Tears | [BoyxBoy] | English

47

When I started going to work again, Yeheni's biological mother came and stayed at our house because Yeheni did not have the experience to take care of the two children. Yeheni was scared to find her mother's phone number in a pile of Shanalka's old diaries, but she eventually agreed.

While naming the two children, Yeheni wanted to name the two children Mehansa and Shanalka. As she did not believe in astrology, she ignored the letters given from the hospital.

On the morning of Yeheni's mother's visit, Yeheni woke up before me. She fed both children and woke me up by patting my head before leaving for the kitchen. I wiped my eyes in my sleep and woke up. Yeheni walked out of the room without saying anything to me, trying to hide the look of happiness in her eyes.

Yeheni jumped up from her chair as soon as she heard a knock at the door of the house at around seven in the morning. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her gallop like a kangaroo foal to the door. I realized that Yeheni had not seen her mother for almost nine years now.

The woman who came into the house was the same woman I saw in the hospital that day. All the doubts I had about Yeheni being a beauty queen disappeared because her mother was a beauty queen as well. I could tell at a glance that she was almost forty-five years old.

Yeheni was holding her mother's hand, trying hard to hide her eyes, which were swollen with happiness. I smiled at them both.

'How are you feeling Yeheni.' I looked at Yeheni as her mother asked.

'This is Miniru. My husband?' Yeheni finished the sentence with a question mark and looked at me.

It was then that I remembered that her mother did not know that Yeheni was pregnant because of something I did. Yeheni opened her mouth as my heart filled with guilt again.

'I will go and show amma the two babies. You go make some tea.' She squeezed my shoulder gently to tell me that everything was okay.

When I went to the kitchen, Yeheni walked into the room where the two children were sleeping, accompanied by her mother Yashodhika. I put the kettle on and followed them.

'Son looks like you.' Yeheni's mother looked at Yeheni and said. Then she looked at my daughter and at me.

'Daughter looks like him.'

I looked at Yeheni as my cheeks turned red. Then Yeheni's mother asked us a question that left us both helpless.

'Where is our Shanalka?'

Yeheni's smile faded. I pursed my lips and looked at her. As Yeheni closed her eyes tightly, tears began to flow down her cheeks. I tried to hide my tears but her mother saw them.

'Why is this? Did I ask something I shouldn't ask? Did something happen to him?'

'I lost my brother, amma. It's been about two years.' Yeheni said in broken words and suddenly fell to the floor and started crying.

I felt like something was stuck in my chest and hurt and I also couldn't stop sneezing.

Yeheni's mother looked at both of us for a moment with a helpless look, unable to say anything.

'Oh my God. Please forgive me, children.' She finally patted me gently on the shoulder as I scratched my nose and tried to stop myself from crying.

As if to support Yeheni's crying, the daughter also woke up and began to wail. Yeheni wiped her nose with her shirt and held the daughter who was in the crib.

'What is the daughter's name?' Yeheni's mother asked.

'Daughter Vihanya Mehani. It was taken from my brother's name Shanalka Vihan. Son is Miresh Mehansa. Mehansa is the girl I used to,.' Yeheni swallowed her words without completing the sentence.

'Mehansa is my sister. She committed suicide over nine years ago.' I finished the sentence my chest start hurting again.

'The name Miresh is beautiful.' As Yeheni's mother said, I tried unsuccessfully to stop the unpleasant memories from flooding into my head.

Yeheni knew Miresh was the name Sahesh wanted. When I suggested that name for my son, she didn't disagree, but she didn't seem to like it either.

While Yeheni was feeding Vihanya, I went to the kitchen and started preparing tea. Yeheni's mother came after me saying she needed to talk to me alone.

'Son, if you don't mind asking, can you tell me what happened to Shanalka?' As she asked, I poured water from the kettle into the jug.

'He was lost in an accident.' I thought for a while and said.

She was looking at me as her eyes told me she was lost in some deep thought.

'How old are you now?'

I looked at her. 'Twenty-six.'

She said nothing. 'You didn't force her to make kids or rape her..?'

I was startled. I never thought that she would ask such a question. The tea leaves in my hand spilled onto the counter as my hand shook.

Yeheni's mother immediately collected the tea leaves with paper and put them in the jug. 'Oh dear, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I got Yeheni when I was eighteen years old. I was raped. I was afraid that the same thing had happened to my daughter.'

I said nothing and smiled awkwardly at her. I made the cup of tea and served it to her as the regret and guilt that had been hidden in the corner of my mind came back to the surface.

Holding Miresh in her arms, Yeheni stood near the kitchen entrance looking at me and her mother. Yeheni asked me with her eyes what happened when her mother passed her. I shook my head and signaled to her that everything was fine.

After taking the first sip of tea, Yeheni's mother coughed once. I was scared and looked at her like I was missing something. Yeheni ran to her mother holding Miresh in her arms.

'Mom?'

Yeheni's mother wiped her mouth with her hand. 'Son, have you put salt instead of sugar?'

Yeheni looked at me and burst out laughing. While I was thinking about something else, I added one and a half spoons from the salt bottle next to the sugar bottle to the teacup.

While apologizing, I made the second cup of tea under the watchful eye of Yeheni, who stood beside me and supervised me. Yeheni took my hand and went to the room where the two children were, while her mother drank the second cup of tea without interruption.

'What did mom ask?'

I looked down. 'I asked if I raped you or not.'

Yeheni sighed. 'I knew it would be asked. Lying will not help. But there is no need to say that either. Skip that question as you can.'

'Sorry.' I said, scratching my own finger with a fingernail.

Yeheni patted my head gently. 'What happened is over. Now we have to do the things that have to be done well.'

I smiled at her. Yeheni stood on her toes and lightly kissed my forehead. 

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TEARS

2022. 08. 10