Chapter 7 - The Man I Had Become
Months passed.
I stopped attending meaningless galas.
I sold three luxury cars.
I downsized my house.
I redirected millions into scholarships.
But none of that mattered to my sons.
They wanted ordinary things.
A basketball game.
Pizza.
A movie.
Help with homework.
Julian asked me to teach him how to drive.
Miles asked me to help build a workbench.
I said yes to everything.
One Saturday, Julian made a mistake while driving.
He panicked.
I grabbed the steering wheel.
“Breathe.”
“I messed up.”
“Everyone does.”
“What if I crash?”
“Then we learn.”
He looked at me.
“You always talk like that?”
“Apparently.”
He smiled.
“Mom says you weren't like this.”
I laughed.
“She knew me when I was younger.”
“What changed?”
I looked ahead.
“Regret.”
Julian became quiet.
Then he said:
“Maybe regret isn't always bad.”
I glanced at him.
“What do you mean?”
“It can tell you what not to do again.”
I smiled.
He was right.
That evening, Miles showed me his engineering project.
He had built a small machine that converted movement into stored energy.
I stared at it.
“This is incredible.”
“You really think so?”
“I do.”
“You're not saying that because you're my dad?”
The question caught me.
“No.”
I smiled.
“I'm saying it because I'm an investor.”
He laughed.
“That's better.”
For the first time, we laughed together.
Not because we were pretending.
Because we were becoming a family.
Slowly.
May you like
Carefully.
Honestly.
