This moment, he realized how long it had been since he had last closely observed his mother!
The middle-aged woman he thought he knew well, the one who loved to chatter, to play mahjong, to scold him, to eat leftovers, and to balk at buying groceries because she could argue with vendors over mere dimes… was now so unfamiliar.
He realized it had been a very long time since he had sat down to chat with his mother.
Busy with work?
Busy with a career?
Busy with a romance?
But was it really true that he couldn't spare a few minutes a day to talk with his mother?
Maybe it was only at the moment of picking up the phone that he felt her chatter was too bothersome?
Better to play a game instead...
The young man looked at his mother and noticed the roots of her slightly tacky yellow, big wavy hair dyed earlier that year were now graying.
He saw that the wrinkles near her eyes had deepened.