My Brother 丨✔

Chapter 5 - Ko ko?

     "For Pete's sake, Josephine! When are you going to get off your laptop and do something more time worthy?" my mom stormed into my room wearing an apron. She smelled of vanilla essence. Hmm... she must be baking cookies...

I remained silent, seated in my chair at my desk. Typical mothers.

     "JOSEPHINE! GET THE FU-"

"Eh, mum.... no swearing!" I cut her off as I chuckled.

Did I mention my mom swears often? Especially after she found out I started swearing in my high school years. Probably she was relieved she could swear without having to watch her language in front of me anymore, because I FINALLY knew what her language meant.

     She sighed heavily. "Oh My God, Josephine, if only your brother was here right now..."

I stopped surfing the net on my laptop. I turned my chair around and looked at her. Both her hands were covering her whole face. Oh no, I think she's about to cry again...

I got up and held her shoulders. I slowly directed her to sit on my bed. I sat beside her and put my arm around her.

"Yeah, mummy... I know; Ko ko would confiscate the laptop from me and he would drag me to the library to study if he were here." I told her softly.

     She made a little sniff sound. She looked at me with her teary eyes and messed my hair up. "You still know your Ko ko best." she smiled.

"Mummy," I called her, fixing my hair.

     "Yeah?" she threw a big sunshine smile in my face.

"I wasn't wasting my time, I was just doing some research on Ko ko." I explained.

     "Huh?" confused, she looked at me with a raised brow.

"All this while," I explained, "I wasn't just surfing the net for fun. I was just doing research on where Ko ko could be right now. I read articles about the shipwreck, I looked at a dozen of maps, trying to predict where he could be stranded at, I tried-"

I stopped when my mom looked even more confused. It was clear she didn't understand a single thing I was saying.

I looked into her eyes and I couldn't hold my tears back anymore. I let them flow freely, running down my cheeks.

"I just miss Ko ko, mummy..." I told her in between sobs as she pushed me into her warm embrace.

     "It's okay, Sephine. Trust me, Ko ko is coming back soon." she comforted me.

I sat upright, pulling away from her embrace. "Mum, don't lie to me. It's gonna take ages for us to find Ko ko again."

She smirked. Oh no, my mother smirking at me is definitely not a good thing...

     She got up and re-tied her ponytail. "Go study at the library."