By the time I'd rushed down from the second level to make it out of the school's clinic, my fatigue had returned and Hot cop had already dragged the man far away than I could manage to reach on foot. So I opted for reaching them with my voice.

I didn't bother calling on Hot cop, one valid reason being that I didn't even know his name. Instead, I called on what my intuition chalked up the man to be, regardless of the gathering crowd and hefty security men that were helping to throw the trash out.

It was a word I hadn't used for years, a word I didn't think I'll ever use as the person that was supposed to be that man for me had ruined my life;

"Dad!"

I didn't just call the word, I yelled it so loud that I heard it bounce off the walls of various buildings and echoed over and over again. 

Everyone that was around stilled in shock, including me. Especially me.

Because the man didn't only nod vigorously to validate my hunch, he also shrug off the men holding on to him, ran towards me, with the speed of light and engulfed me in a bone crushing hug.

"Yes… that's me… I'm your daddy. I swear it I'm your daddy!" He repeated over and over.

I froze like a deer caught in headlights even if I was fighting off the urge to puke and it wasn't because of the stench that radiated off him. It was because I was sick of the sudden proximity that the seemingly mentally unstable man was exhibiting.

Luckily, Hot cop was on standby to pry us apart. However, when he began dragging him out once again, I snapped out of my daze and shrieked;

"Wait!"

 I didn't just rush like a maniac and screamed my lungs out just for a bear hug from a stinking gorilla, I wanted some sort of explanation from the scumbag himself. I wanted to know why he was suddenly back after seventeen years of desertion.

Maybe he needs money?

That was what I'm placing my bet on. He sure looked like he could use a whole lot of it.

"I want to talk to him. Alone!" I announced with my knuckles tightened with tension just as Principal Lawrence made it to the scene. 

Surprised gasps rented the air as I made the declaration but the one that stood out was that of Hot cop. Before I knew what was happening he was dragging me away from the crowd in incredulity.

"Are you kidding?! You really want to talk to that man?" We barely got away from the murmurs before he fired.

I yanked away my elbow from his hold before replying his question; "no I'm not kidding and yes, I really want to talk to that man because as it turns out, that man is my fath—"

"The father that left you to suffer in the hands of an unknown man?"

I closed my eyes when he said those words because it stung. It stung so hard that it took all the restraint in me not to reach out my palm to connect it to his face.

"That will be none of your business mister," I snapped in return, "whatever decision I make is none of your business."

"Fine. Let me have you know that the man over there is mentally unstable and he can harm you if you insist on spending lone time with him," he said in a lame attempt to have me change my mind. It didn't work.

"I can handle the consequences of my choices just fine," I replied and stalked off, leaving him standing there and gaping after me like a fool.

The walk back to the scene wasn't a long one. More people, student and teachers, had arrived and waiting around for the drama that was waiting to unfold. 

Why don't I give them something to talk about then?

I walked up, more like stumbled up, to the man and held out my hand to him with a sweet smile, "care for a walk, father?"

I was satisfied that I got my desired result. Walking through dozens of frozen people was better option than outrunning a swarming crowd of nosy idiots. We made it away from the premises without so much hassle.

♣

If anyone was to win an award for worse daughter of the decade then that would be me. The first place I brought my father after meeting him for the first time was a local bar two streets away from school. 

It was somewhere I frequented a lot. Reason being that Mama Bee didn't mind serving minors as long as they were not drinking or smoking on credit. Well, except on occasions like this when I didn't have my wallet with me.

We were now in the gazebo-like area of the place, seated opposite each other by a blue, round, plastic table that had rubber tablemats placed on them, having a staring contest of sorts.

Without wavering my gaze, I flickered a lighter to ignite the tip of my perfectly wrapped blunt and took in a deep drag. It only resulted to a pathetic bout of coughs. 

The man's heated gaze pierced through me with precision. His brow arched like he knew that I was purposefully trying to provoke him by smoking in his presence. So far, he wasn't taking my bait, he hadn't even said anything since I acknowledged him as my sperm donor.

"Mama Bee!" I hollered for the small, boisterous woman that ran the place and at the same time worked as a waitress due to her skinflint nature. She materialized beside me in no time.

"Two bottles of trophy for the man, one—"

"I'm fine Dada, I don't drink… anymore" Daddy dearest took the moment I was in the middle of saying something as the perfect one to finally talk.

Just perfect!

"It's my treat dude, I'm not telling you to pay, seeing that you can't even afford it," I snapped in reply and Mama Bee's eyes widened a fraction, probably mortified that I was being rude to someone way older than me.

Well, she didn't know that the asshole in front of me didn't deserve whatever respect there was to give.

"I really don't drink Dada anymore and it's not because I can't afford it," he replied calmly with the patience of a reverend. Which only filed me up even more.

"Why? Because you've suddenly realised how useless you've been all your goddamned life and have decided to give your life to Christ and search for inner peace?" I questioned through my teeth with my hands clenching and unclenching by my sides.

I just needed one word, I needed just one word of judgement that would fall out of lips. One word to question my upbringing, then I would tell him all about it. In details.

"Well, I definitely haven't given my life to Christ, neither am I searching for inner peace. I have been pretty useless almost all my life, yes. But I plan to make it right, I don't know how or if it'll work out the way I want it to, but I want to try at least," he said earnestly, making me dig my nails deeper into my palms. It was probably going to break the skin and bleed but I didn't care.

My plan wasn't working and the man's inability to take offence was really annoying. Seriously.

"You know what?" I said with narrowed eyes, "you shouldn't even try to make it better. Not now, when everything is ruined beyond repair. You should run far away from this place like a coward, because that's what you are!"

The force with which he banged the table the second I was done talking startled the hell out of me. I found myself jumping off the chair to my feet.

What he said next though, it was just the exact thing I needed to snap in two;

"I am no coward! I'll have you know th—"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you Mister courageous. Where did this attitude go when you put us in mother and bolted before she could say Jack? Where were you when at the age of ten, your arch nemesis began shagging my brains out against my will to settle some fucked up score between you guys? Where the hell was your bloody 'I want to make it right' when I needed it the most?! Where. The. Fuck. Was. Your. Bravery?"

When I was done yelling, it felt like a heavy load was lifted off my chest. I felt strangely calm.

It wasn't until then that I realized how much I've wanted someone else to blame for what happened to me, someone to validate that it really wasn't me that was the cause of whatever trauma I went through, someone that would finally confirm that I really didn't want Liam's touch as the bastard convinced me to believe, that I really loathed everything that happened on those nights when I childishly prayed for a miracle or a guardian angel to pop out of nowhere and save me from the agony.

I realised that I just needed someone else to blame for it all and rightly so. That person was the man currently pacing through the length and breath of the small space, occasionally running his shaky palms through his brown dreadlocks with an emotion I could decipher as rage and guilt in those honey brown orbs that were strikingly identical to mine.

"I'll kill Liam! I swear it Dada, I'll kill him!" He ranted in fury but I wasn't moved.

"It's a little too late for that now don't you think?" I scoffed, "I just need you to take your beggarly self away from this premises and never show your bloody face to me ever again." 

With that, I was extinguishing the blunt that I'd barely smoked and walking out of the place. However, his hand clasping around my wrist in an iron grip hindered me from doing the latter.

"I'll appreciate it if you let go of me. Father." It must have been the way I'd said those words with cold venom that made him release me immediately. I started walking away.

"I swear it Dada, I never knew I had a child until a few months ago. Tilda never told me." I paused and slightly turned when I sensed the tinge of sincerity and desperation that laced his voice. He took it as a cue to continue talking.

"It was just in the middle of June. I started getting this mysterious visitor that wouldn't talk to me no matter how much I tried to get him to. He would just stare at me for a few minutes, drop a few cash and leave. I didn't see much of his features either, he was always dressed in all black; with a facemask, sunshades and baseball hat to match. He used to wear—"

"Get to the point dad!" I cut him off with a bark. I really didn't have time for detailed descriptions of hooded figures.

"I am going to now," he muttered, "after a few visits, he dropped a brown envelope. I'd initially thought it was money but when I opened it, it was an image of you and your basic information. That was when I realised that Tilda had kept a child from me,"

"Two." I interrupted again, his puzzled glance told me he knew nothing of what I was saying.

"Two what?"

"Two children. We're twins." I replied coldly, which earned me an astonished gasp from him.

"What?!"

"Yes," I snorted noisily, not wanting to dwell on the matter anymore, "now can we move along to the rest of the story?"

"Uhm… sure. I recognised you immediately; your hair, your eyes, your face, your height… you look just like me. Anyone with a working eyesight will be able to do the math, but to be sure, the man, whoever he was did a DNA test on my request. I was ecstatic with the result. It became the sole reason for me to keep me going throughout the rest of my term."

"There is something I'm not quite getting here. By term, do you mean jail term?" A quick, embarrassed nod confirmed my hunch to be correct.

I slowly walked over to a chair to sit and digest the information he was pouring out at the moment, the paramount being that my father was an ex convict.

"What did you do?" The words had left my mouth before my brain could catch up and the heavy sigh and slumped figure of the man as he collapsed into his chair, informed me that I shouldn't gave bothered asking.

Apparently, it wasn't a story he enjoyed sharing.

I was surprised though when after another heavy sigh, he moved his lips and began to the tale of his travails...

A new chapter for the new milestone💃💃

My apologies that it was delayed a bit though😓

Yeah, Ella and co. are now in the 1k gang whoooohooo!💃 My sincere thanks to you all that made it so, I really really love y'all to heaven and back😌😌

ruboftommy guessed correctly, Ella's dad is back. What do y'all think he wants though? And do you think he's being sincere?😏

I guess we'll find out in the next chapter, which I'm halfway through BTW.

ruboftommy this chapter is for you ❤❤

Don't forget to vote, comment and share, 5k reads will look better on this humble work of mine🌚🌚

Till we meet again,
XX
✌illusionistic.