The Art of Second Chances (MxM) | WORKING TITLE (Coming Soon)

Chapter 2: Memories and Fantasies

(Dominic's POV, August 22, 2015)

The light coming from the chandelier gives the room a warm homey feeling, but for me this isn't my home, this is just another house. In this house, my almost perfect family of three is quietly having our dinner. 'Almost' being the operative word, because I'm only faking perfection. You know what they say: some people are real, some people are good, some are even fake but for me some people are just real good at being fake.

I tune out my parents conversation about the successful case my father won for the law firm. I mentally sigh and stand up so I can finally go finish the game I was playing on my Xbox.

"Leaving so soon dear? We haven't even talked about you yet," my mom says in her sickly-sweet voice.

"Sit back down, son, I need to talk to you too," my father adds with his perfectly white smile.

It's not like I have a choice, have I? It's always like this anyway. They say something, I listen, they command, I obey, they see something they don't like about me, they terminate the problem right there and then. I always tell myself to speak up, to do something, to finally get a backbone, but I can't, something bad always happens when I do.

"What about, dad?" I say sitting back down.

"About the law firm. You're in your 2nd year of law school and I want you to start interning there for experience," he replies. We aren't beating around the bush, are we dad?

As the only child, my father wanted me to continue the family legacy and become a lawyer like him at "Stevenson & Stephens" a company he co-owns with his best friend and my godfather, Benjamin Stephens. My dad, Damien met uncle Benji in high school, and from what I've heard, they were the school's dynamic duo. People said that they wouldn't go far with their dreams but look at them now, living the dream.

Unlike my dad with only one son, uncle Benji has three kids who are older than me, one of them could have followed in his footsteps for the company but they didn't. It's because they pursued their own careers, he encouraged his kids to pursue something different other than law. "Don't follow your dreams, chase them instead," he always said and he let his children follow that philosophy. Lucky them.

"Okay dad, I understand, but I'm only in my 2nd year. Won't people treat me differently?"

"They won't treat you differently son I assure you, and if they do you can always tell me," he replies.

"Thank you dad, I appreciate it," I say with fake enthusiasm. "But if they, in theory, treat me differently, I would rather prove them wrong instead of being a snitch to my old man."

"That's my boy!" he exclaims. I can finally make him proud again.

"If that's all, can I be excused now?"

Sweet freedom here I come! I don't have the strength to deal with this anymore; I hope I can get to my room without getting interrupte-.

"Not just yet young man, aren't you going to talk to your favorite mom?" my mother interrupts. Spoke too soon.

"You're my only mom," I say amused. I may have been wrong about going back to my room early, but at least I can talk to my mom casually unlike my daddy.

"But you might be secretly adopted and we found you with wolves," she suddenly gasps "Maybe you're a werewolf!"

Some of my friends tell me they always suffer from dad jokes, I suffer from mom jokes instead. I can't blame her though, my mother Angela owns the company "Dawn Designs" an interior design studio.

As an interior designer with lots of rich people clients, she absolutely needs to be friendly and perky. She might not wear those fancy dresses much but she has a smile that can make even the snobbiest bitch tremble because she believes that a smile is the prettiest thing you can wear.