The November sun slithered in, uninvited, casually painting Mike's room in bright yellow. He cursed for not closing his curtains earlier last night. Grumbling for a minute, he sighed and stared at the ceiling for some time. Then, he pushed his warm duvet aside, and stretched widely, rubbing his stubble. 

Uni days are over. He mused over this sadly, as he rubbed absent-mindedly on his abs.

Back home from Harvard; Mike was persuaded by his father, Dennis Thompson, to take down the family business from his shoulders. 'I deserve retirement.' He used to say. And retirement he did deserve. For almost fifty years, Dennis has let his company flourish without any fail, even though loads of competitors came rubbing their shoulders.

Thompson publishing company; was founded by Jerry Thompson, Mike's grandfather and was taken over by his father. At first, it was solely a publishing firm where they dealt with good quality writings. But, slowly, as TV series started showing abnormal growth, Dennis focussed on publishing series out of prolific novels. The idea just escalated.

Dennis's father had died shortly after forming the company and all the burden came upon his shoulders. His desire to become an actor became just a dream. And now, as he was close to being seventy years of age, he wished to retire and settle down.

Even though the company was well respected and successful, Mike never felt it belonged to him. Mike wanted to have his own company, a fresh start. But, he couldn't bring himself to see the disappointment on his father's handsome face.

Longing for a shower, Mike walked in with a wild yawn and switched on the jet. The hot water rippled through his ripped body and it felt good. Everything about being back home felt good.

Draped just in a towel, inappropriately too low, he admired his body in the mirror. His father's reflection caught him off guard.

"So..." Dennis was always on point. No small talks.

"Soo..." Mike mimicked his dad and shook his hair, still dripping wet.

"Stop showering me with your gunk. And you graduated from Harvard."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Mike laughed.

"Have you decided my boy?" Dennis seemed impatient. His watery blue eyes bored into the back of Mike. He turned around and looked earnestly at his dad and sighed.

"Dad, do I have to do this?"

"It's been my father's dream company. Sad, he had to die too soon. This was not what I wanted. But, that's life. Sometimes, it doesn't go according to how you plan it."

"But dad..." Mike started but couldn't complete, "Ugh, alright." He murmured.

Dennis stood up with a start and did a happy dance. He looked cheerful and all the weariness evaporated.

"Don't make me change my decision."

"You won't. I know!" Dennis kissed Mike and walked outside with hands up in the air, doing a funny little dance.

Shaking his head, Mike grabbed what he saw first and started dressing. With pale blue jeans and black turtleneck, he looked simply dashing. Ruffling his hair with some coconut scented hair cream, he walked out whistling.

Sitting next to pops, Mike was happy to see his father cheerful. But, something about him was different now that he looked into it. Humming a special tune, Dennis was applying butter to his toast.

"You know, Mary, used to always feed me bread and butter. Never missed a day. She didn't prepare breakfast. Only this; bread and butter. Now, it doesn't quite taste the same. It's just..."

"Pops, stare into her portrait and eat. You will taste it."

Dennis's eyes swelled and put his toast down. "I can't look at her Mikey, it's just too painful."

Five years. It's been five years since his mother died and Dennis always welled up with the same emotion. "Pops, she never left."

He didn't reply. And Mike didn't say anything.

Finishing his breakfast, he asked, "I am going out. Do you wish to come?"

"You carry on. I have work to finish before we make the announcement. Oh, there are going to be some decent backlash. We will bite it when the show comes. You see! You are going to be extra. Excellent!"

"We will see about that."

________________________________________________________________________________