12

Alfred.

He walked closer to his father, their similar heights bringing them eye to eye. "Or is it perhaps something else that concerns you? Something you're not saying directly?"

"Don't play games with me, boy!" Sebastian's father exploded, his carefully maintained composure cracking. "It's just thirty days until the polls open! Thirty days until everything we've planned for years comes to fruition!"

He gestured wildly in my direction without actually looking at me. "If you get married to... to him, then you will lose everything we've worked for! The conservative base will abandon you overnight!"

His voice dropped to a harsh whisper that somehow everyone could still hear clearly. "I can see that the young man is breathtaking, very charming even - I'm not blind to his appeal. But this simply cannot happen! You have to cancel the wedding immediately!"

Sebastian's father was now openly shouting, his earlier restraint completely abandoned. His face had turned an alarming shade of red as he confronted his son, seemingly unconcerned about the audience witnessing his loss of control.

"The answer is no, Father. I'm sorry, but I won't be changing my mind," Sebastian replied quietly but firmly, his calm demeanor a stark contrast to his father's agitation.

Sebastian turned slightly away from his father, deliberately displaying indifference as he examined his fingernails with exaggerated interest. He threw his father an annoyed side glance that clearly communicated his intention to ignore whatever further arguments might be presented.

"You what?" his father sputtered, momentarily speechless with shock at this direct defiance. "You cannot be serious! After everything I've done for you!"

"I said no," Sebastian repeated more firmly. "My mind is made up on this matter."

Sebastian's father stared at him in disbelief for several long seconds before his expression shifted from anger to something closer to tactical recalculation. He placed his hands heavily on Sebastian's shoulders, forcing his son to look directly at him as he changed his approach.

"Sebastian, my boy," he began, his tone softening slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "I thought we had an understanding. I thought you said you wanted to follow in my footsteps - to trail me in business and politics, to continue the family legacy."

His grip on Sebastian's shoulders tightened visibly. "You promised you would go on the path I blazed for you, that you would make me proud by building on what I started."

Sebastian's father's voice became almost pleading. "So what happened to change your mind so completely? In just one night, you're willing to forget about everything we've planned? You're prepared to abandon your lifelong dream because of... infatuation?"

I watched this interaction with growing discomfort, feeling like an unwanted spectator to a deeply personal family drama. Part of me wanted to simply slip away unnoticed and escape this situation entirely.

I really wanted to drag Sebastian away from everyone, pull him into a private room, and demand answers about what was really happening here. I needed to understand why he was fighting so hard for a wedding that made no sense to anyone, including me.

I'm genuinely scared now - terrified of this family with its hidden dynamics and power struggles. I'm not at all convinced that I want to go through with any of this anymore. The glamour of marrying into wealth and power has faded rapidly in the harsh light of reality.

"No, Father, you misunderstand me," Sebastian responded, shaking his head slowly and rolling his eyes with obvious frustration. "I haven't abandoned my ambitions entirely."

He heaved a deep sigh before continuing, "I simply don't want to let Alfred go, either. There must be a way to have both - my career and the person I want."

Sebastian glanced briefly in my direction, his expression softening momentarily before hardening again as he returned his attention to his father. "Why must it be one or the other? Why can't I find a balance?"

"Who is he to you, really?" his father demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "And don't you dare tell me this is about falling in love! I won't hear such nonsense!"

He jabbed a finger into Sebastian's chest emphatically. "Because no one dies without love, Sebastian! People survive perfectly well without it every day!"

Sebastian's father began pacing again, his agitation returning. "And if all other people claim they need love to survive, then you certainly won't be among them because you are different - you're stronger, more practical, more focused on what truly matters."

He stopped suddenly, turning to face Sebastian with narrowed eyes. "Besides, are you absolutely certain you could make a life with him? Think carefully about what you're proposing."

Sebastian's father pulled his son's face closer, forcing eye contact as he continued his lecture. "Sleeping with someone of the same gender isn't something to be taken lightly, Sebastian. It can't be just a normal infatuation or simple attraction. For you to risk everything, there must be something extraordinarily powerful driving you - something beyond what I can see."

His voice softened slightly, becoming almost paternal rather than adversarial. "The fact that you're still thinking about it, still weighing options, tells me you're not truly certain. If you were, there would be no hesitation, no calculation."

I watched Sebastian's expression carefully during this speech, noticing how his eyes seemed to become less stable, darting occasionally in my direction as if seeking something from me - reassurance, perhaps? Or was he reconsidering his position?

He was clearly torn between contradicting desires, stealing glances at me from time to time that I couldn't fully interpret. What was he looking for? Approval? Understanding? Permission to walk away from this mess?

Come on, I wanted to shout, I'm not some fairy-tale prince charming worth destroying your life over! Just listen to your father's advice! Yesterday I might have wanted you desperately in my arms, imagining a passionate future together, but now reality has set in and I'm utterly confused by everything happening around me.

Between your controlling behavior, your brother's bizarre threats, and this family drama - I'm perfectly content with returning to just dreaming about what might have been rather than living this reality. Starting a war within your family for someone you barely know? No thank you. This isn't a romance novel; this is my actual life being torn apart.

"I'm thinking about it because I'm trying to be practical, Father," Sebastian explained, his voice steady despite the obvious tension in his shoulders. "I need to find a way to balance everything important to me."

He spread his hands in a gesture of attempted compromise. "I don't want to lose my political future, but I also don't want to cancel the wedding entirely. There must be a middle path."

Sebastian looked genuinely perplexed, caught between competing desires with no clear solution in sight. "I've wanted Alfred for too long to simply walk away now that he's finally here."