Chapter 119 – Jambar

Meanwhile, while the recent event in the Royal Capital gave birth to decisions that would affect the entire Kingdom — politically, socially and economically — there was one young man living his best night.

Or at least trying to.

And it seemed his whole family was trying along with him.

"How... how did you get this, Omm?" Maryam asked, her voice trembling, her calloused hands pressed flat against her mouth as she looked at the strawberry cake sitting beautifully in front of her.

She looked like a young girl from a remote village who had just been told that dragons were real, not just stories her grandmother used to tell her before sleep.

Beside her, Ali watched with the same expression: confused and deeply puzzled.

They were still inside their cramped apartment. Only minutes ago, both of them had been sleeping on the floor, preparing themselves mentally for another day of grit and work in just a few hours.

Maryam for her job cleaning the streets. Ali for his continued search, going from store to store asking if anyone had anything to offer...it didn’t matter what. The big man just needed something. He was ready to clean a floor full of filth if it meant he got paid at the end of it.

Yet despite all of that, neither Ali nor Maryam had let a single complaint pass their lips.

To anyone looking in from the outside, they would appear to be the happiest people alive with not a problem in the world.

And in fact, they would not be entirely wrong.

"This is for you, mother." Omm said softly, kneeling on the ground in front of his parents, a quiet smile on his face.

"But how did you get this, my son?" Maryam asked again. She knew well how costly a cake was for people at their level.

They could not afford it...even though she had always wished to taste one.

"Father, mother," Omm said gently, his steady hazel eyes moving between them both, "I told you I have found a job."

"We know, my son." Ali replied, his voice carrying a quiet touch of regret. "And you know how we feel about it. We don’t want you to work. We would have wished for you to trust us and leave all of that to us."

He smiled, but this time there was embarrassment and sadness threaded through it, and it shattered Omm’s heart.

"We will take care of you, Omm. We promise. So don’t worry about money. We just want you to focus on your goals and enter the Academy."

Maryam nodded firmly, biting her lip in the process. "We will work more to get you the entrance fee for the scholarship exam. But we are worried that with this job, you won’t have time to prepare properly, my son. We... we..."

She didn’t manage to finish. Shame flooded her entire being, tears streaming down her face. But immediately after, she began furiously wiping them away, remembering her promise to herself: to never shed a single tear in front of her son.

Never.

And now she had broken even that. Maryam’s shame deepened, lowering her head.

Ali shook his head wryly, then drew his wife into his arms. Maryam was soft by nature. So soft that he had nightmares every night about failing to give her the life that matched that softness, the life she deserved.

He loved her dearly, dearly enough to die for her. But sometimes Ali couldn’t help wondering whether Maryam might have been better off with another man, one who could truly provide for her.

Here he was — the man of this house — struggling to cover his son’s education and put food on the table.

His eyes began to sting, as if something small and sharp were pushing into them over and over. But he swallowed it all down, tried to hold steady, and prayed quietly in his heart.

’I know You do not burden a soul more than it can bear, my Lord. But please, I beg You, do not overestimate me. Do not give me more than I can handle. Have mercy on my soul and on my family. And forgive me for failing as a father and as a husband.’

All of this, while Omm Min Jambar watched with a quietly aching expression.

It was just a cake. A cake he had brought home because he knew his mother had always wanted to taste one.

And instead, all they saw was their own inadequacy, their inability to give their son what he needed without burdening him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

He wanted to kneel at their feet and weep. But Omm smiled instead.

"They say the burden of the parents is not for the children to carry." Omm said, and crawled toward them, settling at their feet.

They looked down at him, their faces full of sadness and pain. Not for themselves.

For him.

Omm’s smile widened. He reached out and took his mother’s left hand and his father’s right hand into his own.

He felt how calloused and hardened they were. How different from his own soft, unblemished hands.

He had never truly worked in his life, and it showed on every inch of him compared to them.

They had left behind their peaceful life in the village to give him something better in a high-tiered city.

That knowledge, and the rough texture of their hands against his own, filled him with a gratitude so deep he couldn’t contain it. He thanked his Lord silently, with everything he had, for the simple fact of having been born their son.

He was the luckiest man alive.

Of that, Omm was completely certain.

He fixed his hazel eyes on them and continued speaking, his thumbs moving gently across their hands as if they were the most precious things in the world.

"But I want to." He said, smiling. "I want to carry your burdens. I want you to lean on me. I want you to believe that I can do it, and that I want to do it. I want to do it, father, mother. Because if not me..."

Tears fell.

"...then who will?"

Ali and Maryam’s bodies trembled at his voice. Overwhelmed by his sincerity, his love, and most of all...his gratitude.

Omm understood the sacrifices they had made for him better than anyone. That was why...

"I will not fail." He reassured them, kissing their hands softly. "The scholarship exam. The Academy Test. I will not fail either. That, I swear on my soul."

Then his lips pulled into a smile. "And besides, I have been lucky. I have a very generous master who pays well. And all I have to do is be a shepherd."

He laughed. And his parents laughed with him without quite knowing why.

"It seems like it’s what I was born to do." He chuckled, looking at them. "To be a shepherd, I mean."

"You say it as though you are proud of it, son." Ali said, his usual booming, animated face returning.

Maryam had regained herself too, wiping the last of her tears with the back of her hand, her beautiful face now wearing a smile so dazzling it almost hurt to see it in such a place.

Omm’s words had reached somewhere deep inside them. And they could see in their son’s eyes the respect he had for them.

The love and the acknowledgement of everything they had quietly endured.

That alone was enough.

That alone was enough to make them continue sleeping on the floor for him, and continue working until his future was secured.

That was their duty.

That was their job...as parents.

"I quite like being a shepherd." Omm nodded. "It suits my Aspect well. But that is not the point..."

He turned and picked up the cake, then placed it carefully in his mother’s hands.

"I only had money for one. And this is for you, mother. Please don’t refuse me."

He turned to his father, nodding. "Yours is next."

Ali cackled, unbothered. "No, my son! Give it to your mother! Only your mother! She deserves everything!"

Maryam smiled shyly at her husband’s words. She looked at the cake and suddenly felt a hunger she hadn’t noticed before.

Was she... drooling?

Ali bit down a loud laugh, afraid of earning his wife’s glare, but still smiled fondly at the sight of her happy.

"And from now on," Omm said again, his voice going firm, "I will sleep on the floor. I am no longer sick. I can manage perfectly well."

"No, Omm—!"

"I am not accepting any refusal tonight." He shook his head with stubborn calm. "I will sleep on the floor regardless of what either of you say."

Ali and Maryam looked at their son with wry, helpless expressions.

"And you don’t need to worry." Omm added, glancing around the small apartment. "After a few days of work, I will find us a better place. My master is generous. Trust me, father, mother."

A short silence followed.

Then Ali could only nod. He pulled his son into a tight, warm hug and held him there.

"Will you really be alright, my son?"

"Aye, father."

Ali paused. Then, slowly, "Then never forget our core beliefs, my son. Be truthful and never lie nor cheat. Be grateful and content with what you have, and never be greedy for what you don’t. Don’t envy, just work hard and trust the Lord to reward you. And whatever you do...do it with excellence."

He laughed. "Even as a shepherd."

Omm laughed in turn. "Even as a shepherd." He nodded.

Then...

"Come, come, come! Let’s eat!" Maryam said in her usual soft voice, pointing at the cake with a bright smile. "This is our first cake! Let’s eat it together!"

The two men looked at each other, laughed faintly and joined her.

And so...

"This is so good!!!!"

...the Jambar family shared their very first cake.

—End of Chapter 119—