"What… is this?" Tang pointed at his plate, glancing at the tall figure scooping the same food and chewing it with an expression he couldn't quite understand it made his throat itch.
"It's food. I made it," the tall one replied, chewing with zero manners, making the little one frown in irritation.
"And Grandma Bua?"
"She's not here. Go check on your mom."
"I'm not hungry," Tang said, setting down his spoon and fork, drinking water to suppress his appetite.
Hungry as he was, he still couldn't eat… This was the food of a demon, indeed.
"It's almost noon. How can you not be hungry?"
The father-demon continued to eat his own cooking without batting an eye. Tang got up from the table to grab a banana from the kitchen. But when he looked around, he had to rub his eyes and look again.
Had a thief broken into Grandma's house? Pots, pans, spoons, and bowls were scattered everywhere, eggs cracked, vegetable and pork bits spilled, bottles of spices and powders toppled across the floor.
So demons really do eat like this.
Tang glanced between the mess and the wild man eating calmly as if nothing was wrong
"I'll just eat a banana instead."
"You're already this big and you still want a banana? I made food for you!"
"You sure this even counts as food?"
"What do you mean? It's my first time. How can it be perfect? I'm a man I can't be delicate about things like this.
"No wonder nobody wants you."
"Say it nicely. Being abandoned, and neither of us even realized it."
Hmph!
Even though Tang didn't quite understand the sudden changes in the adults around him, in his heart he still loved and trusted his homeroom teacher the same honest teacher he had always teased more than his biological father.
But now, the father and son were spending the school break together in the countryside, at the very place where their roots began.
"Where are we going?"
"To visit your neighborhood, of course."
"Has the doctor said it's okay to see Grandma Si now? Mom said she shouldn't be visited in the sterile room."
"You can't trust your mom any more than anyone else."
"Why do you always teach kids to see the world in a negative light?"
"Who said I teach them to see things negatively? That's just reality."
"Being here feels so gloomy."
"Can you stop complaining?"
The black Benz drove into the town, almost a hundred kilometers from the Sra Si house. Normally, this car would speed through red lights, overtake recklessly, barely slowing down regardless of the rough road. Even going to Peeradol's friend's shop wouldn't take long.
But this time, the car moved steadily in the left lane, speed capped below a hundred, because the little one was gazing out the window with interest.
His fine hair whipped in the wind. His round face pressed against the window as he looked silently at the passing scenery, lost in thoughts of someone he missed.
The car was quiet two people, two emotions, two different perspective but both thinking of the same person…
City Hospital
"Aunt Bua, how's Mom?"
As soon as they entered the private room and saw the familiar housekeeper, Tang asked immediately.
The elderly woman, tidying and cleaning the room as usual, turned and greeted her young charges only to widen her eyes in shock.
"She's a little better now, Mr. Tod… Oh? And… that's Tang!"
The little boy, trailing behind the tall figure, poked his head out of the doorway and called out in a clear, loud voice:
"Grandma~!"
His small legs scrambled to climb onto the bed in a hurry, forcing his father to lift him by the collar to help him reach the patient.
"Tang… oh, Tod… why are you here?"
"Why be surprised? It's just me and… my son," the tall man replied coolly, expression unreadable.
"Tod… my child…"
The elderly woman's tears streamed as she looked at the visiting father and son together. Even Aunt Bua's eyes were misty, because nothing like this had ever happened in their home before.
The beloved grandson hugged and comforted his grandma, like a little angel protecting the family. The warm atmosphere slowly returned, a faint scent of happiness finally filling the space after a long, dry spell of emptiness.
After parting ways with the lottery dealer and his son, life felt like something essential had gone missing.
What Dad called a "once-in-a-lifetime bad experience" getting involved in underground lottery gambling had exposed me to the worst kinds of people, like Tod, a dealer completely irresponsible and selfish to the core.
Yet the saying that we remember pain more vividly than happiness, and that it's easier to fall for the wrong person than the right one, seemed uncomfortably true.