Vintage Diaries.

2. Carving

Ped stopped the car at the red signal.  "I am going to Cairo in the afternoon."

Earn looked at his father from the shotgun seat. "I know Papa. How long will you be gone for?"

"Maybe half a year." Ped looked at the red countdown on the signal.

Earn hummed in acknowledgement. "I wish I could come with you. I am going to miss you a lot." Thanks to his father's business trips like this, he had gotten to live in many different countries, learning new cultures and languages.

Ped flicked his son's forehead. "You are in high school now. You should be concentrating on your studies now."

"Khrab, Papa." Earn pouted. He knew his father wanted him to get admitted to the best university on merit.

"Be a good boy and take care of your Mom for me." The signal turned green and Ped drove forward. 

He might have been a good father but never a good husband. He knew that his wife had been in love with him while they got married, but he never felt the same way about her. It was purely a business marriage for him. 

He did try to make the marriage work. He only worsened everything in the end hurting his wife even more in the process. He appreciated that she was willing to stay by him without asking for anything other than her son's presence in her life.

But this also made him feel guilty. Ruairin had spent more than twenty years of her life with him. She had now changed from a beautiful young lady to a graceful middle-aged woman. 

All these years, he couldn't provide her with the love and care she longed for. That was why he suggested that she should try dating others and if she managed to find someone she liked, then he would give her a divorce.

It only made her even more upset, which ended up in a big argument in the morning. He didn't know why Ruairin wasn't willing to give herself a way out.

"I will, Papa." Earn was happy that his father still cared for his mother.

As far as he could remember, there had never been an instant that his parents had acted like a normal married couple. Never had he ever seen his parents holding hands or even sharing a room. They had strictly been 'his mother' and 'his father'.

The car stopped in front of the huge gate of the high school. 

'CRYSTAL SENIOR HIGH' the bold words were written with metallic letters on the brick wall.

"Have a safe trip, Papa. Love you a lot." Earn waved at his father.

"Love you, son." Ped waved back, watching his son enter the school gates. He drove back home. He had a flight to catch in a few hours.

✨✨✨

The day at school was the same for Earn as every other day. Boring and dull. Being a student who constantly changed schools, he wasn't really fond of making friends. He liked to be on his own. He couldn't handle attachments well.

Being the grandson of the Dean of the school wasn't helping either. The majority of the students who approached him had their own motives for doing so.

Thus, he stayed clear of any connections. He was friendly to everyone and interacted freely, but never made actual friends.

Sitting on the shaded portion of the rooftop, Earn munched on the pizza slice, enjoying the beauty of the greenery in the vast expanse of his school.

The school was founded by his great-great-grandfather and had existed for over a century. Every member of the Thanachart family was an alumnus of this school. That included both his parents.   

Being an alumnus of Crystal Senior High was like a matter of prestige for people in the wealthy circle. With the limited number of seats in the school, it was difficult for students to get admitted. The level of competition was high and tight irrespective of status. 

Having an impressive grade card with affluent skills in arts and sports made it a walk in the park for Earn to get admitted to the prestigious institution. He had inherited the best genes from his parents. He was the best mixture of the two of them. He excelled in studies and sports like his father and in arts and other communicative skills like his mother.

As the top student, teachers rarely cared about whatever he did. He was left to his own devices. He would either bunk class and go to explore the school campus or sleep in the class. No one would mess with him.

Tring

The electric bell rang announcing the end of the lunch break. Yet, Earn was in no mood to go back to the class. He lavishly finished his lunch, wiping off the extra sauce from his lips with a tissue.

He walked down the hallway, trying to find a good place to have his afternoon nap. Having gotten no sleep the previous night, he was starting to feel disoriented.

In the end, he decided to enter the forest groove behind the school. Students rarely went there. But Earn didn't care, he walked straight in.

The once clean path in between the trees was now covered with grass. He walked a bit and saw several stone benches placed near a stream of clear water. 

"Perfect." He muttered, loosening his necktie, he lay on the stone bench. Inhaling the fresh air, he felt calmer.

He lay facing the sky through the canopy of leaves of trees standing nearby. The area was shaded so the afternoon sun wasn't hurting his eyes.  

While looking around, his gaze fell on the scribbling on the stone bench. He didn't know if he should call it scribbling or carving. Anyway, he could see that the one who wrote it had spent a lot of energy to make sure that it remained visible on the stone surface forever.

The initials 'PAT' and 'DSS' were craved with a heart symbol in between.

"Childish." Earn commented with a chuckle. He was so sure that it was done by someone who was experiencing puppy love in their high school days, something he never got to experience.

He had always known that he was into boys, but he never actually developed feelings like a crush on anybody to date.

Maybe it had been due to the pressure of being a double heir resting on his shoulders that he had to be careful not to expose his preferences to others. Or maybe because he had never met someone who could move him.

But the idea of falling in love at such a young age seemed ridiculous to him. He felt that one wouldn't even be aware of what they want to do with life at his age, then how will they figure out what kind of partner they want in life?

Earn soon drifted off to sleep with the rustling sound of the tree branches and the sound of the flowing water as lullaby to him.