On His Terms

<Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, but pain of love lasts for a lifetime>

|Kian|

Saturday, June 26, 2021

I LOATHED gatherings. With every fiber of my being. The only reason I was here was because Jared had begged me to. And there was no way I could intentionally miss the after-party for the christening of his third child.

Yes, my brother was on his third and I was on zero, like Father never failed to mention. Annoying piss of a man. Sliding my eyes across the head of the table, his seated form was even more infuriating.

I flicked a resentful gaze away from his person and studied my family members- the wonderful people- minus Dad- that made up the Fields clan.

Behind Jared's modest house, we were gathered round a table on which assortments of food were loaded, chit-chatting, huge beams of excitement on everyone's faces. Everyone except me, that is.

Beside my Father was his wife, my step-mom. Margaret. Graying hair styled in a coiff and dressed in a homely blue gown, she was on a phone call with her school's officials or whatever, I wasn't sure. Forever busy, she was.

Directly opposite me, Jared was cooing at his recent child, making a googly face at the infant while her mother, Zara carried her, an equally satisfied smile on her beautiful face. Then the twins, Leo and Leticia shoveled food into their mouths, white clothes long turned to a mixture of yellow, red, blue and brown. They sat next to their mom.

Children, I mused, grateful I had none but content to observe them.

Mounted behind tables randomly placed all over the mowed lawn, there were other relatives as well, mostly on Zara's side but I had no interest in knowing or interacting with them.

"Why is Uncle Kian so grumpy?" my nine year old nephew, Leo piped up, now munching on a chocolate bar. A blend of my brother's white genes and his wife's black ones, Leo's brown eyes were wide with curiosity.

Softening my stoic facial features into a smile, I let loose my stiff tongue, about to speak when my father intercepted in a sarcastic manner, "Your Uncle Kian is grumpy because he didn't give you a fellow cousin to play with right now."

The chatter died away, silence reigning. Leo's forehead furrowed in confusion while I shot Richard a glare. "Dad, not in front of the children–"

"Children–" Shaking his gelled hair, he bit into a chicken, chuckling, infusing an icy tone meant to mock me, "I don't see any of yours. And how can I? Not when you decided to stay unmarried and childless."

Why was this man relentless? He kept on holding to his stupid demands. It was damn maddening.

My jaw clenched, fists curving into a taut ball as I let the fork I held clatter to the plate. The appetite I'd been struggling to get a hold of disappeared entirely. "Dad, I didn't arrive here to indulge in your nonsense but if you want us to argue then I'll gladly oblige."

"Oh really," snickering, Richard hiked a glass to his lips. Watching him drink, I prayed to the fates that he would choke. Preferably to his death if he didn't let this re-marriage issue go.

"Dad." It was Jared this time. "The children." He nodded his head in the direction of little Grace, the girl of the day. A miniature bundle of joy, she laid, her tiny body nestled in the arms of her mom.

Father acknowledged this by raising his head. But he had to have the last word. "I'm disappointed you invited him, Jared. This occasion is for those who have a family, not otherwise."