An Unexpected Engagement

Chapter 115

Is it possible to die of sadness?

My goodness, I'm so depressed...

I sigh, letting my gaze wander to the gray London landscape through the glass. Canary Wharf, the neighborhood where DBS headquarters is located is beautiful and in the distance I can see the Thames.

It's November, and so twilight is already creeping over the daylight, even though it's only four in the afternoon.

Soon the Christmas lights will start blinking in the streets. At other times this would get me very excited. After all, I love Christmas and especially Christmas decorations. And buy Christmas presents. Only at this moment, not even the imminence of the end of year festivities can improve my mood. And the great villain of this story is called Alexei Romanoff or we can call him Dad.

I still remember, with horror, the moment when my parents revealed not only that they were getting divorced, but also why. Dad came out of the closet.

I was stunned, thinking it could only be a joke. Not that I was homophobic or anything, for God's sake. I'm a big fan of gays. I still miss Justin, who in addition to being my boss is my best friend, even though he now lives across the ocean in New York, where he moved with Miguel, his Puerto Rican boyfriend, who also worked with me for a time. I even fantasized about whether they would swing with me and Steve. Of course, Steve, like most men with fragile heterosexuality, thought it was absurd when I shared with him my little fantasy about him having sex with another guy. Then I had to give up on my naughty idea.

However, things change when it is his own father who claims to be bi.

Yes, Dad, who has been married to my mother for almost thirty years, discovered that he likes guys too.

Bitch. What. Gave birth.

It's already hard to imagine that he has sex with women, imagine with men?

I still remember the moment of terror after the revelation. As if I wasn't already traumatized by having participated in a crazy ritual with my mother and her friends who thought they were witches, where they all got naked dancing around a fire and smoking weed, until they were forced to flee hallucinating, when they heard the police siren. And there I was in the middle of them, after thinking that Steve had fallen in love with the Disney princess barra playmate secretary, running naked down the road.

Luckily Steve rescued me from humiliation and we had a very productive DR that ended with one of the best fucks ever. I was happy that my marriage was safe, only to fall flat on my face when Mom and Dad dropped the out-of-the-closet divorce bombshell. And I felt like I was on one of those tacky afternoon shows, where the presenter gets people to reveal hideous family secrets. (Let's face it, it would have been so much cooler if Dad's bombshell revelation had happened that way. Can you imagine? I can already imagine myself crying on national television, taking the opportunity to try out that new waterproof mascara.)

Since then I feel like a character in a bad soap opera, not knowing how to deal with the fact that my parents, who I thought had the perfect marriage, are separating. Ok, perfect maybe I'm exaggerating, my mother exasperated my father, thinking he was a witch and my father had a hobby of photographing naked people, which exasperated my mother (Actually, he liked the male nude more... Ah, hell, how come I never I suspected?...).

Anyway, I also had to deal with Dad saying he liked men. How do you not get traumatized by it?

When we left, Steve had to put up with my crying and he was very understanding and kind, giving me moral and emotional support through the difficult time until five days later he was fed up and telling me to stop being ridiculous.

- Ridiculous? My dad is gay Steve! I yelled when he walked into the office after he'd put Penelope to sleep and found me listening to Adele and crying my eyes out while getting drunk on wine.

“Your dad says he's bi, Natasha.

- Same thing! Is he going to leave my mother to... to... marry another man? I'm going to have a stepfather! Did you hear that, Steve? Penelope is going to have two grandpa's! Oh God, she's going to grow up traumatized! If she rebels because of the bullying at school and starts using drugs?

— Stop it Natasha, it's the 21st century, no one is like that anymore about homosexuality.

"When it's not with your father!" What if it was yours? Can you imagine if your dad goes all Bruce Jenner and changes sex? Oh my, what if my dad changes sex and starts wearing my clothes? Oh no, he's going to want to wear my Louboutin shoes and he's going to ruin the heel! Do you know how much a Louboutin costs, Steve? A fortune!

“I'll buy you another one if your dad ruins your heels, okay? Although you doubt that your father wears the same shoes as you, don't freak out...

“It's not just that! He's going to change his name and demand I call him Caitlyn! Or Kimberly or another name like this! How am I going to explain this to Penelope? It's going to be years of therapy for her to get over...

“You're the one who needs therapy, from what I can see. For God's sake, Natasha, I thought you were more understanding and open-minded. Weren't you the one who insisted I have sex with a guy?

“It was different! You are not gay!

"I thought you'd be happy if I went."

- Of course! For you to dump me for a pumped up, well-hung guy like Justin? Oh my goodness Steve, are you trying to tell me something? I thought that thing on Justin's dick was just an oversight...

"I'm not trying to tell you anything, stop freaking out!"

"How not to freak out?"

— Let's agree, I should have suspected when your father insisted that he wanted to take pictures of me naked.

I closed my eyes tightly, this scene now taking on another dimension in my mind. Can you imagine if Dad had fallen in love with Steve? He could be my stepfather today, help!