Scarlet’s POV

What does she mean by that? I questioned.

Pathum: Oh, mom’s going to be fine.

Thank God. I breathed a sigh of relief and sent a prayer of thanks to God.

Scarlet: I’m so relieved to hear that. But we’ll still keep her in our prayers.

Pathum: Aww thank you so much Scarlet for everything you and your family did.

Of course! I thought, beaming.

Scarlet: We’re soulmates so understand that I care about you and your mom. And don't worry. Whether you allow me or not I’ll still help you.

Pathum: Thanks! So do you want to know what she meant that mom wouldn't be able to come home?

Scarlet: Yes I would like to know that.

Pathum: Well since mom is a COVID patient, there’s a quarantine assigned to everyone whether symptoms will show again or not anytime later. So she and Nirmala will stay at Nirmala’s house for quarantine and once it’s over my mom will come home. It’s not like she’s too far away but still I miss my mom. I’m so thankful she’s alive.

Scarlet: God protects us. There’s no need to be scared and panic as long as we trust in God, He wouldn't disappoint us.

Pathum: True!

Scarlet: Can you imagine we just passed another one of God’s tests? He must be so proud of both of us.

Pathum: He sure is.

Scarlet: When will mom be discharged from the hospital?

Pathum: Maybe today.

Scarlet: That’s good.

Fifteen minutes later I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was eight in the morning. I could hear mom raising her voice at Abigail. She’s mad I better be up or else I am in trouble.

“Are you still asleep, Scarlet?” Mom yelled, suddenly banging in the door.

“Yeah! I’m up, mom,” I said hoping it would convince her.

“You better be. Now, come outside, we have work to do,” she commanded.

When she left, I changed out of my pyjamas and into a shirt and pants. We cleaned the kitchen, and in the living room there were rats, so we had to get rid of them.

After the chores I laid in my bed opening Google Hangouts.

Pathum: Hey! My mom’s out of the hospital.

Scarlet: Great! I’m so happy!

Pathum: But unfortunately she can’t visit us, she will spend the quarantine at Nirmala’s house with her. It’s just a precaution to avoid the virus from spreading to us. The period is two or three weeks I guess. You know they say it's what the government says for the sake of people.

Scarlet: The government sucks!

Pathum: They do, but I have to say people are fascinated by our government duties like the western countries and Europe. They’re appreciating how well we handled the virus. You know still there are no deaths, I may be wrong but as far as I know there aren’t. So that’s impressive considering the chaos and deaths happening in Europe, especially Italy. There's so many deaths there.

Scarlet: Oh yes I noticed it as well, I don't listen to the news but since you insisted me to look out I discovered the virus is rapidly spreading in the States too. I hope they take the right steps to stop it from spreading. Some states are still on lockdown while some aren't and the virus is going out of control.

Pathum: I hope you guys survive nevertheless.

Scarlet: Don’t worry about us, god will take care of us. We have faith in Him, and we know He will protect us.

Pathum: That's good to know Scarlet. You have my blessings too remember that.

Scarlet: Of course I know that sweetie. How could I forgot my left side. Remember I have wrapped around my thumb you can’t go anywhere.

Pathum : You know I can’t believe you’re real. You know, a few years ago I watched this series named 13 Reasons Why and it was amazing. I dreamt of having a friend like her, like I dreamt of having that one friend who helps me and lives with me. And guess what a few years later it becamme true. Isn't it just so marvellous? How our lives change, and now there’s a virus eliminating people and causing trouble.

Scarlet: God has a reason for everything, even though we can't quite tell the reason why God has planned this virus now, we’ll be able to decipher the conundrum later and then we‘ll realise there was worth believing in Him.

Pathum: I understand. I’m sorry for the way I behaved, I panicked and thought about things that would never happen and so forth. Jesus really.

Scarlet: Abigail is an over thinker like you and it gets her into trouble.

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Pathum: I agree I am a terrible overthinker.

Scarlet: Oh no you aren’t terrible. You just overthink in an unhealthy way. Stop disregarding yourself.

Pathum: You simply won't let me take the blame will you?

Scarlet: Not on my watch!

Pathum: Copy that ma’am!

Scarlet: You're adorable!

Pathum: Aww I’ll take it as a compliment.

Scarlet: You can take it.

Pathum: I guess you’re not in love with me. Haha

Scarlet: Me? Seriously not in seven hells will I fall in love with you? Don't even think that I’d fall in love with you.

Pathum: Of course, of course! I never said you did.

Scarlet: We’re not going to carry on with this particular conversation, are we?

Pathum: If it ends up in a bad place we ought not to.

Scarlet: No I don't think it will end in a bad place but I doubt it will do any good for you because I know how to roast you when it comes to love so back off little man.

Pathum: Little man? I’m not your short prince anymore?

Scarlet: Both are acceptable.

Pathum: Copy that ma’am.

Scarlet: Oh you took it as a joke now huh?

Pathum: No ma’am

Seriously Pathum?!

Scarlet: Brat!

We continued our chit chat for a few more minutes and he went offline since he had an online class. I wonder what it's like to be in an online class? Does this in some sense make us country people more rural compared to the rest of the world? Pathum have been engaging in these online classes since last month and our school hasn’t given the slightest concern over these online schedules.

Meanwhile Pathum is having two or three online classes each week. I doubt it's because we are away from technology. Missing school for a few months wouldn't do any harm for us but it seems the same cannot be said about their syllabus. Whatever it is, I still admire him for making an effort to do well in his online classes and excel better at them while also managing to talk and spare time for me.

A while later, he messaged me again.

Pathum: I am back and the class is over.

Scarlet: And it's your bedtime.

Pathum: I’m not going to sleep now sweetie.

Scarlet: Okay. How’s that book you’re reading?

Pathum: It’s alright.

Scarlet: All right. How’s your mom?

Pathum: She called me today and told me why she hasn’t been answering her phone. She had left it at the neighbours house when they were admitted to the hospital.

Scarlet: That makes sense. Are you glad that I told you to calm down and that God has a plan in everything He does?

Pathum: Yes. He does.

Scarlet: Good. Now, can I ask you a personal question?

Pathum: *looks around and scratch his head* umm.. Personal? Umm sureeee *Pat said it quite loudly*

Scarlet: Brat! Anyway, do you believe in God? I mean you ain't a Christian but still you supported me through this journey and by the way you react and talk and behave it’s very difficult to say you ain’t a Christian. You act like you are. Hey I am not saying you are an actor what I am saying is you resemble an actual Christian.

Pathum: Oh I’ll answer that.

Scarlet: Stage is yours.

Pathum: So sweetie, I’m not a Christian, but I’m a Buddhist or more to say I follow the teachings of Buddha. But I don’t follow every custom and tradition that’s related to Buddhism. For example, I like to go to the temple but I don’t like having company there, I want to be there alone. The feeling of peace vanishes when people gather. Also I don’t always worship Lord Buddha and it’s not a healthy practice but with our busy lifestyle, I have less freedom to spare for Buddha. But it’s perfectly fine in Buddhism.

We’re not forced to go to the temple or worship but if we do those activities good things would happen and if we don’t, no bad things would happen even though people create drama out of it. So less restrictions and rules when it comes to Buddhism. It has its own ups and downs.

Like most Buddhists don’t even visit the temple or do their religious observances properly because there’s no motivation for them to do so and mostly because the buddhism buddha preached is far from the religion we follow. You know years of influence and struggle have made it so different. Okay I’m sorry for a moment I went off-topic but its all to explain to you, I was just creating the background to answer your question.

So to sum it up, no I’m not a Christian, I don't go to church. Of course you know this. But I once visited a church with mom and that's all. So I have to say I don't have faith in God like you do but still I respect your God or our god. Just because I lack faith doesn't mean I hate God or don’t believe in His existence. I don't know whether I believe He exists or not. It could be a yes or no and that doesn't matter to me as long as you’re happy when I pray and respect God that's all that matters.

My faith in God is not as strong as yours but still I have a tremendous faith in my bestie. No matter what happens I have so much faith in her so she will take care of us. Even though my heart is forbidden to love God as much as I want, my heart doesn't forbid me from giving the whole portion of love to you.

Scarlet: Wherever you go, and whatever you talk about, you always end up on me. Don't you?

Pathum: Hehehe

Tears started to stream down my cheeks as I read his message for the second time.

How is he able to match those words just so that they could make a hole in my heart? He always finds a way to touch my heart. Maybe that’s why he is my bestie after all.

Scarlet: Thank you sweetie. Are you going to sleep now?

I asked the question and went away to wash my face. When I came back, I had no response from him.

Cutie has falllen asleep

Putting the phone aside, I got busy feeding the chickens. The rest of the day was quite good. Even though his mom was not in the hospital but was in quarantine, he wasn't fully recovered from the anxiety. He would often get panic attacks and stress out of his studies and blame himself like he always does.

We spent the next three weeks quietly, while both of us managed to take the necessary sleep we needed to get.

Pathum: Sweetie, are you ready?

Scarlet: Yes, but I’m nervous. Yikes!

Pathum: Come on, don't be scared. She only wants to talk to you. She will probably thank you for your service. She will appreciate you for praying for us and helping me out.

Scarlet: Okay! Copy that sir!

Pathum: That just was a ‘you are a brat’ moment. Anyway, shall I make the call now?

Scarlet: Go ahead.

And my heart rang along with the phone. A video call with his mother? Besides the cutie himself!

What couldn't be more eventful?