A Second Glance

3: "I'm coming over"

Sean would expect his father would speed up the acceptance process into Princeton Law through his long list of contacts but he would never expect that his father would decide something big, such as enrolling him into the Freshman Program without consulting him first. Sean wants this summer break, he wants to kick the load off from his back and just chill and do stuff that soothes his soul, such as carving wood, like he is doing right now. Then Sean thought to himself, 'it's Aston Clyde we're talking about here, he's vicious and he could and would do anything he wants. Even though it's not him that's doing all the dirty work and got his summer thrown off under the bus'. 

Then Maria comes in with a glass of cool lemonade, she notices the heavy emotions drawing harsh lines on his face,  "Senor Sean, stop being mad at your father". Sean put away his woods and utensils aside, taking the lemonade glass and denying Maria's accusations. "Gracias Maria. And no, I'm not mad". 

"Oh really? You can't even sit with your parents for two minutes at breakfast today you just shove a couple of sausages into your mouth and came straight here. You even furrow your eyebrows when I came in. Clearly you are mad at someone", Maria laying out some facts and Sean looks at her with a bit of annoyance cause she could read him like a book and he impulsively furrowed his eyebrows at her. Maria catches his reaction and put her hands on her hips, "oh now you're mad at me". 

Sean pulls his face and apologizes, "no no, I'm sorry Maria. But dad always makes me so....ughhh! He wants me to do something I do not want, I'm not 5 anymore!", he finally opens up to Maria. 

"Your father knows what's best for you. That's what all parents do, mi hijo", Maria tells him and he snickers, "best for me? He thinks forcing me into doing something I'm not passionate about and suddenly sends me off to waste my summer, not letting me take a breather is the best for me?".

"Didn't you try and talk...", Sean cuts off Maria and says, "he would never listen to me, if I knew he could sit and talk, I would've done it already. But he's just impossible to talk to, totally impossible". 

"But have you tried mi hijo? ", Maria asks him in a soft tone. He shakes his head, "no, but I know he would just dismiss me like I'm one of his junior associates!". 

"You do not know unless you try, you can't just assume his reaction if you haven't at least try", she says and then she excuses herself, "I've gotta go now, lunch is not gonna cook by itself". Sean takes a gulp of the lemonade, and thought of Maria's words. He could always talk to his mum but the final say is always at Aston's hands, never ever at Dede's. He takes out his phone from his jean pocket and tapped Aston Clyde, he put his phone onto his ear and wait for his dad to pick up the phone. 

"Hello", the low and flat tone of his dad's voice vibrating into his ear.

"Dad, I need to talk to you about something", he talks to his dad but he could hear so many voices in the background.

"I'm in a deposition meeting now, Sean. Talk to me when I'm at home", Sean instantly raises his voice trying to drown out the other voices there. "It's important dad, can you step out just for a minute....", 

"Sean, I gotta go. See you at home", Aston hangs up the phone and Sean can't help but to feel frustrated, he screams and punches the wood right in front of him. His knuckles were scratched, and within all that anger he felt a hint of sadness cause maybe his dad just never thought of him as a son, like an actual father would. Maybe his dad just thought of him as an heir to the family business, an investment to keep the family business alive. 

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After taking a shower, Sean slides a t-shirt onto his body and then he hears a knock on the door. "Come in", it is his mother's head peeping from the door.