Avol was already done packing his bags and was already waiting at the entrance of the building where the hidden corps was located. As he had already gone on numerous amounts of missions, he already knew his way around the place.
Five minutes later, Adrian drove by in his Dodge Charger 2019 model which was painted in with sleek black paint with little red highlights. He stopped beside Avol while telling him to hop in. Avol first put his bags in the back sit before he got in the passengers' seat without a word. Adrian just looked at him and smiled wryly before he started the car and drove off.
Inside the car, an awkward silence permeated the environment as neither father nor son spoke to each other. After some time, Adrian was the first to break the silence.
"You know you don't have to be so uptight when you're around me, after all this is a break. Its time for you to relax an unwind from the constant training and missions."
Avol just released a sigh before scratching the back of his head and giving his father a wry smile before saying.
"I guess I just got too used to getting orders from my superiors and having to be told what to do before doing it."
Adrian just looked at his son and spoke.
"Well, that's why this break was suggested. It's for you to unwind, relax and get back to normal society for a bit so that you don't get overcome by the job and also have a life outside the mission."
Avol just hummed a bit before relaxing into the chair and a comfortable silence could be felt between father and son. This continued for some time before Adrian added with a chuckle.
"We'll leave the questions for later as your mother will have my head for not letting her 'baby boy' get some rest before bombarding you with questions."
Avol just chuckled along with his father. After some time, they finally reached the Lancaster mansion and Adrian pressed a button in the car which led to the automatic gat being open before he drove in towards the garage where he parked the car. As the got out of the car, Adrian helped Avol with one of his bags as they walked towards the front door. Adrian pressed on the alarm bell and before long the front door was opened by Ariana who jumped at Avol to hug him. At first, his instincts told him to dodge but then his more rational side made him stay when his mother collided with him, almost causing the both of them to reach the floor. Adrian, seeing this just smiled wryly as he had already expected this.
After mother and son finished hugging with Ariana peppering him with motherly kisses all over his face, they both went inside. Avol then took his bags and made his way towards his room when he heard his mother say.
"Avol, go wash up and get changed and then head down for dinner. It's been a while since we ate together at the dining table."
Avol just answered with an "okay" before continuing on to his room. When his was an earshot away, Ariana then turned towards Adrian and spoke.
"Oh, my poor baby. He's changed a lot. This is not what I wanted. Give my sweet Avol back!"
Adrian just smiled wryly before saying
"Dear, you know we had to do this for both his sake and ours. If this wasn't done, I fear what those old coots would do to him. It was our only option, you know."
Ariana answered.
"I know that! It's just he changed so much in these past two years and has seen stuff that kids his age probably wouldn't see their entire lives, forcing him to mature beyond his years. As a mother, I feel like I have failed in my role of taking care of him and raising him. I mean, he doesn't even have a single friend that is of his age."
Adrian just let out an exasperated sigh before walking towards his wife and hugging her waist from the back. He then spoke.
"I know. And I understand how you feel. Even I feel like I've failed him. After all, it's the job of the parent to secure the future of their children. But anytime I think about the situation of the Lancaster family and the business world, I'm always affirmed that this decision was the right one and it would help him in the long-run. All this is the sacrifice one must make as the heir of the Lancaster family. I've been there and I've experienced what he has and you were the one who brought me out of that dark place."
Seeing that his wife was still not convinced, he then added.
"How about this. Since he will be staying here for a month, we can try our best to make up for the lost time and as for the situation of friends his age, we can allow him play at the park few blocks away. I see a lot of kids play there every day so we can let him go play with them and get acquainted and if there is any of them, he takes interest in, he can be friends with them. And if he isn't able to make friends with any of them, we can have him try out helping out at the orphanage at the end of the street. I'm sure there should be at least someone he can make friends with. Although we would have to do a proper investigation on said child or children. After all, some heartless people use their children to get benefits. Who's to say they won't do so in this situation. And we can't let our son get hurt because of some greedy bastard now, can we?"
Ariana just hummed a bit and leaned into her husband's embrace before turning around and cupped his face before giving him a kiss and then said.
"Alright. Let's forget about all this for now and enjoy the one month we have with him."
Avol entered his room and put his bags in a corner before picking his towel and getting in the shower. When he was done, he got out of the shower and dried his body and hair before picking a set of basketball sleeveless and shorts before going down the stairs to join his family for dinner. The atmosphere during the meal was calm and comfortable with his parents asking few questions about his experience there as well as who he was close with.
The next day at about 5 am, Avol got dressed in a sweater and joggers before going for a run in the street. When he came back, it was already 7 am. and his parents were already awake, with his father already dressed and was already having breakfast while reading the newspaper. After greeting them, he went to take a shower before coming down again for breakfast. As he was having his breakfast, his father then spoke.
"So, your mother and I have been thinking of how you had to train and mature early and we've seen how you have no friends your age. So we thought maybe you should go to the park close by and probably play with the kids your age that are there. And if you can't, maybe you can try out the orphanage at the end of the street. Just to socialize with kids your age and probably make a friend."
Avol just smiled and agreed with them seeing their good intentions, after all he was also concerned about this and felt that after he was done with his five-year training, it might get awkward integrating back with society. He also made it his goal to make at least one friend before the end of his month-long break.
After having their breakfast, Avol's parents left the house, but not before receiving a long and hard hug from his mother while also telling him to take care of himself and telling him to call in case he needed something or something happened. After Avol assured them that he would be alright, he bid them farewell before going to his room to check his calendar of things he had to do today. When he saw that he didn't have anything else to do, he finally came to terms that he was no longer in the training camp, at least not for the next month. Seeing this, he got changed into something fitting for the park before heading there.