Dilemmas sucked. The word itself implied something was wrong, and it was. Mila was still working from home occasionally, now splitting her work so some was at home and some in person. That particular day, she was working from home, or rather, from Terry's home, but then something came up and she had to run into work momentarily. It took longer than she planned and she ended up getting back to Terry's late.

Late on a Wednesday. The day her dad visited. She rushed to Terry's hoping she could get her things- including the laptop she actually still needed so she could finish some work- but she spotted a familiar car parked in front of the house and her stomach knotted.

Mila made a face at her father's car. In any other circumstance, she would've walked away and not even considered trying to get in the house without a confrontation. Except Kayla really needed a report that Mila was working on and it was on that laptop. Kayla had been so generous trying to accommodate Mila and her family's needs, she didn't want to tell her she couldn't email one silly report just because her dad was home and she hadn't spoken to him since her mother died.

Mila shifted from one foot to the other, bouncing up and down because it was cold. Pulling out her phone, she called Terry. Hoping he could maybe just bring it out to her didn't work out because the call went straight to voicemail and Mila was willing to bet money Stella killed his battery playing games on his phone again.

Sighing, Mila glanced up at the second floor where Stella's bedroom was. The light was on and she could see shadows of movement. That meant they were probably upstairs. Her laptop was downstairs. All she had to do was sneak in quietly, grab her things, and leave. No one would even have to know.

Damn you for not having a phone, Marcus, she thought to herself. Marcus could really get in undetected, definitely better than she could, but she still had no way to contact him. It was starting to get on her nerves. She asked him multiple times to get a phone but it was one of the ways his age showed. He grumbled like an elderly man who hated the idea of technology every time she brought it up.

Taking in a deep breath, Mila decided to brave it. If anything, she'd have to endure a couple seconds of awkwardness and then just split. She could handle that.

Mila walked up to the front door and pressed her ear against it, listening for any close sounds. Hearing nothing, she slowly put her key in and unlocked the door then slipped inside, not even closing the door all the way. She wouldn't be long.

Voices from upstairs supported her theory they were playing in Stella's room, so she rushed into the living room and then into Terry's office attached to that living room. It only took a short time for Mila to gather everything and slip it into a backpack. She pulled the straps over her shoulders and listened again before making her way to the door.

As soon as she stepped outside, she breathed a sigh of relief. She closed the door behind her and walked down the steps of the porch, heading to the bus stop. Putting in headphones, she decided for lighter music than usual. She was in a decent mood. Stella's doctor appointment went better than the last and she successfully pulled off being a ninja to get her things without running into her dad.

At least, she almost did.

Mila felt a hand clamp around her arm and she turned, ready to knee whoever it was in the balls but froze when she saw her dad standing there, waving his hand in front of her face and looking annoyed. He didn't look much different before. The beard was about the same length, though definitely had more grey hairs in it now. There was no hair on the top of his head, he only grew it on his face.

Sighing, Mila pulled out her earbuds. "Can I help you?"

"I was calling after you," he grumbled.

"I had headphones in," Mila said, swinging her corded earbuds around. "Can I help you?"

"You just sneak in and sneak out?" He asked, crossing his arms. "That's how it is?"

"How should it be, Toran?" Mila asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dad is my name," he sighed, shaking his head. "Still mad at me, I see."

"I don't have the energy to be mad at you. Is there something you want? Because I have work to finish up."

"Why don't you finish it up here and have dinner with us?" Toran suggested, gesturing back at the house.

"Busy," Mila said, turning on her heels and heading to the bus again.

"Terrence tells me you have a boyfriend," Toran said, grabbing her arm.

Mila sighed and yanked her arm free, turning towards her dad with crossed arms. "And?"

"Is that why you're busy?"

"Yep," Mila lied. "And I don't want to keep him waiting, so, see you never."

Mila turned to leave but again, he grabbed her arm. Mila smacked his hand away much harder this time and turned to him with a glare. "If there's something you want, stop with the pleasantries, stop grabbing me, and just tell me what it is."

"What are you going to do, Mimi?" Torna asked, throwing his arms up. "Be mad at me forever? I'm your only dad, kid. Hate me if that makes you feel better, but I'm the only dad you've got."

"Mhm, and?" Mila asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So let the past be the past," he sighed. "You hold grudges like no one I've ever met. Forgiveness would look good on you."

"Oh really?" Mila laughed. "Well, as important as it is to me that I do things to make you feel good," she said sarcastically, narrowing her eyes. "I just can't bring myself to care. I'm not holding a grudge, Toran, and I'm not unforgiving. Just because my forgiveness doesn't look the way you want it to, doesn't mean it's not there."

"You and I must have different definitions of forgiveness then," Toran said, gritting his teeth.

"Guess we do," Mila shrugged, giving him a light smile. "Was that all?"

"Oh come on, Mimi," he groaned. "What do you want me to do, huh? What would make you decide I'm worthy of your time? What would make you stop punishing me?"

"Punishing you?" Mila frowned. "I'm not punishing you. How am I punishing you?"

"You won't speak to or see me!"

"Yeah, because it's unhealthy for everyone. I'm not trying to punish you, I'm trying to keep my sanity by keeping boundaries between us. If you don't like that, too bad."

Mila turned to leave but his next comment had her freezing in her tracks.

"God, so fucking delusional, as always," he muttered.

"Delusional?" Mila repeated, looking back at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're delusional, Mila!" Toran snapped. "You make things up to be bigger in your head than they are. You're overdramatic, you always have been. God forbid someone make one mistake around you, you're so selfish and full of yourself that unless someone is perfect, they better not hang around you. Because you're so perfect, right?"

"Wow," Mila said, raising her eyebrows and taking a deep breath to keep herself from committing murder. "I don't know where you're getting any of this, but it's bullshit and I don't have to listen to it. If for whatever reason, that's what you think of me, then it is," Mila shrugged. "I'm not going to waste my time telling you all the ways you're wrong."

"Oh yeah, because no one is ever right," Toran scoffed. "Except you. You're always right. You're always perfect and that gives you freedom to hate everyone else, isn't that right?"

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Mila said in exasperation. "I don't think I'm perfect and I don't hate everyone. You just don't like I'm not handling things the way you want me to, and guess what? Even if you were right that I'm still angry and haven't forgiven you, it doesn't matter. Because it's not your choice. If you wanted me to be understanding, you shouldn't have left my helpless mother to fend for herself. She broke her hip and was in the hospital because you just left her there without saying anything. And then you left the rest of us. Me, Terry and Stella," she snapped. "You left us and didn't come back until mom died. Don't lecture me about being selfish. At least I didn't abandon my family in their time of need. I'm done with this discussion," Mila said, shaking her head and walking away. "We don't get along, we never have. There is no reason we should continue interacting when all we'll do is hurt each other."

"You're the only one that won't give me another chance. That doesn't tell you anything?" Toran called after her. Mila shrugged. Stella was too young to really understand, and Terry and Mila didn't agree on how to handle the situation with her father. That didn't make her decision wrong just because it was different from theirs.

"Good luck holding onto that boyfriend," Toran snapped. "He'll get sick of you when he realizes how crazy you are. You're too much for everyone, Mila, and you know it. Yet you have the nerve to act like you're better than me."

"I didn't abandon my fucking family!" Mila snapped, turning to him, her body shaking with anger. "You call me delusional? You're seriously delusional if you think I owe you something when you abandoned us during our hardest time."

"Jesus, Mila, I'm only human," Toran said. "I cracked under the pressure, it was too hard for me and I took a step back. Don't act like you've never needed a break."

"A break?" Mila repeated, a laugh escaping because it was just so ridiculous. "You stuck around for two months after her diagnosis, and you were never there. I was there," she said, gesturing to herself. "I picked up the slack and then on one of the extremely rare occasions I asked you to spend a few hours with her so I could breathe, you left her there alone. She got hurt because of you. And we didn't hear from you for months," Mila spat. "For months we were left in silence. No help paying the bills, no help taking care of Stella, no help taking care of mom or even bothering to pick up the fucking phone. What you did was not taking a break. It was abandoning us and you only came back when you felt like it. And, you've never fucking apologized for what you put her and us through. Not once. Talk about fucking selfish, look in the mirror, asshole."

"Mila, I swear to God, you're so dramatic," Toran groaned.

"Go fuck yourself," Mila said, turning and speed walking away, wrapping her arms around herself and hating the way her eyes filled with tears. She didn't want to cry because of him.

Getting on the bus, Mila brushed at her eyes in frustration. She didn't want to think about it, didn't want to talk about it, just wanted to erase the entire conversation happen. She definitely didn't want to be thinking about the way her mother responded when she found out Toran left her. The way she sobbed, the way Mila held her mother while her hip was broken and her heart was breaking.

Mila definitely didn't want to be thinking about after her mom died, how she called her dad and begged him to come help with the funeral, to at least attend it even if he didn't help, and he never called her back. He only called Tery instead to tell him to tell Mila to stop calling and that he wasn't coming back. Then he showed up a few months later and expected them all to welcome him back and maybe Terry would, but Mila was done. She lost track of the number of times she tried to communicate with her dad, to tell her how deeply he hurt her and the family, but he would never listen and she reached a breaking point when he told her she had no right to cry because she was being dramatic about the whole thing. He would deny most of what she brought up and what he couldn't deny, he'd turn around and try to make it about him and how much he was suffering. He never owned up to his actions or admitted when he was wrong, and he never would. Mila didn't want any part of it.

Life was too short to waste on people that made you cry and feel small.

Mila got home and angrily plopped down on her couch, angrily pulled out her laptop, and wondered if keys could break from the aggressive typing she was doing while she finished up her report.

"What'd the laptop do to you?"

Mila jumped, nearly sending the email with the report before even attaching the file. She glared back at Marcus only long enough to speak, then her eyes were back on the screen so she could send the stupid email and be done. "I told you to stop fucking sneaking up on me like that."

Marcus raised his eyebrows, surprised at her short tone. He moved forward, watching her from the side, noticing the puffiness around her eyes. She'd been crying again.

"I'm sorry," Mila said after a few moments of silence. She sent off the email and closed her laptop, looking over at him. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, but seriously, can you at least like knock or something?"

"What's wrong?" Marcus frowned.

"Nothing," Mila said, sliding the laptop off her lap and standing, shrugging out of her coat.

"It doesn't seem like nothing."

"Fine," Mila sighed, pulling off her boots and socks before making her way over to Marcus, dropping her arms over his shoulders. "I had a shitty day, and I would like to forget every moment of it," she said, pressing her body against his, trailing her hands down his chest, descending to his belt. Marcus sucked in a breath and tried to stay focused. "I need a distraction," Mila murmured, brushing her lips along his jaw, popping open his belt buckle.

"Mila," Marcus said, setting his hands on her hips, cursing her for being so irresistible. "Tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong is I'm aching to be filled," Mila whispered against his ear. "I want it so bad, you don't even have to prep me," she said, taking his hand and bringing it up her skirt, between her legs. Marcus let out a long breath, feeling the heat radiating through her underwear, smelling the growing arousal. "You could just fuck me right now," Mila said, nipping his ear. "However you want, hard as you want. In fact, make it real hard," Mila said, sliding her hand down into his pants and wrapping her hand around his cock. Marcus groaned, his eyes flashing red, his resolve failing at her next words. "Make it hurt, Marcus," she whispered. "I want to feel the soreness from you for days."