Her, To Home

“Mr Woodland would see you now.”

He raised his head and nodded. Standing up, he followed the young sectary in unhurried and unwilling steps. The file in his hand was clutched tightly and his face wasn’t as blank as he wanted it to be, the frost of his inner anger, frustration and fear, all were as clear as day. He almost wished that O’Brian was there with him but the thought left as soon as it came. He didn’t want her to see him this week, didn’t wanted himself to be so weak but his relation with his father had always been like that. Growing up, he always was simply his son in name. He didn’t have any memories of his father ever simply talking to him. It was either him scolding him or just staring down at him like he was a disappointment.

At that time, he didn’t understand and he still didn’t. He wasn’t a bad student; he wasn’t great but he was above average which could become good if he worked harder which also happened occasionally. He didn’t lack in strength, didn’t do anything out of context but yet his father’s dissatisfaction with him had no end. Later when it was rumored that he wasn’t his son, it felt more like that his father was simply waiting for the last landmine for him to step on to kick him out of the family rather than feeling the actual anger of betrayal.

He knew his father never believed for a second that he wasn’t his son. If his mother actually had guts to cheat on his father, he wouldn’t have been so miserable. He still sometimes wondered why his father wasn’t happy with him but he wanted to stop already. He didn’t want to think about these things, didn’t wanted to waste his time and emotions on answers he would never get. He wanted to concentrate on O’Brian with his all his attention. He wanted to build a different home with her, wanted to live a better life with her.

He paused his steps when the sectary did. They were waiting outside a large door when it was opened from inside by another woman. She let him enter alone and stepped out, closing the door behind. He wasn’t in a hurry to look at his father but simply walked closer and took a seat.

“I didn’t say you could sit.” His father’s silently heavy voice drawled out.

Dean raised his head and looked at the man which he admits, didn’t look much like him. His pale blonde hair was fading and Dean was glad that he wasn’t born with blonde hair. He has heard storied about how their fading hairline start quiet earlier then people with darker hair. He had grown older since he had last seen him but there was still an air of arrogance around him like the whole world owned him but somehow Dean felt the fear leave his bones like air just passing by. He wasn’t intimated by the old man.

The man was also staring deeply at him with a gaze which wasn’t losing his cool.

“I don’t need your permission to do anything. I don’t work for you.” Dean replied coldly but while looking him in the eye.

His father frowned but didn’t argue as he leaned back and said, “Your mother is expecting again.”

“Oh, and this time you believe the father is the butler?” Dean smiled.

The frost in his father’s eyes turned icier and leaned forward and spit out, “Are you mocking me? It seems you really are that woman’s son.”

“Mocking you? I won’t dare Mr Woodland. But considering that my mother never steps out of the house, the butler seems to be the obvious father of the child or are you implying that the child is yours? That doesn’t seem very likely because your probably don’t even remember who was the last women you slept with.”

His father stood up and smacked his hand on the table, his flared eyes were burning in anger as he shouted, “Shut up! How dare you talk to me like that?”

Dean stopped smiling and also stood up, his expressions turned cold as leaning down on the table with his hands and he asked softly, “Why wouldn’t I dare to speak like that? Are you someone I should be afraid of?”

“Dean Woodland!”

“It’s Dean O’Brian now, Mr Woodland.”

His father’s flared up eyes died down as he back away, staring at him wide eyes. Dean didn’t understand his surprise, he was the one who was abandoned by them. He didn’t want to read into things which didn’t exist so he sighed and picked up the file he had brought and threw it in front of his father.

“I am your son. Here is the DNA report. I don’t know why you hate me, why you never bothered to check but unfortunately, I have your dirty blood running in me. I don’t want to know anything anymore. I have accepted that you are my biological father and that cowardly woman is my mother but that is it. In future, I don’t want to do anything with you anymore.” Dean slowly said. His words weren’t rushed. He has waited a long time to end this so he had plenty of time. He wasn’t angry anymore either, he just wanted to get out of this place and return home.

His father didn’t move to look at the file. He was just staring at him, the emotions passing through eyes weren’t noticed by Dean because Dean didn’t care. He turned and walked out. His steps were unhurried but displayed an air of relaxation as he walked out of the door.

The first thing he did was text O’Brian. He smiled when he read her reply walked towards his car. He wanted to meet her as soon as possible but he didn’t want to bother her girl’s day out and since he also had commitments, there wasn’t any point of asking her to come back.

When he reached back home, Drake was already ready. Dean frowned as he watched his friend in a red silk shirt. He could never understand from where Drake took his fashion advises from.

“Do you think Madison Brown would be coming?” Drake asked, setting his hair once again.

“Who was that?” Dean asked while frowning.

Drake turned to look at him in disappointment and rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath. When he was finally satisfied, he looked at Dean who rolled his eye and stepped out of the house again.

Before starting to drive, he told O’Brian that he was on his way to the get together who in returned warned him not to drink. Dean grinned to himself, he hadn’t had more than one bottle of beer since forever but since her highness wasn’t happy with that either, of course he wasn’t going to drink.

The get-together was in an Italian restaurant around 20 minutes away. It wasn’t fancy but wasn’t casual either. When they arrived, there were already quite a few people there. He greeted everyone even though he hardly remembered anyone. Taking a seat with a known face, he sat down.

“Dude! When did you come back?” James asked while smacking his back.

Dean grinned and replied, “It has been a while. What have you been up to?”

“Managing the store, dad retired. It hell boring but then again, I don’t want to work harder either.” James replied in his usual laid back, lazy manner. He had always run away from anything which would require energy.

Dean laughed and shook hands with the incoming two men. He recognized both of them as well. The Jordan twins were big at games. They both had their wolfish grins as they leaned down from both of his sides.

“Heard you finally caught O’Brian, Dean.” Brian Jordan said, he was slightly taller than his twin but almost looked exactly like the other.

“Congrats. Must have been hard.” Jacob Jordan followed his brother.

“What? Dean you finally got together with Sara?” Someone shouted.

“No way! You old hag!” Someone else shouted.

And then suddenly everyone was saying something but he really couldn’t get a word in so he just grinned happily as he stuffed his face with garlic bread. The fact that he had been insanely in love with Sara wasn’t a secret. His classmates usually very obviously made fun of his one-sided love but Dean had never hidden his love for her so he didn’t really mind all the bickering and shouting. It was like being back in class again. His batch had always been very loud and noisy but as he was used to the noise, he let them celebrate his love life.

It was worth celebrating, his love was worth celebrating.

“Is everyone coming?” Someone asked.

“No, there are few who can’t make it.” Someone else replied.

The Jordan twins had already taken a seat near him and were trying to get everything out of him. He wasn’t polite with the details. He had always been willing to brag about O’Brian and now since he had finally turned his luck around by making her his, he wasn’t going to be stopped by anything so he loudly told the details of everything that has happened. Jordan twins weren’t the only one who were interested in how it actually went down. None of them asked where he had been but then again, the probably would have guessed the details.

Dean had started to get along with the wrong people very fast. It wasn’t like they were dangerous enough to kill around. The restaurant he had been working at had an owner who became curious about him and later took him under his wing. He wasn’t his most trusted man but he was capable so his rise in position moved up very fast but Dean was still unwilling to become too involved but it was good money, money nobody was willing to give him with his experience. He wanted to buy a place fast so he could have his own space, he didn’t want to burden O’Brian’s family or her.

When the owner died, his son took over but he got along with him as well so soon he was handling bigger jobs. They weren’t really mafia but just did business in a much savage manner. Lending money had always been a business which involved some level of force, especially when its lending money without question.

As he talking happily about how things have been with O’Brian, the crowd got larger. It was getting nosier and as the bottles of beer were drowned down, it got louder as well. The sound of carelessly loud laughter and shouting was probably disturbing the other guests but nobody stopped them.

It wasn’t until an hour passed before things finally calmed down. The food they had ordered was already served so the conversation slowed down a little as they ate.

“Have you guys heard about Jennet Parker?” A girl asked.

“Whose was that again?” Somebody else asked.

“Dude, remember the girl who was creepily obsessed with Dean?” Brian Jordan replied.

“What?” Dean was confused, he never remembered anyone like that. There had been girls who have hit on him but being obsessed with him? Even when it was known that he was madly in love with someone else, how could there be someone like that? There had been girls who had been stubborn but they always gave up in the end. His love was obvious enough for that.

“Don’t you remember? The girl who used to watch you all the fucking time? She had very long hair, kinda looked sick…?” James tried to remind him.

“Wait, I might have a picture of her somewhere. I swear that girl used to scare me.” A girl said and started doing something in her phone.Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.

“Anyway, what happened to her?” Someone asked the girl who had mentioned her in the first place.

“She got pregnant a few days before graduation. Almost around the time Dean left. I only find out later. She tried to kill herself a few times before her parents admitted her in the hospital for treatment.” The girl said, her voice held firm pity but Dean couldn’t find himself to feel anything.

“I don’t remember her.” Dean shrugged and bit down on his pizza slice.

“Of course, you don’t. You never had time from stalking Sara.” Someone laughed which Dean replied with a stupid grin.

“Found it!” The girl who had been trying to find her picture suddenly said and handed her cellphone around. When it reached Dean, he threw a careless glance at it and suddenly froze.

The girl standing in the parking lot was the carbon copy of someone he knew very well.

The blood drained from his face.

“Now that I remember, wasn’t her younger sister friends with Sara. Are they still friends?” Someone was asking him but he couldn’t hear anything. His whole body was like a live wire, buzzing but at the same time he felt numb down his bones. He wanted to run but his legs felt so lifeless that he wasn’t sure if he could move.

Everything was suddenly making sense, why she was so hostile with him, why she held such deep hatred for him.

Why she approached Sara.

His Sara.

Before he could understand what, he was doing, he was running for his life with his phone on his ear, begging for O’Brian to pick up.