CH: 11 TAUGHT HIM

Everything was ready we were about to leave for his home; I was also going with him as he asked me to accompany him to his house. We both were there physically, but He was lost somewhere else, I didn't know what it was, but he was thinking of something which was stressing him, and it was obvious because his facial expression was telling everything, as there was still some time for the cab to arrive, so I decided to ask him.

"What happened to you, Jacob? You are acting very strange today." I said in a low voice as I wasn't sure he would tell me that what was bothering him. He looked at me, his eyes were swollen it was clear that he didn't sleep the whole night. He was continuously staring at me blankly but didn't spoke a word. I again said, "you can tell me what's on your mind, or what is disturbing you?" He still didn't speak a single word. I moved closer towards him and when I again tried to say something I saw a pool of tears forming in his eyes. And he for sure was holding those tears because he knows how much it pisses me off when someone cries around me. He said in a gentle voice "Nothing Mason. It's just that I'm not feeling well today."

"You are lying, Jacob." I said and held his hand "you can tell me."

He looked away from me and broke down in tears. I held his face towards me and said "you can't always cry because of your problems, Jacob." But He still wasn't ready to stop his tears so he tried to go away from me, but my hold on him was enough tight to prevent him from going away. "Just let me go, Mason." He Said. "Why you always run away Jacob. Are you that weak that you can't even man up against your fear, that you can't defeat your pain? Is your pain bigger than your confidence? How can you cry but not fight? "I paused when I saw him wiping his tears from his free hand. I continued "Look I don't know what is forcing you to not fight against the wrong you are going through. But one day maybe not today but you have to overcome it and have to force the fear and your pain to kneel and that is the only way you can win. Otherwise, you will live your whole life with regret and tears because tilting away your face from the problems is not the solution. The solution is to pluck away your problems as we pluck away the unwanted weed. And you have to pluck them away otherwise they will ruin your life as the weed ruin the whole efforts of a farmer." I stopped and took a deep breath.

He looked at me with his teary eyes, and I realized that I was way too harsh with my words, but he needed to understand this. I waited for him to reply as he was looking at me. "I know you are right....but" he paused for a while and took a deep breath and said "I WILL DO MY BEST!" after saying that he held his head high towards the sky and said in a deep voice. "I LOVE YOU MOM." I realized that he now understood what I'm saying and in few minutes the taxi arrived.