Words I was Afraid to Hear

It was nighttime at City T.

"Mommy look!" Manta came into the sitting room holding a piece of paper.

Midori was sipping tea when he came running. She smiled on seeing his drawing. For a first grader, he had good drawing and coloring skills.

"Is that you and me?" Midori eyed the drawing of a woman carrying a child.

"No! This is the baby and you!" He pouted.

She looked closer. "You're sure the baby will be a boy?" She giggled.

"Uncle Dan promised me a playmate. How can I play with a girl?"

Midori laughed. "What about the girl in school who kissed you?" She could vividly remember a pigtailed girl who gave her nephew a peck on the cheek before happily waving goodbye.

"Wha--!" He frowned. "You were spying on me?!"

She giggled. "I was fetching you. Did she kiss you goodbye?"

The boy blushed up to his ears. He was fidgeting, thinking of an excuse.

"Uhm...Mommy, can we listen to the baby again?"

Midori smiled while gently shaking her head.

She took the handheld doppler and some jelly. She squeezed out some jelly onto her abdomen and positioned the doppler probe. She is in her second trimester and her abdomen had grown into an obvious, but not too large bump.

Manta gaped in awe as he heard the fast heartbeat. "Woah...baby..." He extended his arm to feel the baby in the abdomen.

The sounds raced as the boy felt movement with his hand. Manta's smile seemed to be fixed.

"Mommy, will the baby look like you or Uncle Dan?"

______________________

Masaichi Xiu could not sleep that night. He kept thinking about the words uttered at the restaurant.

It would not make sense for Madam Ming to fabricate such lie. At the very least, there was some truth in it. He thought back on that day.

.

His personal phone rang as he was reviewing documents in the office that afternoon.

"Hey!" He was surprised by the call coming from his wife.

"Hi, Honey! Are you busy?"

She could hear the flipping of pages from the other end as he continued to browse through the documents.

"Uhm...not really." he lied. "What's up?"

"Otou-saaan!" Manta's small voice came from the other end.

"Oh, hello, Manta-kun. Are you doing well in school?"

"Hai, Otousan. Today, I got 4 stars!"

"Good, good. Can you give the phone back to Okaasan?"

"Hai, Otousan. Demo..."

Sensing the hesitation the boy's voice, Masaichi probed, "Something the matter, Manta-kun?"

"Tousan, I will send Okaasan to you today for a..."

The last word was muffled by the sound of the ringing office phone.

"Sorry. I'll call you back."

.

The current Masaichi Xiu furrowed his brows as he could not recall the rest of the conversation. He was certain that it was some sort of clue on whether or not his wife was really pregnant at that time.

It came to him to ask his son, but he dropped the phone on the bed as he dismissed the idea.

He will not force his son to recall the last day he saw his mother just because some crazy old lady uttered some nonsense.

But were they really all lies?

He thought it through multiple times as he squirmed on his large bed until dawn arrived.

Sleepless, he went into the bathroom and took a cold shower to clear his thoughts.

As he was drying his hair, he had an idea.

Secretary Ta could hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears as she saw the caller on her ringing phone.

"Yes, CEO?"

"Book the earliest flight to City T today. Two tickets." He made his order clear.

However, she was unsure whether her boss has a companion or he will bring her along. In the end, she could not ask him.

"Yes, CEO."