III - SWORD OF THE BRAVE // Doraemon Fanfic

25 - SUNEO : ORIGINS

"You don't have to drop by everyday to visit me, son. Go spend some time with your pals too," said Suneo's Dad slurping down the spoonful of soup.

"I do," Suneo drew back the empty spoon, "I come here because I want to. Besides, are you really that burdened with your son, Dad? How horrible!"

"It's not that, Suneo. It's just-"

"Wow, Dad. Just wow!" Suneo fed him another spoonful. "Some Dad you are! Kicking your son out like this."

Suneo pouted which made his father hit him across his head. "Stop this drama right now. You're already in high school yet there is still no stop to your shenanigans."

"And there will never be," Suneo teased his father.

After a pause, Suneo added, "But yes, if you promise to stay by my side until the end, I can try doing something about them." He winked at him.

"Now that's not possible, son. You know it."

The atmosphere turned grim.

After a minute of silence, Suneo broke it by commenting cheerily, "Why not? Of course it's possible. If you rest like this, and drink all of my soup without resisting every single time, no one can stop you from recovering, okay? Now, drink up."

He force-fed him another spoonful.

"You are a riot, you know that!"

Suneo blushed at that comment and started stirring the soup a little more.

"By the way, how's your Mom doing?"

Suneo abruptly paused the spoon movement in the bowl.

His Dad added, "Obviously, she doesn't show anything on her face when she's around me. But tell me the truth, Suneo. Is she doing okay?"

Suneo flashed back to a vivid memory.

•••
•••

"Mom, I'm home," Suneo said as he came back from outside.

The moment he stepped in, he heard muffled cries of his Mom.

Taking off his shoes, Suneo continued, "Mom, I know it hurts every time you see Dad in that hospital bed. But you have to stay strong for him. You can't just keep breaking down like this."

Having taken off his shoes and put away, Suneo strolled down the hallway, heading towards the living room where the sounds were coming from. "I'm here with you, aren't I? I might not be old enough, but I'm still here and that counts. So, don't you worry one bit. Dad will be--"

He paused as soon as he reached there and found his Mom in the arms of another man. She was hopelessly crying and he was consoling her.

She looked up at him. "Oh, you're here." She wiped the tears away. "I was waiting for you."

The man looked up along with her.

Recognising him, Suneo said, "Uncle Hashime?"

"Yes, son. Actually I heard about your Dad, so I decided to drop by and look how you and your Mom were doing."

Suneo was happy to see someone care enough about them to come by and check up on them. But somewhere inside him, he did not like Hashime's arms around his Mom.

That was the same reason why he couldn't help the bitterness in his voice. "You mean, see how Dad was doing?" He added sassily, "You do realise it's him who is sick, right?"

"Of course, I know that," Hashime replied, "But you two equally need to be taken care of. If you fall sick, who is going to look after Honekawa, huh?"