Dressed up in a white shirt, a blue tie and black suit, Mpho opened the door to his father’s office and formally greeted him. His father looked briefly at him and smiled a little. He seemed satisfied. He rose from his chair and went around to his now son.

“You look like a very successful man,” his father said as he reordered his tie in a gentle way.

Mpho nodded appreciatively, he felt almost proud for making his father smile at him. His father’s smile was something that he only dreamt of most of the times. He would see him laugh with his mother or his colleagues or rather over the phone, but never with Mpho. To his father, he was a big disappointment. A son he never had, but would have when he needed him desperately. Mpho knew that very well, even to his mother.

His father went back to his desk and started to file out documents on the table. He handed them to Mpho.

“Try to read the top two and find out more about them. They will determine whether we get these people or not. Memorise them and make a good presentation.”

Mpho gave his father a bewildered look. “I’ve only got fifteen minutes before the meeting. How am I supposed to memorise all this?”

“Then go on and start already. Don’t disappoint me boy.”

Mpho’s face turned ashen. He couldn’t believe his father. Of all his cruelty to him, Mpho would have never thought that he could stoop to the point of jeopardising his business. He closed the door and went to the boardroom.

His mind was working on deciding whether to drop everything and go, or to stay for the meeting and embarrass himself and his father. His father had to know that he was risking everything by making him do the presentation for an important meeting like that, and yet he let him.

Then it hit him; he was placing him on the edge of disappointment. His father was giving himself a ticket to always find a reason to belittle him. He was setup to fail.

Mpho felt a something in his heart. For a moment, he thought his heart would suddenly stop beating. He sat down on the chair and tried to normalise his breathing. Tears rushed out of his eyes and for a moment, he let them flow down his cheeks. Somehow the tears washed away a bit of his sorrow. He cleared them away and opened the first file. What he was determined to do was for himself and no one else, not his father and not his mother, not for the world or his father’s company, only for himself alone.

***

Tell us: What advice would you give Mpho about his parents?