Inching Closer To You

Comfort

A couple of weeks have passed. Mew goes to work like normal while Sing continues to attend his football practice every Tuesday and Friday after school. Every time he comes home from practice, Sing would brag to his dad about how much he has improved and how much fun it is playing with P' Gulfie. After bringing Sing to his first day of practice, Mew has not met Gulf since then...

[Tuesday, 5:12 pm]

Mew is sitting in his office, signing official papers that Tul handed to him earlier. As he flips through the pages, his phone suddenly rings.

An unknown number...?

Mew cautiously answers. "Hello?"

"P' Mew?"

"Yes.. May I ask who this is?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you it's me. Gulf."

Mew relaxes a bit in his chair. "Oh, Gulf! Why are you calling me? Did something happen to Sing?"

"Not quite.. Uhm, I'm just calling to ask if you are expecting someone to pick up Sing early from practice today?"

Mew's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "No? Today is just a normal practice day, isn't it?"

"Oh.. well, there is a lady here right now who's saying that she is here to pick up Sing."

Mew grows alarmed. "Who?"

"Sing is scared because he doesn't know who she is. However, this lady says that she is his mom and--"

"What??"

Mew's breath starts growing more rapidly as his head fills with both sorrow and anger. His hand holding the phone slightly trembles.

"P' Mew...? Hello?? Are you ok--"

Mew hangs up the call then shoves the phone into his pocket. He quickly stands up and rushes out the door. Tul, who was on his way to Mew's office, catches him at the door. Tul gets surprised.

"Whoaaa, bro! What's the rush?"

Tul stands in the way of Mew and scans his face to see what's wrong. There, on the face of Mew, is the look that he's seen six years ago. The same exact look... the same sorrowful eyes.. the same heartbroken eyes..

Tul grabs the shoulders of Mew who looks distressed at the moment. "Mew? What's wrong?"

Mew tries to slow his rapid breathing and looks into Tul's eyes. "She's back, Tul... Prae is back."

Tul's eyes widen. "What for??"

Mew aggressively shakes his head. "I don't know, Tul. I don't know! But she's with Sing right now.. I don't know what she's planning to do!"

Right after saying that, Mew doesn't wait for Tul to respond before he continues to rush out the office toward his car.

Tul shouts out at Mew's back. "Call me if something goes wrong, Mew!"

Mew zooms his car straight to Sing's school.

Meanwhile, Gulf is still standing beside Sing, trying to comfort the scared boy. The woman, who claims to be Sing's mom, is still trying to coax him. She looks very elegant and beautiful. She seems like a woman who suits Mew really well.

I thought Sing had a normal family life... Does that mean P' Mew has been raising Sing on his own...?

The woman speaks up again. "Sing, darling~ I'm your mommy."

Sing, who is on the verge of tears, shakes his head. "I don't know who you are!"

Sing tightens his grip on the hem of Gulf's shirt. Gulf looks down at the little boy and wraps his left arm around the tiny shoulder. The lady tries to talk to Sing for the next ten minutes until it is almost time for football practice to end. Auntie Mai, who would always arrive around 5 minutes early, finally appears and Gulf internally sighs in relief. Sing's eyes widen and without hesitation lets go of Gulf and runs over to her.