CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35: THE FATHER AND THE FLAME

POV: James

12:00 PM — I Knew He Was Home

Milo didn’t say anything when he got back with the groceries.

Just looked at me.

That’s how I knew.

Aaron was in the house again.

He didn’t sneak in. He didn’t apologize right away.

He just existed here again — like this was something we were supposed to adjust to.

And God help me, part of me was... relieved.

Which made me even angrier.

12:15 PM — The Knock

I stood outside his room.

Knuckles curled. Not raised.

The door was half-open. He was sitting on the edge of the bed like he’d been waiting for me.

"Dad."

That word still worked on me. Still had power.

Even now.

12:17 PM — Silence First

I didn’t sit down.

I didn’t say hello.

He didn’t move.

So I asked:

"Do you want me to punch you?"

Aaron blinked. "What?"

"Because I’ve imagined it. Every day since you left."

He looked down.

"I imagined it in the garage. In the kitchen. In the backyard while I was watering the damn tomatoes."

He swallowed hard. "I deserve it."

"No. You don’t."

He looked up.

"You deserve something worse," I continued. "You deserve to sit with what you’ve done. Forever."

12:22 PM — The List

"I loved that woman," I said.

"I know."

"I gave her my name. My home. I raised you both in the same house."

"I know."

"I trusted her. And I trusted you."

He didn’t respond.

"And you both broke that. Quietly. Behind my back."

"I didn’t plan it."

"No," I said. "You just let it happen. That’s worse."

He flinched.

Good.

12:30 PM — The Truth I Never Wanted to Admit

"I should’ve seen it," I said.

"What?"

"You and her. The way you looked at each other. The way she softened around you. The way you lit up when she laughed."

Aaron sat up straighter. "It wasn’t supposed to happen like that."

"But it did," I snapped. "And now I don’t know what I hate more — the fact that you betrayed me, or the fact that you loved her so well she forgot she was mine."

That stunned him into silence.

Good.

12:36 PM — What I Came to Say

"But here’s the thing," I said after a long pause. "You’re still my son."

"I—" He choked up. "I don’t deserve that."

"I’m not saying you do."

I finally sat down beside him.

"I’m saying I still choose to be your father. Even now."

He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"I can’t fix what I did," he whispered.

"No," I said. "But you can live with it. You can do better. You can be better."

He nodded.

12:45 PM — The Question I Had to Ask

"Do you still love her?"

He didn’t answer.

So I asked again, slower.

"Do. You. Still. Love. Her?"

"I don’t know," he said. "Maybe I always will. But I’m not chasing her anymore."

That sounded honest.

And terribly sad.

And just honest enough for me to believe it.

12:48 PM — A New Kind of Silence

We didn’t talk after that.

Just sat there. Me and my son.

In a room full of pieces of a broken family.

But for the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel like a battlefield.

It felt like the aftermath.

The part where you sweep the glass.

And maybe — just maybe — start again.

📘 End of Chapter 35

💬 YOUR TURN!

The punch never came.

But the pain was real.

James finally faced his son — not as a victim, but as a father.

👇 Comment: Do you think Aaron’s redemption arc is really beginning now?

❤️ Like this Chapter if that line about "you loved her so well she forgot she was mine" punched you in the gut.

🔔 Follow now — because Chapter 36 is Milo’s secret... and it’s not what anyone expected.