章節 134: Chapter 134 - Too Good

So it seems only my parents were welcome.

"I can almost guess but hit me with it anyways. Did you get your own invitation Dean?" If there was one thing my mother hated more than anything in the world was when she felt her son was being slighted or made fun of.

"Nope."

After the stunts I pulled at my gala, it came as no shock to me to not be invited. If I was a normal person, this makes logical perfect sense. However, I am not a normal person. My last name is Cortez and that name has weight. That weight is what complicates the reasoning to exclude me from an event.

People are funny when it comes to who you know or who you are related to.

My family name does not entitle me to needing to be invited to places, in fact I do not really care if I am. In fact, even though I am friends with people, that does not mean I want to attend every event they come up with. After all getting an invitation does not force me to go.

Unless it was a major milestone, I almost never showed up to stuff. I did so out of two reasons, one was that I wanted to live life and not have it be tainted with boring parties. The other is because I knew the implication. The invitations are a subtle way for people to reach out who need me to help them.

That help looked different depending on who is the host.

Socially it looks good, you rub shoulders with people who have power to bring you up the social ladder and economically speaking it helps to have an additional wallet rather than your own.

It also makes a statement. Why were these people not invited or here? The speculation creates an image of who the host is and spoiler, if someone of my status does not show it usually is not a good look. To the guest, it boils down to whether you care about the person who invited you or the person you hopes attends that you actually have loyalty to.

I now knew Celeste and her family were not planning on going. But as for my family....

"How dare they! If they think we will go absolutely not. Forget even getting them a wedding gift." My mother huffed and puffed in anger over their transgression. By not inviting me and only inviting my parents, it was a slap in the face to them. Basically calling their son unimportant and unworthy.

And if we describe my role in life on paper, that was far from true. Technically, I am already in charge of the Cortez conglomerate. My parents already transferred most of the estate to me. Lots of the business in our name have me in leadership or in a board/official high ranking position. A few still lingered as I am still learning on getting my bearings and figure out the flow to my stuff.

My mother who stood angry relaxed just a bit at my fathers touch. My father, ever the silent man just nodded along to my mothers words agreeing to her will. He remains as her backup singer who chimes in only when needed.

The invitation was swiftly tossed aside into the trashcan. For added effect my mother even dusted her hands as though she touched something dirty.

"Ugh." She walked off leaving myself and my father alone in the room.

"Soooo I guess that was all we needed to discuss? If so I will head back to work." I grabbed my things but my dad stopped me before I left. "Actually son I need to talk to you about something." He motioned for me to follow him and we entered his office.

He seemed a bit troubled and even a bit suspicious. Even when I closed the door and sat down on his couch that he kept silent. After a few minutes however, he finally spoke his mind. "Is there something going on?"

Huh? Did he hear something? Or see something? I was not going to be a fool and spoon feed him the information he may not know so I let him lead the conversation. "No? Is there something going on?"

He seemed conflicted before sitting down and giving a hard look. One that he used on me when I was younger and wanted the truth. "To be honest you have been too good lately. I promise to not be mad but I need to know. What is it that you are using good behavior to hide?"

I bust out laughing at the seriousness in his voice.

It was not a funny situation but I was relieved that this was all it was. Whenever I really wanted something as a kid my parents tried to use a reward system where good meant getting what I want. Little me took that several steps top far as I would use it to hide whatever I did.

In my head the good would trump the bad and lessen the blow from my consequences. It worked for a while but I started doing it too often and it became obvious.

"I don't see how this could be funny." He formed a scowl on his face and pushed his glasses up to the top bridge of his nose.

"I promise its not that its funny, you just completely caught me off guard. I will be real with you, the woman I really like I really want to impress and prove that I can be dependable. My previous behaviors and actions don't really quantify that. So I took a break but as it turns out, overall not being drunk at 6AM feels great."

I shrugged but this was probably the most proud I was of myself.

My dad looked around the room, bewildered. "I am not being punked am I? You really cleaned up for someone you have a crush on? Is it the same girl you mentioned to me a while ago?"

Now it seems he has taken my words seriously. "No dad I am not pulling your leg I am being serious. And yes, she is the same person." I thought the look of bewilderment would go away but it deepened. "Since when do you have issues with getting with a woman?"

The urge to want to laugh in his face again bubbled in my chest but I kept it in. He was still serious. "Well its one thing when the relationship is physical not emotional. In her case, I am trying to be the best version of myself. It just came to me naturally."