Candid

Chapter 48

Hi Babes! 

This chapter...is a lot. Bare with. Fair warning that sensitive topics will be mentioned in vague details, thank you!

Enjoy...maybe.

I am asking you nicely to please read the author's note at the end, I know it's a little long but it explains things to do with this chapter. Thank you in advance xx and don't be shy to comment I would appreciate your thoughts.

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The front door was unlocked when I got home later that night. My parents' voices were easily distinguishable as I entered.

"You cannot keep doing this, you are going to burn yourself out," my mother said in a tight voice like she was speaking through gritted teeth.

There was a scuffle of feet. "We both have demanding jobs, Clara, you can't expect me to leave my clients high and dry. You would never do that," my father argued, his voice unreadable.

A huffed breath. "I am saving lives, there's a difference, I have to be on call for life-threatening emergencies, your client can wait until the weekend is over before calling you about a sex scandal in his company."

Clearly, my parents hadn't heard me come through the door. They never fought in front of us.

"That is not fair, you know how hard I work and I may not be saving physical lives but I am saving companies from ruin and destruction. I keep reputations intact and you know just how important that is to most people," my father declared, his voice growing more agitated.

I held the door in its exact position, scared that if I opened or closed it an inch it would squeak, alerting my presence. My thoughts jumbled, unable to know what I should be doing right now. I had never been pulled into this position, petty disagreements between them, yes but not full-on arguments.

I had never wished for my siblings to be here more than right now so that I didn't have to go through this alone. The urge to leave the door as is and run back to my car was strong but I couldn't do that, I was rooted in my spot.

"I never said that you don't work hard, all I said was that our jobs are different. I cannot, as a doctor, sit here and watch you kill yourself with all these unplanned trips to see clients, they are not worth your health," my mother said, her voice starting to hit a higher pitch the more emotional she got.

"For the amount they pay me per hour for a meeting, I would fly across the world to meet with them for it," he stated his tone back to monotonous.

My mother didn't seem to enjoy the blankness of his tone. "You need to call Richard and have him cancel your meeting this weekend, tell him to tell your client to find a weekday to pencil you in."

"He has meetings back-to-back all of next week-"

"If he's really concerned about his business then he can pencil in his fucking lawyer over the week!" My breath hitched at the yell my mother just released and I swallowed down a hiccup.

My father cleared his throat and a sound of a dinner plate being set down on the kitchen table roughly. "I am not going to have this argument with you about the things that are expected of me in the line of work that I am in, it's impractical and frankly it's getting us nowhere."

"Switch off the lawyer tone for a second and speak to me like my husband would," she snapped. Those words hit harder than I thought they would. People often said the same thing to me.

It was that moment that I decided to act, there was a pause of silence in the air before my father replied and so I slammed the door shut loudly. "I'm home!" I called out with a cheery expression, shoving all the pent-up emotions down.