Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2020 03:24:47 +0000 (UTC)
From: rilobo1 schoengut <rilobo1@yahoo.com>
Subject: melting-pot-28

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Please keep your comments coming! This kind of detailed feedback from
readers keeps me on-track, and really gets my imagination in gear!  I
need to get some business handled, so the output of the chapters will not
be as rapid over the next few weeks.  I learned today that two people I
went to school with died of COVID 19. If you live in a country that has
sensible leadership, stay there and stay safe. If you live in the US,
trust me. COVID 19 is real. Show compassion by wearing masks and
maintaining social distance. Being compassionate requires courage!

While elements and scenes in this story are based in reality, all of the
characters and activities herein described are 100% fictional, and the
story is 100% mine, although some of you have given me really, really
good ideas to throw into it - please don't reuse without permission.
Constructive comments are welcome at RILOBO1@yahoo.com


Melting Pot - Chapter 28 by Rich Lobo

Dawn Saturday morning arrived peacefully and beautifully: my man was
curled up as my little spoon, both my arms comfortably surrounding him,
with his arms wrapping my arms. I'm usually not up this early, but there
had been niggling little concerns dancing around in my dreams. We were
very much cuddled, as the fall weather inexorably made its way into North
Georgia, shoving the bastard summer heat further south. I hadn't turned
on the heat yet, so the ambient air was just a tad chilly. Again, no
complaints from me, as I savored the abundant benefits nestled against my
chest, and cuddled in my arms. Atul slept peacefully, with little motion
during his sleep -- I hoped this was a harbinger of a happier future for
him, and by extension, us. Last night with the parents was tense and
inharmonious, but it had to happen just as it happened. Had Atul not cut
all the contact with them, they would have continued to meddle and
complicate his new life (yes, selfishly, his new life with ME.) As
clearly and clean as he had broken with them, I hoped and prayed that he
wouldn't have any regrets later. Atul is a decisive man, and I rather
doubt regrets will plague his future. If they did appear, I was already
putting together some things to say to comfort him, along the lines of
"after some time, you may be able to renegotiate a new relationship with
them."

Robert's team would be handling the parents from here on out, but I'm
not going to lie to you, that little news bit about them planning to
kidnap Atul and take him back to India has had me ill at ease since I
heard it. I have faith that Robert has things well in hand, and is
probably bugged the parent's rooms at the hotel as well to learn what is
going on in their stubborn, prideful heads. At some time today, I'll
have to get in touch with him to find out what is what, otherwise my
worry will grow and soon become palpable to Atul. At just that moment, he
took a deep breath, and wiggled his narrow but plump little butt back
tighter into my groin. I was feeling a bit randy, since we didn't enjoy
any sexual congress with just each other last night, but it was late, and
the day had also been heavily subsidized with drama (and sex).  As we
were in the bathtub last night, I could feel the tension melting out of
his muscles and into the warm water: it was entirely possible that he had
fallen asleep in the bathtub, and sleepwalked to bed. I did a quick
systems check, and found my bladder could maintain things for another
couple of hours, so I mentally beat down my concerns, cuddled back into
Atul, gently kissed the back of his head and went back to sleep,
completely in love with this man.

Those bonus sleep cuddles were not to last long; I became aware of a
whispering breath on my right ear, and a light shaking of my shoulder.
After my consciousness rose from the haze, I recognized Neal quietly
urging me to get up, but not wake Atul, and that it was important. I was
fully awake now, and began the process of quietly extricating myself from
Atul. He began to awaken, but I whispered "baby, go back to sleep. I
have to go to the bathroom, and will be right back." Atul grumbled, but
was back making his little purr/snore he makes when asleep. I took a
quick look at the clock: 6:15 AM -- what the hell could be so important
at such an obscene time on a Saturday morning? I put on my bathrobe and
heard my phone make a triple dinging sound: it was the ringtone I had
assigned to Robert's text messages -- oh shit. Quietly leaving the
bedroom and shutting the door, I saw both Neal and Dileep in the living
room, fully dressed, and busily working on their phones. Neal took a
second to bring me up to date. Subhash and Anish had been picked up by
two men in a mini-van, and were headed in this direction. The police had
been notified, but would probably not make it here in time. I immediately
sent a group text to all the neighbors to warn them, when Dileep took
over.
"They believe Atul is at home, and of course they have his address
already. Our job this morning is simple: make them believe he is
elsewhere, and we don't know where he is. We need to keep Atul quiet and
inside this apartment, and make it seem nothing else is amiss." Dileep
went on to say that he and Neal would inside: Neal would help control
Atul, and if needed Dileep (who flashed a rather well concealed 9mm
Heckler & Koch) would be just on the periphery if needed before the
police could arrive.

My job would be to go outside. It would be counter-productive to the
"Atul not here" ruse if they knew Neal and Dileep were here: that made
sense, so I sent one more text to the neighbors "Our job is to make them
believe Dileep is staying somewhere else, but we don't know". I very
quickly got back three texts: "OK" "Got it", & "We're ready."
Just for my own peace of mind, I slipped back into the bedroom and found
my own tiny little Glock 43, which would fit well in the pocket of my
bathrobe. Don't be shocked readers, successfully growing up gay in the
South means preparedness, and I'm well-trained and licensed to carry it.
We didn't hear a vehicle pull up, but did hear heavy foot traffic going
up the stairs, followed by heavy knocks and shouting at what must be
Atul's old apartment. Dileep held me back for a few moments, and before
I went out I turned to Neal and said "love ya", to which he replied
"love ya too." I went out and around the staircase before looking up
the stairs, and yelling "What the hell are you doing at this time of the
morning. I've already called the police!" By this time, Jin Woo and
Halmoni were at my side, and I don't mind admitting that her presence
did make me feel a great deal more courageous. The three of us began
climbing the stairs, and could now make out who was there: besides
Subhash and Anish, accompanied by two dark-skinned men in suits. As we
climbed, one of the men shouted that this was private business, and that
we should stay back. I could also see Juergen and Felipe had joined the
party on the other side of the four. Subhash looked around with wide eyes
at all of us, especially Halmoni who had slipped ahead of me, and was now
standing on the landing in a fighting stance. He tapped Anish rapidly on
the shoulder hard enough to get Anish to stop banging on the door to look
around, quickly developing his own wide eyes.

Anish then found his own voice: "I am here to see my son, and to talk
some sense into him. You have no business here!" My response? "You
idiots. Do you think he is here? With you here, he told us he would be
staying somewhere else. You are now only disturbing the peace, and wait!
I think I hear the police arriving." Indeed, sirens were heard in the
distance. The two men accompanying Anish and Subhash looked at each
other, and quickly made to go downstairs and leave the scene. To do this,
they would have to get past Jin Woo, Halmoni & me -- big mistake: the
larger of the two reached to shove Halmoni to the side, only to find his
head producing a loud, dull ringing sound against a metal fire
extinguisher case in the hallway. He wasn't hurt badly, but rather well
shaken as Halmoni and Juergen held him down. The second man pulled a
pistol out of a hidden holster, and aimed it at me. I didn't know what
to do, but something zipped onto the landing, past me and with some
indistinct whirling that I'd later learn was "krav maga", his gun was
spinning into a corner, and he was on the ground and held screaming in
pain there by Dileep, who had come out at the first sign of trouble.
Anish and Subhash stood there wondering what they should do, when Halmoni
growled at both of them: "No ku do le?" This time I could translate,
telling them both "she asks if you want to die."

The police were there by that time, and I recognized one of them --
Officer Orr -- who had been here the night of Rana-fest. He looked at me
and asked if this was related, and I told him yes, that the balding,
sweaty, pudgy one on the left is Rana's father: Subhash seemed to take
issue with that description (and fuck him very much), but somehow managed
to control himself. The two gentlemen who had accompanied them were
shaken, but not seriously injured, and all four were placed all in
handcuffs, Both fathers now weeping, and Anish making some emotional
exhortation in Telugu; I hope whatever he said was good, I thought to
myself, because you are on camera you moron! I pulled up the video of
what happened and showed the officer in charge. The four were searched
and the two accompanying the fathers were armed. They were arrested for
assault with deadly weapons, and the fathers were issued citations for
disturbing the peace. I couldn't resist it: I looked at Subhash and
Anish, telling them they must be some special kind of stupid -- having
been in the country for less than twelve hours, and already having
committed three arrestable offences.

Officer Orr had been talking with Dileep, but then pulled me aside and
told me that Captain Perry had already been informed: He and a man named
Robert will be at the station to conduct the interrogation of the two
other men. The fathers, according to Captain Perry, would be transported
in handcuffs back to the hotel to be released: the only reason for this
being that they had an appointment to keep with Rana. Officer Orr told
them that Captain Perry would be by to speak with them again, and if they
were not at the hotel or at the jail visiting Rana, they would be
arrested, charged, and jailed, and Atul would be unable to change his
mind. A tow truck would be dispatched to impound the vehicle they had
arrived in -- a mini-van with "baby on board" stickers on the back
windshield. Once the police were gone, Russell, Jonas, Carla, and Alex
came out. We all had a mini group hug, and went back to our morning,
feeling confident that our ruse with the fathers had worked, and they
believed Atul was not there. All the neighbors agreed to get back
together in the afternoon

In fact, Atul had missed it all: thanks to the solid construction of the
building and his exhaustion, he had slept through it like a little lamb.
I laid back down next to him for a snuggle, only praying that my still
high heartrate wouldn't wake him: he cuddled back against me, took
another deep breath, and began snore-purring again. Neal, Dileep, and I
were sitting at the dining room table enjoying tea and some toast when
Atul finally made an appearance about thirty minutes later in my bathrobe
(thank God I'd remembered to put the gun back), as I had also gotten
dressed. He seemed confused as to why we were there, dressed, and sitting
so formally early on a Saturday morning. I patted the seat of the chair
at the head of the table, and said "baby, sit down. We have some news to
share with you."

The three of us related to Atul the outlines of what went down earlier,
but not wanting to upset him unduly, left out a number of the details
hoping that would suffice: it didn't.

Atul was entirely focused on fitting all of the elements we had given him
into a coherent internal narrative, and in our haste had not provided
enough detail. I could sense his growing frustration with the bits and
pieces being fed to him. He had been holding my hand the entire time, and
I was starting to feel the potential of bruising in the near future.
Finally, he'd had enough; my man has the sweetest soul, but that does
not mean he hasn't a keen mind. He stood and headed to the home office
where he sat and began pulling up video of the entire incident. I went in
there and stood behind him with my hands on his shoulders. I knew I had
no business now in dissuading him, and would have to deal with whatever
aftermath may come. He located the video elements quickly, and watched
through them twice, whereupon he stood, turned to me, and let me see the
tears streaming down his face. He took me in his arms, and weeping said
"You almost died. That man had a gun pointed directly at you. You were
protecting me, and I was asleep down here having sweet dreams." Here, he
broke down, sobbing into my neck and shoulder. I tried to comfort him,
rubbing his back and saying "I wasn't in danger! It was all OK! Dileep
and Halmoni were there, so I was perfectly safe!" Yeah, if only I could
believe that -- I was scared shitless in that moment.

Atul got enough emotion out of his system to pull his brave exterior
veneer back together. He hugged and kissed me, and then walked back out
to the dining room, where Dileep and Neal were now standing, waiting to
see what would happen. To our surprise, Atul approached Dileep, grasped
both of his hands, and looked at him deeply in the eyes. "You saved the
life of my love, the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I am
so incredibly and deeply in debt to you that I can never repay it. I am
yours to command now. Please let me know how I can begin to repay you. To
start, right now I really want to spread my legs for you, and have you do
everything you wish to me." Dileep seemed to be a bit shocked at this,
and came back with what I considered to be a rather clumsy response I had
never expected: "Atul, you are a most beautiful and sexy man, but I am
of a lower caste than you. How can this be? You cannot expect that I
could ever act as your superior in sex!" I had never expected to have
the issue of "caste" come up. Yes, during my time in college, several
courses mentioned the caste system in India, and even mentioned how it
continues to hold vast sway in many aspects of life and relationships
between Indians, but this was the first time it had come up in the
real-life context of my life. I also knew that there was a term called
"colorism" in Indian society whereby those of a lighter skin tone (like
Atul) were perceived and considered to be "better" than those of a
darker skin tone (like Dileep). Wow, keep your eyes and ears open, and
who knows what you might learn when the right bits of info pass by.

Atul simply stared with a smile at Dileep and said "caste is no concern
to me anymore that I have found love with Rich. I will be back in five
minutes, please wait here," before disengaging and heading into our
bathroom, ostensibly to "prepare" himself to be fucked. The thought of
that coupling was quite appealing to me, and an erection rose in my pants
instantly. Hell, this might be an opportune moment to take care of
another experience that has long been missed in my life too! I walked up
to Neal, grabbed his hands in like manner and said "You old son of a
bitch, you have been my best friend for too many years, and now I want to
throw my legs open for you too." Now addressing both Dileep and Neal,
"You two need to go ahead and get naked, because you both are about to
have the rides of your lives." With that, I went to join Atul in the
bathroom: we were both going to get our brains fucked out.

In the bathroom, I joined Atul with the wand and then in the shower. He
asked me if I had any problem with him getting fucked by Dileep. My
answer? No problem, as long as two things happen. First, he has to be ok
with Neal fucking me, and that 2) I am the only man who he will wake up
beside. Atul just grinned, and began soaping my asscheeks and hole nice
and clean for Neal. We finished, dried ourselves, and lubed each other's
pussy very well. Dileep shouldn't be a problem for Atul: his cock looked
on the whole to be about the same size as Juergen's cock. I could also
surmise from conversation that this would also be Dileep's first time as
a top, his first time bottoming being last night with Neal. It was
Neal's cock that concerned me: not his girth, but his length. Atul
seemed to have handled it quite well back on the coffee table that rainy
afternoon, but ten inches is about an inch and a half more than I've
ever successfully accommodated. For this reason, I added just a dab more
lube to myself. We exited the bathroom and joined our naked friends down
the hall in front of the guest room. Dileep was magnificent: his ebony
uncut cock straining no doubt to having learned it would soon be in a
place he once only dreamt of. This was his first fuck, and he had scored
the big fish for his first try. Atul was the kind of man that young
Indian girls dream of; hell, I know of a lot of Anglo men who would kill
for what is mine! Atul once again took Dileep's hands and told him
"Dileep, you are my hero, and I am prepared to do whatever you wish, you
need only let me know, or simply take it yourself. With that Atul laid
down on the bottom part of the bed, and as promised, simply spread his
legs up, apart, and back. Atul then made eye contact with Dileep, gave
him a full dimpled smile, and motioned him on.

Dileep was obviously entranced and his body moved forward -- quite
possibly not of its own volition. Hell, who could resist this man laid
out before him. Dileep got on his knees between Atul's raised feet,
stripped back his foreskin baring the beautifully shaped purple helmet,
aimed it at Atul's beautiful brown ring, and pressed home -- moaning the
entire way home. Dileep had not lost eye contact with Atul, and simply
asked if he could kiss him. Atul, still smiling said "you saved my man,
and thus need not ask anything of me, my hero. Just do it." Dileep just
did, leaning forward, and engaging Atul in some light kissing, which
quickly developed into something a lot sexier. I hoped Neal was taking
note: Dileep was acting out all there was to know about Dileep's wants
and needs in the sack. If Dileep was to become Mr. Turner, all the
secrets of success were being rolled out before him.

For Neal and I, it was much different. Principally, we both knew
everything about the other -- all the minutiae of life, hopes, wishes,
failures, embarrassing moments -- everything, except what we were about
to do together. We had been all over the territory we call life together
and knew each other's thoughts before they could be spoken. For me (and
I believe for him too) this moment was indeed (not to sound trite)
momentous. We had joked, (sober and drunk), discussed, opined, mused, and
groused about this moment for twenty years and now the import of it was
just sinking in with me. He grabbed me by the cock and peered into my
eyes... nah, he could see my soul... "Second thoughts? Me too," he said.
"I need to let you know that I'm not wigged out, nor do I have any kind
of `taboo' complex running through my head. If we do this, our world
will be different, but it is not going to crack open and swallow us. My
mother would have a coronary, but hey, nobody's guaranteed a tomorrow. I
liked you when I met you and we formed this relationship we now call
`us'. That like grew into friendship, and added new aspects and
dimensions to `us' with each passing season and year. I love you, and
will always love you. If we do this, we will only be loving each other in
a new way and dimension, and `us' will have only changed a bit for the
better. Now stop overthinking everything like you usually do, and lay
down and spread your fuckin legs!" I usually have a problem with
"bossy" Neal shows up, but I think I'm going to comply now and form an
opinion later.

His entry into me wasn't as traumatic as I had built it up to be in my
mind. Don't get me wrong: his last two inches were plainly well into
terra incognita for me, but it wasn't bad. Rather, it was like an added
burst of pressure. As forecasted, his cock was smooth, evenly sized, and
well-shaped. The last two inches of his shaft at his cock root were
noticeably wider than the preceding eight inches. I must have contorted
my face while he installed those last inches the last few strokes, noting
that all the Mrs. Turners did have a problem with his root, and he hoped
it was not to difficult for me. To underscore the pleasure I felt, I
began moaning each time he planted his cock root, and told him that the
new Mr. Turner would be most pleased. Both Atul and Dileep then turned
simultaneously toward us and agreed, saying "yes, it is nice" or "I
found it sexy". All of us kept up our focus on our partner, ramping them
up as things developed, although I couldn't say that I felt like Neal
was my "partner". I mean, I love him dearly, but it didn't have the
electrical charge I felt with Atul. Nonetheless, it certainly wasn't
bad, and I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity.  I had never
*really* felt Neal's body before, so I went about rubbing my hands
everywhere I could reach, even running my hands down over my ass and up
toward where we were joined. My fingers could just reach his balls, and
so I catalogued both of them in my mind. For his part, I suppose Neal
wondered what kissing me was like, and so he went about that task most
properly, He is quite skilled, and soon we were borrowing each other's
tongues. He found all my erogenous zones on my neck and ears, and was
rewarded by me clamping down on my ass, providing extra friction for his
pistoning inside me, with each new sensory input, he increased his
frequency of thrusts.

I did note Neal checking in with Dileep from time to time, and Dileep
responded to that checking in. I don't want to be a matchmaker or
anything, but I did want to see this relationship develop: there is much
potential here! Of course, I was checking in with Atul. From time to
time, he reached out his right hand to touch or rub my arm. Every time he
reached out to me, I added a little more tension to Neal's cock. Each
time Atul made contact, my connection to Neal increased dramatically.
Curious, I reached up to take Dileep's left had from Atul's chest, and
brought it to where Neal's hand was resting on the mattress.  On
contact, they both moaned, and began ramming Atul and I a bit harder and
faster. Leaving their hands together on the mattress, I reached for
Atul's hand: we both moaned as well, and it was like blue sparks were
ricocheting off the walls. Atul and I simultaneously began shifting our
bodies toward each other, bringing our tops along with us. Of course,
this meant straightening out our legs and wrapping them around our tops,
but soon we were in position where our heads were close together. Dileep
and Neal were able to twist in ways we on the mattress couldn't, and
were soon kissing each other passionately. For all of us, some basic
truths were now on full display.

Atul and I knew the depths of our feelings for each other, but for Neal
and Dileep, this new knowledge must have been awe inspiring. The couples
quickly decoupled, and reformed with the correct partner -- I was
reminded of that scene in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
when Puck's love spell uniting the incorrect partners needed to be
broken in order...

...To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,

I love Neal, but am not in love with him; any thought otherwise was
indeed a fruitless vision. Neal belongs to Dileep, and Dileep to Neal.
Before I could philosophize any further, Atul wrapped me up in a
consuming body hug, lifted my up into his arms, and carried us to our
bed. I don't think Neal or Dileep noticed us leaving. Both of us were
still well lubed, so we took each other in turns. He took me first,
driving me mad with his cock forcing its way up inside me. Were it anyone
else, I'd have been screaming in pain. He was perched over me, one elbow
on the mattress, the other arm gently under my lower back, lifting me up
with each thrust. His tongue was inside me as well -- not just my mouth,
he was in there deep, bathing my tonsils and testing my gag reflex. It
was almost like he couldn't get enough of himself inside me. We shifted
positions in what could only be described as choreography: in an instant,
I was inside him, he bent in half, his legs pointed outward and backward
in a very wide "V" shape, my hands holding me up into a position
otherwise best suited for doing push-ups, plowing as deeply inside him as
possible with my eyes barely six inches away from his hazel eyes,
searching deep inside his soul and finding only love.

We changed positions many times -- I'm not sure how many. Interspersed
with these changes were episodes of performing 69 on each other, or
otherwise worshiping each other's cock. His magnificent, beautiful cock
takes my breath away, both figuratively and literally -- I cannot get
enough of it. By the time we finally came, he was inside me, telling me
how much he loved me and how the thought of me leaving him was
unbearable. My emotions mirrored his, and we were both crying when our
orgasm (singular -- there was only one, and it was unified) consumed us,
both of us bellowing like musk oxen. We melted into each other, each of
us hot and sweaty, yet still working to maintain as much physical contact
with each other's bodies as possible. Our faces were pasted together,
cheek to cheek as we slowly came down from the mountain, and regained our
breath. Just then, another "musk oxen" bellow came from the room next
door: Atul and I started giggling -- and then laughing -- all the while
giving each other little kisses all over. We heard laughing next door
too. All four of us had figured out -- or otherwise had confirmed -- what
our lives were all about.

Slowly, we four emerged from our dens and went about cleaning the
telltale detritus of JBF off of us before joining together in the kitchen
to replenish the fluids and proteins we had all just burned off. Making
scrambled eggs is a kind of existentialist act in which one may detach
himself the herd and contemplate the mysteries of life. Doing so, it came
to me that with heterosexual couples, there might have been some residual
antagonism or sense of competition in the air, but with us four there
wasn't: all of us knew who we were, and whom we were with. I loved Atul,
and he loved me. I loved Neal, and he loved me. Atul now loved Dileep,
and I'm certain the other "love" bonds would soon be secured. In fact,
I was already working out where Neal and Dileep could live together -- in
the apartment above us where Rana had lived. Of course, we'd have to
hire an exorcist or two -- but I get ahead of myself: we'd have to
divest ourselves of the current Mrs. Turner. Until then, I'd have some
new keys made for the two so they could have their refuge in which they
could construct their love in peace. I want those two to be happy as much
as I want Atul and I to be happy. Atul came up behind me, wrapped his
arms around me, and rested his chin on my shoulder. From the corner of my
eye, I saw Dileep and Neal wrapped up in a frontal embrace, whispering
God knows what to each other: it was another perfect moment in time.

Just then, the front door burst open. We all whipped around to see Alex
rushing in with his father yelling to "Jeez, son! Knock on the door
first before entering!" That's my little boyfriend, always testing the
boundaries. Mental note to LOCK THE FUCKING DOOR! He stood there in the
foyer scanning the tableau of the two couples embracing in front of him,
not knowing if the continents had shifted. Atul opened his arms,
indicating he was to join us. Grinning broadly, he kicked off his
sneakers, and ran over to us and into our embrace. Felipe came in,
closing the door and locking it, kicking off his shoes and joining us for
a hug and kiss before going over to Neal and Dileep, exchanging hugs and
kisses (on the cheek) with them. I asked them if they were hungry; Felipe
said "no", but little Alex looked up with puppy dog eyes. Atul went to
the fridge and got a couple more eggs -- we'd need them. I texted
Juergen to see if they wanted to join us for brunch, and he messaged back
that they'd bring some food. Before long, Juergen, Russell and Jonas
arrived and we had all put together a decent little brunch with some
toast, bread, fruit, yogurt, coffee, tea, and juice. It was so nice to
have our little family of men, informally sitting together in
companionship and comfort. If only Jin Woo and Jason could be with us.

I could see the look of worry about Jason sitting on Atul's face. I
pulled him aside and asked if I could go with him to the hospital to see
Jason -- I was missing the little shit too. He was worried about what was
happening between the parents and Rana -- we hadn't heard anything about
the meeting which should be over now, but that didn't matter: we could
learn what happened here, or we could learn what happened at the hospital
-- or in transit between the two. Atul relented, and we announced that we
were going to see Jason for a few hours. Atul wanted to drive his car,
but Dileep reminded him that we needed to make sure it looked like he
wasn't here, so his car needed to stay here. Again, he relented, and we
were off to Decatur in my car. He held my hand the entire way there --
and I felt a kind of peace that seldom comes into my life. When we got
there and got (finally) parked, we made our way to Jason's room on the
fourth floor. We were surprised to see both Jin Woo and Jae Soo standing
outside in the hallway, peering surreptitiously inside the room. Atul
hastened his pace down the hall, sensing something was amiss. Before we
got there, Jin Woo jumped in Atul's way, asking him to stop and talk
with him first. I slipped by and peered inside, making an involuntary
gasp and (unlike me) clutching my pearls. At this, a concerned Atul
sidestepped Jin Woo and came to my side to see what I saw: Atul's mother
was there, seated in a chair next to Jason's bed, holding his hand and
speaking with the smiling child.