His mother rushed to her feet enraged, yelling at the top of her lungs, "So going after Tinkerbell was your plan all along? Risking the family."
Josh stopped her as she kept masking her true intentions behind random excuses, "Let's stop the family's name excuse, this whole thing is because of your pride and lack of tolerance towards others."
She bawled her fists, clenching her teeth before reacting to her son's provocations, "You didn't even deny you were chasing that thing.", her eyes reflecting pure hatred.
Josh realized he got too deep into the fight he forgot to let Teo out of it, so he tried to fix it using Jake's words to his advantage to build an excuse from there, "What I meant is: I knew about your intentions of setting me up with someone of your preference. I just took the chance to get away from there as you didn't expect me to. You knew jumping on the sea at night was risky and not many would do it, that's why you planned everything insea where you thought you'd have the upper hand."
She didn't even try to defend herself anymore as she had set her mind into getting her son cured, -she refused to admit her son had other preferences rather than the ones she had imposed on him all his life-, "If what I heard hours ago is true then I rather begone. You either marry a woman or–"
Mr. Johnson spoke before both of them said things they didn't mean out of rage, "Geneva, that's enough. We won't solve anything at this rate if you keep this up."
The woman kept her act as she wasn't willing to let it go until she got her way as she was used to, "Me? I was looking after our son yet you were just sitting there as if nothing happened. Am I the one who cares about this family?"
Josh warned his mother as he was as stubborn as the woman who brought him into this world, "Mother, this is a serious matter, not about my preferences but someone else's well being. If you take this case to court you'll be the one losing and the 'family' you care about will be divided. Do you want that?"
She snarled with a derisive tone, "What assures you that I'll be the one losing?"
Josh set the documents on his hand back on the table without even looking there, taking a step towards his parents with firm steps displaying his conviction to fight fire against fire, "The fact I'm standing here and I'll be the one you'll be facing on trial because if I'm there to give my own version of the story you will lose because this disparate you created never happened. If you wanna destroy someone then that one will be me, but trust me if you try to harm them I'll forget you're my mother."
She brought a hand to her chest pretending to be hurt yet she was boiling inside in pure rage, "Are you gonna defend those peasants? Denying your own mother over a random h–"
Josh stopped her as he noticed her eyes shone fiercely not hiding how mad she was, "It's nothing against you, mother. However, if my name is on display on that document doesn't it include me? We will be just two individuals fighting for different causes, one standing up for justice and the other one's rationality clouded by hatred."
This itched her the wrong way yet she had to play victim to keep her husband on her side, "All the years I've wasted all this years seeing you grow into a fine man just to be stabbed by my own son, the sleepless nights I spent taking care of you-"
Josh couldn't help but chuckle which made her stop talking to wonder what made him laugh, "C'mon. Are you talking about Nonna?", he meant his nanny, an elderly woman in her mid 50s who took care of him more than his own mother ever did as his own mother would rather assist to random social events than spend even a weekend with him when he was a kid.
She gritted her teeth yet kept her foolish acting playing offended, "Me. I am your mother. The one who raised you up. She was just your nanny, nothing else."
Josh smiled as he had fond memories of his childhood, he might not remember a lot but partly his beliefs and desire to be happy came from his nanny's teachings as she always encouraged him to do what makes him happy, to love life and fight for what he believed in, he couldn't imagine growing up in a household with the poisonous mindset his mother forced upon them, his father and himself, without having a source to show him the world was way better than the bubble where he lived in.
"She was more of a mother than you ever were, you might have brought me into this world, as you never get tired of reminding me of such action, yet that's all you did, because you've been telling me how to live my life ever since."
She snapped as she didn't like to lose control, "And you find it entertaining to rebel against me at every chance you get. Like right now, your wish of going against your own family for an unknown."
Josh grinned brightly, wishing to see how far she would go if this was her own kin the one testing her tolerance, "Is that even a question? Maybe I'm the kind of person you hate the most in this world because of that rebel streak, have you thought about that?"
She called upon her husband, not entertaining the thought of it being a possibility, "Gerald, do something! Be useful for once."
He stared at his son as he spoke then back to his wife. He knew he had been quiet but those two hardheaded weren't going to get into any sort of conciliation so he decided to keep on the sidelines a while ago, however, being called out after taking a neutral position was like standing at the edge of the abyss pondering which side to take whether he jumps in to find out what's out there or stays in his current position and just let the life pass by being an spectator of his own life.
Seeing the fire of life reflected on his son's eyes compared to the dull one in his own made him take the risk and jump to the abyss not measuring the consequences of his words by once in life, "I'll support you, son. You chose already, who am I to make you change your mind?, whatever your reasons were to follow that path, remember I'll always be proud of you."
Josh's fiery gaze became glossy as his father's words felt so sincere, happy to know at least one of them made him feel he wasn't walking the wrong path, he truly felt like crying but right now wasn't a good moment as his mother still was within the room.
"Thank, dad.", those were the words he could convey without bursting out in tears feeling moved.
Seeing this unfold edged his mother yet she kept her ire within to use it as fuel to plan her next move, "So I'm alone in it… I see how it is going to be…", her voice quiet, way too calm for her, picking up her bag from the seat, stomping out of the room, not turning back to spare them a single glance nor bidding them farewell.
They stared perplexed as she walked out of the room without adding anything else, a cold air snuck within the room through the open door resembling cold winter wind preceding a blizzard.
His father commented upon it as his son shivered as he wasn't fond of the cold, "You realized what we just got into, don't you?"
"I do… still won't back down."
His father patted his back, a kind smile soothing his tough expression, yet the wrinkles around his lips deepened a little, "wanna talk?"
The elder suggested to which Josh nodded, walking over to the black leather sofa in the office.
On another part of the building, coming out from the lift, the stiff woman walked towards the main gates, demeaning everyone on her way out, hailing a taxi once she got outside.
Fast dialing someone right after she got in the taxi, waiting for the other person to pick up.
She spoke as soon as the call was picked up, not giving time to the other person to speak, "Meet me at the barn in 30 minutes. Joseph is back."
The other person gasped at the other end as she kept her voice flat yet unwavering.
"Make sure none follows you there. We gotta fix this fast."
Just like that after her warning she cut off the call, dropping his device within her purse, her mystics eyes resembling like a nymph trying to lure in her next victim down the abyss as she plotted a new way to get the control over her family's lives.