You Would Never Know

XXII | The Absolute Zero

"Thank you, Juliet, for having us." She raised her hand, shaking my pleasantries off. Juliet leaned forward toward the table and grabbed my hand in hers lovingly. "I literally missed you so much, especially your cooking." Abel definitely got his cooking skills from his mother.

About three hours ago, on a whim, I called her, telling her we were visiting, and in that little time, she prepared a three-course meal, my favorite appetizers and dessert included.

Not to sound full of myself, but Abel's mom favored me. She said it a thousand times, and I echoed her words a thousand times, making sure Abel heard his mother's words clearly.

In this one sitting, there wasn't even one thing that was left unsaid. I complained to this lovely lady for hours about all sorts of things, including her own offspring, while stuffing my face with delicacies.

"Anytime sweetheart." She pinched my cheek. If it was anyone else who did that, I would've bent their fingers in a split second.

"Every single day, me and your mother talk about how you and Abel cut us off completely. My own offspring and the kid I practically raised can't spare me a few minutes to say hello, and how are you after all the years we've spent together? It's bitter, isn't it?"

"Mamma-" Abel was cut off as she continued complaining. "Don't 'Mamma' me. No matter what, you should always reach out."

Juliet is the polar opposite of my mother. My mother would release the Niagara Falls all at once to make me feel guilty, but she eventually moves on, while Juliet just doesn't let you live it down. Every topic will lead to how we suddenly disappeared and a lecture on how we should always reach out.

"But thankfully you came back to your senses soon enough, and I have you and Abel back here; I've missed you two so much."

To some extent, this doesn't make sense to me—they're missing us and whatnot. I do somewhat feel guilty for neglecting them, but that's what I'm used to. In fact, that's what we're all used to. We rarely see each other, even when we spend a significant amount of time together compared to with others.

"I'm sorry, Juliet. We'll try our best to pass by from now on." I gave her an apologetic smile and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's all good now, sweetheart," she said, returning the smile.

"By the way, Julian will be here soon." And right on time, we heard the entrance door open and close: "I'm home!"

Her face brightened when she heard her longtime lover's voice, and she got up to greet him. He came to the dining room and immediately went to hug his wife, kissing her cheeks on both sides before turning to us. "I thought I'd never see you two again!" I guess it's time for round two.

"Hello Papa." Abel got up to greet his dad, and I got up right after him. I stayed back a bit to see the father-son duo shake hands, formal yet not.

They looked so similar, both buff and tall, with a dark aura surrounding them, but the only difference was that Julian's gray strands were short and straight while Abel had his messy, shoulder-length curls in a loose bun.

After greeting his son, he turned to me to give me a gentle hug before he repeated the same conversation I had with Juliet, which consisted of, "You should talk to us more." And loads of "We missed you."

Juliet led us to the living room to continue our talk there once she realized this talk wasn't suitable for us to remain standing.

A young man came and started serving us tea, and I started to look around a bit to familiarize myself with the place. It has changed drastically since I last came here.