Chapter 186 FATHER AND SON

Chapter 186 FATHER AND SON
Bohdi’s POV

Perhaps if Mom had known how those words would hit me she wouldn’t have said them. She would have swallowed them down and found something else to say to me.
“What? No. You can’t be.” Her voice dropped in horrified disbelief. “That’s disgusting.”
What?
The word hit me like a slap and I physically stepped back. My mouth parted soundlessly before I finally whispered, “I’m… disgusting?”
She finally seemed to realize what she’d said. Mom reached for me quickly, panic flashing across her face, but I stayed out of reach “No—that’s not what I meant. It’s just the wedding… your father—“
The kitchen suddenly felt too small, it was suffocating. I swallowed hard and looked away before she could see my eyes burning. “Father’s asking for me,” I muttered weakly.
Then I turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Gods. That went well.
I wondered how much worse it was going to go with Daddy dearest.
But inside me something was morphing.
It hurt so bad I thought I would be in tears. My heart pulsed so harshly in my chest, surely I should be crying, trying to relive the knot in my chest.
But no, my eyes were bone dry.
I knocked on the door of my father’s office, slowly. Then I went in, even though he didn’t say anything.
Father was positioned behind his heavy desk as usual, the room so dim his eyes were two glowing orbs staring at me. They watched me shut the door behind me, and walk up.
I bent, beginning to sit down when his voice thundered. “Stay standing.”
Oh Kay. I did, folding my hands behind my back. “You wanted to see me sir?”
“I called your school today,” he said, his teeth flashing as spat the words. “And they told me you graduated from nursing.”
The way he threw the word nursing at me, it was as if he wished it would knock me down dead.
“Care to explain?” He growled when I hadn’t said anything for a whole minute.
I don’t know why I did it. Usually I would never dare, nor in a million years. But perhaps the conversation with my mom had made me fatigued enough to be reckless.
“They’re right, I graduated from nursing. Congratulations to me.”
That was the wrong thing to say. I think I knew it before I said it. And I definitely confirmed it when his chair scraped back and he stood. He rounded the table, walked up to me.
“What manner of disrespect is this boy? You’re already on thin ice with me and I suggest you choose your next words wisely.”
I nodded, tramping down the sigh that nearly escaped me.
“You were supposed to be a doctor.”
“I’m not.”
Again, the wrong thing to say. His mouth tightened around the edges.
“I see,” he said, straightening. “Well,” he continued dismissively, “that won’t do. You’ll have to get a degree in business. Take over from me. If you can’t be a doctor you can at least be useful.”
I could at least be… “Nurses are useful!”

“They do grunt work. That is not a job that a son of mine will do.”

“I don’t want to be a doctor or a business man.” Especially a business man. And I had told him this before.

“This is not a discussion.”

“Yes it is! I don’t want to be stiff and soulless like you.”

I heard the slap before I felt it, but it was only when his palm connected with my jaw that I realised what it was. The force of the hit turned my head, and the action itself, more than the pain, made tears jump into my eyes.

Enough was enough.

What am I doing? What the fuck was this? Being pushed and dismissed at every turn, a simple foot soldier in my father’s grand plan. And my mother was complacent too, she would never stand up to him, not for me.

I scoffed under my breath. Maybe we were more similar than I’d originally thought. Surprising.

It was my father I’d originally thought I’d shared similarities with despite his harshness. The go-getter part of him, especially. My father had never met a problem he had not solved.

I raised my head. With a start, I realised that I had become one of those problems, something to solve, to mold into place. Maybe not consciously but Father must see me as a paid off investment that wasn’t paying off, and something needed to be tweaked.

But no. I was supposed to be their son, no strings attached.

I was so tired of it all. I couldn’t be that anymore, no matter what. I was about to get married, for fuck’s sake, to a woman I didn’t like.

I wouldn’t.

I wouldn’t do it.

I had been a coward for way too long.

I turned around, walked out of the office without another word. I went to my room and packed a few important things, taking my time to look around because Lord knows when I’d be back here.

Maybe not for a long time.

Maybe never.

But that was okay. This wasn’t a place I was comfortable in anymore. And if I was being honest, it hasn’t been for a long time. Besides there’d be able to find Bohdi Singh if they ever looked for him.

The door to my room shut with a click that was louder than usual. I didn’t see my mom as I went down the stairs and I was happy for it.

I got on a plane restless. I couldn’t stop bouncing my leg and occasionally picking at my nails with my teeth, a habit I hadn’t done since before I was adopted.

The plane landed late but I couldn’t wait. Bag in hand, I made my way down a familiar hallway and knocked on his door before I had the chance to chicken out.