Pride, Ego, Audacity

5. Self-esteem

Kalen

"I want you to meet my boyfriend, Xavier." Mum introduced.

"Hi boys. Nice to finally meet you. Your mum talks about you all the time." Xavier greeted.

"Hi Xavier, nice to meet you too. Although, I have to say this is the first time I'm hearing about you." Kaden replied, staring pointedly at our mum. I could tell Kaden wasn't too pleased about this boyfriend, but he had the sense to fake politeness. That was just his personality, but I wasn't like that and mum knew that because I could sense her eyeing me worriedly.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" I snarled.

"Kalen!" Mum scolded. Kaden whacked me on the shoulder.

Our dad had left just four years ago. He went out to 'buy milk' and just never returned. That excuse was seriously overused. Since then, mum had thrown herself into her job at the hospital, working early hours and late nights.

Although she spent most of her time at the hospital, she wasn't a bad mum. She would always cook us food which we could just reheat for meals and checked in on how we were doing often. If Kaden or I was struggling with something, she would reduce her hours at the hospital and spend more time at home to support us.

Kaden and I knew and understood that she spent so much time at the hospital so that she wouldn't have to be at home alone and be reminded of our shitty excuse of a dad. That was why I wasn't too pleased that she was dating some guy we had never heard of before. I didn't want her to be hurt by some asshole again.

"I work at the hospital with your mum." Xavier answered calmly like I hadn't just cussed at him.

"How long have you and my mum been dating?" Kaden inquired politely while I stood beside him scowling.

"It's been about four months. I wanted to wait a bit before telling you boys." Mum informed, much to my disapproval.

"I have a daughter three years younger than you boys, but she lives with her mum." Xavier said, even though I was really not interested.

"Did you leave them to go buy milk like our dad did?" I snickered. Mum glared at me and Kaden nudged me, both silently warning me to watch my attitude.

"No, her mum and I got divorced." Xavier was still responding calmly. I had to give him credit for his patience.

"Xavier's a paediatrician."

Ah, that explains it. You had to have a lot of patience to work with children.

"You boys don't have any plans for lunch right? Xavier will be having lunch with us today." Mum told us, much to our surprise.

"You're having lunch with us?" Kaden asked. Mum only ever had a meal with us once or twice a month, but she had just had dinner with us three days ago so this was a pleasant surprise.

"I have plans." I, in fact, did not have plans, but I wasn't too keen on having lunch with Xavier even if it meant giving up the rare opportunity to have mum home for a meal.

"You do not have plans." Kaden accused.

"I do." I claimed, pretending to check my phone for the time. "In fact, it looks like I'm going to be late to said plans. I've got to go. Bye everyone, enjoy dinner." I said before running out of the house.

Great, now where was I supposed to go? My stomach rumbling at that moment indicated that I should probably go get lunch. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that I had just passed up on lunch only to go get lunch.

"Welcome! How many peo-" The waiter paused. "Oh your friend is sitting over there." He said, pointing over to a table where someone was sitting with their back to me. I looked at the waiter for a moment, confused.