Twelve Little Brothers

I'm Just Cleaning

I woke up from my sleep when I heard a loud crash from somewhere in the house. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and put all of my school books back into my bag. Apparently I had accidentally fallen asleep while studying again. I'm not even in any advanced classes, and I barely understand half the things we learn.

After making sure none of my stuff had made the crash, I tiptoed out of my room and into the hallway. Light was coming from underneath the bathroom door, so I made my way over and knocked.

"Come on in, I'm just cleaning." I opened the door to see Mom leaning over the bathtub with a bottle of bleach in her hands. I quickly walked in and took it away from her, along with the cleaning rag in her hands.

"What are you doing, Mom? You know you shouldn't be using bleach while you're pregnant!" She looked up at me like a child and shrugged.

"Someone has to clean the bathroom though." I sighed and ran my fingers through my knotted hair.

"Not at two in the morning. Why are you up anyways?"

"The baby was kicking like a mini dinosaur, so I figured if I'm up I might as well do something helpful." She rubbed her hand against her baby bump and smiled.

"We should name him Dino. That's a wonderful name." Mom laughed a bit and I tilted my head.

"Didn't you and Appa decide on the name Chan though?" She looked up at me again and laughed.

"Oh yeah. Chan. We can make his middle name Dino!" I set the cleaning bottle down on the counter and pressed my hand against Mom's forehead to see if she had a fever. Something is off about her.

"Sure, Mom. Let's just get you to bed." I started to help her up, but she whined in protest.

"But I haven't finished cleaning!"

"You technically shouldn't be cleaning. I can finish up for you in the morning." She sighed and let me continue to help her up. We both walked to her room and I laid her down in bed.

"Goodnight, Mom." She closed her eyes and I was almost out the door when I heard her whisper something.

"You never used to call me Mom when it was just the two of us. What changed?"

"I did, Mom. I did." I walked out of her room and shut her door. After finishing up cleaning the bathroom, I put away the supplies and locked it in the kitchen cupboard.

"Minseo Noona, what's going on with Mommy?" I jumped a bit at the sound of Joshua's voice, but quickly pulled myself together.

"I'm not sure, Shua, but I'm sure it's nothing too bad." The six year old nodded and hugged me tightly.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Joshua looked up at me and yawned.

"I heard a loud noise so I came to see what happened."

I ruffled his hair and he pouted. "Well, everything is taken care of so you can go back to bed. Come on." I took his hand and lead him into his bedroom. Both of us were careful not to wake up the Chinas or Hansol who were sleeping.

"Goodnight Noona."

"Goodnight Joshua. Sweet dreams."

...

I woke up and turned off my alarm clock before quickly changing into my uniform. Mom was in the kitchen eating her breakfast and she smiled when she saw me. Nothing from four hours ago was evident on her face. It was like it never even happened.

Joshua's right. What is up with you, Mom?