Trust

Luc looked at his friend and knew that he didn't believe him. How then, did he not trust his own words. If they still felt right for his heart and mind, his stomach rebelled at the sight of John. His guilty conscience wanted to be heard with all his might, it couldn't be anything else. His stomach had never protested like this, not even when he broke his mother's expensive vase at the age of 10. Only an oppressive feeling had haunted him, which at some point made him go to confession.

As if by itself, his hand went to John's cheek and caressed the stubbly skin. "Do you believe me?"

"You don't even believe yourself, then how am I supposed to do it?"

John knew him clearly too well and still he let Luc, who stole a delicate kiss.

"That mustn't be true!" Startled, John and Luc drove apart and looked at the door, where Gregor Miller stood with his wife Dora and looked at both of them in disgust. "Take your dirty paws off my son!"

Luc was frozen, saw how his father clenched his hand into a fist and hit him, but couldn't react. John staggered back, bumped into the wall, and slid down it. The hand on his nose didn't stop the blood from flowing and finding its way onto his white shirt. When Luc wanted to kneel to him, his father tore him away from John and pushed him to his mother. She pulled her son into the living room and gave him no chance to defend himself.

John wiped his aching nose on his shirt sleeve and straightened up. "Get out of my apartment immediately!"

"Anything else? Do you want to beat me out with your handbag? "

He frowned in irritation at Gregor's words. “No, I don't even have that. I'll call the police in a very vulgar way! "

“You want to threaten me? I'll show you how a real man clears things like that out. ”Gregor raised his fist, reached out and struck. Unnoticed by the two men, Luc had pushed past his mother and now stood between John and his father. John wanted to catch his fist, but it was too late, it hit Luc hard on the head, which threw him to the side and hit the door frame. He slumped to the floor with rolled eyes , the blood immediately flowing from a deep wound on his head and spreading on the dark parquet floor. 

Dora put her hand over her mouth and looked at her husband in horror, who was about to attack John. "Gregor, stop!"

John took the chance, kneeled next to Luc, felt his pulse, pressed a hand over the bleeding and then picked up his cell phone to call 911. After he had explained to the lady on the phone what had happened, he ended the conversation and laboriously took off his shirt, which he pressed onto the wound.

His husband's breathing was very weak, and the bleeding all the more. John sat helpless and didn't know what to do, in his opinion it was taking too long for help to come. He was just about to address Luc's parents when he saw them leave his apartment without a word. "Damn it, that's your son!" He yelled after them, but soon heard Dora's heels going down the steps. "Shit, Luc, come on, open your eyes."

What seemed like hours to John was actually less than a few minutes when the police and ambulance rushed into the apartment. He was pushed aside and the doctor took care of his husband immediately. The anger welled up in him and he pushed past the police officers who actually wanted to talk to John.

In front of the door he saw his in-laws, who in a conversation with two police officers assured that they did not know what had happened.

“First you knock your son unconscious and now you say you don't know what happened? You are the worst!"

"I? You dare to put your hands on my son and say now, I am the last one? You Schwu ... "

"It is enough! Mister Miller, please do not use your tone of voice. Mister Stone, would you tell us what happened? "

John did so and then looked nervously at the ambulance Luc was being pushed into. "May I know how bad it is?" The doctor was already nodding when Luc's parents interfered and let it be known that John had no right to receive information. This one finally broke the hat string. "I have every right to know what is wrong with my HUSBAND!"

Dora opened her mouth in horror, Gregor was simply speechless, while John pulled the document from his wallet that confirmed his statement. "We stopped the bleeding, the suspicion of a craniocerebral trauma cannot be ruled out, although he was briefly conscious, he immediately drifted off again." The doctor frowned at John's nose, felt his face without warning, which made his second patient flinch . "And I'll take you with me right away, that looks like a break to me."

John nodded resignedly, got the keys to his apartment from a policeman and got into the ambulance with Luc. He looked at it worriedly and cursed himself inwardly for having lost his composure. The outcome of their marriage would certainly cause trouble between Luc and him, but also with his own parents.

How right he was and how wrong he was at the same time, John found out a day later. He had sat all night by Luc's bed, which had been immobilized as a precaution. As the doctors announced, out of sheer caution. In the morning John took a cab and drove to his apartment to freshen up. But no sooner had he got out of the car and paid the driver than a throat clearing caught his attention.

Karl Stone stood at the front door and looked at his son with folded arms. "Do you have something to tell me?"

“Probably nothing you don't already know, father. So please let me pass, I want to freshen up and pack a few things for Luc. "

“So you really got married? Since when have you been interested in men? ”Karl stepped aside and followed his son into the house.

“Not men, just Luc. I don't know, it hit us and it happened. ”John climbed the stairs and unlocked his apartment, followed by his father.

"What does that mean? How long have you been in a relationship? Why didn't you say anything, then I would have canceled the appointments and not sat stupid in the restaurant. I had to come up with excuses. "

"I'm very sorry for you, really. What do you mean, why I haven't said anything to you, I thought you were giving me hell now? "

Karl shook his head with a sigh. “Do you think I'm such an asshole? Have I really done so much wrong that my own son doesn't even trust me anymore? ”Slowly Karl's gaze sank and the otherwise straight posture sagged. “I just wanted you to be able to stand on your own two feet one day. You should be able to stand up to everyone, nobody should ever pass you over. I left the most difficult customers to you so that you could learn. Learning to stand up straight and be tough, but apparently it was a mistake if you don't know you can tell me anything. With a hard hand, but also with a heart, I wanted to raise you ... "

John paused, looked into his father's face, the first tears rolling down his cheeks. Shocked, he followed the wet, he had never seen his father cry. "Dad, I didn't mean it that way, but ... you always talked about getting married, kids and ... I didn't mean to disappoint you."

“You didn't. I just don't want you to be alone, if we can no longer be with you, someone should catch you, someone who calls your heart his own. If that is Luc, all the better, then you have what I wanted for you. "

That surprised John after all. He felt really bad right now, having had such views on his father. Shame lay on his cheeks as he went into the guest room to pack up some clothes for Luc. 

"What exactly happened yesterday?" Karl broke the prevailing silence.

"Don't you know that already?"

"Only Gregor's view, I want my son's, I trust him more."