Mewgulf ONESHOT collection

Daughter to father

There's something in the car with him.

Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat was certain that it's way past halloween and he shouldn't be having these shivers down his spine, but he swore something just moved from the backseat of his car.

For the hundreth time, he regretted his earlier decision of not bringing a driver for the motivational speech he's about to deliver today as an alumni to his previous university.

After braving a glance at his rearview mirror, he almost let out an inelegant shout when he saw a small figure and practically slammed on the brakes.

"Oof—"

The thing squeaks as Mew tried to locate his sanity from the sudden stillness. He also reminded himself that he's a full grown adult with a husband and kids waiting at home, who'd surely laugh at his face for believing in such things as ghosts.

And speaking of ghosts, his backseat passenger sounded a little too familiar for his peace of mind.

At that exact moment two pairs of eyes met on the rearview mirror, one shooting sparks of disbelief. The other glowing with mischief with no remorse whatsoever of being caught doing something red handed.

Mew sighed and reached for his phone and dialled home.

Gulf answered on the third ring, still half asleep. "Mmff. P'Mew? What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

Mew pinched the bridge of his nose, not knowing how to break the bad news but deciding to do it nonetheless. "No, no. I just.. could you do something for me?"

Yawn. "Of course," came the sleepy response.

Mew almost smiled. Almost. "Promise not to freak out. But would you mind checking the twins for me?"

Gulf snorted on the other line. "What has you worrying at 8 in the morning? The kids are probably still in bed." Another yawn, followed by the sound of a person getting out of bed, then footsteps padding out of the room to the next one. A pause. And then a whispered, "See? Alex is still sleeping. Lemme just go and see Ash next so you can go and concentrate on your speech. Would you like a picture for—"

There was total silence after that. Mew checked if the call got disconnected but Gulf was still there, probably staring at Ash's empty bed.

The voice call was suddenly switched to video call and then he's seeing Gulf's panicked face on screen. "She's not here!!!"

Mew winced at the frantic shout and casted an accusing glance at the one sitting sheepishly behind him. "Calm do—"

"Didn't you hear me? Ash is missing!" Gulf looks a sight with his deshiveled state. Hair standing in all directions and pillow creases still evident on his cheeks. But he looks just as perfect as the moment Mew kissed him goodbye some thirty minutes ago.

He's lovely even with the frown. "P'Mew! Why are you not concern? We're talking about Ash here. You know? Your only daughter?"

Oh, yeah. The daughter who has the same face as Gulf, the other half of Mew's heart, so it's understandable that she'd be easily forgiven to whatever wicked crime she committed in Mew's eyes. Don't ask. It's just the way things are with regards to daughters and their fathers.

"Really, phi! What should we do? I should call the police right? Or is the army better?"

Mew decided to end his love's suffering right then and there before he can suggest to summon the royal guards. "Sit down before you have a stroke. Your daughter is safe with me." He turned his phone so Gulf can see Ash, the little stowaway sitting as pretty as you pleased like she's waiting for the queen of England to pour her some tea.

It's like all the energy seeps out of Gulf's body. "She is? Oh, thank God!" Then came the realization. "Natasha Traipipattanapong-Jongcheveevat!" he snapped. Even Mew unconsciously sat a little straighter upon hearing the sharp reprimand. "You have a lot of explaining to do sneaking away like that, young lady. What were you thinking?"

When he saw the little lips wobbled, Mew felt a tug to his heart. A father's occupational hazard.

And then his daughter started bawling her eyes out. "B-because (sniff) he also left this early last week and.. and he was away (sniff) for four days and I miss him s-so much (hiccup) and if he's going away again I thought I'd go with him this time please don't be angry at me, Papa. Ash is sorry."

Ash has a serious case of separation anxiety whenever one of her parents has to work overseas for a while, so those times were quite far in between if MewGulf can manage or, they get to take the whole family with them. Sadly, it didn't happened on Mew's last gig abroad. Thus the predicament right now.

My poor baby.

With Gulf as a silent witness to the drama, Mew scooped Ash and placed her on his lap, helped her blew her nose and right her dress. And when she calmed down enough he told her, "Daddy is just going to his old school to welcome the new students who will study the same major as me. I'm not going anywhere else I promise."

Ash perked up, eyes sparkled with excitement. "Can I come?" And then remembering she's still on the range of fire, she stared beseechingly at Gulf. "Can I, Papa please? Please? I'll behave and not go anywhere else I promise."

Mew's lips twitched upon hearing the same words he used. Gulf must have noticed it too judging by the amused expression he tried to hide to maintain a semblance of strictness for the benefit of his daughter. "I love you and you better be or I'm grounding you 'till you're seventy."

Mew's speech on that day made headlines. His monologue about not giving up on your dreams made quite an impact to those aspiring students who were once like him. It was one of Mew's proudest moment. And he has his darling daughter there to witness his glory of becoming an inspiration to the new generation.

Err, sort of.

He was just about to begin when Ash came to him in front of a hundred and so people and demanded quite sweetly to be carried, for which he complied resulting to quite a few collective sighs.

She was there the first five minutes of his opening speech, physically that is. And then she was asleep.