Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Lately, Sheila had spent most of her time with Henry. Whenever they ate together, Henry would comment that the same dish tasted much better when his mom made it.

If they passed by a woman on the street dressed in a style similar to his mother's, Henry would point it out, insisting that no one looked as nice as his mom in those clothes.

After all, Jessica was his real mother. But as Henry grew older, he started to worry that her inability to speak might make other people laugh at him.

Sheila understood, deep down, that no matter how much time she spent with Henry now, she could never compare to the years of deep affection between mother and son.

Winning Henry's heart completely would take time.

The truth was, Henry missed his mom too.

He felt like she'd changed lately, like she didn't care about him anymore.

So when Sheila suddenly brought up the subject, Henry remembered how his mother hadn't come to see him when he'd been in the hospital. The thought stung, leaving him feeling hurt and a little resentful.

What kind of mom acted like that?

"Miss Sheila, I'll call her right now and ask her to come home."

"Henry, you're the sweetest kid I know. So go on, figure out a way to bring your mom back home, okay?"

hanging up, Henry thought about it. Normally, whenever he was sick or hurt, his mom would

Miss Sheila, he was determined to find a way to get his mom to

way, Miss Sheila would come visit him

to the balcony and used his smartwatch's chat app

who immediately took

buzzed with

go of her hand. "Go

phone out of her bag. Her son's name

was a call from the chat

regular messages, but she'd forgotten to delete

everything going on at home. If Jessica ignored

Ines to worry, so she answered

face instantly

"Mom."

familiar word sent a

standing beside her, Jessica forced a

wave.