Terminal Stage: 3
Days and weeks went by quickly when life was happy and enjoyable, especially during weekends when Bosco didn’t had to work. Finishing up with the folding of her family laundry in the living room while her son was re-watching the Disney movies ‘Chicken Little’ for the third times today, Myolie glanced toward the calendar and smiled to realize that after today, she had been married to Bosco for perfectly three months. A very happy three months out of her entire life.
When the end credit to the movie popped out, Myolie announced, “Time for bed!”
“Awww…daddy is not even out of the shower yet. He still hasn’t watches this, can I watch it with him when he come out?” Jacky asked.
“No, come on, go brush up. Tomorrow is not a holiday, you have school to attend. Hop to it now,” urged Myolie. She stood up and turned off the DVD player and nudged her pouting son to the bathroom, where her husband was showering.
Looking toward the closed shower curtain, Jacky sweetly stretched his voice, “Daddy…”
“Hmm?” replied Bosco from the shower where hot steams clouded up. “Honey, close the door, it’s getting cold,” informed Bosco.
Chuckling at her son, knowing what he was trying to do to her husband’s soft heart, Myolie exclaimed to Bosco, “You deal with him tonight, but no spoiling.” She chuckled and stepped out with the door shut behind her.
Slyly, Jacky advertised, “Daddy, ‘Chicken Little’ is really good. You want to watch it after you finish showering? Some parts are really scary. Like the part with the aliens. I’ll watch it with you and tell you when the scary parts come out so you won’t get scare, okay?”
Listening from behind the door, Myolie chuckled softly. She opened the door and loudly cleared her throat. Smiling weakly, Jacky sheepishly glanced up to see his mommy glaring at him. He quietly returned to his brushing, not daring to play anymore trick. “Young man, don’t take my words lightly,” Myolie warned playfully and stepped back out, while Bosco chuckled.
“Jacky, mommy is right. It’s really late now and you have school tomorrow. You should go to sleep,” stated Bosco as he pulled a towel in to dry himself and put on a white terrycloth robe. Bosco stepped out of the shower and headed to brush his teeth standing beside his stepson.
After they were finished with the brushing, Jacky interlocked his hand with Bosco’s hand and looked up at him to ask, “Daddy, can I keep the movie for one more day then? Please?”
“Alright,” replied Bosco as they stepped out of the bathroom.
Rolling her eyes as she neatly hung her husband’s dress shirt back into the closet, Myolie mumbled, “Mr. Wong, you are spoiling him rotten.”
Grinning at Jacky, while Jacky was pressing his lips and was chuckling sheepishly, Bosco instructed, “Go kiss mommy good night.” Jacky ran up to peck Myolie on the cheek and quickly ran back to hold Bosco’s hand again. Myolie sighed for her son’s heart being so easily changed. Now a day, it was always daddy here, daddy there, no longer asking for his mommy anymore, thought Myolie with a pout. Chuckling at his wife’s childish pout, Bosco teased, “Jealous?” She rolled her eyes at him. Laughing, Bosco nudged Jacky to walk and instructed, “Come on, let’s go tug you into bed and read you a story.”
Meanwhile Bosco was in Jacky’s room, Myolie finished up putting her laundry away and sat down on her dresser to untie her two short ponytails and combed her hair. She sighed at the sight of her hair slipping off her comb. Looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t deny that her hair was thinning because of chemotherapies. Her husband must have noticed it too, she thought in silent. How much she wished she could remain beautiful for him, well at least not heading toward baldness. She sighed to the thought that tomorrow she will have to go in for another round of treatments.
“Hey cutie,” smirked Bosco, whom was dreamingly leaning on the door frame with eyes stilly unmoved on Myolie.
Pouting childishly, Myolie sarcastically scoffed, “You think that I’m so cute that you couldn’t resist buying me a hat today?”
“I kept seeing you staring at it each time we go to the mall, so I figured you wanted it,” explained Bosco. Chuckling, he walked to stand behind his wife’s chair and looked at her from the mirror. “You look as lovely as the first day I met you,” said Bosco to lift his wife’s spirit. Placed his hands on her shoulders, he began to massage them. He laughed, “It must had drove you nut to watch ‘Chicken Little’ three times in a day. Thanks heaven I had to work.”
Myolie glared at him and muttered, “And you had to promise him to keep it for another day.” Bosco laughed. “He is asleep already?” asked Myolie.
“Yup, I’m an expert in being a daddy, aren’t I?” cockily stated Bosco with a proud grin. He walked to plop down on the bed tiredly. “Myolie, I’ll be free by noon tomorrow. So we’ll go to the hospital together, then go pick Jacky up from school, and then out for dinner?” suggested Bosco.
“You don’t have to go with me each time, you know, I can manage myself…”
“Come on, let me have this excuse to avoid my annoying clients,” said Bosco.
Shortly laughing, Myolie suggested, “Rather than going out for dinner, how about going over to Moses and Bernice? Bernice phoned me today, saying that she missed seeing Jacky and so did Nancy.” She walked over to join her husband, lying beside him with her head on his chest, using it as a pillow.
“Sure,” replied Bosco with a yawn.
“You should see them together, they are so adorable playing house together,” commented Myolie. “Bosco, do you remember what special day it is, in just two more weeks?” asked Myolie with a grin. Pondering hard, Bosco couldn’t come up with an answer, beside that she will have chemo scheduled for that week. Bosco was certain that, that was not what his wife was looking for. He tired hard to think of when they first met, when they first dated, and her birthday, but none of those dates were within that week. Chuckling at her husband’s nervous look, Myolie revealed the answer, “It’s Father’s Day. Jacky asked me to buy you flowers. Is that what you wanted?”
Chuckling, Bosco happily replied, “Oooo…I get to celebrate Father’s Day this year? It’s great to have a son, especially one that sticks to me like bee and honey…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…rub it in, Mr. Wong,” pouted Myolie. Becoming serious again, Myolie asked, “Honey, should we invite your parents over to celebrate it with us? You know, you do have your own father. Including our wedding’s day, I have only seen your parents twice after married to you. I don’t want them to feel like I have taken their only child away. Let’s eat at home. Tell me what your parents like to eat, so I can have more time to prepare it myself. It’ll be fun and cozy to eat at home like one big family. I had always fantasized having a day like this when I lived in the orphanage.”
“Sure, if you like,” flatly replied Bosco, since he didn’t quite like what his mom had commented about Myolie in the past. Glancing over at their nightstand’s mini calendar, Bosco reminded, “Wait, that’s the same date as your chemotherapy. Wouldn’t you be too worn out to prepare dinner? Let’s eat out instead, so you can have more rest that day.”
“I should be fine, I think I’m getting a hang of it now,” assured Myolie. She grinned from ear to ear with excitement and asked, “Would you like to have a cake? I have borrowed a baking book from Bernice.”
“You, bake? No thanks,” laughed Bosco.
Darkening her face, Myolie gave him a hard knock on his forehead with her knuckles. Playfully, Bosco swiftly rolled on top of her and pinned her hands down while looking at her seductively with his signature smirking smile. Myolie couldn’t help but laugh at her husband’s foolish gesture and the raising and lowering of his left brow. He leaned down to kiss her intimately, but before he went any further, Myolie stopped him and hinted him to let her go. Pouting childishly with disappointment, Bosco rolled off and asked, “What’s up?”
Sighing, Myolie informed, “I’m late and I mean really late.”
“How late?” asked Bosco with a bit of worry, he then brushed off his worried and stated, “It’s impossible. Come on, you’re on your pills and I do use hmp…hmp… I’m sure we are pretty covered.” He turned back to give her his goofy looking eyes again. Cruelly laughing, Myolie pushed him away and gotten off their bed before he could make his next move. “Hey, you don’t have to run away. Beside, even if you are pregnant, it’s not like what we do tonight will change anything.”
“You go to sleep Mr. Wong, I’m going to brush,” informed Myolie.
“So how late are you?” curiously asked Bosco.
“A month and a half,” hollered Myolie from the bathroom.
A bit nervous to what the doctor had once warned them about avoiding pregnancy, because the baby may be abnormal due to the cancer’s treatments Myolie was undergoing, Bosco suggested, “Why don’t you do a pregnancy’s test? You know, just in case.”
Sticking her head out teasingly, Myolie laughed and informed, “That’s what I’m planning to do now.” Bosco quickly jumped out of the bed and followed her into the bathroom. Pushing her husband back out, Myolie instructed, “I can’t pee with you in there. Wait out here!”
Pacing back and forth by the bathroom’s door, Bosco was really anxious but not in an excited way, since he knew that they couldn’t keep this baby if they were having one. Finally, the door opened, so he nervously questioned, “So?”
Frowning and pouting, Myolie handed her pregnancy’s test over to him and unhappily went back into their bathroom to brush. Relieved that it was negative, Bosco smiled and cheered, “Oh thanks heaven!”
Myolie darted at him with disbelief and commented, “You’re so cruel, Bosco Wong, so cruel. Don’t you want to have a baby with me?”
Stepped in to hug her from behind, Bosco stated, “Of course I wanted a baby with you. But honey, right now is a wrong timing. Once you get better, we could try then, okay?” Seeing her still frowning with disappointment, Bosco leaned in to peck the side of her cheek and nibbled on her ear.
Myolie sighed knowing that her husband was right, but still deep down she really wanted this opportunity to do one last thing for him. A little depressed, she murmured, “I guess you’re right.”
Tenderly tickling her neck with his soft kisses, Bosco desirably whispered into her ear, “So… Now that we know that we’re safe, could you reconsider my earlier request to…hmp…hmp…” Grumpily, his wife swiftly turned to sharply glared at him with her silent pout. Pretending to be oblivious, Bosco sheepishly asked, “Is that a ‘yes’?”
“No!” protested Myolie as she quickly turned him around and pushed him out of their bathroom. She playfully gave her husband’s behind a kick to get him fully out and had the door closed after him.
“I’ll be waiting!” yelled Bosco playfully. He happily chuckled and knew he’ll get his wish, when he was able to hear his wife’s giggling from inside their bathroom.
…………….
The next morning, after her husband had went to work; Myolie woke up not feeling like herself. As usual, she got up to wake her son up and got him ready for school. After fixing Jacky sunny-side-up egg and toast for breakfast, Myolie went into her bathroom to apply makeup. She suddenly felt nauseated and end up constantly vomiting with a fast racing pulse. She felt weakened like all of her energy had been drained from her in a snap of a finger. This was not the first time that she had experienced these symptoms, since it was one of the side affect she often experienced after having treatment. But in the past it usually happened after therapy not before it. This made Myolie suspicious about her negative pregnancy’s test.
Curious to what took his mommy so long, Jacky ran into the bathroom to check on her. He was confused when he found his mommy sitting on the floor of the bathroom crying. “Mommy, what’s wrong?” he caringly asked.
Shaking her head, Myolie quickly wiped her tears and assured, “Mommy’s fine. Mommy just got some makeup in her eyes and it hurts.” The fact was that she had gotten really tired of this sickened nauseated feeling. And knowing that it’ll get worst after her radiation’s treatment today, made her cried out, not wanting to go. She was also stressed about what to do if she did get pregnant. After last night’s incident, she knew her husband preferred her not to have a baby now. She understood why Bosco would think that way. But if she is pregnant and the baby is normal, she just doesn’t know where she’ll find the courage to abort the child. Glanced up at her son, Myolie gestured as she requested, “Can Jacky give mommy a hug?”
Nodding with a smile, Jacky quickly hugged his mommy. Myolie cuddled him tightly and sniffed hard to get rid of all her tears. She knew that she must be brave and continue her therapy if she wanted to stay with Jacky and her husband for as long as she could. “Mommy, are your eyes better now?” innocently asked Jacky, unaware of the bigger problem.
Nodding, Myolie assured, “Yes, you made it much better now.” Jacky proudly chuckled and displayed a big wide grin. “Jacky, would you like to stay home with mommy today?” asked Myolie, since she really wanted her son’s company.
Widening his eyes, Jacky wishfully asked, “Really? I really could stay home?”
Laughing softly, Myolie nodded and informed, “Yes, but no more ‘Chicken Little’, at least not until tonight. Daddy will be home during lunchtime to take mommy to a doctor’s appointment…”
“Mommy is sick?”
“No, just a regular checkup,” lied Myolie. She smiled and asked Jacky, “Do you want to play with Nancy? I bet she missed you a lot. We’re planning to take you over to Uncle Moses and Aunty Bernice for dinner after mommy’s doctor appointment.”
“Really! I missed Nancy too! And I haven’t play game with Uncle Moses for a long time!” excitedly stated Jacky.
“Maybe we should call daddy and see if he is interested in taking us to a buffet for lunch,” suggested Myolie, since that was her son’s favorite.
Nodding, Jacky rushed up and excitedly exclaimed, “I’ll go call daddy now!” He couldn’t believe that not only could he skip school, but on top of that he could also have buffet and even could go over to Moses and Bernice for dinner. While Jacky went out to call his daddy, Myolie cleaned up the mess she made in the bathroom. Jacky hollered from the living room, “Mommy, daddy wanted to talk to you!” Not hearing a reply, Jacky excitedly ran into the bathroom with the cordless phone. He handed it over to his mommy.
“Honey, do you think you could get off work a bit more early? Jacky liked the…”
“I know, he told me. I’m sorry Myolie, I don’t think I could make it home this afternoon,” said Bosco with a grumpy growl. “One of my clients urgently rescheduled his appointment. He said he had a business trip this evening and must see me this afternoon. I was going to call you around nine to tell you about it…”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about us,” said Myolie with a small disappointed frown.
“By the way, why did Jacky say he doesn’t have to go to school today?” curiously asked Bosco.
Knowing that Bosco will worry about her, Myolie quickly thought of an excuse, “His school called saying that they have some power problem.”
“I see. I’m sorry that I couldn’t take you to your appointment like I promised,” sincerely apologized Bosco.
Chuckling, Myolie assured, “Honey, its’ okay. Work is more important. Don’t worry, Jacky and I will manage to get there without a problem.”
“Be sure to take the taxi. I don’t want you running after any minibus, alright?”
“Okay, okay, you’re so longwinded,” teased Myolie. “I better not keep you from work.”
“Wait honey, I should be able to pick you up after your appointment. So wait for me in the main lobby?”
“Alright, we’ll see you then. You drive carefully. Love you. bye,” said Myolie.
“Love you too, bye,” replied Bosco before they ended their call.
…………….