Sarawat's Story

Part XXVIII: The Fam and The Fans

After Tine left, I messaged my mother and suggested we do a video call so that she could see I was okay. I had abruptly ended our phone call earlier, and I had a feeling she would be worried about me if I didn't call her back. Also, hearing her voice had made me homesick, so I proposed we have a video call with my father and Phukong. She instantly agreed.

Her video was the first to pop up on my screen, and for a split second, my heart ached. I thought of her as a superwoman, but she appeared shockingly human and wearied at times. Her cocoa eyes looked dull between puffy and exhausted eyelids; her shoulder-length onyx hair, which she generally kept in a neat bun, was down and frizzy, and it framed her thin face of warm ivory skin. She was sitting on the bed of her hotel room, looking down at a few papers in her hand, but when she realized the call had connected and saw my face, she tossed the papers to the side. Her eyes lit up, and her face suddenly glowed.

"I told you I was okay," I said with a smile before she could speak.

Her face softened more. "Oh, honey," she cooed, "I'm so glad I can see you! You had me so worried!"

I bowed my head slightly. "Sorry," I replied.

Before she could respond, my father connected to the call. He was sitting at the table in the kitchen of our family house, and although he did not look as tired as my mother had looked, I could still see some fatigue on his face. It was weird; my father and I looked so similar it often felt like I was looking at a glimpse of myself in the future. We had the same facial structure - eyes, nose, and lips - but his hair, styled like mine, was salt-and-pepper colored. He was also bigger than me, with his strapping shoulders and broad chest. There was usually a smile on his face, but when his call connected with ours, his smile widened.

"You miss us already, huh?"

I bowed my head again. "Hey, Pa."

"Where's Phu?" my mother asked my father. "Is he home?"

My father turned away from the camera and called out to my brother. Phukong, or "Phu," entered the kitchen a few seconds later and sat beside my father.

Phu also had a close resemblance to our father. Them sitting next to each other was like looking at a single person's young self and older self. And whenever Phu and I were together, people would often mistake us for twins, although he was younger and shorter than me. He smiled and bowed to my mother with a cheerful "Hi Ma," then he looked at me. "Hey, jerk," he said, "you can't come home. I own both of our bedrooms now."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Sure, whatever."

"Last year," my father teased me, "it took you more than three months to miss us. This semester, it's only been a few weeks."

My mother chuckled, then said, "Don't tease my baby."

"I am a little homesick, Pa," I admitted.

"Baby!" Phu said, shaking his head.

"Hush!" My mother said to him. "Next year, when you're at university, let's see how long it'll take you to get homesick."

"Less than a week," I snickered.

"A day or two," my father laughed.

Phu rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered.

"Sarawat, sweetie, how is school?" my mother asked.

"School is fine," I replied. "I'm doing pretty good in my classes."

She smiled with a slight nod.

"How's soccer," my father asked.

Instantly, I thought of Dim. My parents knew of Dim; they'd met him the prior year at one of my games. They were aware that Dim and I were close, and whenever my parents mentioned soccer, I knew they'd ask about Dim.