The Promise

Reluctantly raising up from bed, Jean lingered for a moment before getting off the bed. He already knew who was at the door. Other than Natalie, who else.

A while ago, when he was done taking his shower, he changed and eventually locked himself in the room. He wanted some room for privacy as he took a rest.

So, the moment he heard a knock, he was forced to head over and unlock the door for the unexpected visitor.

The moment the door flanged open; Natalie was standing right at the door. Noticing Jean, Natalie gave him a teethed smile as she arranged her dishevelled hair.

Raising an eyebrow in response, Jean glanced at Natalie with a questioning look. In the next second, Natalie withdrew from arranging her hair and tried to peer into Jean's room. Not sure what she was looking for, Jean stared at her with dubious eyes.

"What is it, mom?"

Quickly shifting her gaze towards Jean, Natalie smiled wryly and answered in an even tone,

"Nothing… It is nothing."

'I thought he didn't arrange his room before he left for the tour in the morning. He is lucky I didn't spot what I was looking for, else…'

Natalie thought to herself with a complicated look evident on her face.

Since the last time she was at Jean's room early in the morning, she had not had a chance to visit it again. She remembered that, that was the time was when Jean was just waking up and he was yet to arrange the room in a proper way. Given that this room was still new to Jean and how young Jean was, it could have been so difficult for him to come up with a proper scheme of arranging the room. But since when he walked in for the first time, the room was properly arranged, and therefore, it left a blueprint of the proper way of arranging the room in his head.

She was curious to confirm how Jean was coping up with life in his new room. She had brought him up to be responsible of the neatness of his own room without supervision. And from what she saw, it was like the lesson she took Jean through about neatness, was impactful.

"Then what could have brought you to my door at this hour, mom?"

Jean asked with a hint of exasperation in his voice while leaning on the frame of the door with his back.

Natalie straightened her face and lingered for a moment.

"I would like you to join me in the kitchen for the preparation of our supper."

'I can't even have undisrupted moment of rest.'

Jean thought as he faced down.

In the next moment, he raised his head to face Natalie.

"I would be joining you in a moment. Just give me a minute or two, mom"

Jean answered in a neutral tone while cursing in his head.

'This day must be ranked as one of my worst days if not the worst itself.'

Jean was burning with anger because of what he had to go through during the tour. He has been tormented by multiple things, starting from Natalie's unwillingness to answer some of his most important questions, to incurring a physical suffering at the mysterious spot at the centre of the forest, to now being asked to perform some random chores by Natalie when he had just started his moment of respite.

A heartbeat later, Natalie left and headed downstairs.

At first, Jean didn't want to join his mom, but after contemplating on the matter for a while, he felt like joining her was the perfect choice. This was because he was compelled by the benefits that could follow along.

Being a novice when it came to the usage of modern kitchen appliances, he felt like he needed a tutor to teach him how to use them. And Natalie was the best person for the job.

'She is already ahead of me when it comes to modern equipment, but where could she have obtained this knowledge when we spent most of our lives in the village? The village that such technology items were rare.'

Realising that Natalie was well versed with the usage of most of the modern appliances, Jean couldn't help but marvel at her exception ability.

*****

In the kitchen…

Ten minutes later, Jean had already joined his mom and was now busy assisting her with some of the chores in the kitchen. He had already asked her a few questions about some one or two items and appliances. He knew very well that he was in a learning session and he was eager to utilise every second to his benefit. He could ask whenever he could get stuck and inquire where he couldn't understand.

Natalie was the one facing a rough time during this session, because apart from performing her chores, she had to take some time and answer Jean's questions before commencing with her tasks. At some point, she even regretted her decision of inviting Jean to give a helping hand in the preparation of their supper. As this was mainly meant to speed up the process, but instead, it was doing the opposite. But she couldn't cry over spilt milk, as the decision had already taken its course and reversing it would look stupid.

Jean on the other side was taking note of every piece of information he was getting from Natalie. He was a fast learner and mastering what he was being taught wasn't a problem to him.

Twenty minutes later, supper was ready. Normally, it could have taken at most twenty to twenty-five minutes to prepare the supper, but since there was some interventions in terms of lessons that Jean was undertaking, the whole process lasted for more than thirty minutes.

At the end of this session, Jean was now confident in his skills and knowledge about the modern kitchen appliances. If given a chance, he could even hold his own tutoring sessions.

'I am no longer a village rat anymore.'

Jean thought to himself while spreading his chest out wide.

The next five minutes, the table was set and the duo took their seats on the dining table across each other. Everybody was hungry and the only important thing during this moment, was satiating their hunger.

Nobody bothered to utter a word as the two descended on the food in front of them like hungry beasts. The tour was debilitating and taxing, and now that they had an opportunity to recuperate their strength, they made sure they utilize it to their maximum.

A few minutes later, the two were done taking their supper, and without waiting for any instruction, Jean cleared the table and took the dirty dishes to the kitchen. He then returned to clean the table and noticed Natalie already doing that. So, he went back to the kitchen and washed the dishes.

From the way Jean was performing his chores, it was easy to tell that he was well brought up. Despite his young age, he was handling himself like a full grown-up adult. He had a deeper understanding when it came to performing house chores.

When he was done with the dishes, he cleaned the kitchen and headed in the living room. Noticing that Natalie was seated there, a thought ignited in his mind and decided to join her.

Despite him feeling reenergized after feeding, he still felt some numbness and body aches that resulted from the debilitating tour. If that could have been put into consideration, the easiest choice for Jean at this moment was for him to get a rest. But since Natalie had a promise to keep, he couldn't let that opportunity slip off.

Without further delays, Jean headed straight to where Natalie was seated and lowered himself in one of the coaches next to her.

Indifferent to Jean's action, Natalie continued maintaining her posture.

"Mom, when I came out of the kitchen, I expected to never find you here. This is because I was expecting that you could have headed in your room to have a rest. But me getting out and seeing you here puzzles me in some way."

Jean said while facing Natalie.

Turning in Jean's direction, Natalie smiled lightly.

"I understand your concern but you know I promised you something during the first phase of our tour, and that was what was keeping me here all this while."

Natalie said in an even tone as she looked straight in Jean's eyes.

Struggling to maintain an eye contact with Natalie, Jean lowered his head and lingered for a while.

"What was could be that that you promised me, mom. Maybe it could have escaped my mind."

Jean asked clearly pretending not to have a clue of what Natalie was alluding to.

Natalie glowered at him for some moment before turning away. Upon noticing this, Jean shifted his gaze towards the wall-clock and smiled wryly.

"There are some of the questions that I promised to answer you at the end of the tour, and since the tour is already over, it is time for me to answer you."

At the moment Jean heard this statement from Natalie, a bright smile immediately flashed across his innocent face. He then perked up and leaned forward, trying to improve his concentration.

^_~