The One Kind of Love

It was the start of a beautiful day in the city of Magnolia as the sun was rising waking up the people. As the morning sunshine touched the city, people were waking up and the day already felt great. I woke up as sunshine-filled light in my room and birds was chirping at my window.

I started getting ready for the day. I prepared my red and black checkered polo along with my black jeans, white sneakers, and my favorite gray flat cap. Before taking a shower, I went to the kitchen to start breakfast. As I was starting to heat some water in the electric kettle, someone rings the doorbell in my apartment. I looked through the window to check who it was and to my surprise, it was my father. I never expected my father to visit me since he's always busy with work and he has a place of his own. He calls from time to time though to check up on me and tell me that he had deposited my allowance in my bank account. Instead of calling him “father”, I call him “dad” since that what I got used to. So, I walk to the door and opened it. As I look at him, I saw him wearing his casuals instead of smart casual clothing.

Dad: Good morning Freddie! Surprised to see your dad?

Freddie: Hey dad. I’m more than surprised. Do you want to go inside? I was just starting to cook some breakfast.

Dad: Sure! Cook some for your dad as well.

Freddie: Before we go inside, one question. Why are you in your casuals?

Dad: I forgot to tell you, I’m remotely working for a month since the office is under renovation.

As we went inside my apartment, I told dad to help himself with some coffee and grab a seat. As he was making coffee, I started to cut some ham and some bell pepper, grated some cheese, and whipped up some eggs then started to cook my omelet. As I finished cooking and served dad with my omelet, I sat down with him and started eating breakfast. As we were eating, I noticed that dad was staring at me with his food untouched.

Freddie: Is everything okay dad?

Dad: I’m just amazed at you son. You became independent all this time, I mean when I was your age, I was still dependent on your grandmother.

Freddie: I can’t believe it myself too. I thought I’m not gonna hold out that much but I slowly adapted and look at me now. Thank you though…

Dad: Thank you for what son?

Freddie: For understanding and helping me. You’re like the only one in the family that I can rely on, especially that mom is gone and probably somewhere happy now. She didn’t even care that I left home.

My hands turned into fists as I started to cry. Dad stood up from his seat, went to me, and hugged me from behind. As I hugged him back, I realized that I missed his hugs and how comfortable were they. He was the only one in the family who cared and loved me that much. He tells me that everything will be fine and he’ll spend more time with me as I stopped crying. We finished breakfast and dad told me that he was gonna do the dishes while I take a shower. Before I went to the bathroom, I told him that he can watch some television as he waits for me. I fixed my things since I need to go to Harmonix for my internship then took a shower. As I finished and went outside the room, I saw dad staring at one of my picture frames on the bookshelf. Then I noticed that tears started dripping from his face as he was smiling.

Freddie: Is everything okay dad?

Dad: I’m just happy seeing your smile in your pictures.

Freddie: We never had a proper picture did we. Our past selves were very serious back then, even in our family pictures.

Dad: You look so happy during that time.

Freddie: Yeah…

I started thinking about the other person in the picture though. How he was doing. I didn’t even get to talk to him this morning since I got a surprised visit from my dad. My phone suddenly rings and answered the call. It was my supervisor, he tells me that I need to get over there ASAP because I have urgent work to do. So, I told dad that I needed to go to my internship ASAP since my supervisor called me and told me it was urgent. Dad offered a ride since he’s gonna go to his place as well since he’s working remotely for a week or two and his boss called for a meeting after lunch.

We went to the car, locked the doors, put the keys in my bag, and went inside dad’s car. Since I’m not good at explaining directions that much, I turned on my phone and opened my GPS app to guide us there. To our surprise, it will take an hour and 30 minutes to reach the destination since there was construction on the road. I sent a text message to my supervisor saying that I will be late due to traffic and road construction. While we were on the road, we started making conversation and dad suddenly asked if I was in a relationship. I became anxious in answering the question because I haven’t told dad yet that I’m bisexual and in a relationship with a guy. I was nervous but I took a deep breath and answered dad’s question as calmly as possible.

Freddie: Dad, I haven’t told you this yet, but I’m a bisexual. And the guy in the picture frame you were looking at earlier is my boyfriend.

Dad: So, when are you gonna introduce me to your boyfriend?

Freddie: Maybe, by the time he gets back. He has a business trip to attend and probably be back by next week.

Dad: You two live together in the apartment?

Freddie: We still plan to, once I’m done with my senior year.

Dad: How come after senior year?

Freddie: Actually, we’re working in the same company. Internship rules also state that “No student shall have a relationship with his/her co-worker/s.” So, we’re still playing it safe though, so that there will be no conflicts or problems.

Dad: How do you spend your time together though, especially at work?

Freddie: We mostly spend time together away from school and during the night. When at work, we only act normal and keeping it professional as much as possible.

Dad: It’s a good thing that you two have a strong bond. Do you want to tell the story of how you two met while we’re stuck in traffic?

Freddie: Sure. It all started before my junior year internship.