There are some special people in our life who always manages to make us feel comfortable. Even in the storm of life, their presence is always enough to lift up our spirit.
Xu Mey knew that Ru was a couple of years younger than her but oddly, why was it that Ru was the one who gave her a comfortable feeling? Xu Mey had pestered Ru to learn different skills but even after all these years, Xu Mey knew she couldn’t possibly have the composure or maturity that Ru possessed.
Even in silence, Ru had a way to reassure her. Xu Mey felt all fuzzy inside while she ate her ice cream in silence.
"Sensei," Xu Mey called out after eating to her fill. After eating sweet delight, she was a bit sleepy now but didn’t want to close her eyes. She was afraid that Ru would again leave like she always did. To make sure, Ru doesn’t vanish, she even perched her head on her shoulder making Ru stiff as a pole.
Xu Mey thought Ru would push her aside since she didn’t like physical contact but unlike what she expected, Ru didn’t do such thing. Instead, she heard Ru’s voice saying, "It’s Ru."
"Huh?" Xu Mey didn’t understand.
"I said you can call me Ru."
It was Xu Mey’s turn to look disbelievingly. "Is that your name, Sensei?" Xu Mey happily tugged at her sleeve.
"Don’t know. But since everyone called me young master Ru, I assumed that to be my name." Ru answered offhandedly. "What were you going to say?"
Xu Mey got back to her senses. "Do you know I felt so uneasy that day... when that woman left... I really didn’t feel like myself." Ru could feel the bitterness in her tone. Something even Xu Mey couldn’t recognize herself.
"Are you sure you want to know why were you feeling uneasy?" Ru’s question startled Xu Mey a bit. Wasn’t she just uneasy because of nausea?
"I do want to know..." Xu Mey closed her eyes awaiting Ru’s answer.
"Because unknowingly, in your heart, you expected to hear another answer." Xu Mey’s heart shook but Ru wasn’t done yet as she continued, "You might have said plenty of times you don’t care but in reality, you cared. A mother figure had always been something you desired. But you also wanted your own mother to give you a reason. A reason that could justify her abandonment. Scratch that! You don’t feel abandoned anymore. Now, you’re feeling betrayed. Because the only answer that mother of yours gave you is that she left because of the woman who ruined your life. Instead of choosing to believe in her own family, she chose to believe a third-party."
"Your heart is hurting. Your mind is not ready to believe all those excuses that mother of yours gave you. She could have taken you with herself but she didn’t. She chose her own freedom over you. And that thing is not settling well with you along with the fact that instead of coming clean, she’s trying to push all the blame on your father."
Xu Mey wanted to deny all those words but how? She couldn’t! Every word of hers was true. That was the bane of her life. Always had been. A mother who abandoned her and ruined her for life. She felt tears pooling in her eyes but she tried to blink them away. She wasn’t going to cry for that mother again.
But someone like her who didn’t even know the taste of a mother’s love, how could she give love to her own child? Could she really be any better than her own mother?
Xu Mey was scared as she asked, "Sense-Ahem! I mean, Ru." Ru hummed in reply. "What is a mother?"
"Hmm... Mother..." Ru said it as if tasting the sound of it on her tongue.
"A mother’s love is like a song
It’s a rhythm of two beating hearts
She might stay quiet
But
she always wraps your heart
with her love
She’s the rhythm of life
Singing the song of hope and cheer
With every steady beat pushing you to take flight
She’s like that cool breeze; invisible
Yet, always there by your side.
She chides you on your every step
Silently praying for no pain to touch
She whispers her words of love
Having fear is not something she’s proud of.
But at the end of the day,
She is a mother, shaping her daughter’s wings
Because she knows
One day, her butterfly is going to break free from strings."
Xu Mey had unconsciously lost herself in Ru’s soothing voice, sleep had made her eyelids heavy. "But then again, one can’t define a mother in a true sense."
"Was your mother exactly like that?" Xu Mey asked and raised her hand to cover her yawn.
"Was she?" Xu Mey thought she heard Ru’s voice but she couldn’t be too sure since her slumber was a lot more peaceful now.
Ru looked at Xu Mey sleeping with her head on her shoulder. She could see the jaw-dropping look on her subordinates’ faces who were roaming around in disguise. But she didn’t care about them at all.
She stood up and picked Xu Mey’s body in a princess style feeling weird. But she didn’t want anyone of her people to touch Xu Mey, so she chose to do this task herself. She brought Xu Mey back to where Jie was sleeping and laid her down right by his side. Xu Mey immediately hugged Jie’s waist and snuggled up in the crook of his neck.
Leaving them inside the room, Ru came out. Connecting her Bluetooth to her cellphone, she ordered, "Stop wasting time. Let’s go fishing."
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