Miguel oftentimes felt like thoughts couldn’t bother him, he was invincible. He was the only person in the rest of the world, who didn’t have overthinking thoughts to disturb him. But sometimes they would come, coming in the thunder of it. And it was this moment.

Inside the hall, Sharla was sitting on the furniture, but it looked like she had been sulking recently. Constantly she would look at the edge of the sofa. She used to sit there, her comfort, but she didn’t want to get scolded by her mom. So she avoided that at the moment.

Mom was sitting with dad on one side of the table. While on the other side, a duo of people in their 40’s were sitting. Both sides were conversing non-stop over something. Sharla thought of how her mom had made her sit there when she didn’t want to be here.

Mom had changed from her comfortable home wear to a good dress, she looked stunning despite her age. Her face glowed with a comfortable light. She was taking initiatives between the conversation while maintaining a demeanor suited for her.

Her mom constantly took a glance at the stair, waiting for Miguel.

Her father was still in his office suit. He had picked the duo straight from work. Still even in the regular office dress he had a charm on his face. His square framed spectacles suited his face. He would occasionally laugh at times, but certainly not more than required.

Aunt Liana was sitting with Uncle Karl, both looked to be in a good mood. It looked like they had gotten done for what they had come to the city.

“Garley has made some associations at the new college, it is certainly useful if he wants to have certain influence in the social circle.” Her Aunt said. Her way of talking, her position of sitting everything was in a way that denoted she was a person who loved to have her presence known. She needed to show her position if she wanted to be respected in her circle; that was her philosophy. And certainly it hadn’t failed her before.

“That’s good for the kids. It is good to mingle among the others. “ Sharla’s dad said. He could certainly understand his sister, who had inherited their mother’s way of thinking.

“What could be more crucial than asking good for your child? Tell me if I am wrong sister-in-law. But Garley had certainly turned out to be capable after joining the college. In Fact he would sometimes bring his friends and others. He has good friends. Seeing him reminds me of my college days.” Liana said looking at Sharla’s mom.

“You are right. His college days will certainly be something he would treasure later.” Mom agreed with Liana.

Liana took great satisfaction in telling her son. She would always feel proud when she told others, the look they always returned, one filled with jealousy for her son. Her own son who hadn’t disappointed in any way till now. Thinking about her brother’s son. She couldn’t help but sigh with a grief. No, it was not grief, she felt pity for her brother. The way his son had turned out was quite certainly an embarrassment to say.

“Miguel, hasn’t come yet, is he busy with something?” Liana enquired about Miguel from her sister-in-law

“He will be coming anytime,” mom replied.

As they were busy mingling with each other, Miguel slowly came down each step a little slow for his comfort. His mom and dad had certainly mingled with each other. The only thing remaining was him not being there. But he didn’t feel like it would make any difference.

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Miguel came in the vision of every family member present. He faked a smile, as others looked at him, he greeted his aunt and uncle.

“You are certainly a late boy. If you had come any later, we might have thought that you didn’t want to meet us,” his uncle laughed at his own joke.

His dad laughed politely. “Common Karl, you can’t joke like that.”

Miguel made his way toward the sofa. Near his mom. His aunt was studying him, as if she was assessing if he was someone of her level to talk to or not. She might have dismissed him for not being worthy of her attention. Because he could see a faint amusement in her face. He took a seat.

“Miguel, how are you these days?” Liana asked him.

Finally, the interview starts.

“Good aunt, things are certainly busy in the shop.” Miguel said though he had lied to her. His shop was constantly fetching some people to buy his shop. But he knew it wasn’t going to last for long. And certainly if his aunt knew about it she would be very delighted to hear that.

Liana slightly narrowed her eyes at that.

“You must be enjoying your time in the game shop. Though I would like to ask, if you have changed the products in the shop.” Liana said. There was something she wanted to know. And her disinterest showed Miguel's next answer was very predictable for her.

“They are the usual old school arcade games, the card games as well as the board games. There are people who enjoy this kind of game. And there are mostly no shops in the city, who would offer it to them. They always tell me how they wanted to try something new, and couldn’t find anything, but they would always be in a good mood while visiting my shop. I guess, I might not replace those with newer tech. After all there are many shops they could go to get their hands on.” Miguel said, his answer was elaborate almost to the point to convince her that people still liked unconventional games in this age and date.

“Impressive, it is definitely impressive, but you should know that businesses aren’t run on emotions only, money is definitely a required thing but not all, if you could have sold the latest games and devices. The shop might have definitely been more successful. And with our family reputation would definitely be higher. You should not run a business on sentiments only, only fools believe in them. Be tougher, you are certainly new in the business but I can send some people to guide you in how to do things.” Liana said with a serious expression.

‘Hah’ Miguel thought as if he didn’t know what she was thinking, she wanted to control his shop in a subtle way. Though he might show others that he was a fool, he was someone who would carefully think of things before acting on them. But his aunt would find ways, subtle to confuse him, to give up a part of the control of the game shop. Dad and mom were sitting in silence. But Miguel knew, they too agreed with him. But they weren’t going to say it, after all what aunt said wasn’t wrong.

“Aunt, you know it isn’t the only reason. Grandfather wanted the shop to be this way. Away from the daily tech, that loses its significance just after‌ few days of use. “ Miguel didn’t want to, but he had to bring in his grandfather. His grandfather was like his trump card to deter his aunt enough.

But Miguel was wrong this time.

“I don’t know what my father had been thinking about handing you the shop. It would have been good, if he had transferred the shop to someone more capable. Some more business minded. Like my Garley. Why not him? What is it about you that he doesn’t have?” Liana said, her smile hid the anger that was visible on her face. Miguel was silent the whole time as she said that.

“Liana, I think you are going too far,” Dad’s face had a dark expression.

“It would be best if you stop at that.”

It was this topic, the soft spot of the family. Miguel’s grandfather had given him the shop to manage. The game shop he always handled as far as they could remember had seen some better days in the past. Their family was not a common family, as far as Miguel knew his grandmother's family was a rich family. After her grandmother’s death, his aunt had left her dad, and had gone to her grandmother’s family. Growing in a rich environment away from lower standards. Though she had maintained the relationship with her dad, after her marriage.

“Not today, brother-in-law, I think this is the correct time to say that.” His uncle said as he rummaged through some papers. He took out a thick pile of it and handed it to his dad.

“What is it?” His dad looked at those papers with caution. His anger against his sister hadn’t disappeared, but he started reading through the content.