Family?Home?

1

Your father was a control freak.

Your TV was locked. You had no smartphone-or any phone, for that matter-and neither did your brother. Even using the computer to get schoolwork done had to be asked for permission, not to mention that there was a timer on before the entire system shut down by itself, set to accommodate whatever time you need to get what needed to be done.

Yet you and your brother got used to such an environment, and didn't complain. Much.

Instead you two found joy and peace elsewhere. Even if the screens remained untouched for months, it wouldn't occur to you to use it unless it was for the current joy in your life. Still, you felt like the house you lived in was more like a shelter, and warmth hardly passed between parents and offspring. More like guardians and orphans.

One Sunday night, your patience wore thin.

You and your brother always left your uniforms in the laundry room, where the steamer to iron the clothes always was. Eventually your father was tired of the two of you monopolizing the hangers and decided to set up some new rules in the house, one including having no more uniforms in the laundry room. Finally you tipped off. You were sick of him being unreasonable for all your life. Sure he was kind at times, but his tyranny in the house had crossed the line.

You snapped back at him about the room being public to all the family members, and he blew him top, demanding you to pay up the money to but the room. Then he started scolding you about being disrespectful, unable to think in a crisis and can only freeze, had to rely on him and Mother all the time, with no capabilities on your own, etc.

Before when you screwed up this bad you always froze and kept your head down, scared to fight back. Not this time. You stood straight, defiant, challenging. A few times your hand was twitching to wrap it around his neck, your knee itching to hit him in the stomach to show him how much you would freeze when you're in a crisis.

Still you kept yourself in check, just stood in defiance.

Five minutes later he understood that you were listening to none of it. He calmed down, miraculously, and muttered: "If you're not going to listen, then I have nothing left to say."

Even though he couldn't see, you gave him a nod of acknowledgement, and climbed the stairs up to your room to prepare for school the next day.