I Sell My Dad 5 (final)

One summer afternoon, two friends chatted sitting at a table on the terrace of a modest restaurant.

One of them was Yurem, a young architect who, at twenty-five, enjoyed good fortune.

"You've always been very intelligent, all your plans have worked out well," Efraín acknowledged, saddened, a very thin boy of the same age.

Efraín and Yurem had been friends since elementary school; Efraín had to drop out of high school to work and support his family, who had always had economic problems.

Yurem hadn't seen him since then, but after a reunion on social media, they had agreed to eat and chat. Yurem ordered a beer and asked Efraín if he wanted one, but Efraín declined.

"Dude, would you be offended if I bought you one?" Yurem asked, assuming he didn't order one because he couldn't afford it.

"No, friend, thanks, it wouldn't offend me, and it's true I don't have enough money for a beer, but I don't drink alcohol anyway," Efraín replied frankly, feeling he could be honest and open with Yurem.

"Alcohol is the cause of all the problems in my house, brother," he confessed. "When we were in high school, I didn't tell you because I was ashamed, but my dad doesn't let go of the bottle."

"I'm sorry, friend," Yurem said sincerely. "You didn't have to tell me; we all knew."

"Really?" Efraín asked, somewhat embarrassed.

"When you came to school beaten, you always said you had fallen off your bike, and one day when I invited you to go cycling, you told me your bike was broken... I found out your dad had pawned it," Efraín let out a tear.

"He's hit us all, many times, and before, he used to pawn our toys; now the house is mortgaged, and we're going to lose it," Efraín said sadly.

"Why don't they leave him?" Yurem asked.

"My mom is afraid of him," Efraín replied. "He beats her horribly and says that if she leaves the house, he'll find her wherever she is... and we all believe him."

Yurem tried to change the subject to something less sad. "Let's talk about something else. Are you still with your boyfriend?" Yurem and Efraín had confessed to being gay since high school; they were so close that Yurem had even confessed to Efraín that he liked his dad: "He's so handsome and manly," he had said at the time.

Yurem's attempt to improve the conversation only brought tears to Efraín's face. "My dad found out, beat Oswaldo horribly, and warned him that if he ever saw me again, he would kill him."

"You're twenty-five, you don't depend on your parents anymore; why don't you leave your house?" Yurem asked, confused and saddened by Efraín.

"I can't leave my mom alone; when my dad comes home drunk, I defend her because if I don't, he leaves her in bad shape... she's already been to the hospital twice. I know what you're going to say, that I could report him, but my mom is afraid that he or his family will want revenge;...