My Boyfriend Is A Geek ✔️

26: I just wish he'd give me a reason to hate him

And after enduring two to three minutes more of the awkward silence, we’d say our byes. Well, there were also the I love you's from him which I always left unanswered. 

Now though, I was saying, “he’s always the first to wish me on my birthdays. Never a minute early or late – always exactly at midnight. And he's never missed a single year. Not even once. 

And I know I might sound like a stupid rich brat, but sometimes, I just wish he'd give me a reason to hate him as a dad. But he hasn't. He was a horrible husband, but not a horrible dad. But I just feel like I need to be mad at him. It’s pretty crazy – I also don’t get it sometimes.”

If I was expecting Hawk to try comforting me by telling me something along the lines of how much my dad actually loved me – you know, the way Carla usually did, I was in for a big surprise. Instead, I felt his arms gently wrap around me, pulling me into his chest.

I didn’t protest, nor did I didn't make any teasing remarks, I simply accepted the silent comfort he offered, letting it wrap over me like a huge blanket.

Hawk, on his part, was now saying, “I can only imagine how hard it must have been, because you’re the one who’s had to deal with all that. And no one can understand it better than you.

But one thing I know is that parents can be complicated. Sometimes, you want them near you, other times you just want them to leave you alone, and at yet other times, you'll probably want to exchange them for other people.” He finished with a soft chuckle, and despite myself, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little too.

“You know, my parents, they’re…” He trailed off thoughtfully, as though trying to find the proper adjective to describe them. But in the end, he settled for: “they're crazy.”

“What?” I echoed between chortles, still quite in disbelief at his remark.

“No, it’s true,” he mused lightly. “My parents are a crazy duo. I mean, one time when I had the rash as a kid, my dad thought putting me in the fridge would help me ‘cool off.’”

“No,” I started, face beaming in amusement. 

But his response came as: “Yes.” And if anything, that just left us chuckling. “There's this picture of me from when I was about seven months old. My parents thought it'd be a good idea to photograph my first real food.” He made air quotes at the last two words before going on. 

“Only problem was that my first real food was corn on a cob. And it was so bad because I had literally one tooth, and I had a huge corn cob in front of me which I was expected to eat. Whenever I look at that picture, the only thing I think is: what the hell were my parents thinking? I mean, seriously, what were they thinking?”

I couldn't even reply if I tried; I was too busy bubbling with mirth to do so. 

Now, however, a small smile remained on his lips as he continued. “But I guess despite all that, they have their good sides – a lot of them actually. They had me when they were eighteen. Barely out of high school and they were already on the road to becoming parents. It wasn’t exactly easy, ‘cause they were still so young and inexperienced, and pretty broke too.” The last part came out as more of a chuckle.

“But they did their best in raising me. And it wasn’t any different when my sister came along two years later. Yes, they might have some…questionable parenting styles, but they're always there for us; they'd do anything for us. And I guess that’s one of the things I love about them.” 

Perhaps, it was because of the glint in his eyes, but I found a small smile make its way to my lips as I listened to him talk about his parents. “And besides,” he continued. “If you think about it, despite all their eccentricities, I still turned out pretty normal.”