Love At Last

CALL IT QUITS

I just stared at the duo who argued in my very before without saying anything. In the heat of the moment, there was no way I could butt in, it was best to let the father and daughter iron out their differences.

“You missed me?” Lily scoffed.

“Yes I do, Lily.”

“Cut it out with the blatant lie already! It’s been years, daddy, years! Years of you and mom abandoning me to fend for myself. You never for once called to ask of me…,”

“I…,” Mr. Steve wanted to cut in.

“Let… me …finish!” Lily cut him off abruptly.

“Go on.”

“I’ve been away from you people for so long already. Not once did any of you call me to inquire of my wellbeing. Not once!”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

I could see that Lily was struggling to keep her self from tearing up as she would occasionally wipe her eyes.

“Whether I lived or died, neither you nor your wife cared about me!” she paused and took deep breaths as she had been yelling nonstop. “All you ever cared about was your image dad, your image! You didn’t even bother to know how your little girl was faring.”

“Lily…,” Mr. Steve wanted to speak again.

“Mr. Steve?!…,” she called out sternly, “let me finish,” she continued. “I’m just going to use this opportunity to tell you everything I think about you. The day you threw me away, you lost your daughter completely. I knew for a fact that I made a huge mistake but I turned to you dad,” she pointed him. “I turned to you and mom…,” she pointed toward the door as a form of gesture, “for solace but you both turned your backs on me!” she concluded as she wiped her eyes again.

Listening to her story almost spurred me to tears actually. We both had bitter stories to tell – one big similarity between us.

“I was Just 18! An immature 18-year old high school girl who craved the love and care from her parents on the streets of New York! You and mum were supposed to call me back and correct me but no, you thought it wise to dump me to save your face. You cherished your reputation more than your own daughter,” she poked her chest three times, each time she said ‘your’, ‘own’, ‘daughter’. She then covered her face with her palms to hide the tears that rolled down earlier. Mr. Steve used this opportunity to speak.

“I cannot begin to imagine how you feel right now, Lily. But I and your mom are deeply sorry for what happened. We indeed are sorry. If you could find a place…,” he walked closer to Lily and tried to touch her, igniting her spark again.

“Don’t you dare!” she warned, glaring at her dad. “Don’t you dare touch me. Don’t try to sympathize with me after all these years. Even though you threw me out, you could have at least looked after me from a distance but you didn’t! You and mom completely abandoned me!” she wailed making gestures to conform to her every line.

“Even after I gave birth to my son…,” Mr. Cayden turned to glare murderously at me like ‘was it you?’ I immediately raised both hands in the air and shook my head repeatedly like I was saying ‘it wasn’t me’ “It wasn’t me,” I voiced.

“Look at me dad!” she forcefully called back Mr. Steve’s attention. “This is not about him dad, it’s about you! You have even forgotten the circumstances surrounding what happened?” she placed one hand on her waist, and the other one on her forehead displaying frustration at its peak.

“Wherever you came from, if you came down to Nedford for me, just return to where ever that is and forget you ever had a daughter named Lily.” She picked up her bag.

“Lily please give me a chance to speak.”

“Have a great day Mr. Steve Greyson,” she walked to the door, then paused and turned around. “Before I forget. You don’t have a say over me or whoever I choose to spend the rest of my life with. I can be with whomever I choose to and you’d do absolutely nothing about it!” she concluded and stormed off.

Seeing that it was only I and Mr. Greyson in the room, I kept my hands in front of me, leaning them against my legs and held them together, while bowing slightly my head as a form of respect and also to plead with him not to be mad at me.

“Mr. Cayden?”

“Yes sir.” I maintained my position.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Honestly, I didn’t know Lily was your daughter. We never for once spoke about you, Lily never talked about you and I never even bothered to ask. Forgive my insolence, sir,” I apologized calmly and chose my words carefully to avoid fueling the already burning fire.

“That’s not an excuse, Mr. Cayden. I brought you from the gutters, refurbished you and this is how you choose to repay me?”

“I’m sorry sir.”

“Listen and listen real good Mr. Cayden. Whatever it is you have to do with my daughter, call it quits!” he ordered, causing me to raise my head abruptly. “Break off whatever nonsense you have to do with my daughter. I won’t sit back and allow her be with someone as irresponsible as you are,” he warned me sternly.

‘Irresponsible?’ I never for once dragged my feet when it came to do with my work, so where did that come from?

“If you refuse to do as I’ve instructed, I’ll make sure you returned to the gutters where I picked you up from. I made you into who you are today, Mr. Cayden. You have no choice but to do as I say unless you want to forfeit everything you’ve achieved for the sake of my daughter. And when I say everything, I mean everything – your job, your accomplishments, every thing entirely! Have I made myself clear?” he asked but I was too lost in thoughts – of how I was supposed to break things off with Lily – to answer. “Mr. Cayden?” he called my attention stressing the latter part of my name – ‘-den’.

“Yes sir.”

“Have I made myself clear?” I wasn’t stupid enough to argue with him at that point so I just said, “yes sir.”

“Good. Have a great day.”

“And you too sir.” I received the slamming of my door s a response.