Rebekah's POV:

I couldn’t control the next word that came slipping out of my mouth when I saw all those pictures of myself with my mom and dad. “Why did you beat mom?”, I said while my lips were quivering.

He came towards me and while taking my hand in his he said, “I didn’t, sweetheart. For the hundredth time baby, I didn’t do it. I loved Scarlet and I can’t even think of doing that to her ever.” I looked at him in the eyes trying to find the smallest hint of betrayal but all I could see was hurt and loneliness.

“Then why did mom told me that you used to beat her after she found out about your affair?” He sat on the couch with his head in between his palms and said, “I already told you the reason Becca. You don’t want to accept it because you don’t want the last memory that you have with your mother to be a lie. I never stopped loving Scarlet even when I met Julie. It’s just that I loved Julie more.”

I bit my lip to stop the tears that were threatening me to fall on my cheeks. “Why didn’t you come to mom’s funeral?”, I asked him while looking everywhere but him.

He took a deep breath before saying, “I was in Dubai for a business meeting. It was the last day of my stay there when I received a call from Julie. She told me that Scarlet had sent some parcel for me. The next day when I returned home the first thing that I did was opening that parcel. It was a tape from her. I still have it with me if you want to hear it yourself.” I thought for a moment if I had the strength to listen to her voice after so many years.

I nodded at him and he walked towards the table to press the button on his tape player. Suddenly her sweet voice filled the room.

“Hello Robert. I know you are happy with Julie and that you are marrying her soon. I am leaving this tape for you because I know I won’t be alive for too long now. Thank you for loving me unconditionally all these years. You have been a very supportive husband but the only thing that hurts me is that I wasn’t enough. You left me now when I need you the most and life without you seems a big waste to me. Our daughter hates you for doing this to me and so do I. I wish that you never stay happy and that one day you regret the decision of leaving us. I just want one thing from you and that is to leave me alone. You aren’t here with me now when I am almost dying and so I don’t want you to be there for me when I am dead already. Promise me that you will leave my daughter alone as I don’t want her to become like her father, selfish and unworthy of love.”

There was dead silence in the room after the tape went off.

I felt betrayed by my own mother. How could she do this to me?

How could she decide if I needed my father or not? All these years I have been blaming my father when my own mother had chosen a life time of misery for me.

All these years my grandmother felt as if she was at fault to raise a son like him who was least concerned about us. She died having this belief and my dad being bound to her promise, stayed quiet all these years.

I will never be able to tell my grandma that she was a perfect mother. “I never wanted you to hear this tape but I can’t stay away from you now when you need someone to take care of you. That day in London when you told me that I used to beat your mother, I lost all respect for her. She lied to her own daughter just because she wanted to keep you away from me. All these years I have kept my distance but one day I finally decided to end whatever this promise was to stay away from you. And that was the day when I called my mother to ask her about you but she just told me that she isn’t in contact with you anymore. I then searched you up on facebook and when I saw your update that you study in St.Vincent. I reached Seattle by taking the very next flight. I am sorry baby for staying away from you all these years. I know I am a terrible father but I can make it up to you by doing everything I can”, he said with tears in his eyes.

I hugged him tightly and wept in his embrace. In between sobs I told him, “I am sorry for thinking so small of you. I should have trusted the man whom I had seen being a good father and a good husband. I believed her because you left us to live with Julie.” He laid his chin on my head before speaking, “I am so sorry baby. Because of us you were in pain all these years. We failed to become good parents.”

I looked at him while parting from his embrace and told him while pouting, “Promise me that you will never ever leave me alone.” He smiled with his cheeks still wet with tears and while showing me his pinky finger he said, “Pinky promise.”

I laughed loudly, my laughter filling the entire room and hugged him again. Just then there was a soft knock on the door.

We turned around to see Rex standing with three cups of coffee in a tray. “I am tired of waiting in the lawn while watching the sky. There are no stars up there today and so it was getting boring”, he said still standing on the door.

All three of us laughed at the innocence with which he spoke and my dad told him to come inside. He kept the tray on the small table right in front of the couch and while keeping his hands on his waist he asked dramatically, the mischief clear in his voice, “Am I dreaming or is Rebekah really sharing the same room with her father?”

I got up from the couch and I punched him on his arm before hugging him. “Thank you for pushing me to come here tonight. I would have never come here if it wasn’t for you. You told me multiple times that maybe I knew the story from just a point which my mother wanted me to know from and you were right Rex. I am with my father today just because of you.”

He kissed me on the head before my father scrunched his nose and said, “Yes that’s it. Enough with the ‘sticking to each other till you’ll are practically one’ thing.” We both laughed at his words and then we sat on the couch next to him while sipping the coffee.

“When are you’ll leaving for Seattle again? Isn’t this that time of the year when you’ll have exams in school?”, he asked while looking at the both of us. I looked at Rex before replying, “We are leaving tomorrow in the morning. And yes our semesters are starting after three days.”

He nodded his head in acknowledgement and asked again, “Are you planning to settle in London anytime soon?” I looked at Rex because I thought the question was directed to him but when my dad was looking at me waiting for an answer I said almost immediately, “No.”

He raised an eyebrow and I elaborated further, “I have a life in Seattle. I work there and also my friends live there. Even Rex for that matter.” He kept the empty cup on the table before replying, “You can settle here after completing school. London has the best colleges and if you stay here I can also get you an internship at some good law firm. Think about it as you still have a year before high school ends.”

I nodded in response because just like he said, I still have a year and I need to think about it. He then turned his attention towards Rex and I huffed in relief not being the centre of attraction anymore.

Rex’s POV:

Mr. Wiliams asked me what I was planning to do in life and I meekly responded, “I want to become a financial manager. I have this dream since I was a small kid because of seeing my father working as one.” He then interlinked his fingers and while placing his hands on his knees he said, “Aaha! You know this is considered as one of the most paid jobs in London? You will earn good amount of money if you clear all your exams with flying colours.”

I smiled at him while I looked at Rebekah who was looking at me as if I had grown two heads. Just then his father’s phone rang and he excused himself out of the room.

“What?”, I asked her while looking at my empty cup. She kept a stern look on her face before replying, “You never told me that you want to be a financial manager?”

I smiled a bit before saying, “We never really talked about what we wanted to do with our lives. And for the record even you didn’t told me that you wanted to be a lawyer.” She scowled at me before saying, “Everyone knows that I want to be a lawyer.”

I tried to control my laughter before saying, “Actually I should have realized that you wanted to be a lawyer.” She looked at me with a deadly look while saying, “What do you mean by that?”

“Just because of how good you are at keeping a point baby. I have never seen such a talented manipulator before”, I said while protecting myself from a pillow. After I completed the sentence, she took the pillow from my hand and threw it on the ground before she sat on my lap, hugging me so tightly as if with an intention of choking me to death.

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