Chapter 30 - Regrets and Dreams

MANAGER ALVAREZ'S POV:

On an empty space where we met, we were sitting down on a chair and have started talking.

"Looks like you're quite in a difficult situation, huh?"

Looking at this troubled kid, he was just keeping his silence with a likely guilty face while facing down on the ground. The silence lasted for several seconds.

"Okay. I won't force you to talk now but, I hope someday you're going to tell me. Besides, your situation would likely affect your performance at school and even here at the restaurant. I don't want any additional and unnecessary troubles here in the place, do you understand Hanzaki?" I said as I looked at him straight in the face despite him who was facing away.

'It seems that there's no sign of him in talking.' I thought.

"Alright then, I'll be going---"

"I---"

As I was about to stand up and go back inside, Hanzaki abruptly started talking with a low voice.

"Hmmm?"

"I--- I--- ran away from home." He said while still facing away at me.

Truthfully speaking, I wasn't that quite shocked when I heard it from him. I already got some clues from the commotion earlier and from right when he came in the very first place at the restaurant to ask for my help. The last thing that I needed was just confirmation. But even so, I was a little shocked since he just said it like that with a straight, poker face. It seems that this young man has been through a lot.

"I see." With just a few words, I responded, trying to let him somehow continue freely with what he is about to say afterwards.

"A lot has happened. A lot, since I was a kid." Facing above the sky, he said.

My face slightly facing away while looking at him, the mood has instantly changed with those recent gestures of his.

"I don't like my mother and father. Well to be honest, I don't like how it goes around inside our house, especially their personality towards me as their child and as the eldest. I don't know why, but I used to be very happy and joyful when I was still in kindergarten, but then everything has eventually changed when I entered grade school." Afterwards, he stopped talking for a few seconds, and then he resumes after a little while, probably thinking of what to say next.

"I did not used to be like this. It was because of their influence, their attitudes that brought upon me this decision of mine. Their ego and pride, I resisted all of it through the years. I was hoping that our life would go back to the way it used to be, but I guess as a child, I was hoping too much because of my innocence, and at a point in time, I already had enough." While continuing with his part, I too was just continuing to stare while listening closely at the youngster.

"I just don't like it! Even I was a happy kid back then, all I could even remember was all the bad things that happened. I know that there were times that we felt very happy and full of joy, but all of those just involved spending money, having to receive or getting something that I've wanted and celebrating some celebrations. They didn't excel in nurturing their children. Do they truly love me? Do they truly care for me? Have they just taken their children for granted in the first place?"

"But Hanzaki, still, they are your parents, your mother and father. They are the one who raised you---"

"Indeed, they were the ones who raised me and I won't deny that fact." He battered me with a quick reply.

"Then they are still essential to you. You should be thankful because your parents still exist in this world while the others there… they are living their lives in loneliness and solitude." I shot back at him.

"Manager---" Quickly facing towards me, the serious look on his eyes has made me gone short of breath for a moment. "Yes, I know it is sad without having your parents by your side at the very beginning but, as far as I know and had realized, that even though parents are naturally there to guide and make you happy, remember that they are also the ones capable of destroying you. It was their actions that made me up to who I am now today. You don't know how heavy the accumulated pain that I have been carrying these past years---"

After showing such a strong burst of emotion, he seemingly noticed it himself and has tried to calm his own self down. "Apologies, I got carried away." He added with a regretful, low voice as he faced slightly away from me.

"No, no, that is fine. At least you let some of the pressure out of you. I understand now, it has been tough for you, really." Looking down, I let out a deep sigh for not being understanding enough to this young man.

"Haha, seriously~" I said as I put my palm on my forehead. "Trying to help and solve something without truly knowing anything about another person would really get to his nerves, especially when opposing the side of such." I uttered my mistakes, and there was a moment of silence once again.

"Uhm--- manager." After a few seconds, he called out to me.

"What is it?" I questioned as I looked back to him when he started talking again.

"I'm sorry for earlier at work. I know you overheard our conversation. I'm sorry for all of what my father had said." He who was slightly looking away has apologised with a shrinking voice.

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. It didn't affect me at all. Haha, I'm proud of what I'm doing." I replied with a little smile on my face, and yet again, another silence strikes. "And hey, what do you want to do when you finish school?" Trying to break the awkward mood, I asked.

"Uhhhh--- actually--- its kind a bit complicated." He stuttered while slowly scratching his head.

"Hmmmm? And why is that?"

"I know that people many wanted to be rich, and that is the usual mind-set that every people have and would pass on to their children in order to prosper. I too have the same and have been living up to the expectations of my parents, but as I grew up, these feelings of mine had started to change, and I began to wonder for something that I really wanted and have loved doing. I want to find something that is more than just money. I don't need to be necessarily rich or to have a high class job that I could boast of. I just want to enjoy my life with various things, necessarily having a job but not mostly involved with it all the time."

"So you've come up with something?"

"I want to have a business of my own, working for myself."

"That's a good one---"

"But…."

"But?"

"That is not what I really truly wished for."

"Huh? Okay? So, what is this that you truly wished for?"

"I want to be a--- uhhh--- uhhmmm---" His stuttering occurred again, but this time his face seemed to be embarrassed for some reason. "I want to be a--- hero"

From hearing his unexpected, vague statement, my eyes have gone wide out of curiosity as to why he wanted to be one.

"Now I see. It really is complicated, hahaha"

"Hey don't laugh manager. I put all of my heart to say that!"

While I was giggling of not having to control myself from his unexpected answer, Hanzaki became a little annoyed to me afterwards, but to be honest, I find it rather amusing. And I wonder, just what in the world had specifically happened that led this young man into this kind of situation?

He talks like an old, mature man that is stuck inside a young boy's body. Could he be some reincarnated person maybe?

Phew~ Compared to me as an adult, this kid has a lot of things going on behind his back.

'I'm sorry Hanzaki, as a person that has lived a completely different and an easy life than you, I can't seem to help you much about it.' I quietly thought while taking a glance at him while the night was already deep as of the moment.