Chess Piece [On-Hold]

Happy Birthday, P'Pha!!

Wayo's POV

"P'Pha! Thank you for helping me to do this healthcare survey. You are my life saver."

"Don't mention it. N'Yo, I'm happy to help you."

I just realised that P'Pha and I often meet at Direction, like we have no other place to go besides Direction.

"I just need to fill in my particulars and answer the questions, right?"

"Yes."

This healthcare survey is part of my assignment. Professor Lee wants us to collect information on what people know about healthcare and what will they do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I drink my caffe mocha and watch silently at P'Pha who is now filling in the survey form.

I like the way when he is focused on the task he is doing, the seriousness in his eyes. It is often said that serious men are the most handsome. I kind of agree to that statement.

"N'Yo, I'm done."

I was so busy staring at him till I don't know how much time had passed. I take the form he passed to me with blushed cheeks. I glance through the form to make sure there is no empty space. I pause when my eyes stop at the date of birth.

What!! Today is his birthday!!

"P'Pha! Today is your birthday!!" I shout with a shock expression on my face.

"Shush... There is no need for you to shout like that. Yes, today is my birthday."

I'm puzzled. Birthday! Once a year big event! Celebrating the day you came to this world! Shouldn't he be celebrating his birthday with his family? Why is he here?

"But...but why are you here? Shouldn't you be at somewhere celebrating your birthday with family or having some birthday party with friends? And why didn't you tell me it's your birthday today? I didn't prepare any gift for you." I voice out the questions that are spinning in my head like a fidget spinner.

"I am."

"Huh!!"

"I'm here celebrating it with you. You are my friend and it's ok, you don't need to prepare any gift for me. I'm more than happy to have someone accompanying me on my birthday. At least I'm not alone." He answers so naturally like he has prepared the answer long before I asked the question.

"But... what about your family?"

I know I'm nosy, I shouldn't pry into his privacy, but I want to know more about him. I want to know why sometimes there is a wave of sadness radiating from him.

"I...I don't really have one..."

"You are an orphan?"

"No... My family, they won't celebrate my birthday with me."

"Why?" There is a big, big question mark inside my head.

"It's a long and complicated story... Are you sure you want to hear?"

"Yes!"

He heaves a breath and say in a monotone tone, "I'm a mistress' son. My father was a married man when he met my mother. My father's wife is from a wealthy powerful family. My mother, she was a strip dancer from a sex club."

"My gold-digger mother thought that my father would take her into the family if she gave him a son, but she was wrong. He gave her a big sum of money and asked her to leave the baby which is me and get lost. And she did. She left me in that house and left with the money. I grew up with my father, my father's wife and my half-blood brother."