The Raven Butterfly

chapter 8

 “Look whose here” Ada smiled hearing her father words, the man is still trying to find a comfortable position on the stool. She glanced at him, her fingers playing with the phone wire, something she does whenever she’s nervous.

“Well I did tell you that I will come, did I? And you teach me to always keep my words” Her voice is remarkably calm despite what’s going on inside her mind.

“Be true to your words” her father chuckled, his left hand rubbing his temple. “That is one of a very few things you’ve learnt from me”

Ada laughed with him even though she doesn’t think there’s anything funny. Her father has squinty eyes that’d be closed whenever he laughed. When they finally calmed down Ada tapped the glass that’s separating her from him. “How are you doing papa?”

Her father gave her a meaningful look “as good as everyone can be in this place, I guess” he looked at his daughter, a bitter smile on his lips. “I guess you goes to the same school as Carla, am I right?”

That is the father she knows by heart. That’s how he always does things, by guessing. The ‘guess’ is most likely to be the one that brought him in from the first place. She slowly nodded as a yes. He nodded back.

“You should try not to make everything so hard this time.”

Ada scoffed, part of her couldn’t believe what her father just said, he was never a good father, and he isn’t that kind of father who gives her a suggestion on how she should live her life. For a while the father and daughter just stare at each other.

“Carla told me to say that to you” he admitted with a little shrug. Ada frowns, why would Carla tell that to him? Why’d she visited on the first place? Carla almost never contacted her father. She loathes him long before they found out what he did, back then Ada has no idea why Carla hates the man, now she could easily give dozens of reasons for that. Turns out, Asher Wong is not that hard to hate.

 “Are you saying that she visited? She’s odd but that’s way odder” she said. Her father nods, maybe to confirm that Carla visited him maybe he’s agreed with her that what Carla did is odd, maybe both, Ada doesn’t know.

“How’s your new school? Do you like it?” he switched the conversation, another thing that describes him.

“I never was the learning type, so I would be lying if I say I like it, but I dare to say it is so much better than Hartbrook” she answered her eyes studying his.

“It was the best for you. Come on kid, we’ve talked about this several times. Why can’t you just let that go?” he said a little bit louder. She can see in his eyes how the words hurt him. Not that she cares.

“Oh please, this is not about me who can’t fit in one of the most prestigious boarding school in the state. This about you using that school as an excuse to abandon me”

“I was trying to keep you safe, and being with me is absolutely not safe. You know my line of work. After all I’d do anything to give you the life that you deserve,”he reasoned.

“Of course you do, look where you are right now. Totally the life that I deserve, isn’t it?” She mocked, it was out of line but she doesn’t regret it, not even a little bit “Don’t forget about all those things I did because of you, I totally deserve that, am I?”

For a moment her father seemed to be at loss of words. “You’re the one who should look. I’m actually not that easy to catch. Yet, here I am, you want to know why? Something was holding me back, keeps me from running away, to completely disappear”

Her father is also one of people with a really big ego, he thinks he’s invincible, like nothing can stop him. If he really is everything that he said, he wouldn’t be here. Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how expert you are in whatever you do. Ada stared at her father’s eyes, she could almost see her in it.

“You” he simply spoke. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you”