47This is the story that had some foreshadowing in the earlier chapters. I wonder if anyone figured this out? I hope so. Anyway, on with the story!
Out
Her voice was strangled. "How long has this been going on?" she released finally, an air of coldness circling her very words.
The man sighed. "I'm sorry." He looked truly guilty, but the anger and the hurt that he had caused her was way beyond an 'sorry' could have helped.
She bit back a tear. "Sorry? That's all you have to say? What about our family? About Neil?"
Neil stood by the door, his heart thudding with apprehension. His parents didn't know he was listening on their conversation. He had a feeling this was something very private and it wasn't exactly advisable to intrude in this. He swallowed - he had never heard his mother so wracked with hurt, or his father so guilty.
"I'm sorry," the man repeated again helplessly, as if there was nothing else worthy for him to say. "I didn't mean to. But it just happened, and it went on for so long..." Gazing at his wife's expression, he let out another heavy sigh. "Even before Neil was born, I met her."
His wife looked away bitterly. "And that's why you were late for Neil's birth. That's why you were so awkward holding him when he was a baby. That's why you were so awkward with me! You've been having this... this - thing with her for so long and you still dared to stay here?" She said 'thing', for she was worried if by chance Neil would come to hear of it, he would be positively heartbroken. She didn't know that her son was drinking in every word she was saying with paralleled dread.
The man wrung his hands. "I'm so sorry. But I have to go. I'm - I'm meeting her downstairs. We're going away."
For the first time in his life, Neil saw his mom tear. His heart halted. His father was going away? Why? How?
His mother choked back a sob with one hand covering her mouth. "Go ahead," she said, not meeting her husband's apologetic gaze. "I don't even know why you even stuck around this long."
His father must have been tired out from the apologies as he merely soundlessly picked up his luggage and turned to go -
- And froze when he saw his son dart into the room, blocking the only exit.
"Daddy? Where - where are you going?" Neil asked. Those seven-year-old eyes of a darling - no, handsome, his father had called him that - son blinked innocently up at his father.
No, that look of coldness and lost couldn't have belonged to his dad. He refused to believe it.
"I'm sorry, son. But I'm leaving." The phrase rung out through the night, piercing his eardrums.
His ears - were they not functioning properly? He was his father's beloved son, his handsome son, his loved son. And now his father was... leaving him?
His heart literally slowed and the sound all around him thudded hard in his ears.
The last look he had of his father was again one of guilt. In fact, maybe if Neil had stared more tearfully up at his father, maybe his father would have relented and stayed. Or at least this was what Neil often told himself.
But there was no stopping him as he walked out of the door - and out of their lives.
Eh. At this rate I'm going, I think I'm going to have to say that the titans aren't that different from each other. Judging from all this emotional writing I've been mostly doing, it would seem the thing they would have in common is tragic backgrounds, even Jay to a certain extent (as you will find out later). And no, it isn't that his sister dies - it would seem a little too cliched for me to do something like that.
Anyway, back to the story. In 'Handsome', when Neil is born, the father shows traces of awkwardness with his wife, probably because he's with someone else. Therefore, yeah his behaviour speaks volumes (or it turns out it doesn't, since no one guessed, eek) about what's going on. Eh, well this is a pretty cruel thing to do to young Neil - see, Neil even clings to what his father called him (handsome) like a life buoy when he grows into a teen. Still, this is a story of tragedy, hurt and comfort. I hope that these kind of things won't happen in real life, it's really sad.
Alright, I would love it if you could spare a couple ole' minutes to review, thanks!
