Tristan’s POV
Seeing that ad on the internet just made me see red at that moment when I confronted Elona. I hate to see her and Monroe together. Another man touched her, and that looked too intimate, although I was there in person to see that photoshoot but still, I didn’t like it one bit. The other issue is that she might get expelled from school because he is her teacher and that is very inappropriate. I just hope that it doesn’t get to that point because I did try to warn her.
I shoved my phone in my pants pocket and entered the house. My parents’ car was parked in the driveway, and so I braced myself for my mother. I walked further into the house. My parents were seated at the dinner table. As I approached them, my mother gasped as she laid her eyes on me, jumping up with the chair screeching. She rushed to me and took me into her embrace.
“Hi, mom,” I said.
“Sweat pea, it’s so good to see you,” she pulled away to study me.
“Please, stop calling me that. I’m not a little boy anymore,” I stated with irritation.
“You will always be my sweet pea, you look wonderful,” she said. My father came to rescue me from her claws.
“Dad,” I said, and he took me into his embrace, but only for a few seconds and he pulled away.
“Good to see you again, Son.” he went to sit down again.
They were both aging gracefully with gray hair.
“Hey, Dad.” I looked over at Cris in the kitchen. She was making lunch, I assume.
I furrowed my brows, “Have you been to school today?” I asked. “I swear you were.”
“I jogged home because I didn’t want to be around Spooky and Elona,” she said. Well, she is the one who hurt him, I guess she is ashamed.
“So, how have you been?” Mother asked as I pulled a chair out and sat across from my mother.
“I’m okay besides the part of an older foster brother, care to explain that to me,” I said, getting straight to the point.
I heard Cris gasp behind me, but she needed to know, I don’t give a shit. “Well, your father and I were struggling with getting pregnant, and then we decided to adopt. It was a rough journey for us both. We met Austin, and he was just a sweet little boy. Papers and everything were approved. He was quiet most of the time, and so sensitive to everyone. We made sure to shower him with all the love in the world and showered him with anything that he wanted. We gave him everything, but then, eventually, I fell pregnant with you a few years later, and you became the center of our attention because we always wanted a child of our own. Our intention was not to leave out of anything. I guess he felt that way and he ran away. A neighbor in the area....an abandoned area came to bring him back, but he refused to put a foot in our house. I could see the hurt on his face and as I wanted to reach for him, he flinched and stepped back. I didn’t want that for him, but he held onto that neighbor. We made a deal that the neighbor would take care of him, but we just sent money every month until he was eighteen. We don’t know what happened to him but then, as he got older, we saw him in magazines as a model, and we were so proud that he made a name for himself. But we always lived with that guilt,” she said.
“I always thought that he would be an IT specialist or create games or something in that line because he was good at it. He would sit in front of the computer and play games, and he was just passionate about it all. But I guess life has different plans for us,” my father chimed in. But now the hacking makes more sense to me. It must be him, who ruin me.
“Why is he out to ruin me and steal from me? I did nothing to him but exist. I lost money with my company which I worked extremely hard for, and he took that away. Maybe if you both hadn’t made him feel the way he had felt, then none of this would’ve happened. I have to clean up the mess and I just wish that he can leave me alone,” I shook my head in disappointment. “Maybe we could’ve been a happy family with him too. But you both ruined that. Now he is ruining me.” I sighed.
“I’m so sorry,” my mother said with pure sadness in her eyes.
“I guess that’s too late. The damage is already done,” I said.
My father remained quiet, “We can try to fix this,” my mother pleaded.
“No, don’t do anything. I will deal with him. So, for how long will you be staying?” I asked.
“A week,” my father said.
“I think it’s time that you just live, Tristan. That huge part of the house has been abandoned ever since Estelle passed away. Do you still have that piano? Maybe you could play a tune for me sometime,” she gave me a faint smile.
"I’m done playing the piano, I have lost the ones I loved with it,” I sighed. I just feel like every time I play the piano, I lose the women I love so much. Estelle...Elona.
Cris appeared beside me and placed a brochure in front of me. It was a show that would be happening in two months. An orchestra will be playing and they also need a pianist. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m rusty and I’m not ready,” I said.
“You play such beautiful music with it. I am always in tears at the emotion that comes with it,” my mother smiled.
“I don’t wish to play it again. So let it go,” I said as I stood up.
“Just think about it,” my father said.
Instead, I ignored that topic, “You both can stay in the big section of the house, just do not go into mine and Estelle’s bedroom. Do not enter my old study room, those are off-limits,” I stated. I left mine and Estelle’s bedroom abandoned after her funeral. I didn’t want to touch anything, and that is why I moved into this smaller section of the house, like a smaller house attached to a much bigger house.
They just looked at me, sadness filled their eyes. I never let anyone else in that part of the house except for Elona and Cris when she needs time for herself or when she misses Estelle. A pang of hurt resurfaced, and I walked away to be alone.