Love At Last

LILY

The very next day, I woke up with a throbbing headache; must have been due to the emotional and physical stress I passed through yesterday.

I kissed my baby boy on the cheek and went out, to the living room.

“Sure, I’ll be expecting you,” nana said and ended her call immediately she saw me.

“Who was that?”

“You’ll soon find out.” I thought about the possibility that that would have been my dad, but shrugged it off saying nana wouldn’t be that insensitive to my feelings.

I went on my way to continue my morning routine. I was in no condition to go to the shop that day so I called in sick and decided to rest at home instead.

About two hours later, my peace and quiet was disrupted.

*Knock knock*, nana knocked on my door. “Come in, the door’s open,” I cried out then she walked in. I was laying on the bed when she entered my room.

“Are you still here? Nothing to do?”

“Nana please. My headache is still there. Please don’t add to it,” I asked politely.

“Your dad’s here to see you, come say hi.” I sprung up immediately with energy from an unexplainable source.

“My dad?!”

“Yes, your dad.”

“You called him over?”

“Yes I did, Lily. I can’t sit back and so nothing. This is the least I could do for you. So put on something nice and come out.” She turned to the door to leave.

“Tell him not to bother waiting for me.” I laid back down and picked up my phone.

“Lily!” she turned around again to face me.

“You heard me, nana. Unless you’ll have to drag me out of here, I go nowhere!” I stated.

“Lily your father asks to see you. Are you going to be disrespectful enough to ignore him?”

“Nana you called him over so invariably, he’s your guest,” I accentuated the ‘your’.

“Lily stop proving to be stubborn and come say hi to your father,” she sounded a bit ticked off.

I sat upright on the bed. “Nana why did you call him over even without telling me?”

“If I had told you, would you have consented?”

“Of course not! But since you’re the one who called him over, deal with this yourself. As for me, I go no where,” I made my point known and laid back down.

“Lily!… Lily!… Lily!… How many times did I call you?” Nana was definitely angry now.

“Three times,” I replied casually and heard her slam the door on walking out.

She walked out and walked back in moments later but this time, fuming with rage.

“Lily your insolent behavior irks me! Can you just call it quits with your stubbornness already? Your father came over to see you and you sent him away?!”

“I didn’t send him away nana, you did.”

“What?!”

“Nana please. As you can clearly see, I’m in no mood for arguments today so please do me favor and leave me alone,” I asked mildly.

“Lily I don’t like what you did today at all! I really don’t. I’m trying to help out here.”

“Nana if this is how you help out, please stay still and do nothing. You’ve helped me enough already so don’t burden yourself with this headache.” I made sure not to yell at her again as I didn’t want what happened the previous day to repeat itself again.

“Lily!… Lily!… Lily!… How many…,”

“Three times nana, three times,” I turned my back on her by laying on my side instead, facing the other side of the room.

“No problem.” She walked out and slammed the door hard.

Going on with normalcy, I continued paying my boyfriend random visits not minding what happened the last time. Of course I prepared myself for whenever he posed the question. I knew for a fact that there was no escaping it this time.

That very day, I went over to his house and decided to spend quality time with my boyfriend.

“Lily?” he called out with a serious tone while resting his head on my lap facing upwards, in my direction.

“Just ask already, Cayden.”

“I should?” He sat upright.

“Yes, please.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“So how does it turn out that you’re Mr. Steve Greyson’s daughter? One of the richest men in the whole of US!”

“Well, turned out that way. After I got pregnant for Jacek, they threw me out of the house and nana took me in. Nana proved to be the only support I had.”

“How come you never spoke about him? Steve Greyson is your father?!!” he was in utter disbelief, he still found it hard to accept reality. “Unbelievable, Lily. This is too much for me to digest.” “How come you never spoke of him?” he asked again.

“Is that much not obvious? They threw me away, Cayden. They’re part of my bitter past I wish to forget. I really don’t want to have anything to do with those people ever again.”

“So that was why you acted that way at the dinner? You just walked out in shock,” he recounted the night I walked out on him while we had dinner.

“That was why. I was very surprised to find out you actually work for my dad.”

“This is unbelievable, Lily. So you indeed are the ‘rich heiress’,” he teased.

While we were talking, his doorbell rang.

“You expecting someone?”

“Nah.” He stood up to get the door.

On opening the door, he called out, “Mr. Greyson?” I turned sharply towards the door.

Without giving me time to even collect my thoughts, talk more of hide or run, he pushed Cayden aside and forced his was in and saw me standing in his living room.

“Mr. Cayden! What’s the meaning of this nonsense?!” He barked angrily and turned to him. “I thought I made myself clear the last time!”

“Sir, I can explain.”

“Explain what?!” he backfired. “My daughter is off limits for you, Mr. Cayden. We have a good official relationship doesn’t mean you can have my daughter for yourself!” he scolded further.

“And as for you…,” he turned to me, “stay away from this fellow,” he pointed Cayden.

“Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what and what not to do?”

“Lily?” my dad called out.

“Listen, Mr. Steve! The day you cut all ties with me was the day you lost every right over me, okay?” I was fuming.

“Lily! Whatever happened in the past doesn’t change the fact that you’re a Greyson. From what I gathered, you still bear the name which means you still remember your roots clearly.”

“Mr. St…,” he cut me off.

“It’s ‘Dad’, Lily. ‘Dad’. I am still your father and I tell you in all boldness that you and Mr. Cayden’s relationship should end!”

“Cut it out dad! After everything you did to me? After everything! You threw me to the streets, left me to suffer and now all of a sudden, you resurface from who knows where to exercise your rights over my life?!” My eyes started welling up, but this time I cleaned them off immediately. The last thing I wanted was to cry before this man again. “it won’t work.” I concluded.

“Listen Lily. I know I treated you badly, trust me I do. But that doesn’t change the fact that I missed you so much.” I stared at him scornfully. “I’ve missed you so much, Lily. So please calm down and let’s talk,” he asked placidly.