2023: True 01

True opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a brief moment. And then she turned her head, smiling at the sight.

A little boy was sleeping soundly next to her. His eyelashes were curled naturally on top of his cheeks. His thick pink lips were opened slightly. His dark blonde mop of hair was tousled because of the tossing and turning during the night. He was so exhausted yesterday because of all the runnings and the crying he did during his first class. Her cute button-nosed son fell asleep the instant he reached her bed.

True turned to her right and sighed, her husband had yet to come home.

Phi Phi Island this time, he said. It was not far from their resident country, but it was still too far for her to just phone him to come back home in the next few minutes. She knew he had to work, it was where his passion lied, but she still wished that she could have him home at times. But being the wife of a big shot television documentary persona, she could not be whiny, even though at times she had to deal with her Liam acting out because he missed his dad.

One day, she was asked by her supervisor to publish a special documentary about the lives of the local Thai people, especially the ones in Phuket. As the most junior in the entertainment business, especially in daytime television, she was the first one to be "sacrificed" and she was obliged to go to Phuket for a whole month in order to shoot the documentary. She flew to Phuket with only clothes on her back, some IDs and few necessary details about the people who were picking her up in the international airport.

When she landed, the first face she saw, apart from the random forgettable local people, was his. He was smiling brightly and holding up a sign with her name on it. Wearing a short-sleeved tropical shirt and short khakis, he looked like a lost foreigner, while in fact, he probably knew the place better than the locals. Greeting her with a giant smug, he took some of her luggages and led her to the parking lot.

As it turned out, there were only the two of them. The idea of the documentary was true and proper documentary, where people actually shoot without script; not the same kind that those people called "reality show". The documentary was pure, handheld, no editing apart from the lighting, and was aired at the same day it was shot.

During that whole month, when they were not on air, he taught her everything he knew, and in return, she gave him the attention she needed while occasionally making him home cooked meals that he often craved during his travels all around the world.

Then, love set in, like unplanned beautiful sunsets they captured during the trip.

And seven years later, here she was, with her cute little man waiting for her other man to come home. Slowly rising up from her bed, she started her day.

After heading out to the kindergarten and dropping Liam off, she went straight to her office and started working on her latest script for a certain talk show that she was supervising. The script only needed some touchings here and there, however, she couldn't help but feel like there was something missing with it. Tinkering a few paragraphs here and there, she tied her hair, an obvious sign that she was thinking and fighting ideas with herself inside her head.

She was so engrossed with her work, she almost forgot that she had a special lunch date with her siblings who just jumped in to the working life. A small smile was placed upon her lips. They were so eager to grow up, they sometimes forgot that their sibling and their parents were growing old. In spite all of that, she still loved her younger brother and sister. Now that they were living in the same country after the twins decided that they would find better job there, they often had special lunch date where the three of them would just talk about anything and everything during their extended lunch time.

They were going to have lunch at this new cafe that her brother discovered during one of his hiatus in-between jobs days. It was a snug little place with extended selection of coffee, tea and finger foods that the three siblings loved. True was secretly liking the idea of having a cafe of her own that she could pass on to Liam, but not right now. These days, her focus was only divided into two: her family life and her job. To have something else that needed constant attention would only lead her to permanent insanity.

When she arrived at the cafe, her inseparable siblings were already sitting there, gulping their favourite drinks and taking few mouthful bites of bitterballen. True apologised instantly because of her lack of attention to her surroundings when she was working on something.

"Have you guys ordered me lunch?" she promptly asked.

The youngest of them, Gwen, smiled at her sister. "Yes. Your favourite, of course."

"Thank you." True gave them a genuine smile. "How's everything? Tell me. How's ma and pa?"

Gwen's smiled faltered. "Ma's not doing so great, True. Last time we were home, her blood sugar is rising up again. Have you spoke to her lately?"

True bit her bottom lip. The last talk she had with her mother ended up with her holding up the phone first because of her mother's incessant chatter about having a sibling for Liam. It was still a sore topic for her since she had miscarried two years after she had Liam. Sighing loudly, she shook her head. "Haven't, Gwen. She yelled at me to get another baby, but it's still hard for us, for me."

Craig smiled reassuringly and took True's hands. "It's okay, sis. We understand. We love you the same. How's Liam? Haven't seen the cutest teacup human since last month. Why didn't you take him with you?"

"He's having a blast lately since his crush, Anna, likes him back. She gave him some candy last week. So, I'm currently in no position to drag him away from school even though sometimes I just want to."

Gwen laughed and Craig chuckled. "Obviously. Anything new?"

"I'm pregnant and Raleigh does not know." True blurted.

The black-haired twins had the same expression on their head; mouth hanging open. Craig was the first one who recovered, he replied, "How far along are you?"

True sighed. "Almost six weeks."

"So you already has it even a month before he left?" asked the buttoned-nose sister.

True could do a quick nod. After a short while, she proceeded to talk about the reason behind it: Raleigh didn't want to have another kid.

True just finished making dinner when she received a text message

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?

R"