Chapter 45 - The Permission

"Bryan, please!" Kelsey heard a scream from the living room. She sat up from the bed and groaned as she glanced at the electric clock by the nightstand. It read 2:36am. She lazily rubbed her eyes and heard a commotion outside her door.

"I don't like this as much as you do, Bryan! But please try to understand!" Margie's desperate voice echoed through the hallway.

Ever since the day she left the penthouse, she hasn't got home because she didn't want to burden her mother with her problems. But she knew Hilda would find out soon since she was on the front page of the morning paper and the number one gossip topic on the news.

She and her mother had a talk this afternoon and she told her that she would be staying with Margie for a while. Kelsey told her that she would come home soon but she just needed a little bit of time to ponder on her decision. Hilda hesitantly obliged and assured her daughter that she was only a call away if she needed anything.

Kelsey was snapped out of her thoughts when another loud thud echoed outside her door. She cautiously stood from the bed and put her indoor sleepers on. She quietly opened the door and peaked through the tiny gap. She saw Margie trying to pull a luggage away from Bryan's hold as he sighed in frustration and pushed her hand away.

"Let go, Margaret!" Bryan ordered but Margie didn't listen and only tightened her hold onto the luggage as if her life depended on it.

Kelsey's eyebrows furrowed as he heard him say Margie's full name. Bryan would only ever call Margie by her full name if he was really furious. Which in this case, he probably was. Kelsey wondered what might have caused them to get into such a serious argument. Bryan and Margie were a normal couple that would argue once in a while, but it had never came to a point where one left the other. But now, it looked like Bryan was leaving.

"Bryan, please! Don't do this! Don't leave!" Margie's desperate voice cried out. She was already on her knees as she held onto his luggage with the strength she had left.

Kelsey felt a sense of déjà vu washed over her as a past image flashed before her eyes. She saw her mother crying, begging on the floor, preventing her father from leaving as she held tightly onto him. But her father only pushed her away and kept demanding to let him go. Suddenly, the same devastating feeling came crawling up her chest as she found it hard to breathe. Kelsey clutched her chest and blinked rapidly to erase the image in her mind.

"Margaret!" Bryan's frustrating voice yelled out, snapping Kelsey out of her trance. She grew relieved when her past scenario escaped her but she was still trying to catch her staggered breath.

Before she knew it, Kelsey found herself in the living room, gasping for air, questioning her friend on his departure. "Where are you going?" She asked in between breaths. She had seen this happening before and she didn't want to see it happen again. She had to do something, just anything, to make him stay.

Bryan's eyes diverted from Margie to hers and his face softened as he saw the state she was in. Kelsey hadn't told her friends about her real father, so she wasn't really expecting Bryan to understand her. However, at that moment, she wanted to blurt out everything about her father if it would make Bryan stay.

"Why are you leaving?" Kelsey questioned him as a tear managed to escaped her eyes. She didn't know why she was crying. She didn't know why she was even there, in the middle of their argument, when she should be minding her own business. But one thing was for sure, Kelsey felt her heart sinking with the thought of Bryan leaving Margie.

Margie's sob subsided as her friend's voice calmed her down. She wanted to tell her everything, to explain why her boyfriend was leaving, but as of the moment, her main priority was to keep him from escaping.

Bryan shot Kelsey an apologetic look before he snatched his luggage out of Margie's weak hands and rapidly left, shutting the door behind. Margie was caught off guard as she watched the door slammed close on her face. Her sobbed grew loud once again as she tried to scrambled on her feet to follow Bryan and stopped him from leaving.

But Margie slipped as her knees buckled before her. She was tired, exasperated, and heartbroken. And her body couldn't keep up with her emotional state that her physical body gave in on her. Margie cried in pain, agony, anger. She wanted the ache she was feeling on her chest to leave, she wanted all the pain to disappear.

Kelsey was quick on her feet and pulled Margie into a comfortable embrace. She shushed her and whispered soothing, calming words to her as Kelsey wiped her own tears away. Kelsey had to be strong for her, she had to be strong for her friend.

~ * ~ * ~

Hilda washed the soap off of the plate and set it on the dish rack to let it dry. Once she was finished washing the dishes, she wiped the counter clean and dried her hands. She checked the time flashing on the stove and it was almost seven. She had to pick Ace up from next door. She was really glad that Paulina was always willing to look after Ace whenever she went to work.

She was taking her apron off when there was a knock on the door. She figured it was probably Ace. She would usually pick him up around six-thirty, but Hilda ended late at work today since her boss came home later than usual.

Hilda placed the apron neatly on the oven rack before making her way towards the door. She heard another knock before she could even open it. Once she had unlocked the door, she pulled it open and was astounded by the sight before her. She couldn't believe her eyes, was it playing tricks on her? She thought as she blinked once, twice, three times. Yet he was still there, standing in front of her.

She couldn't be mistaken, it was really him. He looked older, some parts of his hair were starting to turn grey, but it was still neatly tucked and gelled back. His eyes were still as piercing blue as ever, holding her orbs in captive. He still stood tall and built, reassuring her that he was still health conscious. She couldn't believe it, was it really him? Was it really him she was seeing?

"Hi." Lucas anxiously muttered as he came face-to-face with the only woman he had ever loved. She was still as beautiful as ever. She had still managed to take his breath away, even at their age. He couldn't believe that she was right there, in front of her. All he wanted to do at that moment was to pull her close into an embrace and showered her in kisses.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him. Her cold, accusing tone was like a splash of ice-cold water on the face, snapping him out of his reverie.

"May I speak with you?" He politely asked her, hoping she would say yes. The last thing he wanted to happen was to have the door shut closed on his face. He didn't go all the way here just to have her shut him out. He would do everything, everything, to have her listen to him. "Can I come in?" He asked when she didn't reply.

Lucas could see the hesitation in her eyes. He was certain that she was going to shut the door closed on his face just like what he had feared. But he was surprised when she opened the door wider, giving him plenty of space to go through. He muttered a quick thank-you and looked around the place.

It was a small two-bedroom apartment. He wasn't surprised by how old the walls had started to looked. Looking at the old, ramshackle building from the outside made him want to take Hilda and her children to a newly built house and a safer neighbourhood. His Lamborghini car parked outside the apartment looked so out of place.

Lucas sat on the old, brown couch and watched Hilda fidget with her fingers. "Would you like something to drink?" She questioned and Lucas couldn't help but let a small smile creeped on his lips. She was still as hospitable as ever, always accommodating and attending to guests.

"Coffee would be nice." He answered, suddenly missing the taste of the coffee she would make him every morning. He really missed her. He wished he could just go back in time and thought his decisions through. Sure, he regretted leaving his family, but he would never regret meeting Chloe. Even though she wasn't his real daughter, she changed his melancholic life. She became his life.

As Hilda was busy in the kitchen making his coffee, Lucas stood up and glanced at the photos hanged on the wall. There was a picture of Kelsey when she was still young in her favourite strawberry patterned dress. The memory of Kelsey who was stubbornly arguing with her mother to keep her muddy dress on brought a smile on Lucas' face. She wouldn't take it off no matter what. Lucas literally had to bribed her of going to the amusement park if she removed it and changed into her clean pajamas. Fortunately, Kelsey obliged.

He scanned through the photos. Most of the pictures were photos that he had already seen on the file he got from his investigator. But there was one specific photo that he had never seen before. It was a picture of a baby boy wrapped in a cozy, blue blanket. He pulled the picture frame from its hook and stared closely at the image.

Lucas had seen a photo like it before. He briefly closed his eyes and remembered his mother showing him a photo of himself when he was still a baby when Chloe was born. His mother pulled an album out and showed him how he looked like when he was a child and how stubborn he was just like Chloe who slept very late at night. He remembered that when Chloe was born, he struggled putting her to bed so he would often call his mother in the middle of the night and asked her for help.

Lucas stared at the photo again and he swore it was him. It was a photo of him when he was still small. A tear had escaped his eye but he quickly wiped it with the back of his hand when he heard Hilda placing his cup of coffee on the centre table. Hilda eyed the frame he was holding in his hand and grew anxious. She knew this day would come, she just never had the time to prepare and get ready for it.

"I'm sorry, I'm too nosy." He apologized as he placed the frame back on its hook. Hilda released the breath she didn't know she was holding and felt relief washing over her. Lucas sat back down on the couch and took a sip of the coffee. He closed his eyes in pleasure and moaned delight. "You still make the best coffee." He honestly told her and took a longer sip.

Hilda shot him a small smile and sat on the couch perpendicular to the one he was sitting on. "Is there a reason why you came here?" She suddenly asked him.

Lucas gently placed the coffee back on the table and turned his body to face her. "First of all, I want to apologize." He sincerely started as he stared her straight in the eye. "I know what I did was unforgivable, and I'm not expecting you to forgive me right away...but I hope, you will give me a chance to fix my relationship with my daughter." He told her. Lucas knew that what he was asking was out of the line, considering what he had done to them, but he really wanted to reconcile with his daughter and be her father again.

Hilda fidgeted with her fingers again, a habit of hers when she was contemplating about things. "I don't need your answer now. I just wanted to asked for your permission and I wanted you to know that my daughter still matters to me." You still matter to me. He wanted to add but he didn't want to catch her off guard.

Hilda shook her head and sighed. Lucas felt his heart sank. What was he expecting anyway? He left them, of course Hilda wouldn't want their child to go through the same pain again. Lucas felt like stabbing himself over and over again. He was the only one to blame. He could get the worse father award. How could he not even realized that his daughter was already right in front of him? How could he not recognized her, his own flesh and blood? He was the worse father indeed.

"It's not my decision to make." Hilda gently spoke up as Lucas whipped his head towards her. "Kelsey's old enough to make her own decisions. It's up to her if she wants you back in her life or not." She told him as he stared at her in awe. She was still as amazing as ever. Lucas could feel himself falling in love with her all over again. It was her kind-heart that really made him fall for her. She was beautiful inside and out.

"You don't need to ask for my permission if you want to see her." She continued. "Because I can't change the fact that you are her father. No matter what happens, you are still her father. And I'm not going to restrict you or my daughter of your rights."

"Thank you." Lucas genuinely told her. "Thank you for giving me another chance to fix my relationship with my daughter. Thank you."

"Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

Lucas stopped and stared at her for a good minute before he shifted his eyes back on the picture frame that held the picture of a baby boy. "Actually, there's one more favour I wanted to asked you." He admitted. Hilda grew anxious once again and knew what was about to come.

"I would like to meet him." He announced, turning his attention back at her. "I would like to meet my son."

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