Roadside Romeo 🤍 Tin/Can

Chapter 14 ~ acceptance ~

"so ... your mother tells me you're engaged?" Chai Sons father said.

He was sitting in an armchair by the window in his bedroom with a blanket over his lap while Chai Son looked around the bedroom which had been adapted to cater for his father's needs, the four poster bed long gone in favor of a custom made orthopaedic bed that doubled as a hospital bed but looked more homely.

"yes father" Chai Son replied.

"I've heard good things about him, sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders, a self made man" the old man remarked

"so how are you anyway?" Chai Son didn't want to talk about Kallan with his father.

"do you even care? you disappear for months at a time and your mother and I never hear from you" his father said.

"perhaps if you had accepted that I wanted to be a mechanic in the first place instead of trying to mold me into the role of your successor" Chai Son replied.

"is that so wrong, mechanics are ten a penny, what man wouldn't want to sit at the helm of a multi million dollar corporation?"

"this man! I don't want to spend my life chained to a desk until nearly midnight every day and go home too exhausted to spend any time with my family"

"we always went on vacations" his father defended himself.

"I know we did but you were so tired you slept for most of them ... did you ever wonder how I became interested in cars in the first place? I spent the biggest part of my childhood in the garage with our driver helping him work on your cars"

"so what are you saying, that you loved the driver more than me?"

"no, I'm not saying that, of course I was fond of him but ... look, I do love you and I'm really grateful for everything you did for me and everything you continue to do but the business, it's your dream dad, not mine"

"so what are you going to do when I'm gone, sell it all before I've gone cold in my grave?"

"of course not, I'd never sell what you worked so hard to build, I'd probably hire someone else to run it in my stead ... have you heard of Matsumae Masahiro? he's one of Japan's wealthiest men and he lives in Thailand now with his Thai husband Wit, well Masahiro has people run all his companies back in Japan for him" Chai Son said.

"I may have heard of him yes, he's a lord or something isn't he?" Chai Son's father asked.

"yes dad he is, I knew his husband in university because we were both in the same department, coincidentally he's a mechanic as well"

"well, I guess you've made your mind up ... are you at least staying for dinner?"

"not tonight dad, I'm planning to formally propose to Kallan"

"then bring him to visit us before you go back up that god damn mountain, I want to meet my new son in law"

"yes father, I will" Chai Son said before heading back downstairs to have elevenses with his mother.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Chai Son couldn't help thinking, one down, one to go. He loved his parents but they drained him emotionally, it was constant pressure and he couldn't wait to get away after a visit.

He wasn't lying when he had told his father that he was grateful and he knew how fortunate he was but did that mean he had to sacrifice his life. Walking into the morning room where his mother was waiting, she stood up and approached him before kissing him on his cheek.

"Chai Son, did you have a pleasant visit with your father?" she asked.

"surprisingly yes, he looks well" Chai Son replied.