Darker And Devastated

9.

Third Person POV

"Juan, play with your sister," Casper asks his son who was heading to his room after taking a glass of juice from the kitchen.

Juan stops and looks at his sister who has her toys spread around in the lounge. Emma is happy with her toys but when she hears her father asking her brother to play with her, her eyes spark. She looks at him with hopeful eyes. Juan can't say no to his father so he sighs and sits down.

"You can have this doll," Emma says, giving the most beautiful toy to her brother. "And this is her house,"

"I don't want it," Juan says.

"This one?" She offers him one of her other toys. Juan shakes his head. "I don't want to play," he says.

She looks at her face as if trying to read what her brother wants. Casper was busy making some calls to reschedule some of his business meetings.

"Which toy do you want?" Emma asks when she fails to figure out which toy would make her brother happy.

"I want to go to my room and study the book," he tells her.

She looks at his face for a moment before scooting towards him, sitting by his side. "Storybook?" she questions.

"Umm, yes," he replies in an attempt to put a full stop to her possible questions.

"I love stories," she says, sitting on her knees, resting her hands on her thighs. Juan looks at her face, blinking twice, and then shakes his head.

"I'm not telling you any stories," he tells her, sternly. Emma's eyebrows wrinkle and she pouts. "Please?"

"No!" he replies firmly.

"Ok," Emma says, shrugging her shoulders and then standing up. Juan feels bad for saying no to her, but his guilt evaporates when he sees his sister walking to their father. She waits for her father to cut the call so she can talk to him.

"Daddy," she says when Casper is done talking on the phone and puts it in his pocket.

"Yes," Casper replies, cupping her cheek.

Juan is feeling a little angry because he thinks that Emma is going to use their father to make him read the storybook to her.

"I'm sleepy," she says, rubbing her eyes.

Juan sighs, hearing this.

"Let's put you in the bed then," Casper says.

"But who is going to tell me the bedtime story?" she says. Juan shakes his head.

"Your Daddy," Casper declares.

"Why can't my brother read the story to me?" she asks, innocently.

"Sure he can," Casper says, looking at Juan.

"Come, Juan, read something good from your books to your sister," Casper asks him.

Juan closes his eyes, sighing, but then stands up and asks his sister to follow him. Emma claps in victory and follows her brother walking goofy.

Juan is an astounding good reader for his age. Even his school teachers praise his talent. One of them asked Juan to take the IQ test and the results were surprising. Casper is proud of his son, but Juan doesn't feel affected by any of these things in a good way. He hates attention and when he is put under the spotlight, he loathes every bit of it. Children dislike boarding schools, but he has been requesting his father to send him to a boarding school or somewhere away where he can be alone. It breaks Casper's heart every time and he avoids having this conversation with his son.