Never Judge

"One chocolate ice cream and one vanilla ice -" Miguel was cut off when he felt a tugging at his shirt. He looked down at his son who clearly wanted something.

"Can I have sprinkles and cookies on mine, dad?" Dominic asked in a small and shy voice.

Miguel smiled and nodded and repeated his request to the woman at the counter. 

The cashier nodded and took his payment and gestured for them to wait for their order at the side. Miguel thanked the woman and led his son to wait for their order.

Miguel noticed that Dominic had already realized that they had attracted the attention of many patrons of the shop. 

"Are you alright?" Miguel asked his son. He was worried that the little boy would be scared by the number of people looking at them and gossiping about them.

"I\'m fine, dad." Dominic said with a nod. "It\'s nothing different from school earlier today." The boy confessed as a server handed them their orders.

"Come on, let\'s find a seat and talk." Miguel said with a nod as he took the two cups of ice cream and let his son lead the way.

Dominic led them to some vacant seats away from people that were facing the outside. Miguel nodded as he placed the ice cream on the table and looked to see if his son needed any help getting on the stool. It was quite high and Dominic was still a malnourished child, he was smaller than children his age and weaker. 

It seemed that Dominic didn\'t need his dad\'s help as he easily got up on the stool and reached for his ice cream. 

"So people were staring at you in school today?" Miguel asked his son as he took a scoop of the ice cream and ate it.

Dominic nodded as he continued to eat his ice cream in silence.

"Did something happen?" Miguel asked. "Are you embarrassed about it? I promise I won\'t laugh or make fun of you, son." He said, promising to the little boy.

"Well. . ." Dominic said as he hesitated to speak up. Clearly the little boy didn\'t know if his problems at school were worth bothering his dad over.

"No matter how small or big it is, I want to hear everything about your day, Dominic." Miguel reminded the boy.

"Okay." Dominic said with a nod as he gathered the courage to tell his father about his day. "At first, I think kids kept looking at me because I introduced myself as Dominic Chan, and when the teacher asked me who my mom and dad were, I told them, well, you and mom."

"You said your parents were Miguel and Veronica Chan?" Miguel asked as a smile formed on his lips.

"Yes, I mean, you are my parents." Dominic told Miguel as he looked down at the ice cream in his little hands.

"That makes me the happiest dad in the world, Dom." Miguel said as he patted his son on his head.

Dominic looked up at Miguel and smiled, it was the happiest Miguel had ever seen the little boy and he was bursting with pride as the kid reached out and hugged him.

"Dom, don\'t let anyone ever make you think that you are any less than my son." Miguel told the boy in a serious tone. "Your mom and I chose you, we love you, we wanted you." 

"Thank you dad." Dominic said as he hugged his father tightly and began to cry. It seemed that the validation coming from Miguel meant a lot to him.

When Dominic finally settled down and sat back in his seat, Miguel continued to ask about his day in school.

"So they kept looking at you because you told them who your parents were?" Miguel asked his son.

Dominic nodded. "Yes, they also tried to talk to me. There were so many people, dad." The boy said with a frown as he recounted his day. Dominic was not used to being with so many children his age trying to treat him nicely, so it was quite a shock for him, something Miguel understood.

"They treated me so well because I was your son." Dominic said as he thought about what had happened.

"Dom, this isn\'t the last time that will happen." Miguel said with a sigh, thinking about the many times people treated them well just because of their last name. "People will always try to be your friend because you are a Chan, so you will need to learn to choose your friends wisely."

"Like you and my uncles?" Dominic asked his father.

"Yes, like how I made friends with Cedric, Ray, Ram, and Alexi." Miguel said with a nod. "You have friends too, like your cousin Tristan and Cedric\'s son Yoyo. But they are both much younger than you. You will need to have friends your age."

Dominic nodded as he understood what his father was telling him.

"So why did you seem so sad if people were trying to become friends with you?" Miguel asked, he knew that there was something deeper to this, something his son was yet to tell him. And something told him that it was related to what the school administrator said.

"They asked how old I was." Dominic said with a frown. He was much older than most of his classmates, but because of what he had suffered from his old school he had been delayed in his development and in his education.

"Did you tell them the truth?" Miguel asked. "I wouldn\'t be ashamed or surprised or bothered if you lied Dom, it\'s only normal."

Dominic shook his head to say that he did not lie.

"It told them the truth." Dominic said. 

"Did their attitudes change?" Miguel asked. He knew that children could be brutally honest at times, but that was a trait that he liked when dealing with children, they told the truth.

"Some did, they asked why I was so old, but others were still nice, avoiding the topic." Dominic said in a sad tone as he once more looked down at the ice cream before him. 

"I\'m guessing you learned that people don\'t always tell the truth." Miguel said with a frown. Saddened at how young boys were already quite two faced at the sight of someone that they could use to climb the social ladder.

Miguel had a hunch that this was something that those boys had learned from their parents, something drilled into them, especially since rumors of Yoyo going to school had began to circulate.

"I thought they were really nice, dad." Dominic said with a frown as he looked at his dad. "Then I overheard them, talking about how stupid I was, how I was held back, about how easy it would be to trick me to being their friend. Dad, I\'m not stupid." The little boy said.

"Dom, I know you aren\'t." Miguel said with a smile. He knew the boy was quite smart, among the tests they had to make him go through was an IQ test, and he had scored quite close to genius. 

"But dad, it\'s clear that I am. The kids my age are in grades much higher than me." Dominic said with a frown.

"Your mom and I didn\'t want to push you, we thought you wouldn\'t be ready, but if you want we can start you on some classes outside of school to help you catch up. That is, if you are ready." Miguel told his son with a nod.

Dominic smiled up at Miguel, he had a new determination in his eyes as he heard Miguel\'s suggestion.

"Alright. I\'ll arrange for it." Miguel said as Dominic hugged his father tightly.