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HER CHEST FELT tight as she watched the man across from her, eyes full of disbelief. She was half convinced it was all a hallucination. It had to be. Because there was no way, absolutely no way in hell, that Bao Qing had been sitting right across from her in her grandmother's home after almost twelve years of radio silence since he had abandoned them all and never looked back.
She had not blinked in what felt like forever, part of it had been due to the possibility that if she was imagining him there, he would disappear. Much to her frustration, she was unsure whether or not that would be a good thing or a bad thing.
Finally, Bao spoke up and popped the bubble of silence surrounding them—suffocating them like a vice. "You look beautiful." he said softly gesturing to her makeup and dress. "Never would've guessed little you would grow up to be such a fashionista."
He was being awkward. Everything about the way he attempted to ease into the conversation felt so forced. Like he did not know how to start back up with someone after going no contact with them for over a decade. She supposed that made sense because she would feel the same way.
But then again she would never go about hurting her family the way he did.
If he was not going to, that left Astrid with no other choice but to rip the bandaid right off. "What are you doing here?" she asked, surprising herself with just how steady her voice had sounded. It was no secret that she had been a mess. Anyone with eyes could see her shaking hands as she played with the rings on her fingers to keep herself grounded.
Bao gnawed on his inner cheek as he pushed aside the glass of water in front of him. "Eleven years ago... hell—even before then, I made a mistake." he began, his words catching Astrid on a hook. It had certainly been an evident and drastic change in character compared to when she had last heard anything come out of his mouth that had not been slurred speech due to alcohol. "I made the mistake of letting my addiction hurt you all. I put it above people who cared about me and did so much damage... and I sat around all this time knowing I left things the way I did... I never got over that."
