Forever Youth

Chapter 06 . Whimsical Thinking

That night, mother gave me money for school expenses . I like to think that it was her way of making up for the lost times .

Early the next morning, mother went to the hospital and I accompanied her . The hospital was crowded with a wad of people that there was not a single place to stand . I had no choice but to wait patiently with mother . But it was all well too . The nurses were pleasing to the eyes .

“Mother,” I said, “As long as I’m free, I’ll come and visit you . ”

“I wish you had that intention,” mother said .

Looking back, no matter how bad things had gotten I realized that mother had always been there for me . I just never noticed . To save the family, she was always the one working odd jobs late at night . Didn’t matter what people thought of her . As long as I, her child was fed and had a roof over my shoulder, she would be able to keep on going .

I went back home that night and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut looking at my father . He’s always so muddle-headed . He could never keep a proper, steady job . I felt pity for him .

“Mom’s in the hospital . If you’re a man, you should go see her,” I said .

He was silent for a long time before looking up to face me in the eye . “Who told her to go out and spread her legs? See I can’t stand straight n’ proper in front of others knowing what she do at night . I got no face, son . ”

“Isn’t that your fault?” I lashed out .

That night, I had a heated argument with my deadbeat father . He called me a trash, a sore-eye . I really wished someone knocked some sense into him . I don’t know what he’s thinking sometimes .

Early the next morning, I went back to the city in silence . I never said goodbye to father . He didn’t deserve, especially after what happened last night .

He’s a disappointment of a father –– a disappointment as a husband and a disappointment as a father .

Knowing the life I was born into, I didn’t want a kid to grow up like that . I wanted to change my life around and h.e.l.l was I determined . I’ll forge my own path .

When I got off the train station nearby school, I met Yuan Yuan . She had been suspended from school because of that incident . I thought, “Why? She did nothin’ wrong . ”

Life was really unfair for a woman . They’d always get the blame .

“You’re a good person . Thank you,” said Yuan Yuan .

I smiled .

Yuan Yuan seemed to have sensed my thoughts and giggled . “What are you thinking about? Don’t worry, I won’t be relying on you all the time . ”

I slowly came back to my senses and said, “If you ever need anything, I’ll be right here . ”

And she shyly said, “Do you hear yourself? You’re my brother . I should be the one you rely on . As long as it’s something I, Yuan Yuan, am able to do, I will definitely give it my all!”

I smiled, thinking how brave and courageous she was . I kept Yuan Yuan’s promise in my heart .

“I thought about dying,” she changed the topic, “But I know that its unfair . Dying is easy, but I can’t simply leave this world with the mess I’ll leave behind . I want what they did to me to get a taste of their own medicine! I can’t go to school now so I found a job in customer service . The salary’s not high, but it pays! If you ever need any help, you can always look for me . ”

I nodded .

After that, at her insistence, I went to her house and we had dinner .

She cooked for me, the kind of cooking that was filled with gratefulness . I really wondered what my lower half was thinking all the time back then . It was always filled with restless desire especially when I looked at Yuan Yuan’s enchanting body .

I looked at the orderly arrangement of her home . It gave off the feeling of cleanliness without a speck of dust to be found . And the cozy bed stirred the desires in my heart…

And to add, she was dressed in black: black blouse, black skirt, black stockings .

Boy was it arousing . I felt my blood boil and I immediately embraced her, smelling the fragrance of her body .

I stayed at her place that night . Things would have occurred but her parents decided to rush over from their faraway hometown and visit the place Yuan Yuan lived in .