His Younger Self

She sighed and glanced outside but a familiar figure came across to her car. Her eyes widened, clenching her hand on the steering wheel. 

It was like a doppelganger as if it was the same person but a different sensation. It felt right yet she strove to remove it inside her thoughts. 

'It's not him… It's a different person.' She thought to herself. 

She was a mess as her eyes began to puff from a recent cry. She glanced at the mirror and spaced out for a minute before realizing her messed face. 

The tissue rested inside the glove box as she grabbed it before wiping all the shed tears and fixing her makeup.

Even her hair was a chaos that needed to be fixed before James noticed something was off. 

Suddenly, a whimper from behind alerts her so she fixed her seat and cleared her throat. 

"Mama, are we here? Why did we stop?" Her son asked and removed his seatbelt. 

Then, a panic struck her whilst looking for her phone as a reason for her son. 

She glanced at her son, forming a small smile as she began to place the phone near her ear. 

"I-I just picked up the call. Your aunt Cheslea called me about the meeting so we need to stop for a while." 

"Okay!" 

Then, he hummed before getting back to his seat and fastening his seatbelt. 

Jaymianne sighed in relief when James didn't question anything about her reason.

An invalid reason. 

"Can we go now? I'm hungry." He said in a whiny tone. 

She just chuckled and saluted her son. "Yes, sir!" 

Then, she slid up the car window before driving to their destination. Luckily it was a short drive to reach the supermarket. 

They stepped outside the car to purchase their food for her son's snack and their food for the entire week.  

She clasped her son's right hand and smiled at him but before she could react, James was excited whilst pushing his mother inside the supermarket. 

"Mama! Hurry! I want to grab some snacks." She just chuckled at her son's excitement. 

"What should we buy?" She implored to herself while grabbing the pushcart.

But her son shrugged and looked around while clasping the holder of the pushcart as if he could reach it. 

She placed James in front of her as his feet touched the underneath part of the pushcart. He giggled, wiggling his feet while she was pushing it. 

"We should get some beef for dinner. Also pork." She told her son as they strolled to the meat section. 

As she picked up their food for an entire month, his son threw a tantrum when asking for more Oreos and yogurt juice. 

She sighed and knelt in front of him then smiled sweetly. She couldn't say no to him when he was crying out loud. 

"Okay, I'll let you get only one more and one yogurt juice but I need to budget our monthly food before you get one, okay?" 

He responded with a nod and leaned his body to the pushcart. And within a minute, her son glanced at her mother, who was busy computing their monthly food. 

And slowly, he walked out of her mother's direction and sprinted to the snack section. 

He smiled widely when the pack of oreo was in front of him. So, he strove to grab it. More attempts yet he couldn't reach it. 

"I want… one Oreo." He murmured in his cute, little voice. 

He jumped, striving to reach for the Oreos, and finally, he successfully grabbed one pack.

He giggled and sauntered to the drink section. His eyes sparkled when there were lots of yogurt drinks that he loved the most. 

Then, he picked one yogurt drink and looked around to see if there were people around him. Luckily, no was in his direction. 

James happily opened the yogurt and sat near the massive refrigerator. 

"Hey, kid! Why are you drinking that yogurt?" 

He screamed internally, hiding the yogurt drink behind his back when the personnel strolled closer to him. 

Then, the personnel knelt whilst staring at the yogurt drink before he asked again, "Why are you drinking that? Did you know that it's wrong?" 

James just pouted and looked down, and didn't know what to say to the man in front of him. 

"Where's your mom?" He asked again but no answer was given by the little boy. 

"Look at me kid! I'm going to call security if you don't tell me where your mother is." 

Slowly, he glanced at the personnel, deeply pouting and his tears rushed down his cheeks as he was terrified to get in trouble. He knew that his mother would be so mad at him. 

"I-I don't know." 

"Well, you should come with me and you need to pay for that drink!" 

But then, he shook his head and didn't want to come with him. His mother said that he couldn't come with the stranger or talk with them. 

So he crouched beside the massive refrigerator and waited for her mother to come and fetch him. 

"Kid, if you aren't going to listen to me… you will be in big trouble. Now let's go!" He uttered and grabbed the little boy's wrist.

"I don't want to come with you! Let me go, mister! My mama said don't come with strangers or talk with them!" 

"I'm not a stranger! I'm working here so please let me help you and we will find your mama, okay?" 

"No!" 

The personnel sighed and looked around. He bit his lips when they were receiving attention from the customers. He just smiled at them before glancing at the little boy. 

"Let's go kid… Or else I'm go—"

"Or else what?" 

His words cut off when hearing a husky voice behind him. He glanced at it to see who recently uttered words.

And when the personnel gazed at the man, his eyes wide, and slowly, he removed his hand from the little boy's wrist. 

The man signed him to leave as the personnel didn't hesitate to flee from their direction. The little boy glanced at the man with a glow in his eyes. Then, the man knelt in front of him and gave him his favorite drink. 

"How did you do that?" The little boy asked. 

"Well…" He leaned closer to the little boy and whispered, "I'm the owner of this supermarket." 

He leaned away and winked at him. The little boy was amazed by the man before he giggled and gave him his oreo. 

"I want to have a supermarket one day like you… Mr?"

"Mr. Sphinx. And you will have one day." 

He giggled and responded with a nod. 

"I am Mr. Sphinx so I could buy whatever my mama likes! Oh! You should meet my mama! She was looking for my new papa." 

Mr. Sphinx chuckled and ruffled his hair before he called one of the personnel. 

"Maybe next time kiddo."

"I'm not a kiddo! I'm a grown man so I could protect my mama from the people who hurt my mama!" He exclaimed while flexing his little arms. 

"Okay, superman… You are a grown man. But for now, you should listen to your mama." 

"Yes Sir!"

He saluted which made Mr. Sphinx chuckle at how mischievous the little boy is. 

"But for now, my staff will escort you to your mama, okay?" 

The little boy pouted in sadness and didn't have a choice but to obey since he didn't want her mama to get worried. Then, he smiled widely and waved at him. 

"See you next time, Superman."

"You too, Sir!" 

The man stood as his eyes followed a young boy and all of a sudden, a pat on his shoulder stunned him. 

He glanced at it and saw his friend, Citreon. 

"Who's that?" 

"I don't know… I didn't get his name but it's fine…" He mumbled while smiling at the little kid, who slowly disappeared from his sight. 

His friend smirked and said, "Really… You are happy when you see that kid." 

"I didn't know why but one thing I noticed… I reminded him of my young self."