What is family?

Chapter 37

Theo

After breakfast, Vince called the five of us to the living room.

All of us went to the living room and sat down. Vince cleared his throat and now he has our undivided attention.

"How far have you come in cleaning the cars?", Vince asked calmly, looking at Dylan, Ace and Ash.

They all groaned and slumped on the couch. I tried to suppress my smile.

They looked at me and I looked away. No. This time I'm not helping them. What they did was totally unacceptable.

"There are too many.", Dylan complained and groaned.

"A lot of them were bought on your wish and insistence.", Vince said calmly and they glared at him.

"You're taking revenge for spending your money, right?", Ash said glaring at Vince.

"You are still spending my money.", Vince said calmly and Ash huffed.

"You should have thought before buying so many cars.", I said nonchalantly.

"Who would have thought Vince would come up with such a punishment!", Ace scoffed and I smirked.

"It's okay. By doing this you will visit all your cars once and maybe use those which are not used for a long time.", I said with a fake wise expression.

"You are enjoying seeing us wipe the cars, aren't you?", Ace narrowed his eyes at me.

"Absolutely!", I grinned.

All of them glared at me and I looked away nonchalantly.

"Vince, you know we wouldn't leave her like that again.", Ash said looking at Vince.

"Yes, I know.", Vince said.

"So what's the point of punishment. We already realized our mistake.", Ace said.

Ha! They are trying to convince Vince to remove the punishment.

"It's good that you realized your mistake. But, if you face the consequences of your actions then you will remember it forever.", Vince stated and they groaned loudly. I chuckled at that. Convincing Vince is the last thing anyone should try doing.

"Clean the remaining cars next week, boys. Dad is coming in a few minutes.", Vince said seriously and all of us stiffened.

The playfulness in the room was gone and all of us became serious.

Sigh.

Dad is coming after a long time. I don't even know if I should be happy or worried. I don't know how he is going to react seeing Arianna. 

He'll love her for sure, but I just hope there will be no problems in the house.

Dad was our hero. He still is. But somewhere in these past years, a gap has been created that doesn't seem to reduce with time. It's just increasing.

For Vince and I, dad is our hero. But, I can't say the same for Dylan and the twins. For them, Vince is their hero. And I very well know the reason. They respect and look up to Vince more than they do to dad.

They are not wrong though! Vince had taken that position in their lives. In our lives. He deserves all the respect we show him and more.

I can't say it is dad's fault completely, but over the years whatever has happened and whatever we faced has created this distance between us and him.

I don't even know what Vince feels about dad anymore. There was a time when dad was Vince's superhero, but right now, I don't know.

The most infuriating part is I don't even know the exact reason why the bond between dad and Vince changed so drastically over the last three years.