Mirage [n.h.]

fifteen

From that familiar voice I quickly glanced up at the man towering over me. Tall, white complexion, shape of a nose just like mine. And the eyes, those deep brown eyes that I've known.

"Niall! It's you! I can't believe it!" His arms immediately went to cuddle me tightly. So tight that I couldn't even breathe. 

I removed his hold on me as I gave him a straight face. I'm not really happy seeing him. I can't believe I would see my own father here, in the city that never sleeps, where i'm pursuing my dreams.

Yes, I know he's living here in New York, but this place is too big for us to see each other and I swear to God, I never want to see him again after I learned that he filed divorce to my mom because he found a new girl to continue his life with. I mean, what kind of father does that, right? And from that moment on, I vowed that since my father stopped acting a father to our family, and since i'm the eldest, i'll be the one to support and give my mom and brother a nice life that my father failed to do. That's why I became a workaholic and boring man. Family first before myself.

My mind goes back to the situation right now, my father infront of me, looking happy that he sees me again while me is the complete opposite of his reaction right now, i'm angry that we see each other again.

I struggle on his strong grip to me, and I tried my best to remove myself to him. When I successfully removed his arms wrapped around me, I straigthen my clothes because maybe it became wrinkled on his hug. I stepped backwards to see him with astonished look painted on his face.

"Why?" he asks.

"Why what?" I retaliated.

"Why did you step off of my hold?" he clarifies.

"Are you kidding me?" I scoff and look to my right seeing people walking out of the restaurant I was in minutes ago, where I was talking with Liam, without knowing i'll be bumping with my most avoidable person outside. Those people don't have an idea of what's going on here, they don't know that there's a son and father argument happening at the moment.

I divert my attention back to my father again. He's still staring at me, following my every move, if i'll tell you.

"You filed a divorce to mom and left us to your other woman, you stopped giving us money or somekind of bullshit after months being with your new girl and you never contacted us or just maybe greeted us during our birthdays and if not to Aunt Lindsay, we wouldn't know that you transferred here in New York with your new family" I pause for awhile and catch my breath. Aunt Lindsay is his older sister, by the way.

"You cut our connections since then, we tried calling your old number before, and it will go to voicemail, and i'm sure as hell, you can see that we're calling, you're just ignoring us. So, we moved on, mom worked non-stop to give Cole and I's needs. And when I reached the age of fourteen, I worked already as a janitor in a fastfood chain at the same time studying. So, when I finished college, I really tried my best and applied to companies and worked my ass off" I again pause and continue, "I'm the father and son of the family when you left, so don't you fucking tell me why I struggled off of your hold awhile ago because what I did is just right, dad" I finish and really emphasize the word 'dad' in his face. I even not cared if i'm saying foul words infront of him already, I just want him to know what kind of mess we've been through when he left. It's his fault why we were living a dump life before. Today, it's different. We now have a decent life.

"I'm sorry, son" is all he can say. I chuckled and reply, "You'll say that now, when we all moved on and we're living peacefully now, away from each other?" I ask.

"Sorry" he again says. "I didn't mean those things. I didn't know you'll suffer that bad" he sighs.

"You didn't mean those?" I pause, scoff and talk, "Well, that's alright" I step forward, so we are now face to face. I can see a grin starting to grow on his face, why? Is he insane?