Your Never Fading Smile

Chapter 31

"That sorry excuse of a son... I raised him! I gave him everything! And that's how he repays me?!" Yelled angrily Noah's father once he had entered his house along with his wife.

"Daniel..."

"What is Hellen?"

The woman gave her husband a small but desperate frown as the next words that escaped her mouth, silenced Daniel for good. "Did you see the way he looked at us? Our own child looked at us with such a hatred... In so many years, he would always act indifferent but now... The first feeling he shows us is nothing but anger... Are we truly doing the right thing?" Questioned Hellen as the woman's and her child's words flashed through her mind. Daniel let out a sigh while rubbing tiredly his temples and spoke his own thoughts. "Of course we do! We are just offering him a better future. I don't want my child to starve to death just because he choose that stupid career."

"Oh yeah? The only thing I see you two do is to isolate your own child from the actual world and prevent him from having his own opinions and wants as a normal human being." Spoke suddenly Stefani, now walking down the stairs. Her blank expression turning for the first time in a long while into a furious glare.

"What do you think you are talking about Stefani? You think you know how it is to raise a child? You know nothing. It's Noah who's problematic. Look how perfectly fine you turned out." "...You think I'm fine?" Questioned Stefani. Her voice low and unsteady. "You think this is fine?! I constantly live in anxiety and work myself to death just because I am not allowed to do literally anything else! I hate this job, I hate this company and I hate both of you! But if working my ass off here and please both of you means that my brother would get a normal life, then so be it!"

Yelled Stefani towards her parents for the first time in her life. The loneliness and anxiety she felt since a child caused her to feel so much pain and sorrow, not only for her, but also for the brother she always tried to protect from their own parents.

"You two never actually cared about your kids but rather only desperately tried to keep a good reputation in the stranger's eyes! Your objective wasn't to have a happy family, but to have obedient kids who would inherit the company instead of someone who wasn't a Jefferson! Heck you don't even respect our sexualities! Is it wrong to love?!" "Stop that right here-" "I'm a lesbian!" Admitted Stefani and both of her parents froze, unable to mutter a word.

"Me and Noah grew up alone... Without having the so called special feeling of a happiness in this house... If you still think that this is the right way to raise a child, then I would kindly ask you to leave me and Noah and never bother us ever again." Stefani cried tears that she would never shed before. Her patience had reached its end. She finally felt like she could breath and watching the terrified faces of her so called parents, made her happy to the core.

"Was it truly like that?" "Hellen..." Warned Daniel his wife who was shedding tears and breaking her unfazed demeanor. "Answer me Stefani. Did you and your brother always felt like that?" She questioned and Stefani began to wipe away her own tears. "And so what? What are you gonna do about it? You both did your damage and there's hardly anything that can repay it."

Just then, Hellen walked forward towards Stefani and did something that surprised her for good. She gave her daughter a big and tight hug as Stefani stayed there frozen, unable to understand what her mother was doing. "You are right... I can't repay it. And it hurts me that I had to hear it first from strangers to realize my wronging. I must truly be a horrible parent. But... I want to change."

"Hellen!" Yelled Daniel and Hellen turned to face him. "We need to change Daniel! I don't want to loose my children. We failed as parents from our very first day. But it's not too late to change. I want to feel like the mother I never was! I want to make my children happy! I got too focused on my career that I even forgot how to be a decent human being! How could I talk like that about a child who had epilepsy as if he wasn't even a human!"

"What do you expect us to do after all those years Hellen..." "We are monsters Daniel. We simply need to kill ourselves and be reborn. For our children's sake." With that, Hellen walked towards her husband and took his hands into her own. "Give Noah a call." "I doubt he will pick up his phone." "Those are just excuses. Do you really want to loose both of your children?" A short silence followed after that, but soon enough the man finally gave in. "...Fine."

~~~

"Should I answer it?" "Maybe they finally changed their mind." Me and Noah were sitting on my bed while his phone kept ringing. "If they start talking shit again, I'm done." With those final words, Noah decided to answer the phone. His hand holding mine tightly.

"Noah..." His father's voice could be heard from the phone as I took in a small breath to calm down my anxiety. "Me and your mother would like to talk to you." "If it's about the company then-" "It is not. Please come home to talk... Take also that kid with you." Noah turned to give me a worried and rather questionable look while we both tried to understand the meaning behind his father's words.

"Okay..."

~~~

We arrived back at Noah's house and sat on the opposite couch of the one his parents were sitting. The atmosphere being heavy and awkward.

"First of all... We would like to apologize to you Liam." Spoke Noah's mother while she and her husband bowed sightly they heads. They are also apologizing to me? "We are deeply sorry for our harsh words. As for you Noah... We are deeply sorry. I know that our words and actions are unforgivable but we want to change." "Noah... We failed as your parents. I won't ask you anymore to work in this company. You can choose whatever you want as your life path and...we hope that you would give us another chance." They are apologizing... They are finally apologize and realized their mistakes. I gave Noah a small glance only to see his widening eyes slowly watering.

"This is a joke isn't it... It has to be a lie..." Muttered Noah as Stefani appeared from our right. "It's like a dream come true isn't it, kiddo?" She smiled warmly at her brother as Noah's dad turned his head towards me. "Liam you...are also welcomed into this family. We also realized that it's non of our business to meddle with your personal romantic life. Every person is free to choose who they love and that goes for you two as well." My eyes widened and I couldn't believe my eyes. We were accepted. My joy couldn't compare to Noah's as his tears kept running down his face while hiding it on my shoulder. He was overflowing with happiness.

"Let's start over. I'm Hellen, Noah's mother. It's a honor meeting my son's significant other." Smiled warmly Noah's mother as a few tears of joy escaped my own eyes. We are finally accepted! "My name is Liam Walker. It's a pleasure to meet you both." Then she walked towards us and took Noah into a tight hug. "I love you my son. I know that I never said it before... But let's do a new start. All of us." Then she also hugged me which I wasn't expecting at all but I was truly happy. "We promise to fix this. We ARE going to fix this. Together."

We've come a long way. It was hard but we managed to come in terms with our families. But this... Is just the beginning. We have more days of joy in our future.

I'm glad everything worked out...