It's a monday morning, Ryan is waiting for the bus to arrive at a bus stop. That's what his routine consisted of this past summer. To go to his work place and work his ass off. He's sitting on a bench listening to pop music on his ipod to drown out his thoughts. It seems to be hard being in his own head after the heart breaking news he got.

Normally, there would be a old woman waiting for the same bus, where she would get off a station before him. He helped her get in the bus few times. She would refuse his help except a few times when she seemed to be extra weak. Ryan never bothered to know her name as he is bad at names. May be they might have exchanged names; he couldn't remember for the love of ever loving Jesus. He has this weird habit of forgetting names. Today there is a man sitting on the same bench as him. He irritated him to no extent.

No, Ryan is not the type of person who would judge people at first sight and hate them immediately. And he's definitely not a talkative person who talk ears off of strangers. He is a type of person who minds his own business and helps people when needed. What irritates Ryan about the man who is sitting beside him is the constant shaking of his legs which is causing vibrations of the entire bench.

Despite being irritated Ryan turned to the man and said politely "Can you please stop doing that? "

The man seemed to be confused at this and asked "Me?"

"Yes. You're shaking the entire bench." was all Ryan said before turning to mind his own business which is listening to his music.

The shaking stopped after that before the stranger got into a bus. He waited for a few minutes before his bus arrived and got into the bus he's been waiting for. He get off the bus at his destination and walked a few feet till he reached the restaurant where he works as a waiter. He worked wearing the most fake smile in the history of fake smiles. But, his coworkers didn't call him out on it as they all knew what's been eating him away. They all just prayed for his strength to get past his problems.Time seems to go by slowly. Ryan would look at the clock every few minutes and sigh sadly before he caught himself and smile that fake smile of his.

Finally, his shift ended. He got on the bus and reached his home. While walking to his home he's thinking about the school. It's going to be his final year, summer holidays seemed to pass swiftly yet slow. This is the last week of his holidays, coming monday he has to be at school and concentrate on his academics to get a scholarship and an admission into a reputed university. He isn't picky about the university, though he has the perfect score. He would join which offers him the best scholarship.

He came into the real world when his mom asked him how was his day when he reached the home.

"Fine mom. How was yours?" Ryan asked with the happiest smile he could gather at that moment which isn't helpful at all.

"Fine sweetheart. I feel energetic actually" his mom offered with a cheerful tone. Hearing that put a real smile on his face.

"I'm gonna take shower and prepare dinner. Watch a comedy or something in the meanwhile" Ryan said while hugging his mom.

"I can make it you know. I told you already, I feel better."

"I want to mom" Ryan insisted climbing the stairs facing away his mother while hiding his tears.

Amanda, his mother caught the slight shiver in his voice and sighed sadly. She didn't know what to do to make his son feel better. She feels useless. She wished she could do something, anything to make his son hurt less. But, she knew there's nothing she can do.

Ryan got into shower in a rush and drowned out his tears. They were lost in the spray shower. He prefers to cry in the shower where the tears could be mixed with the water and the sounds of his distress would be mixed with the sounds of water leaving the shower head and hitting his body. That way he can feel like he didn't cry like a baby. The only thought that ran through his mind during the whole shower is 'why?'

After the shower which took longer than usual considering he has to look at least presentable and doesn't look like he had been hit with a truck, he came down and flopped down on the couch beside his mother who is flipping through channels for a good program.

"What do you want for the dinner mom?" Ryan asked while watching the TV and seeing nothing.

"What ever you want sweetheart" Amanda said dismissively in her haste to find a good program. 'It seems to be hard to find a watchable show these days' she thought.

"Mom!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Okay. Okay. There are few vegetables in the fridge. Make what you can with them and make it little spicy? I want to eat something spicy today. " she kinda begged his son.

"I don't think you should eat anything spicy now mom"

"There's no rule to avoid spicy food Ryan. Please please just a little bit? " she whined.

"Jeez. Okay. But, you're doing the dishes they are hard to wash" Ryan said walking to the kitchen.

With in an hour he made dinner and called his mom for dinner.

"Mmm" moaned Amanda while chewing the goodness her son made.

"How could you make them this delicious while I am the one who taught you to even boil the water in the first place? " his mother wondered out loud.

"Are you trying to get out of doing dishes while dishing complements mom?" Ryan chuckled.

"Is it working? " she asked hopefully.

"Nope"

"At least, I tried" she said while enjoying the food. And they continued with their dinner and nightly routine while having a small talk.