LB 7

"so, how's the parenting life going?", the old woman took a sip of her tea. Mellow helped himself to a cookie and took a bite.

"Well, he's not a bad kid", he stated while eyeing Rem, who was playing with a few garden snails near his plants outside. "Besides that, he really loves trees and plants. Yesterday, I showed him a few of tomato seeds and he recognised it almost instantly. Even I can't differentiate most of the seeds you have shown me during my first week helping you".

The old woman was enjoying Mellow's talkative moment. He never talked this much before, she was glad to see Mellow showed an interest in someone.

"Maybe I should buy him more of those plant books, oh and do you happen to have any lemon seeds?", Mellow asked in anticipation. The woman chuckled and shook her head in reply, "no, but I do have a lemon tree"

Hearing this, Mellow had a glint in his eyes. Just then, Rem entered the house while holding Paste, the old woman's cat in his arms. "it came up to me", Rem said while looking at Mellow in concern. He put Paste down and walked up to Mellow.

"oh my, Paste must have followed me here", said the old woman as Paste jumped up to her lap. Suddenly, Rem tugged Mellow's sleeve.

"Hm? What is it? You want a cookie? It's really sweet, you know?", he said as he holds a chocolate chip cookie in front of Rem. Rem took a big bite from his hand and munched it with delight. Mellow finished the cookie and wiped his hands on a cloth.

"speaking of which, grandma!", Rem suddenly turned to the old woman. "Do you happen to have a lemon tree?", he asked with glittering eyes. The woman politely nodded and said, "yes, I do have a lemon tree. But only one"

Hearing this, Rem was filled with excitement. "Where is it grandma? Is it far from here?"

The old woman laughed and and gave the boy a pat on the head. "calm down, the tree won't go anywhere. And it's also not that far from here"

Mellow pulled out a chair beside him to let Rem sit down. Rem noticed and sat down.

"So..where did you plant it?", asked Mellow. The old woman took a second before answering. "The furthest part of my garden", she said with a smile. "Although it hasn't produce any fruits yet", she added.

They all chatted for a while until the day started to get dark. It was time for the old woman and Paste to go home as well. Rem saw them off at the front door while Mellow had to accompany them back home. "Be a good boy and don't open the door for anyone unless I call your name, okay?", Mellow advised Rem. The boy nodded and waved the old woman and her cat goodbye.

"Don't forget to lock the door!", Mellow shouted as the three of them wandered off. He was worried about Rem since it was already dark and he was all alone. He could have just bring Rem along but Rem insisted that he'd stay. He looked back from his shoulder and noticed that they were already far away from his house. He sighed.

"Hahaha.. someone looks worried", the old woman teased. Mellow just shook his head and picked Paste up, who was rubbing against his legs all this time, making him almost tripped about three times.

"I just hope he's okay", he sighed again. Not long after that, the three of them had passed an old cyclist, who gave them a plastic filled with three flavoured popsicle. Honeydew, vanilla and lemon mix orange. Mellow gave the vanilla one to the old woman considering that she has a sweet tooth. The three of them chattered away as time goes by.