It has been three days since the funeral and things have been difficult for Rebekah ever since. She donated all her grandmother’s belongings to an old age centre.

Going through all her grandma’s things even before she was completely fine with the fact that she was no more with her was certainly a bad idea. But according to Rebekah she wanted to get done with it once and for all.

Her grandmother had already passed the ownership of the house to Rebekah but she was planning to sell it. ‘London holds nothing for me’, were her precise words.

She was running from the pain that followed her after her grandma’s death and I knew one day she will be tired of it and will have to slow herself down and look for ways to be okay with her absence. All our friends left the very next day of the funeral as they had to study for the semesters and also Rebekah didn’t want them to compromise on their preparations for her.

We were also leaving tomorrow in the morning after being in London for almost a week now. It was Friday night that day and we were in the kitchen baking a chocolate cake when suddenly her cell phone rang.

“It’s in the living room. I’ll go get it. Can you please boil the chicken for dinner?”, she said while licking the chocolate off her index finger. “Okay. I can do that”, I said while cleaning the flour that was spreaded on her cheeks.

She returned minutes later while looking at the screen with her mouth opened a little. “Who was it?”, I asked her while cleaning the chicken pieces.

“Um…It was Dad. He wants us to join him for dinner tonight”, she said dryly while putting the phone in her jean pocket. “And what did you say?”, I asked her while narrowing my eyebrows at her.

She looked at me unbelievably and said, “Obviously a no. Just because he helped us with the money required for the operation doesn’t mean that he is welcome back in my life. He is no family to me and he better get this straight in his head.” After saying this, she went back to preparing the batter for the cake.

I looked at her for a brief second but she behaved as if everything was fine. I knew she was wrong here and no matter how big her ego was she had to accept him as he was her only family now.

And no matter how much she dislikes him, for a matter of fact he will be there for her always. I crossed my arms and bore my eyes to her back till she finally gave up on ignoring me and said in a harsh voice, “What now? Stop making me feel conscious.”

I zipped my lip in a straight line and then finally spoke the truth that she needed to hear no matter how bitter it was. “What is it that is refraining you from maintaining any relations with him? Hasn’t he proved enough to you that you and your grandmother matter to him? He has paid all the hospital expenses which, you know wasn’t a small amount. If you feel he is pretending all this time, do you really think he will spend lakhs of rupees just to betray you again? Hell he has also been here each fucking day after the funeral to keep a check on you. If this isn’t what good parents do, I don’t know what else remains on his part to earn a decent position in your mind.”

She opened her mouth to speak and her voice came out hoarse as if her tears were stuck in her throat, “I don’t need his money and I will pay everything back to him once I have enough. Just because he was there for me the past 10 days, it doesn’t erase the fact that he wasn’t in my life for the past 6 years. Where was he when I needed him to be a parent? Where was he when my grandmother was working day and night to feed two stomachs on her own? Where was he when my mom was lying on her death bed and all she required was the love of her husband? He isn’t my family and nothing that he does will change this for me.” She then started crying and this was an indication that I was being harsh to her.

I went near her and placed my palms on her shoulders. I slowly lifted her chin to look into her blue eyes that held my entire world in them.

“I am sorry Becs. I truly am. But all I want is for you to have someone whom you can fall back on if the need comes. And family is important Becs no matter how much we deny it. We all make mistakes and we all learn from it and become better people. But for seeing the good in others you need to let your guard down. How will you ever know if he has changed for good if you don’t even allow him to show you? Let’s go to dinner today at his place and if, even after tonight’s meeting you feel like he isn’t worth to be your father, I promise I won’t force you to maintain any relations with him. Can you do this for me? Please?” She thought for a minute before saying, “Okay. But I am doing this just for you.”

I smiled at her and hugged her tightly. I just hoped that her father will do everything in his power tonight to gain back her daughter’s fragile trust!

It was 7:00 in the evening. We were driving to Robert’s house which was almost a mile from ours.

Rebekah was dressed in a light blue floral maxi dress with a full skirt that complimented the elegant and flowing silhouette. She had kept her black hair down which reached till the small of her back.

She wore small diamond earrings that made her look simple yet elegant. I, on the other hand was wearing a white t-shirt and I paired it with a laid-back trucker jacket to keep me warm from the cold weather of London.

As soon as I parked the car in the driveway I saw Rebekah shifting uncomfortably in her seat. I held her hand and pressed it gently.

“Be nice to him”, I warned her before earning a glare from her. “I will be a saint till the time he doesn’t decide to wake up my sleeping demons”, she scowled at me.

With our hands interlinked with each other, she rang the doorbell and waited nervously on the door. Within seconds, Robert opened the door with a big smile on his face.

He was wearing his apron which made it clear that he had cooked the dinner himself. He shook my hand and turned to Rebekah to hug her.

But she quickly pulled her hand out for a hand shake and I saw the smile on Robert’s face fading. “We have brought chocolate cake”, I said in an attempt to make things less awkward.

He took the paper bag from my hand and while inviting us in he added, “That is so sweet of you’ll. I have cooked lasagna, cheese hamburgers and nachos for dinner tonight. And let’s not forget apple pie. Do you’ll like apple pie?” We walked behind him and to his question Rebekah acted as if she was throwing up and this caused me to giggle lowly.

Robert turned to look at us and on seeing a smile plastered on our faces, he scrunched his eyebrow and waited for us to response. “I love apple pie. And so does Rebekah”, I said while glaring at her with a smirk on my face.

We all sat on the dining table with Rebekah besides me and her dad at the head of the table. The maid whose name was Alice served us the food while she looked at Rebekah with pure adoration in her eyes.

“I have heard a lot about you from Mr. Williams. I am so sorry for your grandmother’s loss”, she said in her soft voice. She looked in her forties and was wearing a knee length maxi dress and her hair was pulled up in a neat bun.

Rebekah passed her a small smile before saying, “Thank you! By the way all good things I hope.” Alice giggled a bit before saying, “Oh yes! Absolutely.”

She then went inside the kitchen to get some more wine. “The lasagna is so so good Mr. Williams”, I said while taking a bite of the most delicious lasagna I ever had.

He smiled a bit before saying, “It is Scarlet’s recipe. She had magic in her hands and I still can’t make it as tasty as she used to.” On the mention of her mother’s name Rebekah’s eyes shot up to look at his dad and my heart jumped a little to see her nostrils flaring.

I kept my palm on hers that rested on the table and when she looked at me I signalled her to keep calm. We all had dinner while I tried to make some small talks with her father.

Rebekah was too uninterested in talking to his father because every time her father asked her something she just answered in a single word. After the dinner was over I excused myself to the lawn saying that I had to make a call.

I knew that I will have to leave them alone so that they can talk on some personal matters. Rebekah shot daggers at me and I just shrugged at her saying that it was important.

Rex left my father and I alone in the living room while he excused himself to attend some call. I knew he was lying.

He was so hell bent on establishing some stupid relation between my father and I that it was irritating me now. I sat on the sofa while strolling through my instagram when my father told me, “Come with me. I will show you around the house.”

I looked at him searching for some excuse but somewhere I was interested to see the big mansion that he called home. “Okay”, I said while getting up from the sofa.

I followed him upstairs until he stopped in front of a room and pushed it open. “This is my office. I spend most of my day here”, he said while he made his way inside.

I looked at the big room in awe. It was painted black and the wooden table and a king sized chair in the middle of the room gave it a sophisticated look.

It was bigger than my entire apartment with a golf table in the corner of the room. I saw pictures of my grandmother and my grandfather on the walls in different sized frames just behind the chair.

I went towards the wall to have a closer look at the pictures. “This is me”, I said while looking at the small photo-frame on his table right next to his laptop.

“Yes, it is you. Look at those pictures on the wall there. It has pictures of you on your first day of school, the first time when you started walking and also your first meet with Santa”, he said while pointing towards the wall right in front of the table. Tears came into my eyes because for the first time after he left with his mistress I felt important.

Most importantly I felt like I had a dad that cared about me and for whom I mattered. I looked at him for a second before looking at the wall that he just pointed at and it was filled with pictures of a baby version of me.

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