The Bad Boy's Dirty Little Secret BL Chapter 110: Once A House, Now A Home

Night’s P.O.V

When I turned to look at my mother, I had this undeniable feeling that our family was going to crumble. There was no other way to go about it—what was the right way of proceeding with your life when you suddenly find out that the man of your family turned out to have never loved you at all? That instead he had someone else occupying his heart, whether he admitted it or not?

Thinking about it that way made me realize something else as well, the other side as to why my father had kept the truth. Just like Rosalie had said during her earlier fit, why would any woman want to waste her life being married to a gay man who could never love her the way she wants to be loved and never need her physically in the way that she wants to be needed?

My father hadn't held back on the truth not only because of his troubled past, but because he was holding this family together…because he didn’t want me to grow up with only one parent, facing prejudice or being bullied by others.

I shifted my gaze to Kai, giving into my strong urge to lean onto him for support. I felt lightheaded, like the entire world was spinning as its weight crushed down on me.

Kai sighed. “I never wished for things to unfold like this,” he admitted quietly. “I just thought… that if I confessed, if I brought Jonathan’s truth to light, then things would turn out for the better, and we could have our happy-ever-after. I thought everything else would be forgotten.”

I didn’t know what to say. Was there anything to say, anyway? What sort of words could I possibly tell him to make him feel better? I was too tired to come up with the response and settled instead on letting the silence between us do the talking.

But it turns out that my father had his own piece to say still. His voice still hoarse, he turned to face Kai and me, “It’s not your fault, kid.” He sighed, looking like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “You are still a child in comparison to me; I don’t expect you to make the right choices all the damn time. I should have just faced the truth and came out to my family long ago instead of hiding behind a false mask to hide my own pain.”

Next to him, my mother looked at him with sad eyes; I didn’t know if she was sad for him, or if she was sad for herself. But I saw the conflict in her eyes clearly. She was torn between choosing her own happiness and maybe keeping the family together.

He met my eye for a second before looking at my mother. “I owed the two of you at least that. I was your husband, your father, the supposed head of your house as the breadwinner. And yet I failed you both.” His breathing hitched, voice cracking, and he had to compose himself first before continuing, “I had been living in my grief, too caught up in that accident thirty years ago to realize that the rest of the world had moved forward and that I was hurting everyone around me in my efforts to protect myself and my family.”

I found myself clutching Kai’s arm tightly, my lips quivering as I tried to hold back my own emotions. My mother also buried her face in her hands. And by the way her chest heaved in and out with ragged breaths, it was clear that she was crying.

I was never particularly close with my mother, not until these past few days when we began eating dinner together in my room. As a child who had been left alone most of my life while my parents went on to build their company, I had always felt unwanted, almost like an afterthought to both of them, not knowing that my father had immersed into his work to forget Matthias and my mother had done so to forget the neglect from her husband.

I had never genuinely bonded with her until recently. Never seen her as a mother until we got to talking, spending more time together during my confinement.

But that didn’t diminish the pain I felt when I saw her crying in such a way. It hurt me to see her like this, even more so when she refused to let any of us see her sobbing, keeping her face hidden and pressed against her palms.

My father’s face softened but he did not put a hand on her to comfort her, as though he was afraid of making things worse. Like he knew she was at her limit, mentally and physically, and she was one touch away from shattering.

“If you want a divorce,” he told her gently, “then I will prepare it for you. I don’t blame you for wanting it. Just know that I will make sure you live the rest of your life comfortably.”

She didn’t respond, her face still hidden behind her hands. Was she even listening? Or could she barely hear him from over her cries?

He kept going anyway, like he trusted that she had an ear open, “I took away your chance at true happiness, at true love. I think you deserve to have a life of your own, outside this family, outside this marriage. You deserve to be able to get out there and enjoy life, in the way that you never got to do with me.”

“Stop it,” she said, her voice muffled but firm.

“I—sorry…?” My father stopped like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Quickly, she brought her shirt to her face and wiped her tears before finally meeting our eyes. Something in my heart twitched when I saw how bloodshot her eyes were.

“Stop talking like that,” she said sternly, glaring at my father, though there was no real power nor anger behind it. “Even though we never actually fell in love, I am still in a happy marriage, no matter which way you look at it. And that’s not something that most people can have, or only imagine having.”

She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Don’t discredit yourself for making it sound like you were the worst partner in the world. You are my friend and companion, and together, we have a wonderful son who looks up to us. What more, pray tell, could I possibly ask for? So, no. I don’t want to get a divorce. I don’t want to separate from you and Night.” She poked my father square on the chest. “You fool, I still want us to remain a family.”

If I was the same person that I was years ago, I honestly wouldn’t have felt any different. I wouldn’t have cared at all if the family that tormented me for so long broke apart.

But now….

Now, despite myself, I felt relieved to hear my mother say that she wanted to stay with us. It felt a lot like an immense weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Then my feet moved before I could think. One foot forward, followed by the other, until I suddenly found myself going over to where my parents were waiting with their arms wide open.

Finally, my inner child was healing. They were embracing me as a family. Whole and complete.

For the first time in forever, I could feel the warmth that I should have felt in the place I called home, in the arms of the people I called parents.

Home. This house was once my prison for so long. Now I could finally call it my home.

I met Kai’s eye and beckoned him forward, toward us, where he, too, was welcomed in a warm embrace by my family.