A Family Delight

Tiolu sat at the cloud white table and stared at his food. Well, “food” is a generous term. What the hosts of this party gave him was an insult to food. Tiny little pieces of meat or something baked with clearly no love at all, only cooked to look nice and housed no taste, no substance, just like everything here.

His mom would’ve shamed every person here. 

He tried to hide it, but the woman to his right, Lia, noticed something was wrong. She always did.

“Tio, what’s going on?” She asked.

He glanced up at her then back down to his plate. “This is what’s wrong. It’s as bad as presenting a priest with a book about atheism.” Tiolu replied. He threw his hands into the air and picked up the plate, walking to the trash to dispose of this sin.

“Maybe… not exactly like that.” Lia said to herself before she followed after him. They had been dating for six months now, and it was going pretty smoothly. As smoothly as love could, at least. 

Once he reached the trash can, he threw the plate away in such a fashion some people nearby stopped their conversations and watched him. Lia came from behind smiling at the spectators and took him by the arm to walk away.

“I think you’re on edge about something else, love. You don’t have to talk about it now, but just uh… don’t do anything too dramatic, okay?”

He grunted in response, but then answered with his own words. “Okay, I’ll try. For you.”

She kissed him on the cheek and smiled, “Thank you.”

They began walking back to the table when suddenly a name caught Tiolu’s attention. 

“...yeah Sophie should be here any moment. She had to pick up her new boyfriend but they’re on the way now.”

Sophie? Sophie is gonna be here?

“Uh oh,” Lia said. She knew what this meant. Sophie was Tiolu’s ex, and their relationship did not end well. Tiolu figured that the idea for “nothing dramatic” was out the window. 

He made eye contact with Lia and they both shared the same thought. Let’s go somewhere far away from these people.

They walked to a table a good amount of distance away to discuss. The ballroom the party was located in was a good size. Its room was in the shape of a square and it had white tables spread an equal distance away, each with six chairs per table. The room was bright gold, almost too bright, as if the owners were trying really hard to remind the guests that money did in fact exist, and they had more of it than anyone in that room. 

Tiolu and Lia reached a table and Lia immediately jumped into the topic. “Alright, so we can’t just leave. Despite how much you really want to.” She said.

“I really do want to.”

“Yeah well let’s make that plan B. For now, we just need to have a way to avoid her.”

Tiolu looked up and closed his eyes while breathing out. “The main thing I’m worried about isn’t running into her, it’s running into her boyfriend.” 

Lia’s eyes went wide. “Oh they mentioned him. Well, this is great! Maybe she won’t cause many problems then! Meaning we can wait here and wait for your father to arrive in peace. Which we are doing by the way.”

Tiolu rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah I can’t back out of it now. That check is gone.”

Lia chuckled at the success of her plan. She had to pay him to be here. Him and his father are, well, not on the best of terms. And that does not make for a good wedding. Lia looked at him and smiled, “Oh come on, I’m sure spending time with your father won’t be that bad. Better than Sophie.”

He looked at her then looked away. “Yeah… about that.” Tiolu was about to reveal a secret he held, but it died on his lips as the doors across the room opened. 

Sophie was in a long white dress that stretched to the floor and spread out behind her, like a cape for her ankles. Her hair was pinned up in a bun and you can tell she wanted to freeze the room with a mere entrance. And it worked. Her boyfriend was to her left, but he was covered by the swarm of people moving to greet her or introduce themselves.

Lia looked down to her own white dress, which was much shorter, and - even though she tried not to - instantly began comparing herself to Sophie. She always made sure the comparison was a battle, and that she would always be the victor. 

Tiolu noticed the inner struggle Lia found herself in, “Hey, don’t compare yourself to her. That’s what she wants. Besides, we’re gonna have a whole other problem here in a second.”

Lia looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, “What other problem?” She asked.

At that moment, the crowd began to part as Sophie made her way to the table. That’s when everything clicked. Lia was too stunned to move, so Tiolu had to make the first move.

“Hello, Sophie.” He said as he went in for a hug. Faking his peace with her to hopefully delay the inevitable. He then looked to her boyfriend and sighed.

“Hello, Father.”

“Hello, Son”

Lias’ mouth was agape for twenty seconds before she realized she was staring. 

They shook hands and then Tiolu looked towards Lia and motioned for her to join them, hoping to enjoy the calm before the storm with simple niceties. But that was impossible to avoid in a situation like this.

Lia scrambled over and immediately looked between the three. “Your dad is Sophie’s new boyfriend?” She asked Tiolu in an astonished voice.

Tiolu sighed, like he was coming to terms with it himself, and told her through gritted teeth, “Yes. They are now… a couple.”

“And you didn’t tell me why?” She asked him.

“I didn’t want you getting any ideas.”

“Any ideas? He’s your father! Why would I do that?”

Tiolu put his hand to his mouth to hide his lips from the couple and said to Lia in not quite a whisper, “Well didn’t really stop someone before did it?”

Sophie cleared her throat and the pair spun, both plastering smiles on their faces while they turned towards her. 

“Sophie!” Lia said, “You look great.”

“So do you!” Sophie said, “I love that dress.”

Sure bitch, sure you do. “Thank you!”

An awkward silence filled the air after, and Tiolu broke it as soon as he noticed. “Welp,” he said, “we’ll be going back to our table now, I hope you enjoy the party!”

Before they could even take a step, Sophie’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Oh, this party is so crowded there barely seems to be any tables left, would you mind us if we joined you at yours?”

The same smile returned to both of their faces as they said in unison, “Of course you can!” 

Tiolus' father grunted.

Both couples began to walk towards the table, but Tiolu grabbed Lia’s arm. “Come with me.” He whispered. He then looked to his father and ex and said, “We’re gonna go grab y’all some food and drinks. Be right back!”

The pair scrambled away from the table and over to the buffet to where the “food” was. “Why is this happening?” Lia immediately asked. 

“Cause when I was younger I stole a cookie from a disabled kid and God’s been punishing me ever since.”

“Be real!” She exclaimed, “We have to figure out how to survive tonight.” 

“I’m banking on them having some semblance of humanity deep down and it’ll miraculously appear tonight.” Tiolu eyed the long array of tables in front of them. “Maybe a bit of my mother is still a part of him.”

Footsteps began to approach from behind them. Tiolu spun his head to find his father walking towards them. 

“She sent me to make sure that you don’t try to put anything in the drink.” He said, while pointing at Lia.

She grew visibly frustrated and said, “Just because she does stuff like that doesn’t mean that I do.”

Tiolu put his hand on her shoulder and said, “It’s okay Lia, we got it from here. You can go back to the table, I’ll be there soon.”

Lia wanted to stay, but she didn’t protest as she walked back to the table, grumbling. 

“You can’t talk to her like that, you know,” Tiolu said, without looking at his father. “She may be Sophie’s ‘rival’ but she’s still my girlfriend, and you have to show her some respect. At least more than you show me.”

He gave one of his signature grunts in response. They went down the line of food in silence for a while till his father actually spoke again. 

“Your mom would’ve torn these chefs to shreds.” He said. “It’s plain awful what they’ve done here.”

They still weren’t looking at each other, but Tiolu snickered and responded. “Yeah, she would have.” It was simple, if not a little awkward, but it was something. And Tiolu would take something. 

He remembered this was the whole point he was here. Sure, Lia might’ve paid him, but he just put it back into their joint account. It was their money anyway. She wanted him to reconnect with his father, and he remembered that no matter what, he’d always try and make her happy. Even if it meant dealing with a man so difficult he’s gotten himself out of a speeding ticket or two. But Tiolu also wanted to make peace.

“She was the one who got me to come, you know.” Tiolu started, “She wanted us to reconnect.”

“And you didn’t?” Toma asked his son.

“It’s not that I didn’t,” He said, “We just hadn’t talked a lot after Mom died, hell we barely even talked before, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear from me or not. Maybe you just wanted things to remain how they were.”

Toma only grunted in response once again, and then he took his drink back to the table where Lia and Sophie sat, making obvious strained conversation. Tiolu groaned and followed after his father to ensure Lia wasn’t left alone with both of them. Toma set down the plate he got for Sophie and sat next to her. Tiolu sat across from him.

Sophie looked to her “boyfriend” and said, “Oh come on don’t make me eat alone.” And Toma responded with a raised eyebrow, but took a fork laid out on the table and began to poke at what was on the plate. 

Lia and Tiolu just sat and watched them eat, fearing to move a single muscle. Tiolu had no way of describing the experience other than what could simply be determined as a hostage situation. 

“Are you guys not gonna eat?” Sophie asked the pair across from them.

Lia smiled and said, “Oh we already ate, but y’all keep going! Don’t mind us.”

Sophie shrugged and went back to her plate. It was a couple seconds before she spoke again. 

“So,” She looked towards Tiolu, “how’s the restaurant going?”

Toma stopped poking the food and froze where he was, barely blinking. Tiolu hadn’t told him about that yet. 

“It’s uh… going good. We’re almost open.” Tiolu was trying not to give too much away. He didn’t want his father coming on opening day and being difficult once again. It needed to go over as smoothly as possible and it was already bad enough Sophie knew, he couldn’t risk it with his father as well.

He felt bad, but his hand was forced. There wasn’t anything he could do now.

Lia touched his arm, talking for him. “The whole town is buzzing about it, I’ve been talking to my coworkers and the words been spreading. We all can’t wait to see it once it’s done.”

“I’ll have to make sure I go then,” Sophie said, and Lia squeezed his arm harder in response.

“You definitely should!” Lia said through obvious strain. 

A silence once again washed over them. Tiolu could feel Sophie touching his shin with her own leg, obviously trying to stir something inside of him. When she made contact, however, he instantly shivered. 

Everyone looked to him with confused faces, to which Tiolu instantly stood up and exclaimed, “I have to pee! Badly.” And he rushed off in the direction of where the bathrooms were.

He pushed open the door and went to the row of sinks and leaned over to put his head down on the counter, hopefully getting a moment to breathe. 

When the door opened soon after, he expected it to be Lia checking on him despite the restroom's designation, but instead, he was surprised to see his father entering the restroom.

Tiolu put his head back down and Toma came up and leaned on the counter, facing away from the mirrors.

Once again, a deafening silence filled the bathroom. The only noise was coming from the stall all the way down at the end of the hallway. They must not be having a great night either. 

“So,” Toma started, “your own restaurant? Impressive.”

“Yeah.” Tiolu said, “I guess it is.”

“That was your mother's dream, you know.”

“I know.”

“What’s it called?”

“Momma’s Delight.”

Toma snickered. The first time he laughed in… what? His life? Tiolu had no idea. “She would’ve loved that name.” He told his son, “But why didn’t you tell me?”

Tiolu lifted his head and shouted, “Oh I don’t know, maybe cause we barely even talk in the first place!” 

It was silent again. Tiolu knew he had to break it this time, so he took a deep breath and said, “Sorry, it’s just, we already were barely getting by after Mom died and now you pull this shit.” He told his father, as he motioned to the door outside. 

“I just… I just wanted a father, not a wall. I get that talking about this stuff is hard, but nobody said we had to talk about it right away. I would’ve settled for another conversation about food, or a movie, or anything that reminded me you were still my father. That’s all I wanted, Dad, just you.”

He let the silence linger this time before Toma spoke. “I’m… sorry,” He said, “I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to get closer but I didn’t know how, I thought the damage was done.

“But I wanted to try again. One last time. I felt incredibly guilty and that’s when Sophie approached me one day and told me she had a plan to get you back, and she needed my help.”

Tiolu scrunched his brow as he looked towards his father, “And you guys thought the best way to get me to like both of y’all was by dating?”

“Oh definitely not, son. She had to pay me to date her. She’s batshit crazy, I was just using this as an opportunity to get close to you to talk. But I never figured out how to do the talking part.” 

“So the plan worked?”

“More or less.”

Tiolu couldn’t help himself from laughing. “Okay Dad, I wanted this chance too. So in a week, come to my house for dinner. You can meet Lia formally this time. And depending on how that goes, you can come to the opening for the restaurant.”

Toma struggled to suppress a smile, “Sounds good, son.”

As soon as Toma finished speaking, the stall opened at the end of the hall. Two men walked out. It was the host of the party, who was in his mid-sixties, and another man, who couldn’t be older than twenty-five.

“Oh hey, Toma.” The host looked at the two of them and moved to join the pair as the other guy went to the mirror and began fixing his hair. “Rough night?” He asked.

“Not so bad,” Toma replied. “You?”

“Nah, it was great.” He said as he laughed and hit his father on the shoulder. “Alright, well, see you at work.” he began to leave but then called after the other guy, “Come on Kyle!” 

The pair scrambled out of the bathroom, leaving Tiolu and Toma alone again. 

“What the fuck?” Tiolu asked.

“That’s another long story.” Toma answered, “One that’s sure to get in the newspaper someday.”

“I’ll be on the lookout.”

They left the bathroom after, to which they entered quite the scene. There were what sounded like punches being thrown and bodies falling to the floor. 

The pair knew what it was, so promptly rushed over. 

When they pushed through to the center, they saw it. Dresses torn, broken chairs, pulled out hair, and Lia and Sophie, fighting like boxers for their championship title.

And Lia was clearly winning.

She threw a punch, landing squarely in Sophie’s nose, causing her to tumble to the ground. Lia then picked her up by her ankles and hefted her over her shoulder, carried the girl over to the nearest table, and slammed her through it. 

“You picked a good one,” Toma told his son.

“Yeah. “ Tiolu smiled, “I know.”

Lia spun to meet his eyes and she had a wicked smile on her face. She rushed over to her partner, put her left arm up like she was flexing, and hit her bicep with her other hand. “Whew! That felt great! Let’s do it again next week.”

“Great news! We will be.” Tiolu replied, “But that’s for the car ride home.”

Toma came up to them, “The security is rushing over. Let’s book it.”

Lia smiled. “Way ahead of you.”

The now trio ran out of the massive doors into the night. Progress was made tonight, and that's all they had wished for. Just one more step into a hopeful future.