Harry dragged himself home after the unexpected information had struck him like thunder. He wasn't expecting to see his father by the dining table at this time. He knew it was past 11 pm but he still glanced at his wristwatch anyways. It turned out he wasn't wrong. He guessed this was going to be a night of unexpected happenings, he may as well embrace it.He brought out his phone, pretending to be immersed in it, so he could walk past his father without acknowledging him. He thought the plan was going smoothly, but after a few inches away from his father, he heard his name."Harry," his father called out to him."Dad." Harry turned around, shoving his phone quickly into his pocket. He scratched his neck. "I was just coming from the store-""I'm not about to ask you where you were coming from," his father held up a finger, interrupting his speech. His father's face held barely concealed frown and harry wondered the cause of that.With pursed lips, Harry nodded.His father held up his
"What's up lil bro?" Harry greeted, ruffling Bryan's hair. Bryan paused the game he was playing and then stared at him, briefly."I'm fine, I guess." Bryan shrugged."Uhm, you guess. What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, settling on his bed.Bryan flung his phone on the bed and sighed. "I'm wondering how the news about Robert got fished out, it's literally everywhere now."Harry loved how Bryan really cared about his family and didn't fail to show it at the slightest occasion. As much as he was a little bit angry at his mother, he couldn't help but admit his mother really did a great job at raising him to be this empathetic boy that he was.Back to the matter at hand, Harry couldn't for the life of him figure out what to tell Bryan because he was the cause of the problem and he didn't want Bryan to figure out that something was wrong from the way he spoke. His heart started hammering against the ribcage and he could feel his hands shaky but he quickly scratched his neck in order
Harry couldn't help the cold energy Bryan gave him mom. He wanted to ask him about him, but he put the thought away. Bryan was probably just a little bit angry at his mom and with time, he would come around. His behaviour manifested during dinner; he wasn't chatty as he used to be and he declined his mother's offer each time she tried to help to dish or pass him the sauce or whatever. If the help wasn't coming from Harry or their father, best believe he was going to decline it. Lauren tried to hide her pain beneath smiles and tried to act like it was nothing but deep down Harry could see through her and he knew she felt dejected. He decided not to talk about it because they both had a long overdue conversation and whatever attitudes Bryan was giving her was her fault for not being present and being away for so long without a plausible explanation. And the fact that she was rarely taking his calls made everything worse. For some reasons he believed that she stopped taking Bryan's cal
Every other person, including Harry himself through Brian's anger wasn't going to last long and soon he would crawl back to his mother's bosom. Little did they know that his behaviour towards her will worsen over time. Now during dinner time, he always ate as quickly as he could, whilst declining every offer of his mother to serve him and immediately he was done he'd run off to his room. He completely avoided contact with his mom and even after she apologized to him, he still didn't budge. He kept up with the cold as ice energy and each time her face would flatten. Harry was begining to wonder if the young man knew something he didn't know so he decided to ask one evening while he was mobile games in his room.Harry tapped on his laps, drawing his attention because his headphones were active.He glanced up at him, arching his brows. "Yes?""I just wanted to ask why you were being cold towards Mom?" Harry asked him."I don't want to talk about it." He replied."You should, you know.""
After Harry left Bryan's room, he went to his and slumped on the bed. The fear mixed with guilt that raged in his chest had still not let him check his phone to see if the buzz from the article had died down. He heaved a sigh and rested his head against the headboard when he heard a knock on his door. First, he paused. His eyes widened, he wasn't sure it was Bryan because they had just finished talking. His mother rarely knocked at his door to have a conversation with him. His father would rather call him and order him to meet him at his preferred location, be it the dinning table, his room or whatever.Yet, his possible guess was his mother. For some reasons, he just knew his mother was the one knocking and the thought of that filled him with apprehension as she shifted uncomfortably in his bed, altering his position from the slumped one to an upright posture.Harry cleared his throat. "Come in."The door pushed open, and his mother walked into the room with a dull expression."I was
"Nope.""Then how did you?""That isn't important at this point. Tell me what's happening?""I'm wondering because if you knew I saw him no matter how hard I tried to hide then you might as well have found out the reason why I was seeing him.""If I was aware already, I wouldn't have asked you about it.""Well, i guess it's a good thing you haven't found out about it just yet." She chuckled, then wiped the lome tear with the back of palm.Harry handed her the tissue from the bedside table. She grabbed it without staring at him, then wiped her tears."Mom, you're not going to tell me about this?""You don't have to be involved in all of this. I wouldn't want to do that to you. You don't deserve to be involved all of this.""Why?" Harry asked, not understanding the sense behind her decision. "You're practically alone with whatever that's going on with you. Why are you refusing to share with me what's going on?""Some of these things happened before you were born, it will be unfair to pu
"You are probably mad at me right now." She stated, tears gathered at her eyes and she wiped the ones falling down her cheeks."Yeah." Harry replied dryly."I'm sorry, please don't turn your back at me. You're the only aware ot what's happening and is geniuely concerned. Don't turn away from me." She pleaded and Harry's anger dissipated. Heck, what he felt for her was love. He realized that. She was the only woman that had hurt him the most but he couldn't bring himself to hate her."Then you have to tell me what's happening." Harry demanded, and patted the space next to him on the bed.She took the hint and walked lazily to the bed and sat on it. She was still sniffing, the aftermath of the tears when Harry held her hands."You just have to, you know he's dangerous and we're trying to hide all of these from father. You need a partner, don't you think so?"Lauren soft gaze met his. "I'll never be able to repay you for this, my son.""I don't want to be repaid. I just want to help you.
"Mom, it's alright." Harry rubbed her shoulders, tears forming in his eyes and he blinked them away."Everything became worse and then I continued seeing Lincoln who still didn't know I was married and at some point he was having issues and I secretly wished they'd divorce so he would marry him and get me out of Matteo's sight."Lauren continued narrating her story. "And then everything happened. His wife died and he asked me to marry him. I processed the divorce and told Matteo I wasn't going to Marry him anymore and secretly ran away from him and started a new life here."Harry squinted his eyes digesting the story. "But then, why do you have to go back to him?""About a year ago, he started blackmailing me that he knew about everything that happened and how I had lied to my husband that I wasn't married when I was seeing him. And he claimed you are his child even though I'm still married about whose child you really are because..."Everything in Harry's body moved to a screehing ha