Sometimes, there are circumstances where you shouldn't talk.
Sometimes, you just don't want to talk.
And sometimes… you feel like you will die if you say a single word.
Now was that time.
Sitting on a lavish dining table, filled with arrays of tantalizing dishes and aromatic food. But the mood on the table was polar opposite of it.
Pin-drop silence was across the table and four people occupied the table, namely, Jeremy, Linda, Michael and Matthew.
Michael casually picked up a fork and stabbed it into his beef lasagna. But with a single glare from his mother, he quickly dropped the fork and looked up from his plate, despite his growling stomach.
Matthew, the father of Luke and Michael, joined his hands and began to recite prayers without even acknowledging Jeremy's presence.
Unlike his expectations, Luke's family looked nothing like Luke. His mother looked like a sexy supermodel with her perfect hourglass figure and no wrinkle on her charming face.
Matthew, although slightly tired and having some wrinkles, his facial muscles were taut and defined, giving his jaw a sharp edge. His eyes were penetrating and a deep blue, while his tall body was built lean, with slight fat growing due to his corporate work.
And Michael, as if inheriting the good looks from both his mom and dad, was handsome, to say the least. His jaw was sharp and his eyes were piercing Teal. His body, although shorter than Matthew's by a few inches, was much more leaner and defined.
'Tsk such good genes and still I look like this?' Annoyed, the picture of himself flashed in his mind. How the hell was he stuck with such trash looks when both his parents look like models?
Did his mother fuck with an orc to birth him or what?
"Amen."
After the prayer, Matthew calmly picked up a knife and a fork, cutting his steak perfectly.
"What brings you here, Luke?" His voice contained no warmth, but strangely, no coldness either. It was flat, as if he didn't even consider Luke a human.
"Signatures for my field trip, fa- sir." Jeremy held back from calling his father as father, and instead went for a formal response.
"NO-" Michael instantly jumped when Jeremy mentioned the trip, but one gaze from Linda was enough to silence him.
'Sir.' Matthew laughed in his mind at what Luke just called him, he didn't care. He always hated when the ugly swine used to call him as father and run towards him like a lost puppy.
But it seems the puppy is finally smarter now.
"And why is that, Luke?" Matthew chewed the piece of food and didn't speak till he swallowed it, "Michael doesn't want you there with him."
"Yeah, and I don't want to become an engineer. I am studying to become one, am I not?" Jeremy laughed dryly, "Sometimes you don't get what you want."
Speaking that, Jeremy turned to look at his tall younger brother in his eyes,
"So stop being a little bitch and be a man. Don't cry like a little girl and hide behind our parents."
Michael flamed and Linda glared at Jeremy, who paid no heed to her warning stares.
"Sir, I am not asking you for anything but the signatures." Jeremy pushed the plate away from himself and got up with a smile.
"You can keep your dinner where I am clearly not welcome, and I don't need a life in the mansion where the maids don't respect their masters. I only need your signatures, not even the 500$ fee that's supposed to be paid."
Michael was too scared to say anything, but he glanced at his father, almost begging, "Please no, dad." He said in a hushed tone.
"…" Matthew kept his eyes on the standing Luke and then glanced at his clean plate. Since the start of the dinner, Jeremy didn't serve anything on his own plate.
"You are dismissed." Matthew lowered his head and focused on eating, ignoring his son.
"Thank you, sir." Jeremy spun on his heels and walked towards the stairs heading into his own room.
"…"
As soon as Jeremy was gone, another suffocating pressure descended on the table where no one spoke until Matthew kept down his eating utensils neatly.
"Begging your father in front of others is not a noble-like trait, Mike." Matthew smoothed the crease in his suit and said.
"And calling your own son as 'others' is a noble-like trait, Mr. Orsics?" Linda, who had been silent from the start, turned to her husband and asked coldly.
"There is no way that ugly monstrosity is mine, Linda!" Matthew retorted.
"We took a DNA test, Mr. Orsics. Are you maybe accusing me of cheating, Matt?"
The temperature dropped a few more degrees until a sigh left Matthew's lips.
"Sorry, sweetheart." The cold persona shifted into a consoling tone, "What do you want me to do? I can't treat him like my own after the… shit he has pulled, Linda."
"Then so be it." Linda huffed, "He doesn't need your love or affection, he survived many years without it.
I want you to sign his form for the field trip."
"MOM! NO!" Michael whisper-screamed, in disbelief that his own mother was double-crossing him!
Didn't she tell him that she would brutally reject Luke?!
"Shut up, Michael Matthew Orsics." Linda turned to her bratty son coldly, "If you have so much problem with Luke going, then you can choose not to go. Stay here. Orsics Mansion is always open to you."
Although her words sounded sweet and lovely, her gaze was anything such.
*Sighhhh*
Another sigh left Matthew's lips and he got up from his seat, looking at his cold wife, "I will sign it, but I won't be the one to talk to him."
"Okay." Linda got up from her seat as well, leaving her plate there.
"I can talk to him myself." She then turned to Michael, "I know of those stupid notes you hang at his door, Mike. Don't let me see you do it again."
Michael nodded stiffly. And just when he thought his mother was done being angry, her voice dropped turned even colder.
"And who is the maid that cannot show respect to my son?"