Daddy's Home (KNJ au)

Ch. 29

I groan, rolling over and throwing my blanket over me. I refuse to get up, knowing what I did last night. It's one thing to get drunk, but it's another to strip and walk butt ass naked around in front of your boss. Yeah. My dumb ass did that. I had no ulterior motive, but I was wrong for doing that, whether my intoxicated ass was hot or not. I groan even louder, wanting to throw myself off a bridge. I have some explaining to do.

I feel around for my phone and check the time. It's 11:17am, so that means Namjoon took the kids to school and didn't want to wake me. I'm thankful because I don't think I can face him right now. I curl back under my blanket and sigh. I think about my phone call with the woman that birthed me and that's when it hits me. I have to meet with her at noon.

I sit up and quickly hop out of bed, almost falling because of how fast I went. I curse to myself as I gather my clothes for a quick shower, realizing that I don't have my robe. There's no one here, so I'll quickly go downstairs to grab it. I place my clothes on my bed and go to the door, tripping over my damn robe that's already at the door. I smile softly, thankful that Namjoon brought it to me but didn't enter my room. I would be even more embarrassed if he caught me masturbating.

Like a superhero, I speed through showering, brushing my teeth, and situating my hair. I quickly lay my  edges and am satisfied with it. I rush back into my bedroom and throw on my clothes, sliding on my flip flops to complete the look. I grab my phone and check the time to see that it's 11:47 now. Half an hour, that's pretty good time, considering I nearly had a conniption getting ready. I grab my purse and keys, nearly flying out of the house to make it downtown.

But why am I rushing for a woman that I don't even know? For a woman that may not even show up? I have my expectations set way too high for someone who skipped out on the first 25 years of my life. My own mother, who was supposed to be there to protect me and teach me how to be a woman. Who was supposed to be the person I looked up to, my role model, and someone I aspired to be like. But she wasn't, and I didn't have that luxury. I'm just happy my dad was willing to take on the challenge of raising me alone. I'll forever be grateful for that.

I approach downtown, just a few minutes after noon, and my heart begins to beat faster. I'm really about to meet this woman. How will I react? How will she react? There's so much that I know I will want to say, but will it even come out? I'm so nervous, anxious, sad, relieved, and it's all just- I don't know.

The fountain comes into view and I take a deep breath, parking at the first spot I see. I give myself a pep talk and tale another deep breath as I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. I step onto the sidewalk and begin walking toward the fountain. There are a few people just scattered around, and the breeze is flowing just right for little droplets of water from the fountain to hit my skin. That calms me down a bit, but I'm still tense as I look around for Jada. Would I be surprised if she didn't show? Not at all. Would I be upset? Yes, because she's wasting my time.

Before I can think of anything else, I hear my name being called. "Harlow?"

I stop my movements, turning around and finally coming face-to-face with the woman that brought me into this world. And I can tell that's her. I look almost like her spitting image. How hard must it have been for my dad to raise me and look at me everyday, just to see my mother's face? I have my dad's lips and head shape. Other than that, I look like this woman. I don't move as I just look at her. Tears are falling from my eyes and I want to stop them, but I can't. That empty void in my heart now has a little piece of something in it, just by being in front of her.

She covers her mouth, concealing her cries as she walks closer to me. We're nearly the same height, she's just a tad taller than me. My chest rises and falls heavily as she is now standing directly in front of me. What do I do now? Everything I thought I wanted to do and say has all flown out of the window. Do I say hello? Do I look down? Do I just lead her over to sit on a bench or something to talk? I have to stop thinking so much, and just started acting on what I want to do. So I do what I never thought I would do.