Josef arrived in his father's house in a very unpleasant situation. The taxi pulled and dropped them few meters away from the barbecue shop of his father. It was placed between some other small restaurant, but that time there are no customers passing by and the owners of other shop beside his father stole glances on the convenience store where shouting voices could be heard from the outside.
When the neighbors saw the two of them walking towards the convenience store, they feigned that they're busy. But their curiosity got the best of them, and found theirselves looking at him.
"Ah, I think I should wait here," he said when they arrived at the curb.
His father didn't turned at him, his brows was knitted. He sighed and marched towards the convenience store. Josef stopped and put his hands on the pockets of his jacket.
"What are you doing?" His father asked.
"I'm staying aw-"
"This would be your home now on, you can't run away from it every time this thing happens," he said. "Follow me and I'll introduce you to the family."
Family, eh? Great, Lucas thought as he followed his father.
As they came closer, the voices became more clear. Lucas heard the words money, stole and slacker. His father opened the door loudly. I hope that door didn't broke.
A pocket of chips came flying to their direction. Josef dodged it and sighed and looked from where it dropped. He snatched it and was about to hand it to his father when he shouted.
"What the hell is happening inside here?"
"Paul, your fucking son I caught him stealing from the register," the woman who might be Emilia pointed at the boy standing casually at the corner of the store, his demeanor was unconcerned as if he didn't here at all what was said to him.
Perhaps his father had also noticed it when he turned to his son, Noah, "then why the hell would you shout?"
"Because he wouldn't listen to me!"
"You're scaring the customers woman," he said and to prove his point, he had slammed one of the stalls. Josef felt uncomfortable, he wondered why he was forced to watch this. The only reason he could think was God was punishing him.
The lady rolled his eyes exasperated, "I'm so done with this, if you dont want me to discipline that child then discipline it yourself! We always came back here every time this thing happened."
Paul was about to speak when his son turned and faced him, he wore a sly smile as he said. "I'm really sorry father, I shouldn't have done that. I just needed some money to buy some stuff but mother wouldn't give me any."
Josef watched as this Noah said it nonchalantly. As he was surveying his brother, Josef couldn't helped but notice the similarities of his feature to his father. It made him angry unreasonably.
His father turned to Emilia who was fixing her things, from the counter Josef also saw a little girl sitting in a stool looking directly at him with total indifference. Josef shivered, how come he didn't notice this girl all the time as it was staring to him.
"Why would you not give him money?"
"I'm going home Paul," he said and pulled the girl that must be Lian.
Emilia was walking straight at their direction when she abruptly stopped and noticed the presence of Josef peaking behind the door and standing tall beside his father.
"Who's this?"
Paul looks hardened on her, "it's him."
Enilia nodded, "your son, eh?" She looked at him briefly and bowed her head. "What a wonderul start it is, eh?"
"Emilia!"
But she passed and walked out without so much as a glance to either the three of them. Paul turned to Josef and glanced at his son who was picking the fallen bags of chips.
"Noah, I want you to meet Josef," he said.
Noah looked up and bowed his head without so much as a glance to him. "Would you give me the money, father?"
Despite Josef's attitude toward other people, he had never saw someone who was asking money to their father sounding as if he owed him that he asked for money! Perhaps he had stared at Noah for too long. He looked at him with curiosity.
He sneered at him, as if he knew something that he didn't. Josef was taken a back. If it was on the street he would walked to that boy nonetheless and snatched his shoulder and smashed his face on that rack until he pleased for him to stopped. That was how Josef would do it, hadn't it was his first time here. Perhaps some other time if he had stayed here for too long.
He stared at him, challenging him. Noah averted his gaze and stared at his ather. Doesn't mean it's your house, I wouldn't fought back.
Noah didn't dare looked at him from the rest of the time. Due to Emilia walking out, Josef was asked by Paul to helped in fixing the shop. He sighed and started picking the stuff that had been scattered around the shop. When he was finished. His father asked him to sit on the chair beside Noah.
At that moment, Josef was so annoyed already that he knew to his self that if this childish shit do anything to provoke him, he would gladly take it and smack the shit out of him. So instead he asked if he could be outside for fresh air. Paul agreed.
The cold made him shivered. Josef sighed and sat on the curb. The people on the neighboring shops looked at him curiously. When he turned left, Josef caught a girl that must be in his age looking at him. The girl averted her gaze with a blush.
He stayed there for some minute, enjoying the quietness of his surrounding and listening to the sound of boiling water and sizzling fire from the other shops. Josef sighed, he was thinking if he should smoke or not, but he was being fidgety and being inside that store stressed him. I deserved a smoke.
He sighed and get his cigarette box from the pocket of his jacket and lighted it. He don't care if his father caught him doing this or if Noah saw him do this.
Go tell your father, he thought as he puffed the smoke out of his mouth.
Josef heard from his back the sound of opening door. He looked back and saw Noah staring at him with evident confusion. Josef turned away and looked straight at the road in front of him. Cars passed and bikes passed by. On the sidewalks he saw a mother and child walking giddily.
The scenery pain him for no apparent reason. He closed his eyes and took a long draw on his cigarette before slowly puffing it out of his mouth. Restarining his self from seeing images on the gliding smoke in his front. Josef never tell it to anyone, but sometimes when he was so out of his senses while smoking, it felt like he was seeing bits of images formed in the smoke. Memories that unsettled him.
He didn't dare tell it to anyone, because it would only make him sound mad. And Josef had enough of people saying that he was too indifferent and stoic.
"You smoke?" Noah asked in disbelief.
"Obviously, why?"
"Father said you're different and... well smart," he said uncomfortably, as his eyes stared at the cigarette in his fingertips. He doesn't smoke, Josef figured out.
"I told your father I'm a so-so," Josef only said.