Chapter 46: Dean’s POV

It’s almost five months since I’ve moved to the country, and I am yet to visit my parents. They’re on vacation most of the time and, frankly, I did not want to visit home. There’s nothing to do there, but I had been summoned. Yes, summoned. And I have a hunch why.

I wanted to bring Sky and Jax with me, but this isn’t the time. So, I drove alone to our house outside the city. Nothing has changed in the house I grew up in. Its Spanish inspired architecture never lost its charm.

“Lysander, son,” Dad greeted, enveloping me in his arms. My dad is a hugger.

“Son,” said Mom, who, like dad, gave me a hug.

The three of us walked into the house. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Thalia sitting in our living room.

“We have something to discuss, and we better do it inside,” said Dad.

My gut never failed me. It’s a good thing I came prepared for the occasion.

“Dean…” Thalia said, standing up from the couch. She looked at me with her doleful eyes and a tentative smile on her mouth. She looked so innocent, but I know she’s anything but.

Mom and Dad sat on their favorite two-seater chair; Thalia sat on the divan beside them. I took the chair opposite the three.

“Let’s cut the chase and go straight to the point. Why did you ask me to go here?”

“Dean, we have not seen you for a long time, why don’t we have dinner first.” Mom said, looking at me, then at Thalia.

“I already had dinner.”

“Alright then, let’s cut the chase, as you say, son. We want you and Thalia to get married.” My father’s statement should have come to me as a surprise, but it did not. I looked at Thalia with my icy eyes.

“Is that what you want?” I asked her. She only looked at her hands on her lap. She’s so good at this. When she did not say a word, I took it as my cue to continue. “That’s fine by me. Is the father of your child fine with it as well?”

“Lysander!” my parents said in unison. My mother had her hand on her mouth and my father pounded his fist on the armrest. Thalia snapped her head at me, her eyes as large as plates.

I took an envelope from my breast pocket and put it on the center table. Dad took it and read the contents in silence. He shook his head as he read the document.

“Really, Lysander, you’d go this low?”

“I know you’d say that and think I made it all up.” I said with an air of nonchalance. I stood up and tinkered on the television set and plugged a flash drive in before turning it on. In less than a minute, a montage of pictures flashed through the screen.

They’re Thalia’s pictures and her ex-boyfriend. They’re vacation photos, some candid shots, some photos with friends. Nothing seemed unusual about them but as more pictures flashed through the screen, the images became more intimate. Some even showed them in various stages of undress.

My parents still did not look bothered, and it did not surprise me. They probably thought this was part of Thalia’s job.

After the photo montage followed a video. From the angle of the camera, it’s obvious that it’s taken covertly. It’s such a stroke of luck that there was a digital clock displayed the date and the time in the background. It set the time of the event in such a perfect way that my father could not doubt its authenticity. The video showed Thalia and the male model having an intercourse.

Dad asked me to stop playing the video, which I obeyed. Thalia’s face was as white as paper when she looked at my parents.

Mom and Dad looked at her with their faces as red as tomatoes. “Do you have anything to say to us, Thalia?” asked my dad. He did not have any emotion in his voice.

As old as I am now, his tone still made my knees tremble. My dad might look calm but he’s a volcano waiting for eruption.

“Un-uncle…” she stuttered. Her tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at my father.

“Did you want to say something to us, Thalia?”

She bowed her head. Her shoulders shook and her breathing became labored. “I didn’t know what to do. My parents did not approve of him—”

“So you thought of forcing Lysander into this?”

“Un-uncle… I’m sorry. My dad would kill me—”

“Then you shouldn’t have entangled yourself with that man. This is unacceptable, Thalia. Did we ever treat you wrong?”

“Uncle, please,” she cried, kneeling in front of my dad. “Uncle, Aunt, my mom has a frail heart, and my dad, you know him…”

“Thalia, are you saying that we should sacrifice our son’s life? You need to own up to your actions, darling.” Mom said, her voice tender but devoid of warmth. She loved Thalia. She and her mother were friends.

“Auntie, please help me.”

“I can help you talk to your parents but there’s no way my son is owning up to another person’s responsibility.”

Thalia stood from the floor and wiped her tears. She pulled her back straight and walked out of our house with her head held high.

“I guess that’s it. I’m going. It’s nice seeing you, mom, dad.”

“Sit down, Lysander. We’re not done with you yet.” He signaled for his secretary to come and whispered something into his ear. After a while, his secretary handed him a brown envelope, which my father threw on the center table. From it spilled various photos. They’re all pictures of Sky and Jax together and sometimes with me.

“Care to explain, Lysander?” my father roared. This voice so loud the crystals in the chandelier shook.

“That’s my son and his mother.”

“Your son?” my mother asked, her voice high pitched. “Did I hear you right, Lysander? Your son?”

My dad would always address me as Lysander and mom as Dean. But when my mother used my full name, it only meant she’s angry or on the verge of being angry.

“Yes. Do you doubt it? I mean come on, mom. Look at him.” I said, picking up the photo where I held my son and gave it to my mother.

“When did you have a son?” she asked with a trembling voice, her eyes not leaving the photo she held.

“He’s two years old. I only knew about him a couple of months ago.”

“What?!?” my dad’s voice once again thundered in the room.

“I met his mother in Malta three years ago. She was a tourist. I have not seen her since. Had I not returned here, I would not have seen her again.”

“My god, Leandro, look at this boy, he’s a spitting image of Dean… Look.” Mom gave the photo she held to dad which he reluctantly took. His eyes scanned the photo and tenderness replaced the harshness in his eyes.

“I want to see him now,” dad said.