Next day Ryan was making breakfast while his mother and teacher are sitting at the dining table waiting.

"You look different." Amanda voiced out looking at his son.

"Me?" Ryan placed breakfast plate in front of his mother "How so?"

"You're smiling." she said biting into her pancake.

"I smile. I don't think there's a human who doesn't smile." he gave a coffee cup to his teacher and started eating from his own plate.

"I mean you're smiling more than usual." she paused waiting for the right words "I don't know it's mother's instinct I guess. You just look different. Something good happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about mom." Ryan finished hurriedly as he was getting late to college.

"Sir, we'll be late if you don't finish soon." he washed hands and went into his room to get his books.

Mathew was gulping down his coffee when Amanda asked "What did you do to him?" he burnt his tongue and started to cough as he remembered his hand around something he would rather not talk about. Amanda patted his back giving him a glass of water. Flushed Mathew was about to say something but Amanda beat him to it. "You don't have to lie to me or explain anything to me. Just know that I'm happy." and went back to eating as if nothing happened.

"Why are you red?" Ryan asked after seeing a flushed Mathew.

"Because of you." Amanda answered for him. She paused for a bit and continued "Poor Mathew burnt his tongue because you pushed him to hurry up." Mathew sighed relieved at that.

"It wouldn't have happened if we woke up early. It's all because of you. I even missed my morning jog." he accused Mathew as he didn't wake up early because of their early morning activities. Mathew coughed taking a sip of his coffee to cover up his rapidly flushed face. Ryan went to his mother and kissed her cheek saying "Don't do anything stupid." as she has a tendency of doing something Ryan wouldn't approve of. Amanda just batted her eyelashes innocently.

After the departure of teacher and student Amanda started doing dishes thinking about them. She is happy that Mathew came into their lives in correct time, she wouldn't have asked for a better person at a better time in their lives especially in her son's life. She noticed all the changes in Ryan's behavior which surprised her in a good way.

"I can come to you in piece now." she mumbled to herself with a smile.

*************

Mathew stopped watching Ryan jerking off as he was satisfied that he successfully broke the resolution he made. He even caught him once jerking off with out him ordering to do. He's quite proud of the progress he made. Mathew came out of his thoughts as students started to fill in.

"Can anyone tell what happens after this?" he asked the class. He was expecting an answer from Ryan as he was sure he would know. However, he seemed to be in a deep thought. Someone stood up and answered the question "Excellent. But, you're only half correct." he motioned the student to sit and turned to explain.

Ryan is feeling sick. No, it's not the sick feeling because he is sick physically, it's a feeling that says something is terribly wrong. He's been feeling it about an hour, he pushed it off thinking it will go away, all that happened was he felt more uneasy every second pass by. Now, he is sure that something is terribly wrong, yet he couldn't put a finger on it. He's sweating profusely, which is something cause he don't sweat normally, he dropped his pen since he couldn't get a good grip. Fortunately, his seat mate picked it up and offered him, he was about to take it but stopped when he noticed his hands are shaking. "Are you okay?" he asked. Ryan nodded confused. When their hands touched Alex caught his hand asked again "Seriously, are you okay? You can't be this cold unless you're a vampire." he joked which went unnoticed by Ryan.

Mathew heard the murmurs since the class was quite and noticed the state Ryan was in. "Mary, are you okay?" he asked concerned. He didn't get any answer so he called again "Mary?" again nothing so he went to him and shook him which seemed to get his attention. It took everything in him not to hug his student in front of everyone and to demand what was happening on seeing the helpless look he got from him. "Is everything okay?" he shook his head if one thing he was sure, that something is terribly wrong, he can feel it in his bones. Mathew placed his hand on the visibly shivering boy's forehead. Just like that, something clicked in Ryan's head as he dashed out of the class room with out a single word.

Mathew stood there not knowing what to do as it was the first time he saw Ryan in that state. "He's feeling sick Mr.Collins." Alex explained his classmate's odd behavior thinking he would get in trouble seeing offended look on their teacher's face. Mathew nodded like he understood and continued the class. Even though he is in classroom his worried mind was with Ryan. He didn't even take his belongings with him.

Immediately after class was over he called Ryan to know his whereabouts. After a few rings his call was answered but no sound came. "Mary?" he said into the phone. "Mary are you okay? Talk to me." he all but pleaded. "Ryan are you there? What's wrong?" yet nothing came from the other side. He checked his phone as he couldn't even hear breathing, the call wasn't disconnected so he tried again. "Ryan please breath." he heard a shaky breath and felt relief "Tell me what happened buddy." he urged.

"Mom" was the only thing he heard before he heard a male voice saying "I'm sorry sir. She's no more."

Mathew was out of the room and was at home within a record time of thirty minutes. Upon reaching home he saw 911 retreating from there. Ryan was standing at a corner of Amanda's bedroom looking at her lifeless body. Mathew slowly walked to her bed and knelt beside her and broke down. He didn't know how much time he spent crying thinking about all the fun they had, he finally stood up on shaky legs and searched for Ryan. He didn't find him in that room. He found him in the living room talking over the phone. "Yes Uncle. I'll complete everything today." he said and he hung up.

"Ryan?" Mathew called.

"It's her wish to be buried beside dad. We're going back to our old place sir."

******

Everything went smoothly and almost every one left graveyard except Joshua and his family. Amy, his daughter latched onto Ryan crying. Ryan hugged her, rubbing her back. "She promised me we would go to water park when she comes back." she sobbed into his chest, making his black suit wet with her tears. Ryan just hugged her tightly not knowing how he should respond. James, Amy's brother hugged both of them wiping away his silent tears. Everyone knew this would happen, that didn't reduce their sadness one bit. Especially, Amy's as she mostly spends her time with Amanda. She even cried when they were moving away.

Mathew watched everything from a distance. He noticed that Ryan didn't cry even once and he didn't know what is going on in his head. After everyone was gone they went to Ryan's old house to spend the night as it was already late.

Next day morning they both woke up to knocking on the front door. Ryan opened it and studied himself as Amy threw herself at him. She cried harder mumbling something he couldn't understand. He tried to pry her off from the place she buried herself into which happened to be his chest and failed miserably.

"Amy I can't understand if you are not being clear." he finally took her face into his hands and wiped her tears with both thumb fingers and asked "What's wrong?"

"Don't go" she finally said something he can understand. "Dad said you're going away today. Please don't go. Stay here." she hugged him tightly and said "You can go to Jame's college. You don't have to go anywhere. Please Ry stay here." he hugged her back as tightly as she did. He didn't know what to say to that.

"I'm sorry Amy. It's not as easy it sounds." he wanted to be honest with her so he added "I don't think I can stay here more than the time needed." that didn't stop her from crying. Mathew watched all of this and didn't say a word as he got ready for their return to city. After successfully prying her off Ryan did the same.

Joshua and his remaining family came to bid farewell as well. When Ryan was about to get into his car James stopped him. "Ryan, can we talk?"

"Yeah. What is it?"

James looked at the man who was sitting in the passenger seat and scratched back of his neck awkwardly. Ryan understood and both of them walked to a distance where nobody could hear them.

"Are you going to be okay?" James asked concerned.

"If you are thinking about drug addiction or something. Don't worry. I'm not that weak." Ryan understood completely where he was coming from.

James cleared his throat "This is not the time but....." he looked at him directly  "I like you."

"This is definitely not the time." Ryan said without even thinking if he sounded rude.

"I know. All I wanted to say is; I'm here for you if you need anything." he said sounding sincere.

Ryan gave a small smile which barely can pass as a smile "Thank you. I appreciate it." They both stood there silently for a few moments before James broke it by asking "Can I kiss you?"

Ryan wasn't shocked at the request as James is always straightforward about his feelings and actions. "I'm sorry James."

"I understand." he nodded his head. " Don't forget that, me and my family will always help you if you need anything." to which Ryan just nodded.

"So? I hope we can see you in summer holidays?"

"I'm not sure. If I have the time I'll definitely spend here."

"This is it then?" he asked and hugged him tightly for a long time before letting him go with a kiss on his cheek which lingered a bit longer than it should. "Bye. Take care of yourself."