Under a Different Sun

"Shelia, who do you think is stronger, me or your husband?"

"Um... it's definitely you..."

I shut my eyes and gripped my fists so hard, but I could not help remembering our first date.

Back then, Sheila would turn red just from holding hands. Maybe time really did change everything.

I tossed and turned all night.

At the crack of dawn, I dragged myself to the training field.

This mission was going to be even more dangerous than the last, so I had to be in prime condition in order not to let my team down.

However, as I trained, all the things that bothered me kept popping into my head. Sheila's adoring looks at John and how my parents always took his side. It all made me so mad.

That anger drove me as I trained, and I pretended the punching bag was John. I hit it so hard it burst.

On my way home, I grabbed a couple of sandwiches to eat. Then I heard a voice I knew.

"Bro?"

I turned and saw them standing not too far away. John was all dressed up in a suit, his hair slicked back, and wearing fancy glasses. He looked pretty sharp.

"Bro, is that really you? What's with the..."

He looked me over, not sure what to say.

I was a mess, just out of the gym, wearing a white tank top with my jacket in my hand. Next to John, I must have looked pretty rough.

Sheila scrunched her brow, standing by John, her hand just barely covering her nose. I noticed every little thing she did.

After every training session back in the day, Sheila would rush into my arms without hesitation.

I would always push her away, complaining about being all sweaty.

However, Sheila never cared.

She would say my sweat belonged to our country, and she was too proud to think of it as anything else.

In the end, it became painfully clear who loved me, and who did not.

"Hank, where have you been to get so messy?”

"You might not care, but we do!" My mom's voice snapped me back to reality, dripping with disapproval.

It's like all those times she lovingly patched me up and made me soup were from another lifetime.

"Bro, I get it.”

"Did you leave the service with nothing to do, so you started doing construction work?”

"Bro, if you're struggling to find a job, just tell me. I can hook you up! No need to put yourself down like this!"

John seemed to have my back.

However, he slapped the "construction worker" label on me before I could even speak.

I wanted to set things straight, but seeing Sheila and the others looking at me with disgust, I clamped my mouth shut.

"Him? Let's not have him embarrass us at our company.”

"He's all muscles and nothing more." My dad's icy laugh cut through the air, his eyes never meeting mine.

Back when I joined the military straight out of the academy, my dad was so proud. He bragged about me all over social media.

When someone teased him, saying I was just a brawler who could not hit the books, he argued with them all night.