Three Means Coffee

113

Błażej hoped to catch Krystian and Sylwia before they went to the mountains for a week. Although they initially planned to celebrate making it to the end of their first year of college and her good exam results, the plans fell apart.

However, they promised themselves that they would make up for it with a game night in the summer and invite Makary, Monika and Przemek. The latter finally officially became a couple, Błażej had the opportunity to talk to him several times and decided that he was a decent guy for his beloved cousin.

He found his friend and his girlfriend practically ready to go, which seemed almost impossible. Krystian had a tendency to do everything at the last minute or be late. Fortunately, Sylwia was able to set him straight and force him to get ready earlier.

"I'm glad you're still here again," said Błażej, rushing into the apartment.

"Miss me already?" Krystian laughed. "I know you can't live without me, but you need to become more independent."

"What else," muttered Błażej, watching Sylwia shake her head in pity, listening to their nagging. "I just wanted to wish you a good trip."

"Just admit that you would come with us if you could."

"Do you need a chaperone?"

Krystian looked at him furiously and then at the embarrassed Sylwia. Błażej smiled at them and pretended it was a completely innocent question. He saw that his friend was trying to come up with a sharp retort, but he temporarily ran out of energy. So he ran away to the room for a moment and took the book that Tymek had recently left and he was very keen to get it back.

"Anyway, have fun and rest," Błażej said with a smile as he said goodbye. "I have to go get Tymek. Send lots of photos."

Błażej, when picking up Tymek, noticed that the boy was a bit gloomy and clearly something happened at the kindergarten that made him think deeply about something. He took him to the playground, and in the meantime, he asked Makary if he could take him to the parrots to cheer me up a bit. The hazel-eyed left the keys to his apartment with Monika again at Błażej's request, but he planned to give one set to his beloved soon. But it was supposed to be a surprise.

Tymek cheered up a bit when he could spend some time with his favourite birds. Still, the look of contemplation returned to his face.

"Uncle, am I a bad person?"

"Why are you even considering this?" said Błażej in surprise, putting aside the pen with which he had crossed out everything he had planned for the date from the list.

The adult approached the boy and sat him on his lap, encouraging him to express his concerns.

"Because I like Przemek, and I shouldn't," said the boy. "He's not my dad, but he does a lot of things with me that I know from kindergarten that you do with your dad. I should love my real dad and not like any other man."

"Look, there's nothing wrong with it and you have every right to like whoever you like. Przemek is nice, isn't he, he treats you and mom well. Sometimes it happens that in the family we don't always get along. Sometimes it gets so bad that we can't talk to each other anymore." He fell silent for a moment, remembering his own relationship with his parents. "Your dad hurt your mom and you a lot, I know you feel like you have to love him, but you don't. I can't predict what your relationships will be like one day, but I want you to remember that when building them, you also have to look at yourself. Your mother and I want you to be happy, so I'm glad you told me about it and I think you can safely talk to your mother about it."

Tymek nodded, he didn't understand everything his uncle was saying, but he hugged him and decided to gather the courage to talk to his mother.