Promise

A year later, Arthur was finally in his first year of high school. The harmony in his family became more broken as his father slowly became more cold. 

And what's worse was that his mother became sick. She was so sick that she had to be hospitalized.

His father rarely visited his mother at the hospital. Giving excuses such as work and so forth.

But Arthur knew. Yet, he kept quiet.

Hence, he became the only visitor to visit his mother. His sister was still too young and had to stay at home with a babysitter. His father had hired one to take care of her while he went to visit his mother.

Arthur always brought books with him to the hospital, where he would read them to his mother so she wouldn't feel bored.

Only towards his mother and his four years old sister, would he smile brightly.

As days passed, he could tell that his mother's condition became worse.

Her lips were always dry, no matter how many times he put lip balm on her lips. Her face began to lose her color, becoming more sunken. Her beautiful hair also lost its gloss.

One day, Arthur was heading to the hospital as usual after school. Just as he stepped out of the lift that leads to his mother's floor, he heard a commotion where her room was. 

With heart beating frantically, he quickly rushed towards his mother's room. He saw the door was opened and there were several nurses and a doctor running past him, heading inside the room.

"Wha- what happened to my mom?!" Arthur tried to ask a nurse who seems to be in a rush too.

"It's an emergency!"

Arthur was stunned. He felt confused and scared at the same time. He did not even notice that the door was shut in his face as the doctor and nurses did their emergency treatment inside that very room. 

He stood there, frozen.

An hour had passed but the door was still closed. He sat on the bench that was placed outside the room. He had already called his grandfather to tell him about his mother. 

His mother doesn't have any family, other than them. She was the only child and her parents had passed away a long time ago, before he was born.

He did not want to call his father.

A few minutes later, his grandfather finally arrived with a look of concern in his face. "Child, what had happened?" he asked, walking towards Arthur.

Arthur stood up to greet his grandfather. But before he could say anything, his grandfather hugged him. It seems like he knew that Arthur was still in shock. "Don't worry, child. Everything will be alright."

Arthur couldn't cry, he only smiled and tried to convince himself that everything will be alright.

"Where is your father?"

Arthur only could shake his head.

"What the heck is he doing? Have you called him?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

Arthur kept silent, he didn't answer his grandfather's question.

"Are you in a fight with him?" His grandfather sighed, he then grabbed his phone from his pocket, "I'll call him."

His grandfather tried to call his son many times, but his phone was switched off.

"What the hell is this stupid son of mine doing right now?!"

———————————————————

In a big room, there was a big double bed and a wide television on the wall. The curtain covered the window, blocking the sunlight from seeping in the room.

On the bed, there was a man and woman, sleeping as the man hugged the woman from the back.

The woman poked the man on the cheek. "Hey wake up, naughty boy."

"Mhm... what?"

"Didn't you not go to work today, just so you can spend more time with me?" the woman asked, with a cheeky smile. "That makes you a naughty boy.

The man smiled and then got up from bed. He started to wear his clothes. "What time is it? I need to go home."

"How unusual, why?"

"I just want to, nothing in particular."

"Okay, then," the woman got up and kissed him on the cheek, "goodbye, see you later."

"Yeah." The man kissed her back on the cheek. He grabbed all of his stuff and went outside.

While walking, he grabbed his phone and turned it on. When the phone turned on, he saw many call notifications from his father.

He felt something was wrong so he hurriedly called his father.

The call was picked up soon as he was connected. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"Why are you so angry, dad? My phone battery was out, I just charged it."

"GET YOUR ASS TO Z HOSPITAL, RIGHT NOW! YOUR WIFE IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AND ARTHUR IS HERE ALL THIS TIME!"

The man knitted his brows. "I'm on my way now."

At the hospital, Arthur's grandfather felt something strange was going on. He was shocked after the call disconnected. His son seems calm.

'What happened?' he thought, feeling confused. Even Arthur was acting so strange. He did not even want to talk anything about his father.

Not long after he had disconnected the call, a doctor walked out of the room, with a grim look in his face.

Arthur and his grandfather quickly rushed over and asked, "Doctor, how is my mom?"

The doctor looked at the boy in front of him and felt sad. He looked like he had just entered highschool. "Are you her son?" he asked gently.

"Yes."

The doctor turned to Arthur's grandfather.

"I'm his grandfather. She's my daughter-in-law."

The doctor nodded. Then he shook his head as he closed his eyes then he said something that really overturned Arthur's world.

"I'm sorry... she... didn't make it. We tried our best. But her-"

Arthur didn't hear the rest of the words the doctor was saying. He felt numbed. He felt like he was living in a nightmare. He then began to laugh without joy. He grabbed the doctor's robe.

"It's a joke, right? Doctor, there is no way..."

The doctor patted Arthur's shoulder as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

Tears welled up from Arthur's eyes. He was trembling uncontrollably, gritting his teeth. His fists were clenched tight as he felt sadness surged in him.

His grandfather looked devastated, seeing the pain in Arthur's eyes. He walked closer and hugged him tight.

There were no words that could heal him at the moment. His grandfather could only hold Arthur in his embrace and kept silent.

Not long, a voice sounded from the lift's direction.

"Father!"

Arthur's grandfather turned his gaze and saw his son walking towards them. He knitted his brows and said in anger. 

"WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU?"

Arthur's father was shocked at the sudden burst of anger from his dad. It was then he realized. He turned to Arthur and walked towards Arthur, wanting to hug him. But before his hands could touch him, Arthur had slapped his hands to the side.

Arthur began to laugh hysterically.

"Hahahaha... don't you touch me!"

His father was shocked at the look of hatred in his son's face and eyes..

"How is she?"

"She? Who?" Arthur's father was confused.

"That b*tch you met at the city park in the middle of the night! I bet you were with her this whole time!"

His father and grandfather were shocked.

His grandfather whirled around to face his son and asked, while he was trembling in anger. "What have you done? Answer me, you bastard! I don't remember having a jerk as my son!"

"You... you were following me?" Arthur's father was so shocked.

Arthur charged towards his father and punched him in the face. His father fell floor. 

Arthur kept punching him until the latter's nose bleed and his eyes swollen. However, his father did not retaliate as he lay there, receiving all the punches.

The nurses and the doctor hurriedly stopped Arthur by grabbing his arms.

Arthur stopped. He was still on top of his father's chest as tears fell from his cheek.

Everyone in the corridor was silent. 

Then Arthur broke the silence by saying:

"I knew all along,. But I just keep quiet about you having an affair with another woman because it will only make her more sad!" Arthur paused, he took a deep breath.

"But that burden that I hid was nothing compared to mom! She knew far earlier than me! She carried all of those burdens on her tiny back! She never... told me about..."

Arthur closed his eyes,. He then gripped his father's collar real hard and said with a low voice. 

"Her sadness..."

It was silent for a moment. The nurses wanted to scold Arthur for being too loud, but they couldn't bring themselves to do so.

Arthur finally calmed down, but his complexion was like a dead man, that gaze of his contained no soul inside.

"I don't want to see your fucking face ever again. Stay away from Velvet and me." He said as he walked inside to his mother's room.

His grandfather was so angry as he looked down at his bleeding and beaten up son. "You deserve it. I don't want to see your face. Just like what Arthur said. Stay away from us, I will take care of my grandchildren."

Inside, his mother was lying on the bed. She looked like she was finally in peace as there was a small smile on her lips.

Arthur slowly walked to his mother's side. He grabbed her tiny, cold hand into his.

"I beat the crap out of him," he smiled as tears fell once again from his eyes. He brought the back of her hand to his forehead. and vehemently vowed, "Don't worry mom. I will take care of Velvet as I promised to you."