Dancing with the Bad Boy | ✓

twenty-four | father

As I faced my father in the night, everything around me seemed to blur out, leaving me completely vulnerable in the eyes of a man who had abandoned me.

The rage that had been suppressed for so many years boiled at the sight of my father, his handsome face glowing in the night as I took a step back carefully. A hand wrapped around my wrist, forcing me back into reality as I blinked, glancing up at Sora who stood in front of me protectively as if my own father would hurt me.

"Please, I'm not looking for any trouble," my father explained, placing both of his hands in the air as if surrendering. "I just want to talk to my daughter."

I remained silent.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you," Sora bit back as if aware of the hostility I held for my father.

"Lucinda, please." This time, he wasn't talking to Sora but to me. He gestured to the nearby cafe with desperate eyes as if hoping I'd speak to him.

Why should I speak to the man who abandoned me for over a decade? And yet, I had craved to meet him for so many years, craved the feeling of knowing how it was like to be loved by a father, shared memories with a father and to have a figure that loved and protected me whole.

A little part of me inside -a little girl from so many years ago that I have managed to hide from- sneaked a peek, forcing my head to nod up and down and before I knew it, I was following the man I knew as a stranger but recognised as a father. Sora and Michael decided that they were hungry in the same moment and followed closely behind, muttering under their breaths.

My father and I settled in a tiny booth where the waitress had already taken our order before serving Sora and Michael who was in the booth right across from us, eyeing us intensely. My father slightly turned his head to the side, chuckling at the two men who didn't even fear getting caught.

"They seem like great friends," my father said, his voice soft as his finger glided around the edges of the cup. I barely met his eyes as he began to reach for my hand that was resting on the table but decided otherwise when he retracted his back to his lap.

"How did you find me?" I questioned, finally lifting my eyes up to meet his ones.

My father shrugged, unsure of how to answer. "Well, it's not hard for a man who runs an IT company filled with talented employees."

True to his word, I had caught my mother once looking at the newspaper once right after her return from the honeymoon with Adam. She had a newspaper in her hand and I knew straight off the bat that my mother was acting strange only because she does not read anything on paper. Ever. Her fingers had run across the page softly before folding it up and stuck it underneath the cushion, leaving me curious as she walked out of the living room.

Sure enough when she had scattered, I fished for the newspaper and unfolded it,  my eyes slightly widening at a handsome man that was so familiar in my dreams from my childhood with a bright smile and his arms crossed against his chest. His name, Edward Raelyn, was in bold on top of the newsletter where he was named one of the most successful billionaires in the entire country. It wasn't hard to connect the dots, especially when I resembled so much like him.

"Why did you only just find me now?" I softly asked, unsure if I wanted to hear the answer.

My father stared at me, observing every feature on my face before inhaling a sharp breath. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it when the waitress placed a chocolate milkshake in front of me and a beer in front of my father. He thanked the waitress before leaning against the seat, his face seemed defeated as he shot me an exhausted look. "I've been keeping tabs on you since I left."