‘Hello beta, no, no let it be, you must be tired,’ Dragon says sweetly.

She refuses to give me the tray and sets it on the table.

I nearly laugh out loud at the ‘beta’—Sid’s presence always brings out Dragon’s motherly love towards me. I glance at her face and I’m shocked to find she has been crying—her eyes are red.

It thrills me for a moment—perhaps Sid has finally asked her to go home?

Dragon pulls a chair, sits down and picks up her cup of tea. Sid stops pacing and throws an irritated glance towards his mother. He sits down next to her and picks up a cup as well.

‘Won’t you sit down, Polly?’ Sid asks suddenly.

‘Give me a minute please,’ I say. ‘I’ll be back in a tick.’

I quickly dash into the toilet, grab an Aspirin from the medicine box and check my face. I hear soft murmurs from the dining room. I splash some cool water on my face and feeling somewhat fresher, I go into the dining room.

Dragon and Sid stop talking when they see me approaching. Sid’s mouth is set in a taut line while Dragon looks cranky. It appears they’ve been having an argument.

I sip my tea but I don’t eat the biscuits—I cannot stand sweet things ever since the pregnancy. I wonder when I’d get to be alone with Sid so I can tell him about the baby. I don’t really want to share the news with Dragon.

‘How was work today?’ Sid asks, breaking the sullen silence.

‘It was a bit chaotic to be honest,’ I reply.

I’d almost replied that it was fine but I couldn’t do it—by any stretch of imagination, today was not fine.

‘How was work for you?’ I ask. ‘You’ve been working extra hard—is it tough?’

‘Hmm,’ Sid seems to contemplate something. ‘It’s not been too bad, just the usual stuff, pretty manageable really,’ Sid says.

I am happy to hear that his work’s manageable, but why the late nights then?

‘Why don’t you have a biscuit, beta?’ Dragon suddenly asks and pushes the plate towards Sid.

‘Don’t need one thanks,’ Sid says and pushes the plate back to the centre of the table.

‘But you look underfed and you need to eat and—’

‘A biscuit won’t really make me all that nourished would it, Ma?’ Sid snaps at Dragon.

I’ve never heard him snap at his mother before. Whatever they were discussing seems to have left Sid irritated with his mother.

‘Please don’t speak to me in that tone, I’m your mother and I always have your best interests at heart,’ Dragon says somewhat querulously.