(Book 2 in If I Could series)
"What do you want, Lily!?" he yelled, his patience on the verge of snapping. "You keep telling me you hate me but clearly you don't, you want me but you won't accept it either. You're stubborn and crazy and I- just tell...
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My dad and I had the most beautiful relationship one could ever ask for. He loved me and he cared for me but most importantly, he always respected me and my choices. Even now, as he came up beside me, he gently stroked my hand, saying, “You look beautiful, Lils. You’re not cold, though, right? You know you can just go in and wear a pair of jeans if you’d like. We are the hosts so you’re under no obligations to torture yourself.”
My heart burst with the amount of love I had for this man and I had just started to shake my head when my mom slid in, a glass of champagne in her hand. Dad’s eyes instantly lit up as he wrapped an arm around mom’s waist and kissed her cheek. She smiled up at him before her eyes travelled to mine, her lips set in a straight line. “Yes, Lils,” she muttered, waving a dismissive hand. “Why don’t you go change into more comfortable clothes? The dress is absolutely pretty but I think you’d like yourself better in jeans at our party, wouldn’t you?”
God help me. My dad loved my mom too much to notice her passive-aggressive, out of the hand comments and there were numerous times I’d tried to approach him, to tell him what she told me wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed and like the greatest father that he was, he had taken this up with mom. But the discussion had soon turned into a quarrel as my mom had given me dirty glares for days afterwards.
My parents hadn’t talked to each other for about a week and I hadn’t seen my dad as miserable as he had been during that week. So, I learnt quickly that if I didn’t want to upset my dad, I should just bear my mom’s comments. They were just words and if I didn’t let them affect me, they wouldn’t.
So, while I had been reluctant about going to London at only nineteen and fresh out of highschool, I had needed space. I had completed my graduation and upon my return, Kyst had proposed the receptionist position to me because he knew it’d help me learn the etiquettes of working at a company while spying on the employees. It had been a good enough offer and I’d accepted it.
About a month after returning back home, I’d gotten tired of my mom’s everyday nagging and comments so I’d begged dad to let me use the trust fund and get myself a new home. And he had agreed. My home was on the outskirts of the city in a nice enough neighbourhood and about half an hour’s drive away from the main city as well as my childhood house. My parents didn’t visit me frequently because I’d demanded I needed to be independent and it served as the perfect way to stay away from my mum and her deliberate speculations and unwanted commentary.
So, I’d stayed at my new home while getting my master’s degree in business online and amping up my CV by doing one hell of a job at my brother’s company. I was terribly proud of myself and I really didn’t want my mother’s comments putting me off tonight.
Especially with the unnerving, mystical entry of Ken slash Miller and the way his eyes had followed me all around our backyard today had been insufferable on its own and I needed a break. So, I did the thing I did the best. I escaped the situation. Telling my dad I needed something from the kitchen and that I would see him later, I entered our house, exhaling a sharp breath.
