He held me tighter, whispering in my ear,
“Funny, me too.”
Back in 2008, I cherished every day. Those
fifteen years felt like a bad dream, fading with
each passing moment.
More than half a year had passed since our
return, and today was my son’s birthday. I
took him to the science fair he’d been looking
forward to.
In the hall for the winner of the student group,
a homemade rocket captivated my son. I told
him to wait for me where he was, while I went
to get him ice cream.
While I was waiting for the ice cream, the noise of the hall started to grow.
“Unbelievable, there are two kids fighting!”
“It’s just someone being unilaterally abused. You can tell the two of them are clearly very
different.”
く
Amid the noise, I heard my son’s voice: “What
are you doing stealing my things?”
I rushed back, pushing my way through the
crowd, and I saw my son lying on the ground.
He was underneath an older kid, who was
pulling on his backpack.
Obviously, my son couldn’t win, but he was
holding on tight to a shoulder strap of the
bag.
“Alex!” I rushed over, anxiously picking up my
son. He let go of the bag. The other kid was
caught off guard and ended up falling down.
My son’s face was red, and I knew he
must’ve been holding on tight.
When he saw me he was finally unable to
<
hold back his tears.
“Mom, he’s trying to steal my backpack! It’s
the one you got me!”
I examined my son to make sure that he
wasn’t injured, and I finally breathed a sigh of
relief, gently patting his back.
“It’s okay, I can get you another one.”
I saw the kid’s headphones fall off; they were
a very expensive brand.
And looking at the kid’s designer outfit and
his fancy accessories, he didn’t seem like he
was trying to steal anything.
I pulled my son behind me, and I asked him,
“Where are your parents? Why are you
<
stealing my son’s bag?”
The kid didn’t say anything with his head
bowed, and I tried to suppress my anger,
getting the bag back.
My son wasn’t hurt, the other kid’s parents.
weren’t around, and I didn’t want to make
things difficult for a kid who seemed to be in
his teens.
As I took my son by the hand to leave, the kid
suddenly said, sounding very wronged:
“Mom, I got hurt too. Aren’t you going to look
at my injuries?”
Chapter 2
As the crowd heard those words, it began to
disperse.
く
“So they’re family? Maybe some influencers
are here to film a video or something.”
“Yeah, it looks pretty staged.”
The kid finally raised his head. I saw a familiar
face, and I said in disbelief, “Alex?”
“Why are you all alone here, where’s Jake?”
He picked up his headphones, putting them
back on with red eyes.
“Jake doesn’t care about me.”
I started to say something, asking, “Where’s
Sarah? She’s your mom…”
Something seemed to have set him off, and
he angrily shouted: “She’s not my mom!”
Seeing how upset he was, I took the two of
them over to an empty bench to sit down.
My son looked at him warily, jutting out his
lips, as he gave me his smartwatch to look at.
“Mom, dad said that he’s going to pick us up
at the science museum soon.”
I ruffled his hair, doting on him, and said: “Got
it.”
My son was happy.
He turned his head, staring at me in shock.
“You’re really his mom? You were married a
long time ago?”
<
I nodded: “Yeah. He’s my son, thanks to your
time machine.”
He was at a loss for words, and his face went
from pale to white, as he finally lowered his
eyes to play with his fingers.
I was confused, and I asked: “Why are you
trying to steal my son’s backpack?”
“I didn’t want to steal his backpack, I just… I
just wanted his dinosaur key chain.” Alex said,
his voice growing quieter and quieter.
Dinosaur key chain?
When my son was five, I made him a dinosaur
key chain with green yarn, following a tutorial
I found. I put a keyring on it and hung it on
his backpack zipper. He loved it.
<
I remembered making one that was exactly
the same and giving it to Alex. However, the
next day, I found it in the mouth of a stray
dog outside the apartment complex. I thought
he had dropped it, so I chased the dog for a
long time to finally get it back.
When I gave it to Alex after cleaning it, he
threw it away in front of me.
“My classmates all say that thing is cheap. I
already threw it away, why did you get it
back?”
Even if it was just a memory, that scene still
made my heart ache.
Confused, I asked, “But you didn’t want it?”
Alex’s face looked even worse, as he bit his
11:37 PM Sat 22 Mar
lip hard.
At that moment, my son tugged at my hand:
“Mom, look! Dad even got a cake! Later, we
can blow out the candles together.”
Following my son’s gaze, Chris was walking towards us with long strides, looking relaxed
and casual.
He was holding a white box carefully, and when he saw me, he tilted his head slightly, looking like a college student secretly meeting up with his girlfriend.
He naturally took my hand and teased my
son.
“Where else do you want to go today,
birthday boy?”
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