Boboiboy went shopping with his youngest son. A brilliant idea for father-son bonding, in his opinion. Because he felt like if he didn't do something, he would forever lose Halyan's good graces. He already lost his [papa] nickname. His boy seemed to, begrudgingly and only, tolerate Gempa and to some extent, Thorn. The rest, including his real self, was out of the question. He couldn't fathom why, but it certainly did no good to his heart.

You were just feeling guilty. Always on missions. Always absent. What? You placed people before you but couldn't do the same with your own son? Hypocrite. You hardly took part in his life. What kind of father were you—

Shut up, insecure me.

Boboiboy forced himself to look away from the pitch he was digging. Only then he noticed his youngest son kept loading a bunch of bug repellents into their cart.

"Why are you taking these?" Boboiboy inquired, picking up a bottle to read the label. "Are there mosquitoes in our house?"

Halyan nodded.

"Did you see it in your room?"

He shook his head.

"Did you get bitten?"

The boy shook it again and Boboiboy resisted the urge to pull his own hair out. It was remarkable how different Halyan was from his older siblings. Some might say Norah and Farhan hoard all the chatty from him. For two, he lacked the boundless energy and enthusiasm as them and was more withdrawn. On very rare occasions, Boboiboy managed to catch a glimpse of the same spark in his eyes, mostly when he watched his mother baking or playing with his siblings, or their alien pet cat.

And whenever he, his father, was around, Halyan was always surprisingly but not unexpectedly taciturn, if not nearly mute. Even Fang got more words out of him than Bobboiboy. And that spoke a lot of things.

Keeping his lament inside his head, Boboiboy let out a sigh. "Ihal, if you don't speak, I can't understand what we need those for. And I won't buy them. Certainly, we don't need this much even if our house does have mosquitoes."

Halyan pursed his lips. After a long time, he reluctantly opened his mouth much to his father's relief.

"I didn't see the mos-kii-to and I wasn't bitten." He muttered. "But mama was. A lot."

Huh? That was strange. It was Boboiboy's turn to blink. If Yaya had bug bites, he should have been the first one aware of them. He was practically glued to her side, or at least one version of him, when he stayed on Earth. It was impossible for him not to notice those red marks. Yaya's skin was light so they would have stood out like a sore thumb. But trying as he might, Boboiboy couldn't remember hearing his wife complaining about them nor seeing her scratching the itch.

"How did you know mama got bitten?"

"I saw a lot of red dots on mama's neck before she wore her scarf." Halyan answered, rubbing his nape. "Yie-ter-day, too. I also saw them on mama's leg when mama was bathing with me and Fanfan."

"Really? Why didn't she tell me...?" Boboiboy frowned. He still couldn't figure out how he failed to notice—

Wait a minute...

On the neck and on the legs?

"Uhhh... Ihal?" He called, his throat suddenly feeling constricted. "Those red dots on her legs. Where are they exactly?"

"Here." Innocently, his boy pointed at his inner thigh. At once, Boboiboy almost choked on his own saliva. Heat rushed up to his face.

Those were—!!

A strange squeak left his lips, startling his son. Boboiboy felt like he just ducked his head into a stove. His body was uncomfortably hot and sweat began to cling on his forehead. Halyan watched him squirming on the spot with confused furrowed eyebrows, to which Boboiboy just wished for the floor to part and swallowed him whole, sparing him from this humiliation.

"We have to take these. I don't like mama getting bitten." The boy finally said, paying it off as his father just lost it and went mad, unknowing his guess wasn't too far off the mark.

"Wait, wait, wait, Ihal! We don't need them! Really! Those marks are—!"

Boboiboy clamped his mouth shut with an audible clack. He couldn't believe he almost said it out loud, and in front of his son no less! And now Halyan was narrowing his eyes at him. Displeasure radiated from him after being rudely interrupted.

"Eh-hem. What I'm saying is..." Boboiboy cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to stamp out the blush on his cheeks. "We don't need to buy these sprays, Ihal. Because papa will chase those mosquitoes for mama— Hey, that can-you-really-do-it look is hurt!"

In the end, the father and son went home with two big bags of mosquito sprays in their hands, including some other mosquito repellent products due to Boboiboy's inability to convince his son. He couldn't do it without accidentally telling a five-year-old kid those red marks on his mama was actually the result of his parent's passionate night!

...He was going to be dead meat once Yaya found out about this.