Autumn is a second spring

41. Mom and Dad

"You can sleep now. I will put the kid to bed today." Boun got up from the chair.

He had just finished giving Prem a leg massage (that he had been secretly learning from Fluke).

"You don't have to do it, Hia. I will do it." Prem responded.

He knew how the father-son duo was. The two of them couldn't meet eye to eye at times. the last thing he wanted at the moment was drama from those two.

"You look really tired. Don't worry I will manage." Boun kissed the top of his head.

Prem nodded reluctantly.

By the time Boun entered Bew's bedroom, the child was packing his bags for the next day. It was a habit Prem had taught him ever since he started going to school.

Without a word, Boun went forward to help him. 

Bew actually didn't need help with it as he had been doing it on a daily basis. But when Boun came over, he didn't deny the help.

Prem was too worried about the duo that he came over to check. Seeing the peaceful atmosphere within the room, he decided to just stand behind the door and watch, so that he could intervene if necessary, or else just watch how Boun does it.    

"Dada, stop messing with my drawing!" Came Bew's scream.

"I wasn't messing with your drawing. I just wanted to take a look." Boun unfolded the chart. "What is James doing in our family picture?" He had purposely come over to talk to Bew about the matter because he could see that the matter had affected Prem badly.  

He had opened the chart because he wanted to have a chat about the topic but couldn't dive directly into it because of his salty relationship with his son.

Bew pouted. He had marked everyone by their names beneath their figures in the drawing so that he didn't need to answer who was who every time someone looked at the drawing.

"James is an employee, Bew. Not a family member" Boun said examining his and Prem's figures. "And the only person who can hold Dada's hand is you and Dami. No one else."

Bew's pout grew even bigger. "But P' James takes care of me. He plays with me."

Boun pulled Bew towards himself. "Then what about Pa Wisa and P' Koi? Don't they take care of you and play with you? Why aren't they in your drawing?"

Bew looked at his toes "Pa Wisa and P' Koi treats Bew like a little baby. P' James treats Bew like a friend. He takes me to the parks, and he even know how to play video games with me. Pa Wisa and P' Koi doesn't know that. Bew gets bored with him."

Internally sighing, Boun picked Bew up and placed him on the bed, climbing on it himself. "Look Bew, P' James does all of that because Dada asked him to. It is P' James's job to do things Dada wants him to do."

"Does that mean that P' James doesn't really like Bew?" The child was in the verge of tears.

"No, baby. P' James like you. But that doesn't make him your family." Boun said softly, adopting Prem's method of talking to the child. "Dada and Dami are your family."

Bew turned silent, hanging his head low. After a few seconds the child raised his head to look at his Dada "Dada, doesn't Bew have a mom?"

Boun panicked internally. He had never breached the topic of Bew's biological parents to the child because he felt that the young one wasn't old enough to understand the complex relationships.

"Are you really my Aa and not my real Dad?" Bew asked.

The question directly hit the hearts of both Prem and Boun. Prem clenched his aching chest leaning against the wall, letting Boun handle the situation.