"Rudy!" Janel called out to him.


    Rudy turned around and asked, "Hmm?"


    "If you don''t mind, can you wait for a few minutes? One employee is going toe soon, so I will be free!"


    "Oh, you want me to drop you off at your house?"


    "Yes!"


    ''Well, it''s still dark, so I guess she is scared,'' Rudy uttered inwardly.


    "Okay!"


    Rudy returned to the store and waited for the employee toe so J could leave. While doing that, he was only focusing on Reba.


    Now that the sun was about to rise, customers had begun to floor. That was the time when most people would wake up and do their daily things. And the store was exactly on a street that was used by all the people as that was the one and only avenue to enter and leave the town.


    After sitting there and watching the store, Rudy recalled his old memories, which were filled with nothing but nostalgia.


    He smiled slightly as he remembered how often he used to apany Reba when she went to work. When he was a kid, Reba only worked dayshift as she couldn''t bring Rudy with her or leave him alone in the house at night.


    ''Seriously, she has been with me all my life. She has done so many things for me. I keep saying it, but I can''t help how much she sacrificed for me. Is that what it is to be a mother?''


    Deep down, Rudy felt guilty for having indecent thoughts about Reba.


    ''Maybe… I shouldn''t do it? Putting everything aside, she is still my mother. What would she think if I told her that I lust after her? How would she react? I do find it disgusting, and I can''t believe that I have fallen so low, but… I want her.


    No, Rudy. It''s still not toote. You can back down. Toss these thoughts out of your mind and control your desires. You can still be a normal high school boy. You can keep a normal rtionship with her.''


    SIGH!


    Rudy let out a frustrated sigh and muttered, "If only she wasn''t my mother."


    TING!


    Rudy''s ears twitched as he heard a sharp chiming sound. He raised his head and nced around but couldn''t find the source. At first, he thought it was just the door rm malfunction, but soon after a customer walked in, the sound was normal.


    A whileter, the employee came for her shift, and J immediately got changed.


    "Let''s go," she said to Rudy.


    "Yeah." Rudy nced at Reba, who was busy at the cashier. "Mom, I am leaving."


    "Yeah, take care."


    Rudy and J left in a hurry. After stepping out of the store and walking for a few seconds, Rudy looked at the sky and said, "It''s not that dark anymore."


    J bit her lips and nced at Rudy from the corner of her eyes to ask, "Does that mean you won''te to drop me off?"


    "I already promised you so…" Rudy shrugged his shoulders and said, "And your house is kind of on the same way, so I wouldn''t mind taking a detour."


    <o>,m J smiled from the corner of her lips and asked, "So… how is your rtionship with Reba?"</o>


    "Hmm?" Rudy turned to J with a surprised look on his face and thought, ''Did she see me  gawking at mom?''


    "Whatever do you mean?" Rudy yed dumb.


    "I mean… she is young and at the age where a woman''s beauty is at its peak. And… you have been living with her for such a long time. I was curious what you think about her."


    "Wait… wait, wait. What do you mean… by young? I mean, I don''t want to say it, but she is thirty years or so old."


    "What, no?" J raised her brows in confusion and said, "She is 29. What are you talking about?"


    Rudy stopped on his tack and turned to J with a baffled look on his face as though he had seen a ghost, even though he was used to that.


    "She is not 29. What are you talking about? I am 18, so if she is 29, then wouldn''t that mean she gave birth to me when she was like…. 11?!" Rudy eximed.


    "Uhh…" J took a while to process what Rudy had just said. Then, she gulped down anxiously and asked, "Could… it be that you don''t know?"


    "Know what?"


    "That… she is… not your mother?"


    "What the fuck?!"


    "So you really didn''t know, huh?" J suddenly gasped and covered her mouth. "Could it be that it was supposed to be a secret, and I messed up a big time?"


    "Wait." Rudy ced his hands on J''s shoulders and pulled her close to him. Then, he looked into her eyes and asked, "How do you do all this? And what else do you know?"


    "How do I know…. well…" J averted her gaze and said, "I know about her age because I looked at Reba''s resume not long ago. And… as for her rtionship with you…."


    "Hmm?"


    "I heard from my mom."


    "And why does she know?"


    "Do you remember we met at the store the other night not too long ago?"


    "When you were yelling at your mother?"


    "Yes, and I wasn''t yelling," she retorted. "So after going home, my mother wouldn''t stop talking about you and how disciplined you are. And then she said, ''Even though Reba is not his real mother, they get along so well. Why don''t you learn from him a little?''


    And then she added, ''I am d she made it through. I wasn''t sure if she would be able to handle everything after her sister''s death''. That was my first time hearing it too, and that''s the reason why I looked into your mother''s resume because I was curious about her age."


    Rudy let go of J, but he was still baffled by what he had just learned.


    ''Why was I never told about this?''


    ===


    Thanks, @Natz_18, for the gift!