Chapter 3: Paper heart

Sunny's POV

That guy Parker somehow made me feel good. Talking to him made me forget my brother's problem with my dad. I hope everything would be back to normal. Home is not home without Simon. Mom would miss him so much.

I sighed as stepped my foot on the front yard. It is 6:30 in the evening. They might be worried about me especially mom.

As I went inside the house, I saw mom in the kitchen. I hugged her and kissed her cheek. She has swollen eyes from too much crying. I felt bad for mom. She was the one suffering here. Why does my dad have a stone of heart?

"Where is dad?" I asked her.

"Upstairs. In our room. Why?" Mom asked.

I rested my back on the kitchen counter and looked at her.

"What if I tell him that I'm gay, mom? I think this is the right time to tell him."

"No. Not this time, honey. I don't want you to leave too. Please!" She pleaded with me and set aside the chopping of carrots.

"But mom, when?" I said and hugged her once more. "There is nothing wrong with being gay. I just want to be free. Just like my brother, Simon. I don't want to hide in the closet anymore. It's suffocating."

"But your dad won't understand you! You know that, Sunny. Please, listen to me."

I smiled, "I'll wait until he accepts us as his sons."

I helped mom with the dinner. When everything is settled down, I went to my room and sat on my bed.

I took scissors and plain white paper inside my bag. I just cut a heart shape out of that paper, folded it in half, and put it inside my pocket.

When I think I gathered the right amount of courage and braveness to my system, I went out of my room and strode towards the dining table where mom and dad were located.

I smiled upon seeing both of them. I sat on my chair and took my food then started to eat. We were all in silence like what we used to be.

I looked at my dad and took a deep breath upon saying, "Dad, I'm gay."

Mom was so shocked that she even covered her mouth from crying. Because of her, my tears started to form around my eyelids. I'm so sorry mom but I have to do this.

Dad was so calm and that is not good. He stopped chewing and looked me straight into my eyes. He stood up and I wasn't prepared for what he did next.

The back of his hand hit my left cheek so bad that it caused my nose to bleed. I held my nose as I felt the blood kept on running down.

My tears just jumped off of my eyes when mom went beside me and hugged me like a little kid.

"Stop, Zander. Please!" She pleaded dad. "You've done enough! You can't hurt my son anymore!" She added.

I saw how dad's face went soft. He loves mom and he doesn't want to hurt her but by doing this to us, he's hurting mom even more.

"Simon is gay! Why on earth to have another gay son? You know how I loathed gay people, Sunny!" Dad yelled at me.

"If you don't love them, I love them with all of my heart! You can't hurt my sons anymore, Zander. I love you but this is all wrong! We are leaving."

My eyes widened upon hearing my mother's words for dad. I saw the sadness on my dad's face. I didn't expect it would end up like this.

"If you can't accept Simon and Sunny as your sons, we are leaving this house!" Mom said calmly.

"Then leave."

Two words pierced right through my heart. I felt mom's hands slowly loosen up from me. He looked at dad with disbelief and shook her head.

I took out the paper heart in my pocket and showed it to dad.

"I badly want to ask you before if what would you do to this paper heart upon knowing that I'm gay, I think I got the answers." Then I crumpled it and tore it into pieces. My tears kept on falling while doing it. It was so hard for me to do this. I just can't breathe.

"You failed all of us, Zander." Mom commented and helped me stood up.

"You will come back here, Melissa. I know you will." Dad uttered but mom and I didn't pay attention to face him. We walked upstairs. Mom told me to pack all my things as she did to hers.

My chest was so heavy that I kept on stopping from time to time just to have a deep long breath of air. I just don't know where I could get all my tears to cry this bad. It is like an open faucet. The handle was broken and I couldn't stop it from leaking.

I cupped my face and let myself cry. I felt someone's presence from afar so I looked at it and it was mom holding a travel bag. She threw it on the floor and strode towards me, enveloping me with her hands.

"I'm so sorry, mom," I told her.

She caressed my back and looked me in the eyes afterward. "We should go, honey. Your brother is waiting for us in the town plaza. It is not your fault. There is no one to blame here. Let's go."

I nodded as I took my things. Mom was the first one to go out of my room. I took one last glance at this place and I couldn't help but feel sad for leaving.

I will miss this place. The place that beholds all my childhood memories, occasions with the family and so much more. I didn't expect it to be ruined in just one snap.

Now that my family is broken. I don't know what to do anymore. I just want to sleep and when I wake up, I hope everything would be back to normal. Only if it is possible.

I sighed as I closed the door of my room. I walked down to the terrace while wearing my backpack of clothes and kinds of stuff. I saw mom at the entrance, probably waiting for me.

I roamed my eyes around and didn't see dad. He's an army. He didn't even bother to stop us from leaving. Dad let our family be destroyed just like that.

"I know he will realize what he just said to us. He will miss us, Sunny. Let just give him some time to think." Mom said, concealing me from pain. I nodded as a response.

We both went out of the house. My chest was so heavy and my tears just wanted to jump out of my eyes but I am just holding back.

I hope dad would realize that having gay sons is not a sin or what. We are also humans who need to be loved. I don't want my family to end up like this. I will fix this mess.