After arriving home, having taken turns to shower and change clothes, Jett told Khem to go prepare the meal for the priest in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Jett would go invite the priest downstairs for dinner.
The villagers had provided both savory and sweet dishes, along with homegrown brown rice, so Khem didn't need to spend time cooking rice.
The master came downstairs alone. Where Jett had gone, nobody knew.
Khem stole a glance and noticed that the other man seemed to have just woken up. His hair was slightly messy, but he still looked very handsome.
Khem shook his head to clear his irrelevant thoughts before quickly pulling out a chair from the fine wooden table for the priest to sit down, where the table was laden with food.
Pharan sat down, immediately started serving himself some food, and then quietly said to Khem, who was standing awkwardly behind him:
"You can go find your mother if you wish." Khem pressed his lips together before nodding quickly.
"Thank you, Master." After saying this, he went into the kitchen, grabbed the trays of food for his mother and himself, and headed straight up the stairs to the bedroom.
Pharan looked at the abundance of food on the table and sighed to himself, as he had actually already eaten dinner before these two young men returned.
It was quite a commotion.
"Tonight, you stay with your mother, I'll sleep outside."
Khem nodded, "Thank you, Jett."
"Easy, just call me if you need anything." Jett ruffled Khem's hair gently before taking his pillow and blanket outside.
Khem placed his mother's food tray on the floor, separated his own plate from the tray, got up to open the pot lid on the bed's headboard, then sat back down on his knees to light an incense stick as per tradition, closed his eyes and said:
"Mother, I've brought the food. There's your favorite green curry too.
Come out and eat with me, Mother." A warm breeze passed through, and Khem slowly opened his eyes to see his mother's face, which, though slightly pale, was still as beautiful as ever.
"I am here." Khem held back his tears as best he could and nodded, giving his mother a sweet smile.
"Let's eat, mom, there's nothing but delicious food here." Kekai nodded, looking at her child's plate which only has an omelet over white rice because the child gave her the best and tastiest food.
Her eyes felt hot, her heart ached with unbearable pain. She wanted toscoop some of everything onto her child's plate so they could eat together,just like when she was still alive.
But now, she couldn't do that.
Because she had passed away.
She was no longer in the same world as her child.
Therefore, the food offered to the dead, the living can't eat together.
"Thank you, my child." between us, mother and child, there was an incense pot barrier. Kekai, swallowing hard, forced herself to eat the food with tears in her eyes.
"Mom, please don't cry, I'm very happy to be able to eat with you again."
Khem said with a smile, though tears streamed down his cheeks as he ate, wiping his tears because he couldn't stop crying.
Kekai nodded.
"Okay, dear, you shouldn't cry either."
The two both ate until we finished, then Khem took the dishes downstairs to wash and brushed his teeth before bed.
"I'll run up quickly, mom."
Kekai shook her head, "No running, dear, be considerate of the spiritsof the house."
Khem smiled and nodded, "Okay, mom, I won't run."
Meanwhile, Jett leaned a wooden ladder against the house by Khem's bedroom window, with a shoulder bag containing a hammer and nails, and in one hand, he carried a solid wooden rod about a meter long or so. He placed nails into the wood to block the window, preventing anyone inside from opening it and jumping out.
After the day Khem almost jumped from the balcony, Jett didn't trust him to sleep alone anymore, and even when sleeping together, he tied Khem's
leg to himself. Today, not sleeping together, he couldn't help but be wary, fearing Khem might have strange dreams and open the window.
Once done, he put the tools away and returned to the house, setting up the mosquito net and laying out the bed near the door.
At this time, Pharan was meditating to enter a trance as usual when he heard the sound of someone hammering something, and he immediately guessed who it was.
That Jett...
Khem came back upstairs once more, passing by Jett who was lying guard near the door. His mother was still sitting on the bed, waiting, so he quickly climbed onto the bed to be close to her.
"Mother, can I sleep in your lap?"
Kekai smiled, "Of course, my child."
Khem lay down with his head in his mother's lap and told her about what he had done that day. Her pale hands gently stroked his hair to lull him to sleep, as she often did when he was asleep.
She didn't dare to appear in front of her son, fearing he might become too attached and worried, so she had always just watched from a distance.
Khem looked up at his mother, taking her cold hands and holding them to his chest.
"Mother...tomorrow, I...I'll take you to the temple, okay mother?" Kekai pressed her lips together, tears in her eyes, nodding slightly, though it was hard for her to let go, but ultimately, she had to allow her son to face his destiny alone.
Master Pharan had told her. That if she continued to follow her son like this, it would only make Khem's life harder.
The more spirits that followed him, the weaker he would become.
Because she was a spirit with very little power, unable to contend with anyone, if one day her spirit were to vanish or be taken as a servant by another, her son would surely suffer and blame himself.
"I will go with you."
Khem reached up to wipe his mother's tears, then gave her a faint smile.
"Mother doesn't need to worry about me, I'll get through it, I'll live until I'm old, believe in me, mother." Kekai nodded again.
"I believe in you...It's very late now. Go to sleep, my child, you haveto wake up early tomorrow."
Khem shook his head from side to side.
"But I still want to talk to you, mom." Khem tried to keep the conversation going with various topics, but soon, his body couldn't resist fatigue, especially with his mother's hand combing through his hair and her lullaby soothing him to sleep. Khem slowly sank into a deep slumber.
Sleep now, my dear, I'll sing you to sleep,
Gently rocking, my lullaby deep,
Golden mother, don't cry and weep,
Your love, my dear, forever to keep...
The lullaby was melodious, carried by the breeze, echoing eerily, mixed with the chirping of crickets and interspersed with intermittent sobs that would touch anyone's heart. Some villagers, half-awake, even got up to chant prayers out of compassion, not knowing who the singer of this child's lullaby was...
When Khem was soundly asleep with a slight smile of contentment on his face, Kekai gently placed his head on the pillow, covered him with a blanket, and stroked his head one last time before whispering softly,
"Sweet dreams, my child."
Kekai stepped out of the bedroom, seeing Jett sleeping in the mosquito net near the door, she smiled with affection, knelt down, and gently stroked the young man's head.
"Thank you very much for always taking care of Khem, mayblessings protect you from now on, may you be safe, my child."
Jett felt a cool touch on his head, but being too sleepy, he didn't open his eyes. He just took note of it in his heart...
Pharan, who was meditating, slowly opened his eyes. The light from the large candle helped him see who had come to visit, though not very clearly.
"Hello, master." Kekai said before bowing to the ground. Pharan felt reluctant to have her bow to him but didn't interrupt her faith, so he just nodded in acknowledgment.
"Thank you for helping me and my child." She looked up with a beautiful smile, and Pharan's expression softened slightly.
"I just did what I could, it's not a favor." Kekai nodded.
"Master, Khem is a good boy."
Pharan listened silently, not quite understanding why she brought this up.
"He speaks well, studies well, draws beautifully, cooks well, and doesall the household chores competently."
"..."
"If in the future, Master, should you wish to have someone by yourside, please consider my son too, okay?" Pharan believed that if he had taken a sip of the tea next to him a moment ago, he would have scalded his mouth. Thong and Ekk spirits sitting in the corner of the room even raised their hands to stifle their laughter, while sending teasing glances his way.
Pharan didn't know how to react facially, but he nodded in acknowledgment to the young spirit before him and replied:
"Yes, Auntie."
Kekai smiled. She didn't know why, but she felt that this man would help Khem survive safely, especially after what had happened before. She felt confident about this.
"Please take care of Khem, Master." She bowed again. Even though Master Pharan didn't explicitly promise, his eyes softened, which reassured her a lot, and then her body gradually faded into the air.
Kekai appeared again in front of Phra Pinto's cabin, her former husband.
This time, Phra Pinto wasn't standing on the steps anymore. He walked down and stopped in front of her, where she sat cross-legged on the ground, the distance neither too close nor too far.
Kekai clasped her hands in prayer and bowed three times, then looked up with a faint smile.
"I've come to say goodbye, my dear monk." A tear streamed down from her beautiful eyes, even though her lips were still smiling.
A sudden pang of emptiness filled her heart, but Phra Pinto remained composed, then spoke to his former wife's spirit:
"Goodbye, Kai, do not worry, do not be anxious anymore."
Kekai nodded through her tears.
"Thank you so much for everything, my dear monk."
"..."
"If I hadn't met you in this life, I wouldn't know how much I wouldhave suffered."
"..."
"If there is a next life, I hope we can meet again." Kekai said, then bowed at Phra Pinto's feet, her tears dropping onto the ground, making it damp. Her ears caught the sound of chanting, and her pale body suddenly glowed with a bright golden light.
"Sabbeputta, sabbedhamma, sabbesangha, palappatta, paccekaanam, jayang palang...