Chapter 145: Papa, can I come with?
Olivia sat on her little chair swinging her legs as she wrote her homework with Alyssa sitting next to her.
"Aunty, what do I write here?" Olivia asked, and Alyssa looked at the object she was pointing at.
"Oh, that’s a cactus." Alyssa said. "It’s spelled C.A.C.T.U.S." Olivia nodded and wrote it down but Alyssa suddenly found it odd.
Why in the world was a cactus in a kindergarten homework?
’Did they increase the difficulty in learning for kids these days?’ she wondered and then the door opened.
She raised her head at the sound and found Doctor Ro walking in.
"I’m back," he announced with that lazy tone of his and raised his head to meet Alyssa’s gaze.
But as soon as they met each other’s gaze, Alyssa lowered her head and her ears flushed.
’What’s that about?’ he wondered but did not think too much since she did a lot of silly things on a normal day.
Michael walked in from behind and then saw them studying. He smiled.
"Olivia," he called and Olivia raised her head, getting down from her chair right away to go hug her papa.
"Papa," she called cheerfully and then jumped into his arms.
"Tut, she didn’t even see me." Roland exclaimed under his breath.
"Olivia, how was school today?" Michael asked.
"It was fine, Papa. I’m almost done with my homework as well." She answered, her face brimming with light.
It was nice that she wasn’t stubborn about school work and was very enthusiastic but Michael felt maybe she was a little bit too... Enthusiastic.
She had to slow down a little. It wasn’t like anyone was getting high hopes or expecting her to get into high school when she was still so young.
"I brought you chocolate." Michael said and her eyes sparkled.
She stretched her arms and with a lovely voice, she said,
"Gimme."
They all laughed as they saw this, and Michael placed the little bag of chocolate in her hand.
"Here. Make sure to share with your Aunty, okay?" He patted her head and watched her as she rushed towards Alyssa excitedly.
Olivia was... A treasure he could never trade for anything.
Not just because she was his daughter, but because she was ’his’ daughter and well. And this was the gift he left her.
Though she did not take a lot from her father, she took the most important thing that distinguished her trait.
Her eyes.
She had black pearl eyes that sometimes changed to gold depending on her mood. She had Noah’s eyes.
As for the rest of her... He kissed her forehead... She was his double.
"I’ll head down to the flower shop." Michael said to them. "I have a customer coming in to take his delivery."
"Papa, can I come with?" Olivia asked, and he looked at her, her chocolate-stained lips and the eagerness in her face.
"Yes, but your Aunty will come down with you once you’ve had lunch, is that alright?" He asked her and she nodded, dancing around Alyssa.
"Let’s have lunch already, aunty." She pressed on.
"Alright, alright. We’ll have lunch." Alyssa said and then turned to Roland. "You heard that. Hurry up and make lunch. Where have you been this whole time?"
Roland sighed.
"If you need lunch, go make it yourself." He grumbled but then Olivia caught the hem of his shirt, giving him the puppy eyes.
"Uncle, you don’t want to make lunch?" She asked. "But Aunty is bad at cooking."
It was an arrow shot straight at Alyssa’s heart but she could not even mutter a word of complaint since it was true and Olivia was doing the work of convincing Roland.
"Ah, since you stated such a true fact, I should probably help out." He said, over a smug and Alyssa wished she could hit him with a pan.
They were still so chaotic.
Michael watched this and then turned around.
It was like nothing had changed at all.
At least, not for them. For him... There was so much he wished that stayed the same.
Olivia watched her papa heading towards the door and noticed his saddened shoulders.
Once again, she felt sad for him, but she couldn’t do anything. She wished her daddy were there.
’Daddy, when will you be done with your work?’ she wondered sadly and lowered her head. ’When should I bring up bringing your parents to school day?’ She felt even more sad knowing that Michael was not a fan of this.
It was this same time the previous year that he went with her to her school and then heard a bunch of nasty things from the other parents.
They spoke such cruel words in front of such a sweet little girl just because nothing had been said about her mother, ever.
They said her mother had likely run away, and their kids carried the same words and used them to mock her.
As if being an outsider wasn’t enough, they made sure to make her feel it. Though she didn’t ever care and slammed the words back at the kids who wanted to mess with her.
But the same could not be said of Michael, who had struggled to raise her on his own while he waited for the love of his life to return.
How could he stay silent while they insulted his treasure?
Michael was furious.
Utterly furious.
He raged at the mother who sneered contemptuously at his daughter.
Were they not ashamed of themselves?
Anyway, it ended in a mess and Olivia cried. She had never seen her papa so furious before, and she felt it was because of her, so she cried.
But Michael didn’t want her to be sad and consoled her, saying he was mad at those mothers who did not know how to raise their kids well, and not her.
He changed her school afterwards.
But there was the same event in practically all the schools so there was this time.
In her present school, she wasn’t being bullied or picked on. Rather, they adored her for her intelligence and how pretty she was, but since Alyssa and Roland were the ones who picked her up from school most times, they assumed Alyssa was her mother and Roland was her father.
Michael must’ve decided to seldom appear in the school just so he wouldn’t cause another incident where her fellows call her a motherless child and everything in between.
But he did go with them and stayed in the car from them to time so she would see him as soon as she walked out of the building.
Now, with the event coming up again, she wondered if it would be a good idea to tell her papa about it.
She wanted everyone to see how pretty her papa was and clear up the misunderstanding that her aunt and uncle were her parents, but... She wondered if it would be for the best.
At such a young age, she was already thinking this far.
It was just because she didn’t want to see her papa so furious again. It made her cry a lot that day.
’I will have to tell him eventually.’ she thought. ’If I decide to just tell aunty and uncle, papa might feel sad once they tell him about it.’ she pouted her lips, her cheeks puffed up like a puffer fish. ’I don’t want Papa to be sad.’
"Whatcha thinking about kiddo?" Roland asked and Olivia looked up at him, sighing worriedly as she said,
"Life."
He was confused. What did a little kid have in life that she had to think so deeply about?
Sometimes, he just couldn’t get this kid.
"Don’t spout such nonsense. I’m sure you’re just hungry." He said and then raised his head to look at Alyssa. "I know someone who tends to spout bulls when she’s hungry."
Alyssa flinched. Did he just swear in front of a kid?
"Bulls?" Olivia tilted his head.
"What he means is that he could very much eat an entire bull if he’s hungry." Alyssa immediately chipped in, smiling awkwardly and then she shot a glare at Roland.
He needed to keep that crude tongue of his in check so that the kid wouldn’t pick up on weird things.
"Then, if I’m very hungry, should I say the same thing?" Olivia innocently asked.
"Hm, you should think of that when you’re older." She said, brushing her hair. "For now, don’t copy that guy. He’s not a good example."
Michael got down to the shop and turned the sign, ’open’. He was ready to receive customers while preparing the flowers that had been ordered.
He didn’t have a lot of customers but he had a decent amount of people who patronized him.
He wasn’t doing it for the money anyway so it was fine. So long as he could put a smile on the faces of those he shared his beautiful flowers with, he was fine with it.
He had studied a bit of flower decoration to aid him in the flower arrangement before selling them off.
"Ting" the bell on top of the door rang as it opened and he turned around, smiling gleefully as he welcomed the customer with a smile.
"Welcome. How may I help--" the words froze in his mouth as he stared at the figure that just walked in. "...you?"
He was tall, with broad shoulders, a big build, tanned, and that smile on his lips. Those eyes... The way he looked at him... This man... He was Noah.
"I’m here to get a flower for my lover."
