The following day comes, it's Sunday, it's our day off. Like usual, Chris barges in our quarters to give us breakfast. This time, he have this strange vibe around him. He looked serious. Mom felt it too. He whispered something to her and he left immediately. Mom holding the container looked confused. I walk up to her and took it from her.
"What was that about?"
"He said he wanted to talk to me...alone..."
"Why?"
"I dunno."
I put the food on the table. And we as a family eat together.
Since today's our off, our usual routine was gather with the BBF. Every Sunday we just chill, binge watch movies, and eat snacks. Mom is now like the same person from the first time she took us in. She's happy and lively again. Later evening I will surely tell Chris that our deal has come to an end now that my mom has returned to us.
After our bonding today, the rest of mom's friends has left to return to their quarters. As soon as they leave, Chris has come over. He asked my mom if he could talk to her in private. He promised to her it wouldn't take long.
There's this heavy vibe coming out of him. Mom looked worried. She glances at us briefly before stepping out of our quarters.
In an hour, my mom has returned. She looked pale but her nose and eyes were red. As if... it's as if she just cried. She meekly looked at me, defeated. Jarren who just came out of the bathroom caught a glimpse of mom. He must have read the sadness all over her face. He approached her, asked her what was wrong. But...she just walked passed him. She proceed to fix us dinner.
When dinner came, mom was deafeningly quiet. She didn't even called us to the table. We only guessed it's time to eat when we heard the ringing of cutlery when she was setting up the table. Jarren was confused what's up as mom doesn't really talk when something's wrong. However, I know what's up. Chris... it's probably him...or maybe it was me. Either of the two will probably upset her this much.
We ate dinner, mom cleaned up the table. The deeper the night goes, the heavier the atmosphere is in our temporary house. Before she washed the dishes, she told us to stay put. She told us to just sit on the couch. Every second, every minute felt so long. My palms were cold and moist. I'm trying to stay calm to no avail. My right leg won't stop shaking to the point my brother had to ask me to stop. In turn, I twirled my thumbs on each other.
Now, mom has finished with her chore. She wiped her hand dry on a hand cloth. She then took one of the dining chairs and sat in front of us. She sat there for a while. I can hear every tick of the clock. Oh God, I'm so fucking scared right now! My heart is pounding within my chest like drums!
"Nigel...Jarren..."
I gulped.
"I want you two to be honest with me, alright?" Mom lifts her head up, looking at the two of us.
"Umm...okay?" Jarren answered.
Mom then looked at me, waiting for an answer.
I nodded at her.
"Nigel, what am I to you?" mom asked.
My throat never felt this dry, "Y-you're our..."
"No, just you, Nigel. What am I to you?"
This stunned me. I know the answer but my lips almost didn't want to open. I mustered all the strength I have and forced myself to speak.
"Y-you're my mom..."
Mom didn't divert her gaze, eager to hear more.
"M-my hero...my...my all..."
Mom nodded, satisfied with my answer.
"Jarren, tell me, how do you feel about me these past months?"
Jarren must have felt the same fright in him. He lowered his gaze on the floor, trying to avoid her eyes.
"Jarren, I won't be mad, just be honest with me." Said mom gently.
Jarren took a deep breath before speaking, "I felt like...y-you..." Jarren bit his lip.
"You felt like I?" Mom inched a little closer.
"I felt like you were a different person...like...like...just...different..." Jarren's voice cracked.
Mom sat back up leaning on the chair.
"Nigel, Chris has told me everything..." Her eyes began to water.
Jarren then look at me, even more confused. I looked down on the floor, ashamed.
"You didn't have to do that, Nigel!" Mom said with tears leaking out of her eyes.
Mom then stood up and pulled my brother and I in her tight embrace. This shocked us greatly. We too wrapped her in our arms. I felt her whole body tense up against mine.
"I'm so sorry I made you two feel this way. I'm so sorry, my sons, I'm so sorry."
I could not hold it anymore. I missed her so much. My chest was aching so badly. My eyes felt hot and not long after, as soon as I closed my eyes, tears started flowing down.
"No matter what happens, in blood or in paper, nothing will change. You two are my sons and I will always love you."
Mom then let us go. She held our cheeks. She looked us with admiration in her eyes. She then give each our foreheads a gentle kiss.
"Tomorrow, we will go home to Cainta." Mom smiled.
"What about our job here?" I asked.
"Danin can take care of it. For now, I think I will need to take a break. I'm not over my own mother's passing. I should let myself mourn for my loss. I don't want to neglect my sons again. You two are my remaining purpose to keep fighting for a better world."
She wipes her tears and heads for the door.
"Pack up, I'll go and talk to Danin," said mom before stepping out.
When mom left, Jarren looked at me. He still has no idea what mom meant.
"What did you do exactly? Did you punch someone out of consciousness again?"
I laughed lightly, "No, not that."
"Then what?"
"Do you have any idea who Chris is?"
"Uhh...not really..."
"He was mom's highschool crush."
"Shut up! Really?!"
"Mhm."
"And what does that have to do with you?"
"I asked him to date mom to help her recover faster."
"Sick! I...I mean...not like it's a good thing...but...kuya, you really shouldn't have done that."
"I...I know..."
That night, we began packing up our stuff. Meanwhile, mom went out to run some errands like passing down the mission to Uncle Danin and taking care of papers. She'll be taking a vacation as long as she needs to recover. And as for me, I'd still do my job as an Expander. She'll just relocate me to somewhere closer. If not, she might put me on vacation too.
By 10:45pm, Jarren and I finished packing things up. We then started to load our stuff in our truck. There wasn't a lot to pack and load because mom didn't bring her books. While we were loading stuff in the truck, I saw Chris walking to our direction. He stopped in front of me.
"So, you guys are leaving?" He smiled meekly.
"We're going home," I answered blankly.
He nodded.
"You told her," I said.
"How'd it went?" He asked.
I stopped. I don't feel mad at him...I just...I don't know.
"I'd like to thank you for making me come here to Teresa, it was a fresh start for me."
He extends his hand to me, "I hope I could still be your friend after...all these..."
I shook his hand and smiled, "Of course."
We part hands.
"Let's keep texting, ey?" He said.
"Sure thing," I answered.