Sleepless Nights

Chapter Fifteen: Unexpected

"Silvia? Is that you?" My mom's sweet voice replied on the other end of my phone, and I smiled bitterly. Just hearing her, it occurred to me how much I missed her. Her image passed through my head, and my already burning throat constricted with the very sound of her. I choked on my words, but managed out a weak,

"Hey, mom."

"Hi, sweetie! I'm so happy you called, we were actually just talking about you."

"'We'?"

In the background, I could hear the faint sound of men talking and a TV tuned to some sports channel. Most likely baseball, which could mean only one thing. Mom was at Long Island right now, a sports bar that my Uncle Kuni opened as a hobby a while back. When she first moved to Tokyo, she worked as a waitress there, but she was soon given full ownership after a couple years. Since then, she had been running it successfully and enjoyed spending time there with all my other 'uncles'

My dad had a group of friends he's known since grade school that also lived in the area who frequented the bar at least a few times a week to hang out. They had been around my entire life, so they were all very special to me. In fact, I don't think I'd know half the things I did now if it wasn't for them. Ignoring the fact of being completely unrelated, my brother and I had always referred to them as uncles. It was their idea to be called such, so it was just natural to do so even now.

"Guys," My mom, Rin Kougami, spoke away from the phone and some of the voices died down a tad. "your favorite niece is on the phone. Shut up." She chastised in hopes of getting them to quiet down. This only successfully riled them up further. I could barely hear her frustrated huff before excited male voices filled the receiver.

"Is that little Sil? Let me talk to her!" Uncle Saeki begged.

"How is she doing? Well, I hope." Uncle Takao said next.

"Silvia, we miss you!" Uncle Yuta yelled after them.

"Silvia? Oh yeah, your daughter..." Uncle Ren said next sleepily.

Mom sighed, "Hold on, I'll put you on speakerphone. Everyone wants to talk to you apparently."

Giving a weakened laugh, I fell on my back on the bed with tears streaking down the side of my face as I held my phone to my ear. "I've missed you guys too." I spoke to everyone, trying hard to repress the sadness I felt. Just listening to their goofy chatter made my chest tighten, but in a more nostalgic way. I wish I could see them right now... "I've been good."

"You should come back and see us!" Uncle Takao said in his usual gentle tone.

"I would love to, but I have a lot on my plate right now with work."

"Or we could come visit her. It'd be like a field trip!"

"That's a brilliant idea, Yuta." Uncle Saeki agreed. "I bet there are a lot of interesting women in Roppongi..."

"That's all you care about..." Uncle Ren muttered.

"Honestly, you guys." Mom sounded exasperated as she redirected the conversation away from the road trip they were planning. "So, Silvia, what made you decide to call? I mean, it's not like I don't appreciate it or anything, I just haven't heard a lot from you in a while," she giggled softly.

Exhaling a shaky breath, I swiped at my eyes with my free hand. "I just... wanted to hear your voice. I've been going through some rough stuff lately."

Completely forgetting that I might still be on speakerphone, I heard the call go silent for a beat before a loud uproar made me pull my cell away from my head momentarily.