***
It's been an evenly vacation for Damon. Morning light shined bright through the tall glass windows casting a soft glow across the dining room. The room was awake but unhurried. Somewhere in the distance, a kettle clicked off. The smell of toast and bleed coffee lingered in the air.
Damon sat at the breakfast table, sleeves rolled up, posture relaxed but his mind somewhere else. Across from him, his mom flipped through her tablet, glasses perched lightly on her nose. Victoria looked so composed, she has always been that way . A neatly styled pony tail, robe perfectly fitted, the kind of woman who carried authority without raising her voice.
"You're so quiet son, are you okay ?" She asked , finally setting the table aside .
Damon smiled faintly. " Just thinking mom" . She poured some coffee before he could ask. There's just something about the way her mom usually pampered him even if he was grown.
"New semesters always does that to you"
He nodded , wrapping his fingers around the mug. The warmth grounded him .
"I spoke with someone yesterday", she continued, casually buttering her toast. "There's a place waiting for you when you're ready, Just go to school, graduate. Not just a graduation but with good grades, I got plans for you my handsome boy. I love you so much…you're so much like your father, your nose reminds me alot about him I can't even lie"
Damon paused as his mom's words bounced back and forth in his ear drums.
She reached into the pocket of her robe and placed something on the table between them.
A car key.
Damon stared at it, then at her. "Mom—"
"It's not a gift," she cut in gently. "It's a responsibility."
She met his eyes then, not the woman the world bowed to but his mother.
"All I ask," she continued, "is that you stay focused. No distractions. No bad company pulling you off course. You're smart, Damon, but ambition needs discipline to survive."
Her words settled quietly into him.
"I'll do better," he said. "I want more than just… drifting."
She nodded once, satisfied. "Good. The car is yours as long as you remember what it represents."
He picked up the key slowly, the weight of it heavier than metal.
"And remember," she added, softer now, "if something or someone threatens that focus, you walk away. Even if it's hard."
Damon hesitated for half a second.She noticed.
"Something on your mind?"
He shook his head. "No. Just… school."
She didn't push. She rarely did. Some lessons had to be lived.
Breakfast ended in silence but not the awkward kind. The kind that meant understanding. When Damon stood to leave, she adjusted his collar without thinking, an old habit she hadn't learned to let go of.
"Call me," she said. "No matter what."
"I will."
Outside, the morning air was cool, sharp against his skin. Damon unlocked the car, sliding into the driver's seat with a quiet exhale. As he pulled out of the driveway, the mansion shrank in the rearview mirror, the road ahead stretching wide and open.
A new semester. A new apartment. A cleaner life. Less noise. Better choices. Success felt closer than ever.
And yet…Thalma.
Her name surfaced the way it always did: uninvited, unavoidable. No matter how much he tried to bury it beneath ambition, it rose again. Her voice. Her quiet strength. The way she wrote herself into his life without trying.
He loved her. That truth had never changed, not during the distance, not during the silence, not even now…
To be continued...