Chapter 182 Goodbye, for now
The night was a long one for not just Scarlet and Esong but also for Carolyn and Markay. He was a mecha warrior too, a part of Esong's army and he was to return to the capital. He could have been given a stay order if he desired not to serve this time round because he was royalty but even then, he would be recalled to the capital which was the most secure place in the empire. Their parting was as inevitable as that of Scarlet and Esong.
For them, it was a sleepless night with Markay voicing many declarations to his weeping girlfriend.
"I will return baby, I swear, I will." He promised her aloud and himself in his heart.
"Boohoooo!!!" Carolyn beat her fist slowly against his chest and she wailed.
"It will be okay, I am the prince of the death, I will not die, how can death take one of it's own?" He forced her to look at him, into his eyes and he wiped away her tears with the hands of his long shirt. But no matter how many times he wiped, his Carolyn would not stop crying. "Baby, you should be kissing me right now. You will not see your honey for four months at least. We should be enjoying our last night together. How about this, let's make a baby tonight?"
His foolish words quickly quietened her sobs and she glared at him. "Are you crazy?" She asked, wiping away her own tears now.
"See, it got you to stop crying." He laughed, "Now, let's enjoy the last few hours of our time together as intimately as we can. Starting with you accepting these jewels from me."
He presented her with a set of rings, all with different designs and colors. They were expensive, her eye was good at picking out the best crafting materials and these were premium quality. "I also got a gold set from the ones your sister sells. I will bring other good things when I return. I told my mother to prepare them all in advance."
She presented her hand to him, bearing her fingers before him. "Mmm." She said.
"Mmm what?" He asked.
"Put them on." She rolled her eyes in frustration, wondering if her body language could not be any more obvious.
As Markay slipped the rings on, he smiled with mischief and said, "Baby, if we can't make a baby tonight, maybe we should get engaged."
She glared at him and beat his shoulder, "This is not my proposal story, I will not be telling our children that it was either a ring or a baby."
"Ouuh, so you have thought about our future together. Why do you always act and play hard to get then? Baby I have decided, since you are older than me, maybe you should be the one to propose. What do you think older sister?" Markay giggled, he knew how much she hated to be called older sister by him.
"Yoooou, what did you call me?" she shouted at him, "Markay Wu, I am going to kill you before a mutated beast gets to you."
He laughed and sluggishly run away from her while she chased him in an attempt to punish him. He was dodging her hands while laughing because he had accomplished his goal, she was not crying or sad anymore.
"Come here." She lunged herself at him and finally caught him.
"Older sister, " he pouted and made himself look pitiful, "Take it easy on me tonight."
He was not the only mecha warrior attempting to soothe a crying partner, a parent or a sad child. Whether it was done physically or over a communication device, the warriors asked their families to be brave.
The starry bar on the blue star was the only one which served alcoholic drinks. It was located in one of the almost completed buildings and occupied three whole floors. Tonight, it was filled with ex mecha warriors who were reliving their days in battle or comforting their friends that would be heading out. There was a lot of loud of crying, grown men were not holding in their emotions after all some of them would never meet again. Fatalities were inevitable and in the next three months, every time a bell would ring, the governor's mansions would display a hologram of a fallen mecha warrior. Somewhere on the planet his loved ones would cry, filled with sadness, anger, guilt and worry about how many more would die before a permanent solution could be found.
From miles away, you could hear the mournful singing of the mecha warrior anthem loud like a beacon in the night. The manager of the bar looked at the dwindling alcohol reserves and sighed, it would be a long night.
After a very long night of tight embraces, tear filled kisses, furious coupling and unsaid kisses, morning came, tearing Esong and Scarlet apart.
Justin was brought by his grandparents to say goodbye to his father at the space port. Every child and adult knew what was coming. As Justin looked at his father, he maintained a stoic look on his face, showing him that he could be brave. These past few months had cemented the bond between father and son because they spent so much time together, training, eating, taking baths and scrubbing each other's backs which Scarlet insisted on. They had their own communication now and little secrets which were shared just between them men. This is why even though he appeared brave on the outside, the redness of his eyes was an obvious give away of the fact that he had been crying. The tight clenching of his small fists and the shaking in his body told Scarlet that her son was seconds away from bawling.
"Will you be a good boy for your mother?" Esong asked Justin.
"Yes fat...general Esong." He responded like a young military cadet.
"Will you protect her while I am away?"
"Yes general Esong."
"Will you miss me when I am gone?" Esong surprised his son with this question. Wasn't this the being brave time? Justin asked himself.
"I will miss you." Esong added, and he hugged Justin. "Take care of yourself son."
And just like that, the flood gates open and the young cadet broke down into tears.
They were all standing at the foot of the space ship which was ready to fly them back to the capital. The last of the supplies had been loaded up and all the other men had boarded, only Esong was left.
Well wishers and fans of the general were standing behind the barrier of the space ship landing port, waving the empire's flag and screaming for him to travel and return safely.
Even Fion the Buddhist priest was here and he had blessed all the men and personally tied the pendants around their necks before the warriors boarded. He was chanting prayers for well wishes and blessings.
On this day, reporter Jelly was not just live on the blue star alone, BSTV was being watched by hundreds of millions of people that were waiting for the mecha king to command the armies which would protect them.
"What you are witnessing right now is a touching moment of sad parting between the mecha king general Esong Wu and his family. His son, is clearly very heart broken and so are we. The coming three months are going to be hard and trying times and all we can do is pray for our mecha warriors and ourselves." Reporter Jelly resisted the urge to cry as she reported the news.
Esong handed Justin back to Scarlet and he said to her, "I guess, this is goodbye for now."
"For now." She said softly.
"Goodbye sister-in-law." Ian shouted and waved from a window in the space ship.
"We will miss you." Cedric added.
"I love you older sister Carolyn." Markay shouted as well, in a manner as dignified as he could muster.
She would glare but she just sent a flying kiss to him. It was okay to be older sister today.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶