BREAKS IN A SIGH

The next day, Sage knocked at the door of his mother, Luna. ''Who is there?'' she asked. ''Mom, it's me, Sage'' Sage said. ''Push it open, son, it is not locked'' Luna said. He opened the door and saw his mother taking a look at her newly purchased clothes. ''Good evening, mom'' he said as he sat on a stool next to his mother. She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. ''Good evening, son, you look worried, what is it?'' Luna asked with her eyes fixated on his face.

Sage smiled, and stood up, took some of the clothes her mother had bought, started picking and looking at them, one after the other, saying how great they looked, as though he actually cared about how bad they were or not. Luna was not paying attention to what he was saying. She only placed her suspicious gaze at him. When it seemed to her that her son was not paying attention to her gaze at him, she walked to him and placed her right hand on his shoulder. ''Tell me son, I can feel it, I can see it, I am not a child. What is bothering you? You came here not looking happy, unlike you. Leave those clothes, sit down and tell me what's going on'' Luna said and sat at the edge of her bed as she dragged Sage along. He smiled, but still was noticeably with some facial expression of some hard feelings. ''But mom, I am okay'' he said, trying to force smiles out of his frozen cheeks. ''Now, no, you are not going to tell me that, I gave birth to you and have spent my life with you for decades, I mean decades, not just some years. Son, I understand you. Tell me something. So, what is it?'' Luna said, imploringly. Instead of opening up as his mother had asked him to, he stood up. ''Mom, just finish what you are doing, I am not running out. I will be waiting in your sitting room'' he said, and took a walk to his mother's personal sitting room. It was a smaller sitting space attached to her bedroom. ''I see. But whatever it is, my son, don't overwork yourself'' Luna said, as her eyes trailed him while he walked to a sofa chair there and sat down. She stood up, and tried continuing from where she stopped, but was overwhelmed by a feeling of uncertainty over his noticeable discomposure and facial de-tachment.