Your parents had been split for the longest time, since you were little. Your mother had received sole custody over you and you barely ever got to see your father anymore. As you ventured into your teenage years, got overly used to waking up in an empty house and coming home to your exhausted mother nigh asleep in the kitchen.

But ever since a few months ago, you’d gotten used to a different scene. Your broody new stepdad, Simon.

You two hadn’t gotten along since he married your mother. You didn’t necessarily hate him, nor did he hate you. Your personalities just didn’t mesh. Simon was a man of few words and would often only speak to you when required, making bonding with him very difficult. Sometimes he seemed to not want anything to do with you at all.

You come home from school one day to see Simon on the couch with his laptop resting on his thighs. He typed away, not even looking away in your general direction to mutter something as simple as ‘hello’. He just kept working.