The Old Friend

[4 Years Later]

As Jun Mùchén opens the door, he says with a smile on his face,

"Mom, I'm back home. I got everything for tonight's dinner."

Right as he closes the door, he takes off his shoes and puts them in a little cabinet. As he walks down the aisle with the full plastic bag in his hands, his mom pokes her head out of the kitchen and says with a smile on her face,

"Welcome back, sweetie. Would you please come to the kitchen? We need to talk."

Jun Mùchén looks confused and a bit shocked, and answers,

"Mom, is everything alright?"

His mom answers with a big smile on her face and says,

"Yeah, yeah, no worries. Come and sit down."

Right after she says that, she pulls her head back into the kitchen. Jun Mùchén looks very confused and a bit concerned, but he walks toward and into the kitchen.

Right as he enters the kitchen, he puts down the plastic bag and sees his mom sitting at the kitchen table with an envelope in her hand. He walks over to her and sits down across from her.

As he sits down, his mother looks at him and says,

"So, Jun, do you remember your friend Jia Hao?"

Jun Mùchén looks a bit confused and answers,

"Yeah, we played together in Team Leafen, and we chat from time to time. Why are you asking, and how do you know him?"

Jun Mùchén's mom smiles, giggles, and says,

"Great! He called a couple of weeks ago when you weren't home. He wanted to invite you to come and visit him. Now that I'm not that sick anymore, I said sure, he can come. I know you would probably say no since I'm still not in the best of health."

Right as she wants to say more, Jun Mùchén interrupts her and says with a louder voice,

"Yeah, of course I will not leave you alone after you were that sick for such a long time. I'll visit him when you are completely healed."

Jun Mùchén's mom reaches her hands out and takes Jun Mùchén's hand and says with a slow and calm voice,

"Jun, I'm feeling great. I know how much you sacrificed for me to be here, and you need to take a break and go back to your own life. So please go. I already booked your train tickets for tomorrow. He wants to show you what he's been up to. He was very excited on the phone."

Jun Mùchén says with a quiet voice,

"Okay, Mom, thank you. But if anything is happening, please call me, and I will immediately come back."

Jun Mùchén's mom smiles and says with a calm and happy voice,

"Of course, sweetie."

After she says that, she gives Jun Mùchén the envelope she had in her hands and says with a smile on her face,

"Have a good time, sweetie."

After she gives him the envelope, she stands up from the table, smiles, walks into the kitchen, and starts looking through the plastic bags Jun Mùchén brought with him after going grocery shopping.

At the same time, Jun Mùchén opens the envelope his mom gave him. As he opens it, he sees that there is a bit of money inside. Immediately as he sees that, he jumps out of his chair and runs to his mom, hugs her very tightly, and says,

"Thank you so much, Mom. Thank you. That's way too much, Mom."

She pats his head over her shoulder and says with a big smile,

"No, sweetie, you did way more for me than that, and I'm so grateful for that, so giving you this is nothing."

As his mom says that to him, he starts tearing up immediately. As his mom hears him tearing up, she says with a louder voice,

"Jun, I need to cook now. Go and pack up the things you wanna take with you."

Immediately after she says that, Jun Mùchén takes her arms from her and says very politely,

"Sorry."

Afterwards, he walks up the stairs and into his room. As he enters his room, he wipes away his tears, pulls out his phone, and sends Jia Hao a message:

"I'm coming tomorrow, but why do you ask me first instead of calling my mom, and how did you even get my mom's number?"

At the same time he sends Jia Hao a message, his mom wipes away her tears. She doesn't want to seem weak.

After Jun Mùchén sends the message, he lies down on his bed on his back with his arms outstretched and starts thinking about his past and why Jia Hao wants to see him now after such a long time.

About 20 minutes later, his phone starts ringing. Jun Mùchén immediately looks at his phone and sees that it's Jia Hao. He immediately answers the phone.

Right after he answers, Jia Hao says happily,

"Hey, how are you doing, my friend? It's been a while since we last heard from each other, so I thought I'd give you a call!"

Jun Mùchén looks confused and answers a bit angrily,

"But we chatted last week. You couldn't ask me then if I would be interested in visiting you? Especially, why now?"

Jia Hao laughs and says,

"Why so angry, my friend? Can a friend not invite an old friend over? But regardless, I just wanted to say hey. I need to go now since I'm pretty busy with my new job."

Jun Mùchén interrupts him and says, confused,

"Wait, your new job? Are you not playing for Leafen anymore?"

Jia Hao answers and says,

"I will answer all your questions tomorrow when you get here. I'll send you the address where we will meet. Bye, my friend."

Immediately after Jia Hao finishes his sentence, he ends the call. Jun Mùchén sits on his bed, very confused and angry.

Right after he ends the call, he says,

"He hasn't changed a bit. Still the same as he's ever been. But regardless, I should pack my things now."

After he says that, he starts packing his things. While looking through his closet, he finds a small box. As he sees the box, he immediately grabs it and sits back down on his bed.

He grabs the lid of the box with both hands and opens it very slowly. He lays the lid of the box next to him onto the bed.

As he looks into the box, he sees his MVP medal and his old jersey, along with a picture of the whole team holding the trophy in the air. As he sees all of this, tears start running down his cheeks. He can't control it—it's just happening.

After a short while, he sits there with the picture in his hand, completely crying. Then his mind is filled with old memories of him with the team: how they all met for the first time in an internet café, or how they all went out to eat after they won their first match in the league.

Even more tears start pouring out of his eyes, and he just can't stop. It feels like he gets hit by every single memory he had. After sitting there crying for about 6 minutes, he slowly stops crying.

After he is almost completely calm, he looks for a pen. After he finds one, he turns the picture around and writes something on the back of it.

After he writes something on the back, he pulls out his wallet, folds the picture twice, and puts it in his wallet. After putting the picture in, he wipes away his tears, puts the lid back onto the box, puts it back into the closet, and smiles.

[1 hour later]

Jun Mùchén closes the zipper on his suitcase and pushes it next to his room's door. Shortly after he finishes packing, he hears his mom calling for dinner.

As he walks down the stairs, he smells a familiar scent he hasn't smelled in a while. As he walks into the kitchen, he sees that the kitchen table is full of all of his favorite foods he hasn't eaten in a while.

Immediately after he sees that, he runs over to his mom, who has just finished cleaning, and immediately hugs her and says very happily, with a big smile on his face,

"WOW MOM, WOW, THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU'RE JUST THE BEST... but I hope it was not too stressful to cook all of this, since you're still not fully recovered."

His mom smiles and answers,

"Don't worry, sweetie. Cooking was never hard or a burden for me, so just sit down and enjoy the meal. I'll follow shortly after I'm done cleaning the kitchen."

Right after his mom says that, he stops hugging her and rushes toward the kitchen table. As he sits down, he looks at his mom, smiles, and says happily,

"Really, thank you, Mom. This looks so delicious, and I really missed your cooking. Thank you so much."

Immediately after he says that, he grabs his chopsticks and starts shoving the food into his mouth. As his mom sees him enjoying her food that much, she smiles.

After watching him for a short while, she finishes up her cleaning. As she finishes, she puts down the rag and washes her hands.

As she sits down at the kitchen table, she looks at Jun Mùchén, smiles, grabs her chopsticks, and starts eating. As she starts eating, she starts tearing up.

After that, both of them focus on eating. After they clear every plate that was on the table and wipe them clean, they are stuffed, their bellies round. They just sit there and rest for a short while.

After sitting there and resting for about 5 minutes, Jun Mùchén looks up at his mom and says with a smile on his face, in a happy voice,

"Mom, really, thank you. It was incredibly delicious, but I'm so full I can't even move now. I'll clean up after a short break. I can't even move a bit right now, I'm that full."

His mom smiles, laughs, and answers very happily,

"Don't worry, sweetie. If you want, I can help."

Jun Mùchén answers very calmly and says,

"Mom, no, don't worry. I will do it alone. You can go and rest up. You did a lot today, so don't worry about it."

Right after Jun Mùchén says that, he starts picking up the plates and bringing them to the sink and placing them in it. After his mom sees that, she stands up, moves her chair back to the table, smiles, and says,

"Thank you, sweetie."

Immediately after she says that, she turns around and walks out of the kitchen and back to her room. As she walks into her room, she looks at the pictures hanging on the wall and says very quietly,

"He has grown up so much."

At the same time she says that, she wipes with her left hand over a picture of Jun Mùchén from kindergarten. Meanwhile, Jun Mùchén is cleaning the plates very thoroughly.

About 5 minutes later, Jun Mùchén hangs up the rag over the tap and washes his hands. After washing his hands, he looks around to see if he has cleaned up everything.

Afterwards, he walks out of the kitchen, turns off the light, and walks up the stairs and into the bathroom.

He takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and then gets ready to go to bed. As he walks out of the bathroom, he walks over to his mom's room and knocks on the door, saying with a happy and calm voice,

"Good night, Mom. Sleep well. See you tomorrow."

Afterwards, he walks over to his room, lies down on his bed, and sets his alarm clock for 8 a.m. Immediately after setting the alarm clock, he turns around and falls asleep.

beep beep beep

As his alarm clock starts beeping, Jun Mùchén rolls around in his bed and tries to hit the alarm clock. After trying to turn it off for a short while, he finally does.

After waking up, he stretches and looks out the window and sees what a beautiful day it is today. Afterwards, he puts on some comfy clothes and walks out of his room toward the kitchen.

Right as he enters the kitchen, he hears the door of his mom's room open. Immediately, as Jun Mùchén hears that, he turns around, sticks his head out of the kitchen door, and says very happily,

"Good morning, Mom! Hope you slept well. I'll make some tea immediately."

His mom walks out of her room, yawning, and says sleepily,

"Okay, sweetie."

Jun Mùchén just laughs and smiles, grabs some green tea, and makes a delicious pot. At the same time, he reheats some basic rice porridge he made yesterday.

After the tea finishes brewing, he and his mom both sit down and eat their breakfast. After they finish eating, Jun Mùchén cleans up everything.

Right as he finishes cleaning, he looks at his mom and says with a curious voice,

"By the way, Mom, when is my train going to leave?"

She answers while laughing slightly,

"Oh, did I not tell you? I'm so sorry. Your train leaves at 10:35 a.m."

As she says that, Jun Mùchén looks at his phone, sees that it's 9:43 a.m., and immediately says,

"Wait, from which city is my train going to leave?"

She answers, a bit confused,

"I think it is from C Village."

Jun Mùchén immediately jumps up and says loudly,

"Oh shit! Then I need to leave now. C Village is about 35 minutes away by bus!"

His mom says very loudly and sadly,

"Oh yeah! I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I'm really sorry, Jun Mùchén."

Jun Mùchén smiles at his mom and says very calmly,

"Don't worry, Mom. I will get there on time."

Immediately after he says that, he runs up the stairs to his room, changes clothes, grabs his suitcase, and walks down the stairs toward the entrance door. He sees his mom waiting.

After putting on his shoes, he walks over to his mom. He immediately hugs her and says very calmly and happily,

"Mom, I will be back soon. Thank you, and take care of yourself. If anything happens, just call me. I'll come back immediately. I won't be gone for long."

As his mom hears that, she smiles and answers,

"You're very welcome, sweetie. And don't worry about me too much. I'm fine. So enjoy your time there and come back whenever you feel like it."

Right as she says that, Jun Mùchén grabs his suitcase, opens the door, smiles, and says,

"I will be back soon. Take care."

As he walks away, his mom says with a smile on her face and very quietly,

"I don't think you will come back soon."