Here For You | JunHao

四十三

Ms. Xu was cooking up some brunch. She was cooking up some mapo tofu and scallion pancakes. They were food that Minghao had a lot of when he was growing up. Ms. Xu didn't always have a lot of time to cook for Minghao since she was a single working mother, but she made sure to always have dinner with her son. There were days when she would cook for her son, and there were days when her son would be the one to cook for her.

A tear dropped down her cheek.

She quickly wiped the tear and turned the stove off as she had finished cooking.

Minghao should wake up soon. What time is it?

She gasped the moment she saw the time on the clock and ran up the stairs. She was standing in front of her son's door and knocked three times, before opening it.

"Honey, you're gonna be late. It's already-" Her eyes widened.

Minghao was already dressed, but his hair was still a bit wet since he had just come out of the shower not too long ago. "Hey, mom. I'm ready to go in a bit." He said.

"Honey, your hair..."

Minghao touched the back of his head. "Yeah, I dyed it to black." He smiled. "Does it feel weird?"

Ms. Xu went closer to her son. "No, honey, it looks great." She gently combed through her son's hair. "It suits you more."

Minghao chuckled. "By the way, mom, what time is it?"

"It's already twelve! You're gonna be late!"

"WHAT? IT'S ALREADY TWELVE?" Minghao quickly looked at his watch to check the time and it was, indeed, already a few minutes past twelve. He needed to leave now if he didn't want to be late.

"You should get going by now." Ms. Xu said. "The Wen family already left an hour ago."

Minghao immediately grabbed his car key, the ring box, and his wallet. "Okay, okay, I'm gonna go now."

He had gone downstairs in a rush along with his mother.

"Bye, honey. Sadly, I can't go because I have an important meeting today. Send my regards to Jun and the Wen family." Ms. Xu said, hugging her son.

"I will, mom. Don't worry about anything." Minghao smiled.

He went outside the house for his car, but as he got in, he's met with an unfortunate variable.

The engine won't start?!

He tried it again.

And again.

And again.

And a few more times, before he had given up.

Shit!

He punched the steering wheel in frustration.

Is it the battery?

He wasn't sure what to do about it right now. He tried to call for a car battery delivery service, but unfortnately, they said that it would take about an hour to get there.

And so, he went back in his house and called for a cab. While he was eating, his mother had given him some of the food that she had been cooking since Minghao hasn't eaten until then.

It took a few minutes for the cab to arrive and he was just inside the house, anxiously waiting. He was a little bit hesitant to get a cab since the drive on the way to the event location would take around two to three hours and the charge would probably be very high. But was that really a problem he needed to take into account in this situation?