Meet You Again (Banana Fish)

A Meadow From Afar (4)

-Eiji Okumura-

I slowly opened my eyes as I rubbed my eyes to adjust to the bright light that's coming from outside through the window. I sat up and yawned.

I looked at the time and it was already 8 in the morning. I threw my blanket aside and stood up from the messy bed.

I got out of the room as soon as I finished making the bed.

I took in the smell of eggs being cooked. I assumed that my mom was cooking omelets for breakfast.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face to wash away the sleepiness I feel.

I got out and headed downstairs.

"Good morning Darling." She said with a smile plastered on her face. I smiled back and greeted her back. "Good morning."

I sat on a cushion and drooled as soon as I saw the food that was dined on the table.

"Where's dad?" I asked, finally noticing his absence in the house.

"He took your sister out on a morning walk." I nodded then stood up to help my mom serve the dishes.

"Thank you." We placed the bowls of different kinds of dishes on the table. "Dig in, your father said that they'll eat out." I hummed in response and took a slice of omelet and placed it on my bowl.

My mom soon took her own food and we started eating in silence.

"How was America?" My mom asked before taking a sip of her soup.

A smile crawled up on my face and I just sighed, in a good way, at the thought of America.

"America is great. I met a lot of people and I created lots of memories with them." I paused as I look at my mom's face.

I know she heard everything that has happened when I was in America from Ibe san, so I had the feeling that he might've mentioned Ash a lot to her.

"There's this guy named Ash.." I said slowly, hesitating if I should continue on.

"Ah yes, I heard about him." She said as she put her chopsticks down. Her chin was propped up by her hands while she had this look of admiration on her face.

"Tell me more about him." I smiled and thought of the things that I should tell her about Ash. There was just too much to say.

"Even though my stay in America wasn't as we expected, he was a great friend to me in many circumstances. He's strong and smart." I once again looked at my mom and her eyes told me to continue.

"He's afraid of pumpkins and can pout because of it." I softly laughed as I recall his story when he was a little boy.

***

The woman smiled as she hears her son's laughter and sees the smile on the 19-year-old boy's face.

***

"Tell me more. How does he look like?" She said while observing the innocent boy.

"He has blonde mid-long hair, his eyes have the color of beautiful jades. And he's taller than me. He's a definition of beauty to make it short..." I said, kind of embarrassed at the way I'm complimenting him indirectly, and to my mom.

She chuckled and nodded slowly. "He sounds like a nice boy." I sighed in relief when she agreed and decided to ignore that Ash was a gang leader.

"You must love him a lot." I choked on the rice I just swallowed and my mom just chuckled there while pouring water on my cup. "Of course I do...friends normally do." I laughed awkwardly.