7 Minutes

7:00

Hiram Lodge

Hate is the equivalent of Hiram Lodge for Veronica. In fact, hate isn't even strong enough to describe what she felt for her daddy. But it was not always like this.

She remembers how much admiration she had for her daddy when she was small.

"Higher, Daddy, higher!" Baby Veronica squeals in delight as Hiram pushes her on the swing in their humungous backyard.

"Happy fourth birthday, Mija," he presents her the playroom that was shaped like a castle. Veronica marvels at the castle as she rushes in to play.

Her daddy is the best at showering her with gifts, child Veronica learns. As she grows older, her daddy spends less and less time at home, and the piles of gifts stack higher.

"Daddy, I don't want gifts, I want you to play with me," child Veronica whines.

"Oh, Veronica, these gifts are your best companions. You'll learn how valuable materials are when you grow up. Besides, Smithers is here with you, you can play with him."

It is not the same. A child needs her parents. So, Veronica grows up lonely in a big house. She is best at the only thing she knows: her daddy's gifts.

She proudly parades around at school with her expensive gifts, while the other kids marvel at her. Veronica does not share, she does not let lend. She does not know how to make friends, besides making people submit to her in fear.

Child Veronica becomes teen Veronica, who is the Queen Bee at her high school. Girls want to be her, guys want her. Yet Veronica still feels all alone in the crowd of admirers.

"Daddy, look, I got the perfect score!"

"That's good, Mija."

"You didn't even look..." Hiram is already gone to his next business meeting or whatever he does.

"Sorry, Veronica, daddy couldn't make it," Hermione comforts the despondent girl on her fourteenth birthday. "He sends you this with his love."

Veronica is presented with a pearl necklace. She immediately wraps it around her neck. She decides to wear it everyday since her daddy gave it to her. It would be like her dad's presence was with her everyday.

For a while, capturing her daddy's attention is teen Veronica's main life goal. She keeps getting tired when she fails continuously.

Veronica gets a nasty wake up call when the police barge into their apartment. She watches her precious daddy get arrested by the police in handcuffs, and her precious gifts get ruined in the process of searching for evidence.

They flee to Riverdale.

Veronica is shocked to hear her daddy's name being tainted on the news. She finds it hard to accept the dad she looked up to so much is involved in illegal business. Maybe it's a mistake, she thinks. I'll ask daddy when he gets out of prison.

She is not ready to see him standing in the Pembrooke living room. Despite her words of self comfort, she does not trust him. After Jughead's advice though, she gives him a chance, which she now thinks is the biggest mistake of her life.

Veronica feels like a fool to have been blinded by her father's lies. His lies get exposed one after another, one after another, until Veronica can't even catch up.

She rips the pearls (the second necklace) off her neck. Her dad no longer has a grasp on her. She is horrified to have been manipulated by Hiram Lodge into helping him welcome the Southside kids into Riverdale, so that he can turn Southside High into a prison.

Veronica Lodge is angry. Because of her father, many of her friends have turned their backs on her. Because of him, her mom and her have to bear his sins, while he hides like a coward in his office. She scowls. He never has to do any of his dirty work.

When she gets together with Jughead Jones and plots to take him down, she knows how angry her father is. Her going against him and dating his worst enemy? A big no. Hiram Lodge's patience has already been running thin from Veronica's rebellious attitude, but this is the last straw.

She hides from her father in Jughead's trailer. She is happy there, despite the circumstances. She plans a happy future with Jughead, but her father ruins it all. He always ruins everything.

Today, is the first time in months that Veronica comes out of the trailer. She wants to buy a gift for Jughead, whose birthday was nearing.

She did not expect to bump into her daddy.

She did not expect this to happen.

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They say when you die, you have seven minutes of memory left before you fade into nothing. If that is true, this must be Veronica's seven minutes.

She was not surprised that it was Jughead who had appeared the most in her mind. She wanted to tell him she loved her one last time before she blacked out.

In the last few seconds of Veronica's seven minutes, she had two things on her mind: how much she loved Jughead Jones, and how much she hated Hiram Lodge, who had shot her in the heart seven minutes ago.