Wines And Guns

54.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

His mother was joined by a few of his father's buisness partners who had brought their kids over with them for the party and his father himself. Despite still being just a teenager he was unofficially announced as the next heir in line of his family who would manage all the work and take up the buisness in future. His father had never explicitly told or shown him any of the real work they did under the table but it wasn't hard to guess for him. He had already seen people die infront of him and much more worse things. He saw how people loved to smile and brighten up around him more often than when Khun was still the expectant heir. He was spoilt rotten with sweet compliments which made him feel more awkward and shy than delighted. He preferred to keep things to himself now, his father assumed it was just normal teenage things but it was mostly because with the new rise of maturity and realisation he could sense the fact that there was no place for childishness and immaturity left in his life. People had expectations from him. He was still very young but he was being judged and observed by those surrounding him and it often tired him out. During family gatherings his uncle nagged him not to be too silly, too loud, or fussy because he had a reputation to build for himself now. In these elaborate parties he had to continue the usual formalities of smiling, talking and greeting people till his face hurt. He had excused himself from the presence of his parents and their guests for a moment so he could breathe for some time. What was really drawing his attention in the current party was the singer and musicians hired by his father. The lady had an angelic voice and the violinists that played along her singing only elevated the entire performance. Despite the sweet lyrics of the song, the music was quiet energetic and beautiful. Very few people were actually paying attention to the musicians and he was one of them. He found himself so mesmerized and lost after a moment that he didn't realise when he had started to sing along the lady. He hadn't sang anything for a very long time but this felt so natural and real. The singer noticed him and gestured for him to come up to her and he did. There were some claps as he sang and danced along with the lady who was very happy and cheerful to have him dance with her. He was feeling this level of happiness after a long time and was so lost in the moment that he didn't realise how quiet everyone in the room was. Soon he someone break into laughter. It was one of the guests. Very quickly the entire room was filled with low murmurings and laughs. While the adults tried to conceal themselves, their kids didn't hold back in bursting into fits of laughter. Everyone was laughing at him for his ridiculous singing as his parents looked on concerned. The violinists had stopped playing and staring at him, only the lady gave him a sympathetic smile and told him that she very much enjoyed dancing and singing with him. He excused himself from the room after that and went outside ignoring Khun who had tried to console him. After stepping outside he covered his eyes with his hand and tried to shallow the lump in his throat. Just because his parents didn't yell at him didn't mean that they were not ashamed and disappointed. He was ashamed of himself at the moment. All they had was due to his father's years of hardwork and he couldn't even bring himself to behave properly so his parents could reassured that he would be a good leader in future. All he had done was run away from embarassments. He could see his bodyguards running upto him to make sure he was safe.

"Sir-"

"I'm coming back. You don't need to be here".

It felt strange to give commands to men double his age but he was getting used to it. He had to go back and own up to his actions rather than expecting his parents to deal with the embarassment for him. The rest of the night was filled with phony compliments and sarcastic remarks from everyone that he had to take up with a smile. There were small reassurances from his mother and brother but he brushed it off. He wasn't supposed to be acting like a child even though he was one. After the guests started leaving he sneaked off to one of their pools. The water always seemed to soothe him in a way. The place was quiet as he had managed to keep his bodyguards away for a while.