready for the marriage meeting." She opened the door and walked over to the bed. "Amelia," gently shaking her daughter"s shoulder.
"Mmmmmm." Amelia looked up at her mother and smiled, "good morning, Mother. Sorry, I didn"t hear you knock at the door. Do not worry, Mother. I"m only tired because I was lacking the necessary vitamins. The doctor adjusted the dose so I"ll be back to my normal self in no time." She climbed out of her bed and walked to her bathroom. "I will take a bath and then come down for some tea and then get ready to go." She walks into the bathroom and she sits down on the wooden seat. Amelia starts was.h.i.+ng her body off, dumps water to rinse off the bubbles and then after she is clean she hops into the bathtub.