Flowers//Elavan

~15~

On that day, Avan walked out of Liz's room without his heart. He felt like a soldier who came back from battle without his sword, utterly defeated. It was his fault and that he knew, but understanding something does not just take away the pain that comes with it. If anything, knowing just made the ache double in his chest because it wasn't just painful to witness the love of his life feel so betrayed, it was also because he was the reason behind her tears.

He lost her for a second time and yet again, it was entirely of his doing. What angered him so much was that this was a preventable; he could have told her the truth. This was not an inevitable situation.

Even Mia, with her oblivion and childish mindset, has noticed the change in her father's demeanor when he came home from work. He was more sombre and did not cuddle. That night, Avan didn't allow his only child to sleep beside him even when she crawled into his bed in the middle of the night.

"Papa," she whispered lovingly from the floor where she slept after her father had refused to let her sleep beside him. "Good morning!"

Avan heaves a sigh as he forced himself to get up and live another day. He picks up his daughter from the floor, not saying anything to her or even looking at her. It's a cruel thing to say but in moments like this, he wished Mia didn't look so much like Liz.

The young girl presses her pink lips onto Avan's cheek in attempts to catch his attention and cheer him up.

"I love my papa so much," she expertly gushes to charm him, pressing yet another kiss on his cheek with her hands wrapping around his neck. "He's the best!"

It was as if Avan couldn't hear anything as he sat the little girl down on her designated seat on the dining table. He proceeds to pour a bowl of Cocoa Puffs into a bowl and puts it in front of the young child and pours himself a glass of water, not really feeling hungry enough to eat.

"Milk please," Mia politely requests.

Wordlessly, Avan spills a dash of milk into the child's cereal bowl. He felt a numbness in his chest, almost like there was a gaping hole in it somewhere. It made him feel like burrowing in his bed until he could get back up on his feet again but he had a daughter to take care of, especially with her birthday coming up in a few weeks, and a wife. Although she didn't really want him around right now, he still loved her with all of him and maybe that was enough of a reason to start another day.

"Papa, spoon please."

Avan lowly groans in complaint, making sure that Mia wouldn't hear him. He shoves a spoon into her bowl, splashing its contents clumsily onto his hand.

Mia giggles, "Thank you! I love you!"

She frowns slightly as her father silently nods at her, not replying.

The father-daughter duo established an absolute silence that hung over the room. Cluelessly, Mia gobbles up her breakfast while Avan wallows in misery. They were like sun and moon as of the moment, polar opposites.

"Done- AAAA!" Mia cries as her bowl shatters on the ground.

She had attempted to raise it upside down to show her father how much of a good girl she had been, finishing her cereal. Unfortunately, her stubby fingers could not fully grasp the glass bowl as it slipped and broke into shards on the floor.

"Mia!" Avan exclaims loudly, making the young girl flinch.

"I'm sorry, Papa," she whispers as she got down from her chair and attempts to clean up her mess.

Avan stoops down and collects the bigger shards of glass before he notices his little girl's pudgy hands doing the same thing. She wasn't helping a lot but she was trying.

"Leave it be, Amelia!" he snaps.

Mia's lower lip quivered and her eyes brimmed with watery tears quickly as she was taken by surprise at her father's harsh tone. Just picking up a small shard of glass when he did, Mia cut her small pointer finger and blood came dripping out.

She gets back up on her feet, ignoring the cut on her finger, and ran towards the living room where she plopped down on the couch. There, she let her big tears roll down her chubby cheeks.

In the kitchen, Avan sweeps the shards into a corner before rushing into the living room to follow his daughter. He felt awful upsetting his child like that, especially with all the emotional confusion she must have been feeling with her mother never being home anymore.

What he saw broke his heart when he walked into the living room. Mia was curled into a ball in the couch, cradling her wounded hand and crying her baby blue eyes out. She was sobbing and calling out for her mommy silently. Her tears came out like rolling stones from closed eyes.

"Mommy," she whimpers, eyes still closed. "I want my mommy."

"Mia," he wipes away a tear with his thumb, crouching down to be on her level. "Babe, I'm sorry."

"You hate me. You don't love me anymore," she shakily sobs.

"No, no. I love you very much, Mi," he cups her small face.

"I'm a bad girl. Papa hates me."

Avan broke at her words. He keeps himself composed as he scoops up the young girl in his arms.

"Don't say that. You're the best baby girl in the whole wide world, Mia. Papa loves you more than anything," he mumbles against her sweaty forehead. "I'm sorry, baby. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. That was my mistake, okay? I'm sorry."

The young girl nods but still doesn't stop crying as she buries her face in her father's chest. Her hands wipe away the tears she continually shed and Avan only now notices the blood leaking from her stubby fingers.

"Bear, did you hurt yourself?"

She nods tearfully.

He sighs to himself, feeling like a failure of a father. Carrying her to the bathroom, Avan pulls the first aid kit from the bottom drawer and dresses Mia's wound.

"I love you, Mia-bear," he kisses the plaster over her wound and holds her small hand in his. "Always."

"Always?"

He nods, "And forever."

After getting showering and getting dressed and making sure Mia had done the same thing, Avan buckles up and drops the child at his brother's house before heading off to work. It went on more or less like his normal day-to-day life until lunchtime came along.

Avan didn't know what to do. Liz wanted to be left alone but he was desperate to even catch a quick glimpse of her. Before she found out, they had spent weeks on end eating lunch together and conversing about anything under the sky.

Eventually, he decides to just pass by her room. His initial plan was to walk by casually and catch a swift look, but what he ended up doing was stopping right outside her glass window. He stares at how she was once again jotting things down in her notebook, looking so focused.

Avan hesitantly taps on the glass, hoping to catch her attention. She doesn't look up but her irises shifted just the tiniest bit before she slams her notebook shut and lies down, closing her eyes tightly.

He was the worst husband ever, and if he kept letting what just happened this morning with Mia occur again, slowly he would also become the world's worst father. Avan simply was affirmative.
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got too carried away with Mia's part but i love her

Hope you enjoyed this. Don't be afraid to comment down your thoughts! Lots of love! Be kind, y'all!