Money Can't Buy Me

                                    

                                          

Cirrus's eyes are drawn to the little omega's mouth as he blows on his food to cool it off. It is a captivating sight, and he can't seem to look away.
"P'Cir?" Phu asks uncertainly, catching him staring. The junior blushes at the look in Cir's eyes and that makes him look even cuter to Cir.
"I was just wondering how that would taste." Cir says in a teasing tone.
Phu quickly dumps the food on his plate, "Here see for yourself."
Cir doesn't bother to tell him that he wasn't talking about the food, with a smile he picks up the piece of pork and pops it into his mouth.
"Oh, what was P'Cir going to tell me earlier when Tee called? Something about your family?" Phu asks.
"It's not a pretty story, are you sure you want to hear?" Cir asks him. Earlier he had wanted to tell Phu so he could be prepared if his mother sent any more people, but now he feels reluctant to tell the story. It's a nice evening and it seems a shame to bring up such unpleasant things.
Phu nods, "I want to know about P'Cir's family, but only if you want to tell me of course."
Cir takes a deep breath and tries to think how to begin it.
"My parents separated when I was eight. The woman," he grimaces, making himself say the words because it's important for Phu to know who he is dealing with, "my mother has always been a jealous and possessive woman. Any servant or employee my father was so much as nice to or who became close to my brother or myself were immediately dismissed. I had a teacher who my father only praised as being good at her job. My mother came to the school and pulled her out of her classroom in front of all the students. She told vicious lies that the woman was sleeping around with some of the fathers of the children which caused the teacher to lose her job and her fiancé even though everyone knew it wasn't true. I am not sure how my father managed to live with her for ten years."
"Didn't anyone try to help the teacher?" Phu asks, shocked.
"My mother is rich and powerful, with many unscrupulous connections at her disposal. No one has ever dared cross her, not even my father." Cir knows he sounds a little bitter at this last part. "When my parents separated, my mother had her lawyers draw up a divorce settlement splitting all the property. What we didn't know at first was this included us children. We found out the day my father moved out that he was to take Zone, and I was to stay with my mother. I begged my father not to leave me there, and not to take Zone away from me, but in the end, he chose to go along with her rather than risk his half of the settlement. I don't know if he could have fought her, but I guess I hate him a little for not even trying."
Cir can't bring himself to tell Phu how bad things were after that, how his mother would slap him for even mentioning Zone or his father. How she told him to think of them as dead. How she would have the nanny, a woman similar in temperament to his mother, beat him if he brought home a bad grade or a misconduct report. How when he was a child, he didn't dare disobey his mother for fear of the punishments she would dole out.
Cir hears a sob and looks up and sees tears streaming down the omega's face as if Phu had guessed those things he didn't dare say. "I'm sorry." Phu whispers quietly.
Cir smiles and reaches across the table to wipe away Phu's tears with his thumb. "It was a long time ago."
"Did you get to see your brother after that? Oh, but you must have, he and your father came to the hospital, and he is the one that talked to auntie nurse on the phone." Phu says.
Cir nods, "Zone and I found ways to meet in secret. My mother couldn't watch me all the time, and Wim helped by being a go between. Even Wim's parents helped where they could. They couldn't do anything about my mother, but they let the three of us secretly play at their house while telling my mother Wim and I were just studying."