Love Sick : The After Story

On Hold

In a corner of the bedroom I notice the presence of White, who is sleeping peacefully. He probably had seek for shelter at the unfamiliar visitor. He was so different from his sibling, who adored visits. As if by magic, White's company makes me feel more at ease, giving me courage to bring myself to answer the phone.

"Hello?" I answer the phone in a quiet, timid voice that I don't recognize in myself.

"Hello, Noh?" After a few seconds, I finally hear that familiar voice that cursed me once, sounding benelovent and kind as the first time I met her. I am quite surprised that she hasn't hang up after all the time it took me to gather courage to answer her. It must be something important for her to wait patiently for me to answer. For a moment, I am caught wishing for her to have hung up. It would've made things so much easier.

"Hello, Mrs. Phumiphat. How are you doing?" I hate the awkwardness in my voice as I speak. I wish I could return to that time where I could talk comfortably to her but it seems that it will take me some time to adjust to her presence again. On the other hand, she doesn't seem to be having the same problem.

In the contrary, she speaks as if nothing had ever happened, as if everything had been just a bad dream of mine. "I'm doing fine. Finally got off of work. How are the two of you doing? Doing good, yeah?" The more I hear her speak to me in that gentle motherly voice, the more calm I feel. There's something in her voice that always seems to trigger the good memories that I have of her and likewise, the bad memories are also brought to my mind but I swallow them and decide to focus in the good ones.

"We are doing great, thankfully. Phun brought a classmate over today. They are currently watching the game in the living room." I tell her as I scratch the top of my head awkwardly. "That sounds like fun." She tells me in a solemn voice but deep behind it, I can hear a heavy loneliness. 

A long pause follows. I know what is in her mind even without her speaking a word. She's reminiscing all the memories in which her son was beside her. When the days were peaceful and everything seemed perfect. The days in which I had yet to appear. She's probably picturing her son with that playful smile of his as he spent time with them. When there was no resentment and no wound. I feel my heart aching as I picture this. A happy looking boy beside his father, both cheering for their favorite soccer team. Pang, sprawled on the other couch, engaged in her yaoi mangas. Their mother watching them from the kitchen, enjoying the view as she made them baked cookies. A happy family. If I was hurting at the thought, how much more suffering did it cause her?

"We recently adopted two cats! he he.." Unexpectedly, I find myself telling her about that in an attempt to cheer her up. She stays silent as she processes my words before letting out a joyful laugh, "New pets, huh? That's very good. How did you named them?."

"White and Captain." I respond, trying to throw away all the discomfort and break the barrier between the two of us. "Ha ha. Those names are very peculiar. How did you come up with them?" She asks as she lets another laugh, her voice sounding curious and honest.

And just like that we begin to engage ourselves in a conversation that I couldn't even hope for two years ago. The minutes pass and we continue talking about unimportant things. In a short amount of time it starts to feel as if we were back to the old days, where the peace abounded between Phun and his family. I think about how this is how it should be. This is how it should be from now on. I will do anything to return everything to normality. 

We continue talking about how our days have been in the past month. She tells me about Pang's university and her well being. She is studying hard to become a vet. I smile to myself as I think about her. She was the reason that I got this close to Phun and deep inside, I'm grateful towards her and feel a deep affection for her. She also tells me about Pang's possible engagement. Apparently, she's been dating this guy, Pop, for a couple of years now and yesterday, Phun's family received his unexpected visit. That surprises me and I feel excitement grow in me. Wait till Phun hears this news. His beloved sister, married? What will his reaction be at the news? Although Phun and Pang had kept in touch over the years, it had been a few weeks since the last time they had talked and a few months since they had seen each other. I was sure the news was going to surprise him as well.