II - FOR THE ONE YOU LOVE (Doraemon Reimagination Series)

5 - MOTHER AND SON

"You ready?" asked Doraemon in a concerned tone, standing at the doorstep, facing the closed door; tensed and flushed.
Beside stood Nobita, his knees shaking to a considerable extent, his hands clenched into fists on either side of his body. He answered sarcastically, "Nope!"
Doraemon replied, chuckling softly, "Well, this isn't something you'll ever be ready for."

Nobita recuperated, taking a deep breath, "But this is something I'm going to have to do. This is something I've decided to do, Doraemon; and I will do it even though I might not be ready yet."

Doraemon sighed, "Fine. If you've really made up your mind, I don't think I have the power to stop you anyway. All I can do is help you do it. Let's go in and get this over with, okay?" He opened the door to his house and stepped over the threshold. Making his way in, he added, "And FYI, as I said before, this isn't something you'll ever be ready for. So get your ass inside and do what you've decided to get done."

Nobita stared at the back of Doraemon, walking further and further into the hallway, with wide-open eyes. Then, he looked down, smiled, and walked in after him.

Inside the living room,
Nobita's mother was sitting at the low center table placed in the middle of the room, casually watching television on the opposite corner of the room. With a cup of hot tea on the table, her eyes were on the set when a slight noise alarmed her to the present world. She turned her head and noticed Nobita and Doraemon standing at the open sliding door. They stared at each other for a while.

"Mom... Can we talk??"

A lost shine came in Nobita's Mom's eyes after months. The fact that Nobita was finally willing to open up to her and talk to her really delighted her. She tried to control her inner feelings as much as possible and replied casually, "Yeah sure! What do you wanna talk about, son?"

Tap--Tap--Tap........SIT--

Having taken a seat at the table on the adjacent side of their mother, Nobita and Doraemon shared a short glance with each other, nodded their heads and turned back to her.

Taking a deep breath, Nobita said, "There are a few things that I have been hiding from you, Mom and now I want you to know them all."

His Mom was shocked on hearing those words. Nobita's been hiding things from me? Of course, he has. He's been acting weird for the last couple of months. "I'm all ears. Continue, Nobita."

"Four months ago, when I told you that I was going camping with my classmates in the mountains behind our school. I lied. I was somewhere else the whole time...." Nobita's Mom's face was struck with utter bewilderment. "That's when it all began, Mom..............."

 ..............................................................

***SILENCE***

Nobita's Mom was so shaken up that she could hardly think of any appropriate response. Her whole body had gone numb. She wanted to speak, say something, anything to support and console her son but nothing came to cross her mind. No sound seemed to escape her vocal cords. Her hands, clasped into fists, rested on top of her folded knees; her eyes fixed on the floor. My son went through all of this and i had no idea. I had no clue what my son was facing--is facing right now. I couldn't do a thing to help him, to console him, to calm him down. I am his mother.And yet I couldn't protect him from all of this. What kind of a mother am I??!

"MOM--!?"

His Mom jerked back to her senses. She looked up at Nobita and Doraemon; the two of them looking casual and also concerned at the same time. On the other hand, she couldn't hide it. Her face showed a prominent look, that of pure desparation. Her eyes were red, struggling to hold back the tears that had come to her eyes in front of her son.