Josh replied as his father stared at him quietly, "It wasn't meant to be heard by any of you. At least not yet."
The elder male spoke calmly trying to let him know he didn't resent him for hiding something he suspected already from years ago, "I'm not mad, Joseph. I know it's your life, your choices, and you're free to feel attracted to whoever you see fit. I'm just asking for a little regard towards your mother who is, clearly, not fond of it."
Josh frowned as he noticed by now his mother was most likely playing a fool, pretending to be unconscious just to listen to their conversation due her jaw tensed up ever so slightly when his father commented upon his answer.
At this point there was no turning back, he had to let it out and just wait for the sky to break above Earth, "Let's not lie to each other. Whenever this woulda come out to light she would've still found a way to make it about her even though it's my own life not hers."
His father interjected, stating a fact they already knew which hasn't changed even after many years, "Well, that's the way she's always been."
Josh said bluntly, without a hint of remorse, "Yeah, self-absorbed, egocentric, selfish, inconsiderate, resentful and critical. Everything has to be the way she wants, we must turn around her like she's the sun itself." Although his last remarks were sarcastic.
The elder male shook his head, his voice still serene, "She's your mother, Joseph."
Josh let out a snarl seeing how his mother refrained a smile from sneaking out as his father defended her, "Yeah, the woman who got you married to her, blindly. Jeez, are you ok with her controlling everything in your life?"
His father's eyes widened as he never thought how his own son described his marriage life, which surely took him by surprise, "She doesn't. I do–"
Josh let out a sigh, as his father was blind in love even after years, yet he thought it was necessary to let him know, "-As she pleases. I asked you for a favor so I could find a way to break off her clutches yet you submitted to her by helping her to sue an innocent person."
The elder intended to defend himself, "Son-" yet his son wasn't done.
Josh interrupted him, "Father. I thought I could trust you… I truly did, I've never asked for anything else yet you couldn't do this for me." disappointment clear in his voice as he muttered under his breath feeling betrayed.
The elder looked towards the window, far away in the distance trying to explain himself as he reminisced the little exchange he had with his wife and even after all the warnings she went through with her plans behind his back, "I'll be honest. I didn't know much about anything until we arrived here. All I knew is what you told me, I didn't know she was taking them to court already, that she even had a lawyer waiting here already."
Josh questioned himself out loud,"So you're telling me she acted on her own with someone else's help and you didn't know a thing about it?"
The elder nodded, dejected as he really thought she would not go overboard without his intervention yet he underestimated her.
So he replied, not knowing where to start, "Yeah no yeah! She just introduced us at the main gates by saying she was known by the family."
Josh interrupted again, more like correcting his father as her tale didn't make sense, "Which family? It's obvious it's not yours and hers, didn't she say she was raised by her grandma who used to live in a province, who oddly moved overseas and never had said once where to when I said I wanted to visit her. So I don't get what family she is on about."
His father went quiet whilst the woman on his lap pretended to come around, wincing, "Gerald… Gerald…"
Her voice was like sweet poison as she called for her husband, eyes closed, a hand over her face, to which Josh's father ran a hand over hers holding it gently.
The concern in his voice was clear as he answered her call, "I'm right here, Eva. Look at me".
Josh rolled his eyes, noticing getting his father out of this toxic marriage was going to take a lot as he couldn't realize how manipulative she is, entertaining the possibility he was a victim of her mind games too, frowning at the thought.
She spoke softly, a hand cupping her husband's cheek as she played him, "Oh Lord, I was dreaming then. I thought I lost you."
The elder asked concerned, "Did you have a nightmare?"
She nodded, looking down as if she were sad, humming as an answer. "Hmm", to which her husband reacted as she expected.
–"Oh poor–"
Josh spoke next seeing how tricky his mother could be, yet he kept a polite tone, "Good to know you're doing well, mother."
She frowned for a second yet smiled the next as if realizing her emotions reflected on her face, "I'm not easy to get rid off, son.."
Josh smiled back, yet it never reached his icy eyes, "I know, bad weed doesn't–"
His father interjected as he knew what came next in the saying, "Joseph."
Josh turned his back on them, walking over the desk, picking up a yellow folder which laid there, "Anyhow. If you're feeling better now we should talk about settling this mess out of court."
He finished his sentence turning around with the folder up in hand, the smile still dancing on his lips seeing how his mother's gaze shifted to an evil one.
"What for? For you to go chasing after that queentex latex beex?"
Josh's jaw clenched as her despective tone irked him, clear her problem was with Teo. However, his reaction made the woman suspicious as to why he even cared this much.
"I'm also doing this for the family. Do you have any idea how bad you'd look accusing someone under the pretext of your son being–"
He opened the folder to skim through the documents, looking for the cause of litigation there to read it out loud.
"--my bad, your son disappearing insea due to Mister Robbins' negligence and his crew lack of supervision in the cruise ending with–"
Josh finished reading the whole statement on paper, refusing to end that sentence verbally as he couldn't believe his mother was able to think such a thing.
She glared at her son, still on her husband's lap as she didn't want him to see the fury in her eyes, "You were missing for days! Was I supposed to wait longer before taking any sort of action?"
Josh gritted his teeth as she refused to admit her mistakes or even consider how heavy those words felt, especially coming from someone who was supposed to care about him, "No, but you, I can't even say the word. My own mother wishes for my demise, even if it's on paper it still hurts. Shouldn't you hold onto the hope of finding me safe and sound? Isn't that how parents are supposed to be?"
She rolled her eyes as she thought he was exaggerating even though she was the one who did it to convince people into following up her will, "Stop crying like a baby, you're here now. So it brought you back to us."
Josh wasn't satisfied with that answer as her nonchalant tone gave an I-don't-care vibe, "Yeah, but was it necessary to add the last part? Besides, if we take the reason for this trial then your statement is nullified as I'm standing here right now so you can't sue someone without a real cause."
She covered her face as if covering her eyes, her voice seemingly sad, "What about all the suffering I went through? Does the emotional trauma it left behind should just pass by as if nothing happened?"
Josh replied without fear of repercussions, "You can afford a therapist on your own so you don't need to go to such lengths throwing innocent people on the streets. You just do it for your own entertainment, taking away everything they own is not the way, mother."
The woman sat down by her husband's side to continue her attack, "Then what shall I do? Pretend everything was a bad dream? They should pay–"
Josh groaned, his boisterous voice echoing in the room like a thunder hitting the ground, "Pay for what? For something I chose myself? I decided to jump off the cruise because everything was better than staying another minute there playing to be your model son."
The woman gasped in horror as his father's eyes widened as he didn't expect that comeback, so Josh composed himself to keep on going, "Guess what, I don't regret it, it was the best decision I could've taken in my entire life."