Tristan had been staring at that document for a while now as he could not believe his eyes. It seems like fate was playing a fast one on him or that perhaps there was every possibility that Claire was much more than he had expected. He had been staring at her father’s name for a while and could not believe she was the daughter of that very Willows he had been finding a way to get back at all these years. He frowned a lot as he wondered if this was all a game or some opportunity to make the man feel what he had felt.
Perhaps I should take you on a walk down memory lane. It was some years before all hell had been let loose with his family that Tristan had been part of a boy band. Of course his family did not approve of what he was doing and that was why he had to go way low with everything he was doing. Being born to the kind of father he had was something really. The son of a well known judge and the only son of his father. It had been he and his sister born to his father from his mother who had abandoned them for an estranged lover. Then his father had taken in as wife, his secretary. A union which Tristan then a teenager had never approved of. He became head strong and disobedient going rogue against his father full time. He successfully became the deliquent child of the family doing everything his father would never approve of ranging from doing drugs to roaming around with the never do wells of the said society his father was trying to release from the clenches of what would be termed crime.
It was a case of a stubborn teenager that had sworn to make his old man see through his eyes no matter how brutal he had to go about it. Tristan saw no reasons why his father at forty eight would be needing another wife. The first time his old man had found out about his little boy band crew, he had Tristan grounded but then the young man had done another thing while being grounded. He was caught smoking pot in the house. It was not easy putting up with Tristan and he knew himself that he was just being an ass but his ego would not let him stop. He wanted to be the winner in everything and each time his stepmother tries to reach out to him, he would spite her. Susan was actually a nice person to be around that his sister had no hard time bonding with her but for him, it was his ego that mattered most. He continued making life hard for his father until the man was forced to do the ultimate thing yet.
It happened that night that Tristan had been secretly taken away forcefully from his home. When he struggled, he had been drugged. Waking up and Tristan was in a rehabilitation center. Speak about a curse and he would point that out to you. For two years, he had been away from family and friends and at first, he had a really hard time settling in with the others but through his stay there, he picked on a new hobby. His love for the kitchen developed. More also was the fact that an international chef had paid them a visit and Tristan had taken to the man who in turn adored the young man. He taught him a lot during his visiting days before he returned to his country.
Possibly, his father had forgotten all about him as on the day he was let out of the establishment which apparently was long overdue, the old man had not been there to pick him up. He came out of that establishment feeling like a stranger to the world. Like a prisoner from a long time in jail. It was really sad for the youth as he walked away holding just his jacket in his hands. He smiled and called a cab to take him to his father’s office so that he himself could confirm that he was all good. He got there with a change of heart to be a better man but something else had happened eventually. Just as he got out of the cab, asking the man to be patient so he could get his fee, he saw his father emerging from his office. Tristan was excited as he walked towards the man clearly in his view. His father saw him but did not acknowledge him. Instead, he looked through him like he had not seen him and then focused elsewhere until members of the press came around him and surrounded him with their questions. You can say that was where his hatred for the press came from, they had always been of the habit of being a spoil sport whenever one had something urgent to do.
Shamefully, Tristan had returned to the cab man and begged him for more of his services. He asked him to take him to his house where he packed up his belongings. He took his cellphone and walked away to the waiting cab. His stepmother was around heavily pregnant and she was asking him what the matter was. Tristan chose to ignore her and walked over to the cab. He got moving straight to the one place he had been accepted no matter what. He only hoped they would still be around. His phone began ringing when he was in the car and he looked at the screen. It was his father calling. He must have heard that Tristan was leaving. Which meant he did see him and had only pretended not to have seen him that day. Tristan declined his calls and after a while, he ceased calling. The one place he had taken the cab man to was the place his crew members and fellow outcasts stayed. They were outside when he arrived and were shocked to see he was still alive. It had been two years.
Seeing how sad he was, no one asked him questions but hugged him. They took his bag and led him away while some handled the cab fee. According to them, they had been looking for him everywhere that they stalked his sister to know where he was. The girl had said he had been missing and that was all. Eventually they went to his father who said that he was dead and warned them never to set foot in his office ever again.
Dead he had said, Tristan made his decision that day. He was dead to not just his father but also the rest of his family. The band was no longer like it used to be back then when he was around. In the two years he had been away, Jeremy had been sent to the overseas by his also rich parents to make a better living grounds for himself by studying. Two others had left also and that left the remaining four. Tristan made the band five at the time.
He eventually pulled out his sim from his phone and broke it into pieces. He had severed every ties he had with them and was ready to start a freshman. There he was, a young man without a penny to his name as his father had taken his credit cards before sending him to rehabilitation.
His return back brought life to the band again. He was the piano man and he sure as hell had the looks to die for. The women were crawling all over and he refused getting distracted at the time. He had a goal with his new found hobby and he had not forgotten.
Now, Claire’s father episode had come to be eventually during his struggling days. It was not his fault that he had arrived late for his book launching. Tristan was supposed to play the piano during the occasion. Of course the man never heard about him nor had he seen him before. All he knew was how late the young man was. It had happened that very day, his band also had an important event but he would not be present. He had decided to pick something more responsible and disappoint his band mates respite efforts being made at stopping him from going. He had high hopes that he would hit it big if he entertained the man and his well to do colleagues. But he had been thirty minutes late and when he arrived, the man had turned him away without caring about the fact that he had been stuck in traffic. Tristan pleaded to no avail but the man shut him out. He decided to go back and find his band only to meet them outside the place they had gone looking dejected. They had lost woefully as their pianist was nowhere to be found. In course of defending his name from rivals, they had also gotten into a fight. Tristan felt like the black sheep among them all.
His best friend had not taken it lightly and angrily got on his bike. Tristan wanted to stop him and was asking him to stop. He paid him deaf ears and rode off obviously high.
On his way, some kid had ran through the road, in bid to avoid that child his friend rammed into a fast coming truck. It was the last time he ever saw his friend again and the very last time the band was seen together. Tristan became a chef, Ted a medical doctor, Japheth a ski instructor and Donald was the only one still doing music and hoping that someday they would come together again.