Chapter 2

“D--- Dad,” Ericka didn’t notice that she was already calling her father in a low voice. It was almost inaudible for the both of them.

Her heart was hammering inside her chest. It had been a couple of years and she realized how much she had missed her father.

She couldn’t help the emotions that started to stir up inside her chest. She missed her father. They didn’t see each other for almost five years. And the man seemed to notice her presence already.

He lifted his head and then he looked in her direction.

Her heart was pounding so fast as she was anticipating what kind of reaction her father would have that she was back at their house.

There was shock and at the same time excitement that could be seen in the face of the old man the moment that he had seen her. It took a couple of seconds before the man finally recovered from surprise and then he shouted her name.

“Er--- Ericka! You’re back!” He said in an emotional voice while his gaze was still at her. “My goodness, my baby,” he continued to say and then he stood up from where he was sitting.

She couldn’t open her mouth. It was as if she swallowed her tongue.

He walked heading to where she was. Ericka felt her knees were so weak, but she didn’t wait for her father to come near her. She walked as well to give him a hug. She couldn’t deny that even if she left a couple of years ago, she still missed her father.

“D--- daddy,” she mumbled in a cracked voice as she got closer to her father. This was what she had been longing for a long time. To be inside the warm hug of her father. It was full of love and longing for her.

She couldn’t even remember the last time that her father had hugged her and comforted her because she was in pain or she was hurt.

“Where have you been, baby? What happened to you? Look at yourself. You are so thin now,” her father said with a lot of worry and concern for her.

She looked at her dad. He looked like he had already doubled his age. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was feeling anything.

She could see the dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he was exhausted.

Ericka couldn’t help but wonder why her dad was left alone and her stepmother along with her daughter were enjoying their lives out of the country.

“Come here. Come, sit here and join me. You don’t know how you made me feel today. Let’s eat together,” he said as he walked back on his chair. She could sense the happiness in the tone of his voice. “Please, don’t leave me anymore. Daddy has been so sorry for all the words that I have said to you back then. You don’t know how sleepless my nights became since you were gone,” Mr. Holmes said while he was pulling a chair for her.

Ericka didn’t know how she would exactly react from what her father said. It had been a couple of years since they last met each other. She was speechless. She felt like she had swallowed her tongue and there were no words that were coming out from her mouth.

She ran away because her father brought his mistress to their house right after her mother’s death. She couldn’t believe it. She was still mourning for her mother.

Every day that she would go home, she wished that everything didn’t happen and that her mother was still with them. But it broke her apart when she learned that her dad was already with his mistress.

She knew that he also needed happiness, but she couldn’t accept what he had done along with his mistress. He could have mourned for a couple of months for her sake. She would let him be with another woman, but it should be a couple of months after her mother’s burial but not after her mother was buried. It hurt her a lot when she saw that her stepsister was also having an intimate moment in their living room with Shawn. They were kissing and hugging each other as if they didn’t care if anyone could see them.

She could still remember the pain that was brought to her by that scene.

From there, she felt like she had no strength to wake up every day. It felt like she had to drag herself out of her bed to start her day and go to school. She felt depressed and she couldn’t concentrate anymore on her studies. From being a top student of their class, her grades got lower than everyone was expecting. Her father felt upset.

She could still remember everything. The memory was still vivid to her. How could she even forget it if it was the day that she started to suffer all alone?

“What’s happening to you? How do you expect to manage the company if you are getting these kinds of grades? I cannot believe this, Ericka!” Her father said in a furious tone. His voice echoed inside the whole house.

They were inside the living room, and she could feel the kind of stare that her stepmother was giving her. They were sharp and it was like she was going to say something that she wouldn’t like.

She knew what kind of tongue she had. Her stepmother wouldn’t care about her feelings, and she hated her father for being blind with his mistress’ attitude.

“I am sure that she is not studying. We don’t know if your daughter is even just flirting with her classmates. She really doesn’t deserve to manage your business. I doubt if she even cares about it. My daughter is far different from her. She’s better than Ericka. She’s responsible and knows what I exactly wanted.”

Anger spiked inside her chest. How could this woman say that as if she was not around? How could she be so sure that her daughter was better than her? Is she with her daughter for twenty-four hours?

“That’s not true,” she answered back as she looked at her father while she was shaking her head.

“Do you see how she’s acting at me?” Her stepmother continued to add burnt to the wound.

“Ericka! Watch your mouth. Don’t shout back to your mother,” her father said which made her even angry.

Mother? She only had one mom and she was already in heaven.

Things happened at the speed of light. Ericka was unable to control herself because of her stepmother’s accusation.

“She’s not my mother. My mother is already dead. No one can replace her as my mom,” she said in a firm voice.

“How disrespectful can you get?” Her father said and in just a second, Ericka felt his hand on her right cheeks. It was a deafening sound when it landed in her face.

“Get out of this house. I don’t have a daughter who is a failure.”

Ericka was shocked. She was her father’s princess. She was holding her cheek that her father slapped a couple of seconds ago. She could feel the pain.

She immediately ran to her bedroom without turning her head at them and locked up for the whole day until she thought that the house was small for all of them.

She left their house without saying a single word.

“Oh, E--- Ericka? Is that really you? Oh, baby, where have you been?” Her Nanny Maria shouted as soon as she saw her with her dad.

She never expected this kind of encounter when she decided to come back to the place where she grew up.

“N--- nanny,” she shouted as she called the old woman who had helped her parents to raise her while they were busy with their business.

She has been her Nanny since she was born. She was so dedicated to them. Nanny Maria had loved her like her own daughter. She never left her even when she was already grown up and her mother had died. She felt like Nanny Maria had waited for her to come back.

Her heart was filled with joy to see these people.

“I am so glad that you finally brought back my baby. Why did you leave? Why did you go without even talking to me? I am so worried about you. Anyway, that’s not important to me since you are here already. Can you please promise me that you will never leave again the way that you did a couple of years ago?” The old woman said while she was hugging her so tight.

“Maria, let our daughter eat her breakfast. Go and ask the cook to prepare all her favorite dishes,” her father said while looking at her. She couldn’t still believe what was happening and how he reacted.

She was ready to kneel in front of him but it looked like her father had never been angry at her because of running away a couple of years ago.

“Sure, Mr. Mon, I will inform them. I will also instruct them to clean Ericka’s room.”

Ericka didn’t notice that her tears were already flowing from her cheeks. She could see how these people missed her so much. It seemed that her father had been longing for her.

“I---- I am so sorry,” those were the words that came out from her mouth.

“Sorry for what?” Her father said while his eyebrows were knitted together. Then, he shook his head and spoke again. “I should be the one who should be saying sorry to you, my baby. Daddy needs to talk to you later. There are a lot of important things that you have to know, especially that I am already sick, and I don’t know for how long I will be living in this world.”

Ericka felt like her heart skipped a beat because of what she had heard from her father. She shifted her gaze on him. Her eyes were full of confusion.

“Dad, what are you talking about?”

“Just eat your food, my baby. Let’s eat together and then after that, we will go up to my study room,” her father said and then he took the plate from Nanny Maria.

Her father put bacon and egg toast bread on her plate.

“Eat well, my baby,” her father said, full of love to her. He got back to where he was sitting and then he started to fill his plate with food.

When she saw all the dishes on the table, it made her stomach rumble so without any hesitation, she started to eat her meal.

They were already in the middle of their breakfast when her father spoke again.

“Ericka, did you know that I am looking for you the time that I found out that you ran away from home? No one could tell me about your whereabouts. And I never believed what Jenna had told me that you ran away with a man.”

She felt a pinch in her heart. She didn’t know what exactly to say to her father. It felt like she had made a wrong decision when she left their house, but she was young and naïve. She was hurt and all she thought was to leave to end the pain that was brought by her father’s new relationship and at the same time she was mourning for her mother.

“D--- Dad, I am so sorry. I never run away with anyone. Thank you for not thinking like that about me. I went away just by myself. I am glad that you didn’t believe them,” she replied with anger to the person who kept on badmouthing her to her father. She knew that they wanted her relationship with her father to be ruined.

“E--- Ericka… You are back?” A voice that was coming from the door made her neck stiffened.