Chapter 208: Mother and son (two)

"I won't do it again! I won't do it again!" Elsa almost looked like a certain rock guitarist banging her head in the air. She was way too apologetic. If only she was that nice and obedient near me.

When mom was near she acted dumb and obedient but whenever mom wasn't around she acted way too mature. Honestly, I didn't get women.

My sister however was simple. Though she looked apologetic, I knew for a fact she wasn't. She was just pretending and she knew exactly how to stir the motherly love of mom. She was an expert. 

Mom fixed her hair. "I've already told Helio but, I've quit today and I'll be staying here for a few days. So, be sure to behave."

Wait that was news to me. I thought she was fired.

As I looked at mom, she just winked. 

Yeah, this woman was evil. She gave me so much anxiety but she was being so nice to her daughter. 

Strike that, all women of the Romswell household were evil!

But either way, the fact was true. She lost her job. And we were going to have to deal with her debts and our survival. 

And that meant, I'd have to work hard, and often times I might be too tired to even do stuff with Marg from now on. And for the last two days, I didn't get to have much fun at all. 

'The future isn't looking too bright, Helio Junior.'

Apparently, the little guy was going through his daily cycle of death and rebirth. This was beyond my control. And Marg occasionally falling asleep and leaning on my shoulder wasn't helping the cause!

"But mom-" Elsa tried but didn't finish. She was more scared than sad. I couldn't tell if that was an act. 

I guess mom being here made her a prisoner of sorts. Mom was always rather strict with Elsa for some reason. 

Maybe that's why Elsa always clung to me for attention? Sometimes I felt like it was the other way around though.

Honestly, I didn't know. 

"Well, they weren't going to give me a small vacation. It's my son's birthday, so, how could-" Mom paused, snorted- "OOppss!"

So much for a surprise. Then again, I already knew tomorrow was my birthday so it wasn't much of a surprise anyway.

"Don't worry. According to our home time, it's already my birthday."

Currently, it was eleven-thirty here though.

Mom giggled. "Better make some chocolate cake then." Mom looked at the bunny maid. "You have chocolate in the fridge right?"

'Ah, chocolate-' I could already taste it!

"I do, Madam!" The maid, in particular, was a lot cheerful than I thought. "I've been safeguarding them with my life!"

'Hey, I never heard that!'

Marg made a cute sound and woke up. 

"Very well then. I'll make the cake tomorrow." Mom was also excited. 

"Wait, I thought you were going to make it now!" Okay, now I was disappointed. 

Mom's cakes were the best. She only made it twice a year but- still, it was the best cake. 

She usually made chocolate cakes for me and blueberry ones for Elsa. Obviously, the chocolate ones were the best, but the blueberry ones weren't half bad either. 

So, yeah, I was disappointed beyond compare. 

"You've already had enough for today." 

I should have never told her I drank syrup. That was a fatal error on my part!

I guess I should have just eaten the cake back then, it wouldn't have been anything near her level though.

"Anyway, it's getting pretty late, so I guess we should turn in." It wasn't like I wanted this night to be over, right now or anything, okay?

Mom snickered, stopped a second later, and, "Would you two mind if you slept with me tonight?" Apparently, she was talking to me and Elsa. 

I sure didn't mind: it felt pretty awkward though. Marg probably wasn't going to say anything either. Elsa though, she looked a bit out of it. I guess mom losing her job was a great shock to her. Or was that she was just afraid of mom being there all the time? 

Elsa was on her vacation and mom would almost always be at home- unless she was searching for a new job- so yeah, I could imagine her being afraid. 

"Sure." But there was only one answer. 

"Alright," Elsa managed. She was listening, I guess. 

"I'll clean everything up then," The maid said. 

The brat was kind of sleeping on the sofa on the other side. I kind of forgot that he was even here. 

"I'll help." Marg smiled and came near me. "Goodnight." She whispered before leaving with the maid. 

I was expecting a goodnight kiss but mom was here. 

Oh well. 

But where would we be staying? We couldn't stay in the master bedroom, cause well, that was our bedroom. 

I guess the guest rooms or the rooms on the first floor were free. 

So- "There are loads of rooms. We can stay in any of the rooms on the first floor."

Almost all the rooms had enough furniture to spend the night. It was frightening how much Marg's father had spent on this house. 'I should really thank the guy.' He probably had his reasons for doing all this for me and Marg but- the fact that he did was still something that made me feel better about it. I was still going to punch him once though.

Mom didn't complain and neither did Elsa. 

The three of us went toward a room. Apparently, we ended up in Elsa's room.

***

The room was decently sized, maybe a bit bigger than my old room. Definitely nowhere near the master bedroom though. 

The bed was pretty big too- queen-sized. 

Mom was in the middle while I was on her right and Elsa was on the left. 

Even in bed, she held both our hands. 

This was kind of awkward- and yet- I couldn't really deny her.  'Was this really a good idea?'

"I'm sorry you two. I tried but-"

"It's okay mom." I knew she tried her best. I knew it for a long time and as her eldest son, I wasn't going to let her feel bad about it. "It's really okay." She grabbed my hand a bit tighter and didn't say a word. 

Elsa didn't say a word either. 

Our father left us a long time ago- and because of that mom tried hard- she tried her best to raise us- I could never thank her enough for it and that's why I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to be proud of herself. 

Mom's eyes leaked a drop or two but- I pretended to not notice. 

I just leaned my head against her shoulder, like I've done all my life, and tried to sleep. 

It's been a long while since I slept like this, a really long time. Mom became a lot stricter with sleeping on the same bed past twelve for some reason. She was still clingy though, she'd often slip into my room past midnight whenever I had a cold or any illness of that sort. And those were the nights, I had my best sleep. She often ended up getting sick herself, and yet, she never really stopped. 

She was my comfort, she was my mother. 

This time was no exception. I slept really, really well in her arms.