I stare at Anastasia, dumbfounded. Mila is my.. daughter? The thought seems foreign to me. Maybe she isn't. It's always me assuming too much.

Anastasia looks at me.. knowing exactly what is going on in my mind. She always had this ability to tear my thoughts naked with just her gaze. She knows i've put pieces together. She know my inner turmoil. She knows that I know. But she makes no move at all.

It is just us now, our gaze fixated on each other, trying to read each other, trying to get the answers to the unasked questions. The world around us is ignored, i want answers and she knows that.

Mila's voice disturbs our stare. "Mommy?", she shakes Anastasia, but that word is enough to send shivers down my spine.

"Anastasia?", I whisper.. clearly not being able to find my voice. Even through the loud chatter of people around us, she hears me and whips her head towards my direction.

"Not here", she says in a timid voice and takes Mila's hand and starts walking past me, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Huh?

"Anastasia!", I catch upto her.

"What?"

"Tell me.. yes or no?", I emphasize on the two words.

"I don't know what are you talking about", she says dryly, but in reality, its the opposite. She knows exactly what am I implying to.

"Don't play with me", I say in a low voice and I hear her gasp.

"Not here, please", and I sigh.

I make a quick call to Taylor to come pick us up. Apparently, he parked the car outside instead of leaving. Good.

"You are coming with me", I say to Anastasia and she doesn't argue but nods slightly.

As we near the car, I see Taylor eyes bulge a little. He doesn't say anything but I can see his face change to that of displeasure. He has always been good with hiding his emotions but i've been with him for longer than he can remember.

I hear Anastasia mutter a "Hi" in a soft voice, barely audible to which Taylor nods stiffly. Oddly, he doesn't react when he sees Mila. I expected him to be shocked or surprised or anything but not a straight face. Wait.. does he..

I shove that thought to the back of my mind. Taylor wouldn't do that, right? He would tell me if he knew something but then again he is been acting weird lately.. Jeez, i'm over thinking a bit too much.

"Escala?", Taylor asks as we sit in the back seat. Mila is currently sitting in the middle, between Anastasia and me. And I don't argue. I need my space.

"Actually, Hotel Palm View, please?", she looks at me rather than Taylor.

Taylor looks in the rearview mirror discreetly and and I nod a slight yes.

"You are staying there?", I ask. I figure she doesn't have a place to stay here.

"Yeah..", it looks like she wants to elaborate more but she doesn't and neither do I encourage her to go ahead.

As Taylor drives to the hotel, I cannot help but steal discreet glances towards Anastasia and Mila.

It is the first time that I look at Mila closely that I can point out the similarities. Like Mila said earlier, her eyes and hair are the same colour as Anastasia. And her features.. Holy Shit she actually mirrors me! How dumb could I be to not notice it before?

Suddenly, Mila looks up at me and smiles as she catches me staring at her. She calls me towards her with her hands and I duck down to her level.

"Why is everybody so quiet? Aren't you and mommy going to talk?", she says and I can't help but smile. She is 5 years old but she talks like a 15 year old.

"Well.. yeah.. we are going to.", I reply and quickly add, "I need to." I look at Anastasia and she is looking out of the window, absorbed in her own thoughts.

To say the silence is killing me right now would be an understatement of the year. I need to talk, I said to Mila, but I don't know how to start. What should I say? I know Mila is my daughter? My heart races at the word 'Daughter'.. there have been nights where I would constantly think about a family of my own? How would I be to them? Would I really be a responsible husband once we had children? Would I be able to be a good father? Life threw a curve ball of course, separating Anastasia and me in the process.. and now again rejoining us with an addition I wasn't expecting at all.

As Taylor stops in front of the entrance of the hotel, Anastasia opens the door hurriedly and ushers Mila out and then herself. I get out and together we walk through the glass doors into the lobby where something catches my eye. Or should I say, someone catches my eye?

There, seated on the plush sofa, is none other then Sawyer himself. And as if to confirm my thoughts, he looks up at me and freezes.

What the fuck is he doing here?

Is he with Ana, plotting against me?

"Mr. Grey", Sawyer greets curtly as I approach him.

"You better have a good explanation of your presence here", I spit out.

He nods in affirmation. "Taylor texted me to be here." That's it. That is all he says.

"Why-", but before I could complete my statement, Mila rushes towards us, Sawyer to be exact, and hugs his legs.

"Lukey!", she says as she looks up at him.

"Hey Mila-bear!", he says as he picks her up. "I can explain..", he says as he looks towards me but I don't need it.

If Mila calls Sawyer 'Lukey' , then definitely they have met before. And something tells me its not just once but several times that they have met before.

"Save it", my mouth turns into displeasure as Anastasia approaches us.

"Luke, can you please take care of Mila for sometime?", she says and Sawyer nods.

"Are you hungry?", Sawyer asks Mila and she nods furiously. "Lets go grab food!", he tells her and together they go to the hotel's restaurant.

"C'mon", Anastasia says to me and I walk with her to her room. If I say that the journey towards her room was normal, you'd call me a liar.

Once we are inside her room, I burst out. I cannot keep up with the mystery anymore. I need answers now.

"Who is Mila?", I ask her without preamble as she sits on the couch.

"Make yourself comfortable first", she replies.

"Can you stop with the fucking teasing and reply to me for once?!", I say, trying my best to get hold of my emotions.

"She is my daughter," and I look at her her to explain further. I know it, I just need to hear it. Need to hear it from her mouth.

She searches for something on my face and when she is assured about it, she says it.. says those words I need to hear.

"She is our daughter."

She is our daughter.

Those words keep reverberating through my mind, again and again, like its a logical question i'm trying to figure out. But its just a simple statement.

She is our daughter. She is my daughter. Mila, the stranger girl I met & ate a sandwich with in the hospital.. is my daughter.

I feel numb, it seems like there is a lot to take in. Anastasia just confirmed what I figured out.. but I think there was a tiny part of me which didn't want her to confirm it.

Numbness suddenly morphs into anger as reality hits me. Why am I feeling these wave of emotions? Shouldn't it be my dear ex-wife who was the mastermind?

"Why did it take you so long to finally break this information which, apparently, is not so important for me to know according to you?!", I say after a long time, venom laced in my voice.

"It isn't like that! Of course it is important, heck it is a life that we made!", she defends.

"So since it seems you already are enlightened with this knowledge, enlighten me why didn't you tell me about your pregnancy!"

"I did!.. or atleast I kind of did!"

"What is 'kind of'?! It is either yes or no!" By now, we are shouting on top of our voices. I'm surprised no one complained about us or something.

"I did it indirectly, Christian. Remember the night before I left.. I had a conversation about having kids?"

Of course I do. I remember every single detail we spent together. And that conversation? That was extremely random and weird. After she left.. I thought about the conversation again and tried to make an explanation out of it but couldn't reach to a conclusion so I dropped it.

"Yeah.."

"I told you indirectly about it."

"Why not directly?" Is she stupid? Is she REALLY going to tell me she left me from that conversation?

"I was afraid Christian. I thought you would pin the idea of abortion."

"Why the hell would you think that?!"

Jesus Christ, is she serious?!

"Because.. because.." she trails off.

"Because?", I prompt.

"I overheard you talking to your mother about how you didn't want kids then.. that you weren't ready to share me."

A distant memory of the same flashes in my mind. Yeah, true I had that conversation with Grace.. but she should've told me at least! We just got married, of course I wanted to have a child planned after sometime. But that doesn't mean I was against the idea! Wait, why am I talking to myself?

"Anastasia Rose Steele, are you saying you NEVER fucking thought of letting a child meet her father?! If you don't trust me.. how the fuck could you keep this from Mila?!", i'm full on cursing right now.

"Stop with the curses Christian..", she mutters.

"Are you serious? Are You Serious?! You know what? No. I'm not fucking going to stop. I'm going to fucking sit here and fucking curse because I don't care anymore! Because if you can keep this information to yourself, so I can curse too!", I'm shouting and making these gestures with my hands to emphasize my point.

"I tried to tell you dammit!", she shouts back, tears freely flowing from her eyes.

"Yeah, indirectly?!"

"No! After Mila was born!", She is crying now.

Wait.. what?

I simply look at her, not trying to fit this piece of puzzle in the picture I created in my head.

"I came to Seattle to tell you in person not when Mila is 5 years old but when she was 5 months old!", Ana sobs.

~*~*~*~

Why do I always end chapters in cliffhangers?!

A: I don't even know myself. I get carried away so much but then I realize that I have to cut the chapter short lol.

•VOTE/COMMENT/SHARE•

Until we meet again, xoxo ~ Ava❤