Confrontation And Guts

Short story.

Mulling over his own thoughts, eighteen year old Luke, was in a dilemma about his future. It was not just about making a career decision, the ideals and the hopes his parents had set for him was what clogged his mind.
His family being serving the army through generations, has a prestigious position in the society. It was a by default decision that if a son is born in Smith family, he will only be joining army, it was a tradition. Luke felt empty from Inside, he thought he was a disgrace to the family, as his inner self had no interest to follow his family's tradition, he wanted to follow his actual dreams of becoming a bioengineer, he had passion for it. Getting good grades in the subject, enjoying whilst studying, it was all because he thought he could one day follow his own path and achieve his goal...but he always was demotivated knowing about his family's culture, he kept enduring the pain since he knew that his passion and destiny were completely on the opposite side.
His parents never compelled anything over him, they let him make his own decisions till now and since his childhood they raised him having a picture of him being an army officer in future. Luke on the other hand never told his parents about his choice of career, as he was afraid that he would disappoint his parents as they had dreams for him, him not being confrontational was one obstacle which blocked his path.

A month later, it was about time for his entrance test to the military academy, he was a smart enough to clear the exam with a great score, even though he didn't prepared for it with any interest. In the examination hall, the omr sheets were distributed his hands started shivering, he knew that if he would start writing that paper, he will have to give up on his dreams. His mind went blank, numerous thoughts struck his brain. He suddenly slammed the bench with a thunderous sound, the whole class was disturbed by such commotion. The invigilator glared at him and walked towards him with furious steps snatching off his paper, ordering him to leave the class. A tear drop accumulated around his tear glands, he wiped it off and headed home, fully prepared to face the consequences of his action, he went back home. He stood out of the door, losing his guts to knock the door as he started imagining his parents reaction "Luke, you are early? What happened?" , " son, its about two hours early, what happened, did they not conduct the exams?". His bamboozled mind couldnt think properly, after spending several minutes out, he said to himself "what's done is done, I can't change it"
The very same moment his sister opens the door, he smiles at her as he walked in, she was confused, her gaze followed him, with a shunned look on her face, he slowly walked towards his father and sat at his feet, his father wide opened his eyes but didn't said anything, as he had somewhat idea of what his son desired. Luke utters softly "dad, I didn't attend the paper..."
His father smiles and replies "took you long enough to make a decision, son." Luke looks at him confused "huh?"
"Listen Luke, we are your parents and we always think about betterment of your life, but the core descision of it is in your hands" he hugs him, patting his back "you are an obedient son, but you should always share your thoughts to your parents, How'd we know until you tell us..." His father flashes off the admit card of like which he secretly registered for smiling. Luke got speechless and realized his mistake , his father continues "we don't give a crap about our family's tradition, it's about our own choices, I would rather have you regret your own choice rather than regret myself for making a wrong choice for you...son your satisfaction about your career is more important".