7. Chapter 7 #2
“Now go to your room,” I command, watching him on the verge of tears, pushing himself off the sofa and running upstairs to his room. When the door slams behind him, I slump back on the sofa. Parenting was fucking hard, and I hated every minute of it.
I hated being the bad guy because what I said was really harsh, but someone had to be that person; I had to be the arsehole.
A big, grumpy, selfish arsehole because deep down it was all I was good at doing; I sat there accepting the fact that now, even my favourite person in the world hates me.
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Theo didn’t come out of his room all afternoon, apart from the world’s quickest pee break; then he ran straight back and closed the door again. I knew this because I have surveillance cameras throughout the house, which I can access from my home office.
Not including the guest bedrooms and bathrooms, obviously, because I wasn’t a creep.
But having the cameras around the house and in Theo’s bedroom while he was still young has served its purpose, especially with a potential stranger soon to be living in my home.
This was a necessary purchase where I could still be able to check up on him whilst I was working, so one of my dual screens had his bedroom camera set up.
Though, despite being mad at me, he didn’t act up at all. After reaching his room, it stung to watch him wipe his eyes. Then he sat on the floor and played with one of his Super Mario LEGO Sets, which he and Min-Joon had built before he left.
Theo barely made a sound, making me feel like a bigger arsehole than I already deemed myself to be, and his lack of excitement or even words made it almost impossible to focus on my work. The only thing I could do was stare at the screen with guilt.
After a few minutes of watching him, I got a text from Nigel saying he got that girl to sign the NDA and apologised for the late update, but to be fair, I was part of the reason why; leaving work in the middle of the day meant Nigel was left to pick up the slack.
I start to feel that maybe I was being too harsh on him, but quickly push that to the back of my mind, not bothering to reply and turning my phone face down and trying to get some work done.
Dinner time didn’t go any better. I made us spaghetti and meatballs from scratch, one of Theo’s favourites, but it hadn’t given me any good points like I thought it would. Both of us sat across from each other at the table, and he didn’t say a word.
Didn’t ask me to help him cut his meatballs; nodding or shook his head every time I tried to engage with him.
The frustration I’d felt from earlier was getting worse. I had so much work to do; my day had already gone off whack after what happened this morning, and now my little brother didn’t want anything to do with me.
These were the times when I actually did miss Min-Joon; he was an annoying little fucker, but even I couldn’t deny how good he was with Theo, and he always had a softer touch when it came to disciplining him.
I bet if he told Theo he wasn’t going to see that woman again, he wouldn’t be getting the silent treatment or getting rejected from helping him with his pjs.
Theo wasn’t even bothered that they were buttoned up wrong. The silent treatment continued during his bathroom routine, where he washed his own face and cleaned his teeth without my help.
It wasn’t until I tucked Theo into bed and offered him the chance of calling Min-Joon instead of his usual bedtime story. The little shit nodded so fast I thought his head would fall off and held back his smile, hearing the phone ringing.
Min-Joon picked up after the second ring, given it was currently 4 am, looking like he’d just woken up or possibly just got home after being at the lab. Nevertheless, he tousled his hair with a big smile on his face.
“Hey, munchkin!” Min-Joon sang as Theo snatched the phone out of my hand, and that big, bright smile that I hadn’t seen in over seven hours beamed through the phone; the happiness in his voice was the second punch to the chest I received today.
“Joonie!!” Theo sang, clutching my phone tightly in his little hands.
I no longer missed that fucker.
How dare he get a smile, and I get nothing?
“I miss you!!” he cries, frowning a little but still managing to keep his smile,
“I miss you so much more! How was your day?” Min-Joon asks. Theo goes silent, glancing at me as a silent indicator that he wanted me to leave. That this conversation was now private.
‘Fine, I know when I’m wanted. I rose from sitting on his bed and walked out, leaving the door open a crack so I could still hear everything, whilst I slumped on the wall next to the door. My arms crossed, standing outside in the hallway like I’d been sent out of class.
I listened to Theo talk about playing games with that woman, then getting his favourite sandwich from Subway, and about his evening playing with the LEGO they’d built.
He hadn’t complained once about spending his inset day in the office with me, but it was like he was silently complaining to Min-Joon about it, making me feel even more shitty than I already felt.
But I didn’t have much time to dwell on my thoughts as the sound of them whispering and giggling to each other pushed me off the edge.
I can’t listen to these two act like best friends.
Not when Theo was treating me like I was the villain. I’ve had enough of Min-Joon acting like he was perfect in every way and enough of this damn, stupid day.
“Okay, bud, it’s time to say goodnight,” I state, coming into the room. Theo shares a look with Min-Joon, one that only annoys me further because I have no idea what it means.
“Bye, Joonie, I love you,” Theo says, offering him one last smile.
“Goodnight, Munchkin, love you too, I’ll call you again soon, okay?” Min-Joon promises, making Theo nod his head in agreement, then loses his smile and hands the phone back to me.
He doesn’t even attempt to look at me after that; he just turns away, hitching the covers over his shoulder and turning to face the wall.
“Night, bud. Love you?” I say openly.
“Love you too.” He mumbles, but it was even lower than a whisper; if I weren’t standing a few feet away, I wouldn’t have heard it.
But considering it was the only thing I got out of him since our talk earlier, I just take it and rely on my willpower not to slam his door shut. I march down the hall and halfway down the stairs until I remember Min-Joon is still on the phone. I pull my arm up so he can see me.
“Hey,” I murmur, trying to convince him that nothing is wrong.
“What did you do to my little Munchkin?” he barks, frowning at me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and why do you keep calling him that stupid nickname?” I snap back at him.
“I call him that because he reminds me of the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz; they’re always happy and smiling, exactly what Theo should be doing and not being all sad and sulky. Now, what did you do to him?” Min-Joon asks, trying to act as if he has any authority over me.
“Nothing,” I grumble, stomping into my office. Neither of us speaks for the few minutes it takes for me to reach my office and rest my phone in its stand to keep it in place. Then I lean back in my chair, sighing away the weight of today.
“Who’s Luna?” He smirks, and I snap my head up to look at him.
“None of your fucking business. Change the subject, or I’m hanging up.”
“Nah, you’re going to fill me in on what’s going on because I can’t have my little Munchkin sad, and it has to be good considering how much of a grumpy bear you’re being right now,” he smirks again.
I know he wants me to react to his immature nickname, but I was going to ignore it, the same way I was choosing to ignore how well that pink blouse fit Luna’s curves during our deadly stare match this morning.
“Heard you got called a butt head today,” he adds with a chuckle.
“I’m hanging up,” I declare, leaning forward, attempting to do that very thing.
“Go ahead, I’ll just keep calling. If you turn off your phone, I’ll call your office phone and leave a dozen embarrassing messages, and once that’s done, I’ll call Nigel.
The question is, do you really wanna test me right now, bro?
” He asks way too proudly. The irritating part was that I knew he was being serious.
“You’re a pain in my arse.” I sulk at him, readjusting in my chair to get comfortable.
“Aww, I love you too, babe. Now tell me who this mystery girl is and why she has your boxers in a bunch,” he grins, shuffling to sit up against his headboard.
I groan, rubbing my hand over my face, knowing I have no choice in the matter, and maybe if I did talk it out with him, he’d be able to help me figure out how to get back on Theo’s good side.
“Fine. Lu-the woman he won’t stop going on about, interviewed to be his new Live-in Nanny.
Nigel was in the middle of her interview when Theo came bursting into the room, even though I told him to stay in my office until I got back.
He had a bathroom and snacks in there; there was no reason for him to go to Nigel unless it was an emergency.
” I explain, though I’m not sure why I needed to justify my actions to my best friend, since I was the adult in this situation, but then again, I, of all people, learned the hard way that just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you were right.
Maybe it was because Theo most likely already told Min-Joon his side of the story when they were whispering like teenage girls earlier.
“Dude, he’s six,” my best friend points out, like I didn’t already know that.
“Anyway, he barged in because he wanted Nigel to play games with him, but after he said no. He asked her to play with him, ignoring the countless discussions on why talking to strangers is bad.” I state, Min-Joon looks as if he wanted to say something but stays quiet.