Taken

Chapter 19

"Mom, could you please stop fussing with that?" Bright sighed when he turned to find his mom fiddling with the placement of the photos again. He'd printed out a few pictures of him and Win together, on his personal printer of course, and bought frames for them. His mother was organizing them in the artfully spaced squares in their now shared bedroom. Rather than moving into Win's condo like they planned, they'd instead discreetly bought a shared one in a secure building at the edge of the city. 

Bright sat down on the bed, exhausted even though he'd gotten plenty of sleep last night. It had been happening more frequently lately. They did have more work, but he didn't think it was to the point he could barely keep his eyes open. 

"But I feel like if it was a little more to the left..." 

"It's as far left as it's going to get without ending up in the hallway, Mom." He laughed a little and shuffled over to hug her. "I know you're going to miss living with me, but you can visit any time you want."

Her soft cheeks folded into a grin as she looked up at her much taller son. "And if I plan to be here everyday?" 

He rolled his eyes. "Only if you bring food." 

His mom mock scowled at him and swatted at his backside. "You know you're not too old to be put over my knees," she warned him. 

Bright grimaced at the image that put in his head since he and Win had played some sex games the other day, and he wanted his mom nowhere near that memory. He could still feel the sting of Win's smack against his bare butt. 

"Mooom," he whined. 

She laughed at his childishness. "Alright, I'll get out of your hair." She made it nearly to the front door before she turned toward him again. "I'm going to miss you, baby." 

"Aww." He pulled her into another hug and kissed the top of her head. It seemed so strange the first time he was tall enough to do that. When he went from being the small person she needed to protect to being someone who wanted to protect her. "I'm going to miss you too, but we're not that far away from you." 

She breathed him in like she used to do when he was a baby, thinking of the first time she held him against her chest. She wrinkled her nose and breathed him again. Beneath the cologne, he smelled different the usual. There was an odd sweetness. She stepped back and looked her son in the eye. 

"Is something going on with you?" 

Bright tensed immediately. "What?" 

"You smell different. Strange...I can't place what it reminds me of." 

He waved his hand through the air, trying to dissipate his panic. "I'm just using Win's shampoo, that's all." 

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I've smelled Win. He doesn't smell like whatever this is." She grabbed his arm and pressed her nose against him. "It's like..."

He took her shoulders and spun her around, pushing her out the door. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said gruffly. "I need to make some phonecalls. I love you, Mom. I'll talk to you later." 

He closed the door in her face and pressed a nervous hand against his chest. Even his smell was different? What hadn't they messed with?  

~~

"Hello?" Win answered cautiously as he exited the freeway and pulled to the shoulder of the road. It wasn't often he got calls from Bright's doctor. 

"I'm sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?" Dr. Saetom asked, hearing the traffic speeding by Win through the phone.