JiulianRyanneMo

Will's parents were the picture of a blissful couple. When he was little, they would often recount the story of how they fell in love. While the finer details had faded from his memory, one specific scene they described remained etched in his mind:

A countryside restaurant, a record player spinning lazily. His mother in a long white dress, his father in a blue-grey casual suit, the two of them facing each other, sharing appetizers. Will, sitting in their laps, was listening intently when suddenly his father's phone rang. He got up to take the call a few paces away. Will's mother held him close, looking at her husband with a smile and saying helplessly, "Your father has truly terrible taste in ringtones, not to mention his cliché greetings. I don't know how anyone stands him."

Sometimes, Will would wish time could just freeze right there, with him nestled in his mother's arms. But man cannot contend with God. Will's father fell ill—gravely so. His mother aged and withered because of it. Will had a premonition that something terrible was coming, yet he was powerless to stop it.

His father often called him to his bedside, with his mother sitting nearby. They would just gaze at Will silently, their eyes filled with worry and melancholy. It was as if they had so much to say, or perhaps they were just trying to seize the last moments of life to engrave their beloved child's face into their souls. Seeing that worry, Will felt it was because they couldn't bear to leave him.

So, on a perfectly sunny afternoon, he brought home a girl with whom he had previously sparked a little romance. The girl was understanding; seeing the state of Will's parents, she acted exceptionally loving and protective of Will.

That night, Will's father passed away quietly. The next morning, his mother followed.

Will's parents left him a suicide note. It read: "Dear child, do not grieve our passing. We have witnessed your happiest moment, and we are happy and at peace because of it. Our souls are with you."

Reading these words, Will could no longer hold back his tears—bringing that girl home was not his happiest moment. It was just a play, a girl he found to put his parents' minds at ease. Will hadn't actually spent much time with that girl at all. They had broken up before his parents were even buried.

Mack heard the news and came down from North Vancouver to help Will with the funeral arrangements. Once everything was settled, Mack didn't leave. He said he was worried about Will and insisted on moving in to keep an eye on him, afraid he might do something foolish.

The truth was, Will had always liked Mack, ever since they were kids before Mack moved away from the neighborhood. He had thought their lives would lose all intersection once Mack left, hoping that without him around, he wouldn't keep thinking about Mack and thus violate religious taboos. He had thought everything would be fine.

But it wasn't.

Perhaps God had already seen into his dirty little secrets that he never acted upon and was punishing him for it. Will didn't know. But when Mack offered to stay, Will, in a fit of self-abandonment, didn't refuse. Defiantly, he thought, If God is going to punish me anyway, I might as well have done the deeds rather than just thought them.

Will started asking Mack out and pursuing him, no longer concealing or suppressing those feelings. He even took off his cross when sleeping next to Mack, tossing it into the nightstand drawer and "forgetting" to put it back on the next morning.

One day, they were driving around, and Mack complained he was hungry, so they stopped at a roadside country diner. Mack pulled Will to a seat and grumbled about the restaurant's corny playlist. Will hummed along softly to a couple of lines, agreeing that the songs were ancient.

They ate quickly. Will got up to pay the bill, with Mack trailing half a step behind as usual. Just then, a familiar ringtone suddenly blared from the table next to them. Will whipped his head around and saw a woman in a long white dress and a man in a blue-grey suit.

Suddenly, Will remembered the letter his parents had left him.

"We have witnessed your happiest moment, and we are happy and at peace because of it."