𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 [MONTGOMERY DE LA CRUZ AU]

NINE ૐ A LONGING DAUGHTER AND A FATHER'S CRY

OLIVIA SMILES AS SHE WATCH her sister spin Grayson gingerly through the air with her arms, her two little brothers walking along them, watching their baby nephew with fascination and awe. She couldn't help but smile at the look on their faces when they hear her little boy burst into a fit of laughter as Elizabeth does it again.

Beside her, Noah absentmindedly kick a pebble with his converse, crystalline blue eyes penetrating the pavement beneath their shoes. Olivia inhales the fresh breeze, nudging her younger brother with her elbow. "So, how were you while I was away? You haven't been causing headache and getting into trouble, have you?"

Noah snickers, "You're the one always causing headache to mom and dad for getting into trouble. I'm afraid you got both of us mixed up."

Olivia hmph's and weakly gave her brother a flick on the forehead, "Did not!"

Noah's eyes does a 360 Olivia was afraid his eyeballs would get stuck. Olivia exhales, "Seriously, how were you though?"

"Come on, it's not like we didn't Facetime every time you weren't busy with schoolworks, which is all the time, because you and i both know they bore you to death and doing a homework, you're already dead beat asleep within two minutes."

Olivia bursts out laughing, shaking her head. He knew her so well, like she was the back of his hand. She slings an arm around his shoulders and upon doing so, she had to slight stand at the tip of her toes to reach his shoulders because of his height. She had forgotten how much her brother had grown while she was gone and somehow, it made her feel a bit sad.

"Come on, you know it's much different when we're face-to-face." Olivia whines, she pinches his cheeks. "Got any girlfriend already?"

At the question, he chokes on his saliva and started coughing relentlessly, his face turning beet red. He awkwardly answers, "No, got no plans to get one." Olivia shoots him a bewildered look and in a rush, he chokes out. "As of the moment."

She muses. "Well, that's weird. Most guys your age want or got girlfriends of their own."

Noah says defensively, "I'm not like them, okay, i'm not like most guys."

"Yeah, yeah, i know. No need to yell at me for it." Olivia teased. "Back to the topic, how were you? How's school? Tell me about your cheesy dramas, your friends, girls that you like, memorable events, anything!"

Noah sighs, too lazy to even talk about the things going on with his life, especially with the sun shining down on them and the long walk they have ahead of them. They were bound to go to the city park with no car since their parents promoted healthy fitness which means = exercise. But when he sees the enthusiastic and looking-forward look his sister had on her face, he changed his mind.

He tells her about his classes, how Advanced Calculus — including every single Math subject he had— felt excruciating to his brain, how every equation felt like torture. He tells her about liking the experiments Mr. Gregory holds for them. He tells her about the gossips — despite being a guy, he was impressively update with the juciest of them all — going around the school. How her ex bestfriend, Tina Clayton, was now dating the captain of the soccer team from their rivalry school and how half of the population of Liberty High loathed her for. He tells her how spends his Friday nights, and how he now attends parties instead of staying in because he now he've grown to like the buzz of the party.

He doesn't tell her the nights he slept in her bed when he misses her, doesn't tell her how he sometimes sit down at her study table and run his fingers delicately through the textbooks she left stacked up on it, through the set of her collection of highlighters and glitter pens she bought at Target, the sticky notes written with reminders on it. He doesn't tell her how much he wanted to see her, how it him real hard when she left abruptly.

When he finishes talking, Olivia questions him with reluctance. "How about Mom and Dad? When I left, how were things between the two of them?"

"Mom missed you terribly. You and your troublesome personality. Your raucous chatter every morning just to annoy everyone else in this family when you feel like it. She even misses getting calls from Mr. Bolan informing them about you getting in trouble." Noah chuckles.

"And Dad?"

"Dad.." Noah exhales, knowing it was a whole different case with their Father. "Dad got it bad. Truth be told, it was him who took your pregnancy really bad. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that his little girl got impregnated by a boy he tried warning her about, and what makes matters worse, there was no one there to take the responsibility but you. He had big dreams for you, he wanted you to become a successful interior designer, the career you've always dreamed of since you were little. When you told them about Grayson, it ruined everything because there was no way you could survive the remaining months of highschool with SATs, final exams and graduation without getting a miscarriage. He had to take you away from us, to send you off to Lizzie as you undergo the pregnancy and when you labor. It was hard for him, he felt as if he failed as a father. He felt as if he didn't try hard enough to pay attention to you because he was too busy with work."

"He's not mad at you, Livvie." Noah states. When Olivia shoots him a look, he sighs and admits. "Okay, then maybe he is. But that's just because he was hurt with what you did. He's just hurt and a little bit disappointed. He doesn't hate you, it's just hard for him to accept it. He's hurt that he gave you both freedom in dating and tried accepting Monty as your boyfriend because of you but you weren't responsible enough with your actions and you broke his trust. He loves Grayson, believe me, he loves him to death."

Olivia looks up at her brother with tears brimming her eyes, she sniffs and wiped them hastily, obviously affected with what Noah said. It makes her heart drop how she hurt her parents for her recklessness, especially her dad. She never knew how it affected him so much. After she was sent off to where her sister stayed for Uni, she engraved it on her mind that from that day on, she was already dead to her father. He wouldn't glance at her direction, wouldn't talk to her, wouldn't hear her out. When she was 9 months in and two weeks before Grayson's birth, he didn't bother speaking to her through the phone when she asked for him, but he came to visit her a few days after her labor.

" Underneath anger, there is pain. He just needs time, that's all. Time heals everything, Livvie."