Lunch Dates

Part 6

Nanon was speechless after Chimon and New showed him Arm and Namtan's tweets.

He was lost in his thoughts for a long time. He immediately thought of his family and how they would react to this if they found out. He was especially concerned about his father who was the most emotionally distant and prejudiced person he has ever met. He loves his father as much as the next person loves his own but they were never really close.

His father, Anthony Quizon, was very sociable and compassionate and almost saintly in front of other people. But to his family, especially to Nanon and his brother, he was often cold and cruel. He already disowned Nanon's brother just because of choosing not to finish his studies.

That's how strict his father was: either you follow everything he says or he'll disown you. Nanon felt goosebumps as he imagined his father discovering this twitter issue.

He will kill me, Nanon thought despondently.

Even after watching Nanon staring at the wall for so long, Chimon, New, and Jade all refused to leave him alone in his condo so they all huddled up at his living room.

They knew Nanon needed them.

---

At around midnight, the thing Nanon dreaded the most eventually happened.

His father called. He excused himself from his friends and went inside his room.

"Nanon, my secretary told me about posts on Twitter about you coming out as a gay guy. Tell me this is all a big mistake," Nanon's father sounded like he was about to start shouting in anger.

"Dad.." Nanon couldn't say anything. This wasn't how he planned to tell his parents about his sexuality but he also didn't want to lie. Not anymore.

"Nanon, tell me this was some kind of a stupid joke you kids are throwing around these days." Nanon's father couldn't have sounded more serious.

"Dad, I'm sorry. It's true. I'm g-"

"Don't even say that word to me. For heaven's sake Nanon! Do you know how big of a scandal this will be? What will people say? My eldest son is a good for nothing college dropout and now you, the only hope I have left of a successor turns out to be fucking gay!"

Nanon could only cry. He knew this would happen. It broke his heart but he knew for a long time this was exactly how his father would react.

"You know what, forget it. Starting right now, you're no longer part of this family. Leave my condo. Find another place to live. Leave the car. You have no right to enjoy my money when you couldn't even care about my reputation. I'm cancelling your credit cards and don't even think about receiving any more allowances from me. You have the guts to pursue your sordid immorality? Then you should be able to support yourself. Don't ever show your face to me again!"

---

Chimon, Jane and New could hear Nanon crying inside his room but waited patiently for a couple of minutes before finally knocking on his door.

"Non, can we come in?" Chimon asked.

When Nanon didn't answer, Chimon gently opened the door and saw Nanon sitting on the floor, crying like a child. He immediately sat beside him. Jane sat on Nanon's other side while New rushed to the kitchen to get some water.

They just sat there, patiently waiting for Nanon to calm down. A few minutes later, he shared what his father said with much difficulty.

They were all sobbing by the time he was finished.

"So I guess I'll have to move out tomorrow," Nanon said, bleakly.

"Come stay with me," Chimon volunteered right away. "I'll drive you to school and you can ride with me back to my place every day."