11. Negotiation
The weekend with my kids was fantastic. They both love Deborah and we had a fantastic day at the theme park. And Sandrine is absolutely fine with me filing for divorce. She even told me she is happy for me. So at least I have no problem here.
But I have two other problems. The first one is my braces. I really hate them now. I still have so much pain and I have to eat painkillers almost like snacks. And then these rubber bands, they are absolutely annoying. Deborah is very supportive of me, but she cannot take away the pain. Still, it is good to talk to her given her five years of experience with braces.
In fact, Deborah is grateful to me. She told me that I reminded her to wear her retainers again. She was on her way to destroying her treatment results, but when she saw my braces, she knew she had to start looking for her teeth again. Deborah is confident that it is not too late and that these retainers will help her.
The other problem is Marc. He behaved well over the weekend, not a word about braces. I really liked that. But now he is back to normal. He talks about becoming an orthodontist all the time. And his girlfriend got her top braces on Monday, so he has even more to talk about. I really do not know why he is doing this to me.
On Friday, I make a decision and I think I should have done it earlier. I spent another sleepless night with the pain from my braces and the constant mental pain from Marc's prank. I cannot take it anymore, something has to change.
I spent most of the night working on a plan to stop this. I so hope this plan is better than my last one. The one where Dr. Johnson tried to convince Marc to get braces. That plan was an absolute disaster. It made things much worse.
Friday evening I call Marc into the living room. We both sit down and I start talking, "Marc, we have to stop this.” He interrupts me, "Stop what?" I tell him, "Marc, please. I beg you, you know what I am talking about.” And then I cannot stop anymore, I start to cry. Floods of tears come out of my eyes and my body starts to shake.
Marc is shocked to see me in this state. It takes him a while to calm me down. He puts his arm around my shoulders and says, "Dad, please tell me what is wrong with you." My body still shaking a little, I tell him, "I can no longer stand this braces prank of yours. You need to stop talking about braces." I try to dry the tears from my eyes, but I am still crying.
I have never seen my son so shocked, and he stumbles, "I will stop. I mean, I never, I never meant to hurt you." Now we are both crying. We sit on the couch for a while, just cuddling and crying. I can tell that my son is sorry for what he did to me.
After a while, he asks me, "Dad, are you ready to talk?" I just nod and he continues, "Dad, listen, I was so angry when you took me to the orthodontist. I hated braces and I didn't want them. And then when the doctor told me that I did not need them, I was so happy and I had this brilliant idea. What if I could put braces on you, so I asked Dr. Johnson to look at your teeth."
He pauses briefly, "And it worked. It was amazing, I was so proud of myself. Proud that my prank worked so well. It was so cool to see you with braces. I mean, who gets that? Putting your parent in braces instead of getting them yourself. That is every teenager's dream. I should have stopped there. But I found more ways to prank you."
I interrupt him, "You certainly did." He says, "And that was wrong of me. I shouldn't have made your life miserable. And it is not even you who was behind the whole braces thing. It was my mother's idea. I should have made fun of her. But I put all the blame on you. And I was so proud of myself, but now I feel guilty."
"Thank you for explaining this to me. I also have something to confess. You remember our last visit to the orthodontist when she tried to convince you to get braces. That was my idea. I was even willing to pay a bonus if she got you braces the same day. It was a very childish thing to do. I should have acted more like an adult.“
He interrupts me and jokingly says, "That fits, you know, they say that some orthodontists have a sadistic tendency. And Dr. Johnson certainly does." We all laugh at his joke. I wonder if he really takes it that easy. I mean, I was willing to bribe an orthodontist to give him braces, and he just makes a joke about it.
"Son, look, that was not right of me, and I hope you can forgive me someday," I tell him. He says to me, "Dad, please stop that. I was the one who started it. I am the one to blame. And look what it has done to us.” I reply, "You are right. We have both been blind in our desire for revenge.” He just nods knowingly.
I think for a moment and tell him, "I have to admit something else. You know how I told you that modern braces are easy to use? Simply a piece of cake. I was very wrong. They really bother me. I still have pain from the last adjustment and those rubber bands, they are so annoying.” He says, "Thanks for being so honest, Dad.“
It is he again who has the wise thought, "Dad, we have been so cruel to each other. We have to do better. I am not a little boy anymore, and I should know how to behave. Let us make life better for both of us." I nod and say, "Son, you are absolutely right. Let us have a better relationship and a better life. I want that so much."
He just hugs me and says, "Dad, let us start today. No more jokes and please tell me if you are in pain. I want to support you." Now it is my turn to hug him. We spent the rest of the day on my couch watching movies on our favorite streaming platform. It feels so good to have ended this fight with my son. Now I can work on my relationship with Deborah and improve my relationship with my children.
I think I have a new friend in my son. And with his support, I am sure I will be able to handle my braces. Sure, it was his prank that started my treatment, but I need treatment too because these headaches are real and I am sure the braces will help.
