The Man He Chose

Chapter 35

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Cooheart's POV

"Wait!" my mom screamed at me, her voice sounding very much like a ten wheeler truck was about to run me down, when I started walking towards my room.

What the hell was wrong with her? Was she keeping a dead body in my room? Or worse was she having an affair that she did not want me to know about?

I stopped in my tracks.

"Listen, mom," I said, trying to make my voice as soothing as possible to calm her down because her face looked all panicky. "If you are keeping a man inside my room, there's no need to hide him from me. You have been a widow for over six years now. It's time that you had someone to make you happy. So, don't worry I won't yell at whoever is in there. In fact I will welcome him into our lives and promise to treat him really well."

My mom tugged at my arm.

"No, Coo, no, please, don't go in there," my mom pleaded.

"Why?" I demanded to know.

"I can't tell you right now, but I promise you I'm not having an affair with anyone," she said, her voice still pleading with me.

"Mom, I already told you, I don't mind at all if you are having an affair with anyone," I said firmly, pulling my arm free of her grasp.

Before she could stop me I went over to my room and turned the knob. It was locked.

I turned around to face my mom who had followed me and was standing so close behind me that our faces almost bumped into each other.

"Why is this locked?" I asked angrily.

"I just told you," she said, sounding very upset now. "I don't want anyone going in there right now, not even you."

"I can't believe this is happening," I grumbled as I walked away from the door of my room. "Where can I rest comfortably now."

"You know what, Coo, for once in your life, come into the kitchen and help me cook dinner," my mom said firmly. "I think it is about time that you learned how to cook a nutritious meal properly."

I followed her reluctantly into the kitchen, grumbling as I walked behind her, no actually I was stomping my feet to let her know that I was not happy with what she was asking me to do.

"Stop being a spoiled brat now and fetch me some garlic and onions," she said as she opened the door of her refrigerator.

I walked over to the kitchen basket that was hanging from the kitchen ceiling.

"How many bulbs of garlic and how many onions?" I asked.

"Take a bulb of garlic and one red onion from there," she instructed me. "And then take the chopping board from the drawer and smash each individual clove of garlic and peel them and mince them. When you're finished doing that, cut up the red onion into small pieces and set them aside in this kitchen bowl."

I did as she instructed. I noticed that she had taken out a bunch of baby bokchoy and was washing the individual leaves and stems under running water in the kitchen sink.

"Mom, I can't do this anymore!" I cried when my tears started to form and were falling freely down my cheeks. 

I could not even wipe them away because my fingers  were smelling of onions and would only worsen the situation. To my horror, my nose was running as well.

"Mom, quick!" I yelled at my mom. "I need you to wipe my cheeks and nose!"

"You really are no use in the kitchen," my mom grumbled as she walked out of the kitchen and came back with a box of tissues.

"Let me finish chopping these up," she said, taking the knife from my hands after she handed me the tissues. "You take care of boiling water in that sauce pot over there. When it boils drop those two packages of egg noodles."

I did as she instructed and stood and watched the sauce pot, waiting for the water to boil.

"Are we not putting any kind of strips of meat with the egg noodles?" I asked.

"No, we are going to use tofu strips in place of meat," she replied. "I'm trying to ease into a vegan diet for my health. You should start doing the same."

"I don't think so," I said as I dropped the noodles into the boiling water. "But just for tonight I am willing to have tofu instead of beef or chicken or pork, for a change but after this I will be back to eating meat or seafood."

"I'm telling you, a vegan diet will prolong your life," my mom said. "But suit yourself."

Soon, between mom and myself, we were able to put together a delicious dinner of egg noodles with tofu and baby bokchoy.

I happily sat at my usual place at table, ready to dig in.

At first I did not notice that mom had set three bowls on the table.

She filled up one bowl of the egg noodle dish and placed it in front of me.

"Thank you, mom," I said happily.

Then she filled up the other bowl with the egg noodle dish and said, "Stay here. I'll be back."

"Where are you taking that?" I asked. "Are you not going to join me here at table?"

She did not answer but kept walking away.

I stood up from the table and decided to follow her.

I walked on tiptoe so that she would not hear me following her.

She stopped in front of my bedroom door and held the bowl with one hand while digging into her pocket with the other.

She took out a key and pushed it into the keyhole of the doorknob.

I waited and watched as she pushed the door open and walked inside.

"I brought you a bowl of egg noodles," I heard her say to someone.