1 CHAPTER ONE.

Born in Houston Texas. I grew up in a family of five, my mom Adalyn Brown is a full time house wife, she's always been one for as long as I could remember. My dad Dylan Brown is a business man, he is never around.

My older brother and favorite person is Keith Brown he is three years older, and three times more fun than I am. We've got the cute but annoying one. Our lovely little sister Sophie Brown, I'm five years older than her and she is five times more annoying than anyone in my life.

Keith is the captain for his college football team, and I am the captain of my high school football team. We are both very athletic, but he is a better football player. Our parents loved American football and they made us love it too ever since we were little kids, we practiced a lot till we became really good at it.

Mom and dad were once our biggest fans, but that changed as time went by. Dad got so busy with work, he was always travelling around Europe and Asia for business. Mom joined a women's club, we never really knew what it was about, It got her out of the house most of the time but never got her in our games.

Keith and I got use to not seeing our parents in our games anymore. It never made us feel down and at some point we began to like not having them around, we played our games with determination to always win and we won most times. We supported and looked out for each other no matter what.

My friends would say I'm the most important student in Victoryville High, I'd often laugh when I hear them say that.

I'm Team captain and I've got the highest grade point average. I also got the most beautiful girl in my school, my girlfriend Kimberly Wright. She's the leader of our cheerleading squad and she's the second on the list of students with very high grade point average.

Kim got the most beautiful smile ever, I would often tease Keith, saying Kimberly was much more beautiful than his college girlfriend, Aubree Smith. He would agree with me but made sure to tell me they'll both have prettier kids together when they got married because he was more handsome than I am. We would go on to laugh about it, Keith was indeed the more handsome one, his brunette hair went well with his lanky built.

We've got two kinds of weekends in our family, the special weekends and the non-special weekends. The special weekends means dad will be home from Friday evening through Monday morning, they were only two of such weekends in a month, and in some months when dad was extremely busy with work there was only one or sometimes none of such weekends.

Keith and I loved the non-special weekends, it meant we didn't have to expect dad, even on most special weekends dad was always tired he would sometimes doze off when we were all having interesting conversations, mom would help him to bed. He'll be up early the next morning getting ready for an early flight to some country in Asia or Europe. Keith and I learnt how to make the best of a bad situation when it came to our dad. If we were both free we would go on long road trips with our girlfriends and end up having a great time.

Mom was also having a great time I guess. She had a best friend from the women's club she joined. She would sometimes bring Sophie along and they would both spend the non-special weekends in her best friend's mansion.

"Dad would love to speak with you guys regarding next week's special weekend." Mom said. Her eyes searched ours for the reaction she'd expect, but Keith and I were done reacting. We focused on our food and didn't say a word.

"What's he going to say this time?" Sophie asked in the most nonchalant way possible.

"Come on guys I think we should cut your dad some slack, he works hard to make sure we get everything we need and everything we want." Mom said, her eyes slowly began getting wet.

"Not everyone is as lucky as we are. You boys own expensive cars, we go on long vacations all around the world. We've got everything that would make one be associated with the word RICH, and it's all thanks to your dad's tireless hard work."

Mom gave "The speech" every time she felt we were being unfair to dad. It was her own way of coming to his defense, she would remind us of how lucky we were to be born rich, not having to worry about where to sleep, what to eat or what to wear.

She wasn't born rich like dad was. Mom's parents were poor local ranchers back then, her childhood was nothing like ours. She instilled good values in us, ergo we were never spoilt brats even though we got everything we wanted.

"What time would dad call?" Keith asked, while we began getting ready to leave the house.

"Dinner time" mom answered, holding back her tears.

We both gave mom a kiss on the cheek, and promised her we will be home before dinner so we can all wait together for dad's call, Keith told a joke that made mom and everyone laugh before we left the house.

Dad's call came in immediately after dinner, he apologized for not making it home last special weekend and said he'll be home next special weekend, he said we would all have a good time and promised he wouldn't be sleeping on us.

There was something new in dad's words, for the first time we heard him use the word PROMISE. He never promised when it came down to us and his availability.

Positive that dad would do all he said he would because he promised for the very first time, Keith and I didn't admit it to ourselves but we were excited and

looked forward to seeing him next special weekend.

Not sure if the promise word had the same effect on Sophie as it had on Keith and me, she became so excited after dad's call, dad probably said he'll buy her something she requested for, Sophie got the phone and moved far from everyone whenever she spoke with dad so no one would know what they talked about.

Friday came with excitement in the air and the promise of having a fun special weekend. Mom made sure everything was in order before dad's arrival.

We hadn't heard a word from dad and it was already getting dark, this was unusual, dad always gave his flight details or told us the exact time he'll be home on those special weekends he actually showed up. There was nothing of such this time, he couldn't be reached and no one knew what else to do.

At 8:25pm Friday night. Dad's first promise meant nothing anymore, it became obvious the man won't show up, mom had already began crying but we were too disappointed to comfort her, Sophie wasn't crying yet, but one could tell she would start pouring rain from her eyes any minute.

There was a strange feeling in the air at 8:32pm, dad's surprise arrival could have been pulled off perfectly if it wasn't for his one in a million perfume. We stared at each other with uncertain eyes, the scent in the air was unmistakably familiar.

"Dad's here!" Sophie said.

Mom's eyes quickly became desert dry like it wasn't filled with tears few moments ago. There was movement around the back of our house, Dad never came in through the back door.

The distinct scent in the air was stronger. It became clear that Dad was home.

"Daddy!" Sophie screamed. It sounded more like a very loud shriek to me and I wasn't alone on that thought, Keith covered both his ears while he managed to laugh as Sophie raced towards the back door and we followed behind.

Sophie's tears poured. "I thought you were not coming home dad." She said, clinging onto him. Keith and I gave dad a hug after Sophie and mom did, we were very excited. Dad explained that he was incommunicado because he wanted to surprise us, he laughed out loud when we mentioned we smelled his perfume meters away.

That special weekend was one of the best, if not the best. Dad showed up, he didn't sleep on us, Keith and I were so happy, infact we all were. Dad apologized for not spending more time with us, and then he promised again.

"From this moment on we are going to spend more time as a family just like we did when you boys were little." I PROMISE.

Dad took our happiness to another level, mom cried joyful tears. He was quickly becoming our favorite person just like old times. Everything felt so right, everything felt perfect, everyone was all smiles as I silently wished it stayed that way forever.