Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Chapter 40 – Complete The Sky (Sky‘s POV) “You really don‘t have to go to the office, Dad,” I told my father, glancing at him seated at the back.
He scoffed. “Pfft! I‘m getting bored at home. With Olivia becoming busy in school, I have no one to talk to at home. Elenita‘s only making me anxious,” he smirked as he looked outside the window. “My treatment had helped me prolong my life, only to die in boredom.” Frank pursed his lips, suppressing a smile as he glanced at my father in the rearview mirror.
I heaved a sigh, swiping the screen of my tablet to check the schedule Catherine sent in my email.
“When are you marrying Lalaine? Good heavens, I wanted to see my grandchild before I die, Sky,” He grumbled. “Next year. I just proposed to her, right?” I reminded him. Leo and Jake teased me that for a man who was head over heels with Lalaine, it took me six years to propose after my crazy marriage with a teenager.
Dad opened his mouth to say something, but we were startled when Frank suddenly hit the brake to stop the car. Frank, a cautious driver, was shocked for a brief second before opening the door and getting out of the car.
“What was that about?” Dad asked angrily as we got out to check on what had happened.
“Are you alright?” Frank asked a little girl. He turned his head to us, looking pale as he explained. “She suddenly crosses the street.” Her lips were quivering as she turned her face at us. I tilted my head, wondering where I had seen that familiar face. “My! My!” Dad approached her. “What‘s wrong, child? Where‘s your mother?” He asked, looking around and guessing she must have run away from school. “She‘s at work, and I‘m waiting for my dad,” she answered and started crying.
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Is he late?”
She shook her head. “I have never seen my dad, ever. Maybe my mommy is just lying about him.” She whimpered. “I don‘t want to go back inside because I have no daddy to bring to my classmates.” “Oh!” he uttered again, looking at me and smiling amusedly at the child. She raised her head and looked at me. When our eyes met, my heart hammered in my chest for a reason I could not explain. “Can you be my daddy just for today?” She sounded desperate already, and when I didn‘t answer, she started crying again. “Of course!” Dad chuckled, standing up and holding her hand. “You can hire him today as your
daddy.”
Hire? What am I? A sales staff offering some kind of service?
“Dad!” I hissed and knitted my forehead. “I have a meeting at ten,” I glanced at my wristwatch. Although I still had an hour and my presence was not really needed in the meeting, I didn‘t want to get involved in her single mom‘s problem.
“Frank, park the car and tell Cathy to cancel his meeting. We have an urgent event to attend,” he declared as if Frank was his secretary and winked at her.
Frank panicked, but when my father glared at him, he returned to the car while Dad walked back with her toward the small building. I growled, having no choice but to follow them and wondering how much boredom my father has that he had to volunteer me to be the girl‘s father.
When we reached the school lobby, I was surprised to see another girl, not just the same age as her but looking exactly like her approaching us. I looked at my father, and he looked amazed, smiling at me as if he had never had fun in his life until today. “Lyra Helene, where did you go? And who‘s that?” She asked worriedly, eyeing my dad and then at me.
So, we are not dealing with one but two. I closed my eyes, wanting to scream, but I didn‘t want to scare the children. They looked really adorable in their baby pink dress with the same ponytail hairstyle.
“I hired him to be our daddy today,” she sniffled. “I can‘t go there without a daddy.”
Instead of answering, she looked at me from head to toe. “What‘s your name?”
My eyebrows raised, thinking if kids talk nowadays like this already. “Sky.” “Steve,” My father said when she looked at him. “And you, young lady, what‘s your name?” “Leyanne. Come, come,” she said, holding my hand and tugging me toward the hallway. “You still have to meet Selene.”
Selene? Who? The teacher?
We stopped at the doorway of their classroom, and then she released my hand, entering the room without us. After a short while, she went out again, bringing another girl.
“Woah!” Dad chuckled excitedly, seeing three girls looking exactly alike before us. “Selene, Lyra Helene got us a dad,” she whispered, but loud enough for us to hear. “We don‘t have time,” said Leyanne, puffing out air as if she was an adult. Leyanne... I think that was her name. She started introducing herself.
“My name is Leyanne, she‘s Selene, and she‘s Lyra Helene. I was the eldest for five minutes, then Lyra Helene came, and then after fifteen minutes, Selene came out. Get it?” she asked me like I didn‘t understand.
I was sure Dad burst a peal of laughter. “How old are you?” Knitting my eyebrows, I asked instead of answering her. “Five,” she answered.
“Turning six,” Selene added.
My nostrils flared in anger, hearing Dad laughing softly at her three instant grandchildren. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
As Leyanne was about to open the door, Selene stopped her. “Wait, I have one important question. Do you drive?”
I nodded, wondering what the question was for.
“Sports car?” She asked again. When I nodded, she smiled. “Good! You‘re hired!”
Dad guffawed, looking entertained at what she had said. “You almost got disqualified, Sky,” he teased me, following the girls as they entered the small classroom.
I sneered at him as I stepped inside the classroom.
There were only seven pupils in the classroom, and when we came in, they all looked and watched us as we quietly padded to one long table at the back. The father, I presumed, had to sit with his child.
“Where‘s your teacher?” I asked curiously. Shouldn‘t teachers be responsible for the safety of their students in the class? Lyra Helene almost got hit by a car because of their negligence. The door opened right before any one of them could answer. Two women came in, and the feeling of relief flooded their faces when they saw us. “Where did you go?” One said as they approached our table. She was almost hysterical, and the other seemed to have just stopped crying. “To meet our dad,” One of the girls said. I wanted to groan; not in my life that I got this confused with names.
“Hi. I‘m Anya, the school head.” She breathed out, calming herself as she fanned her hand on her face. “If something happens to you, your mother will kill me.”
Anya? The name sounds familiar. “Excuse me,” Their teacher probably because her eyes were puffy from crying. “I‘m sorry, but can I have your name?”
“Ah!” Anya looked like she wanted to stop her, but one of the children answered, and with them sitting, I could not guess the name anymore. “Sky. His name is Sky.”
“Sky,” Anya repeated to the teacher, swallowing hard before smiling at me. “And you are?” She asked my father.
“The grandfather. Steve.” He said happily.
The teacher wrote our names and gave my father and me our name tags.
Teacher Joy was not joyful anymore because she seemed to have experienced being scolded by her superior for the first time, and if the mother of the triplets would come and complain, she might lose her job.
Despite what happened, the activity pushed through. I thought it would take longer, but I knew it would not take long with the number of children in the classroom. All they had to do was introduce their dad and what their father does.
When it was the triplet‘s turn, my father excitedly stood up at the back to take pictures of us.
“Hi! My name is Leyanne, older by five minutes.”
“My name is Lyra Helene, older by fifteen minutes than Selene.” “Hello, my name is Selene, and Mom said it‘s a long story why it took so long before I came out in her belly,” she grinned, looking at me and leaving me wondering what that long story was. Just like other dads, I introduced myself the same way they did. “Hi! I‘m Sky, the father.” I said, waving at them. “Businessman here,” I said, not saying more since no one seemed to recognize me.
“You must have worked hard, producing three,” One father teased, causing all men to laugh. “Yep!” I smiled, wanting to feel embarrassed, but surprisingly, I didn‘t. Teacher Joy smiled as she filmed us. “Last time, your classmates shared where they got their names. Can you tell us where mommy and daddy got your names?” I smiled, not knowing how to answer her question, but my instant children seemed to know
the story behind it. “Mom said, Leyanne means sun, Lyra Helene means bright star, and Selene is a moon goddess. When we were born, she said, we have finally completed the sky.”
I gazed at Leyanne, smiling happily at me, and for a brief second, when I looked in her eyes, she reminded me of Angela.