"Why?" Orlee sighed.
"What do you mean, 'why'?" Mason asked, confused.
"I told you, I was the one who made that decision, yet you're blaming her, Mason" Orlee said, raising her voice slightly.
Mason looked bewildered at his adopted daughter in front of him, who never usually lost her temper with him. He could never get used to her calling him by his name instead of 'Dad'. He was frustrated as to why she wasn't accepting him as her father. What she said next answered his persistent frustration.
"This is why it's becoming hard for me to accept you as my father." Mason felt a pang of hurt in his heart.
"You see me as an outsider and seem to have nothing but pity for me. When I make mistakes, you just overlook them. But when Crystal errs, you get angry, feel sad, console her, and correct her to improve. You don't do any of that with me. You never got angry, never raised your voice, and never corrected my mistakes. You just nod along to everything I say and do." Orlee released her pent-up emotions.
When Orlee received no response, she strode up the stairs, entered her room, and shut the door.
Crystal, who had stayed behind, emerged and hugged her father. "And here I thought she didn't like us and didn't want to accept us as her family."
With tears in her eyes, she smiled up at her father, who nodded with teary eyes.
"I should probably go up and explain to her that I have a soft spot for my elder daughter rather than the younger one," Mason said, earning a mocking glare from Crystal.
They both chuckled later, relieved to discover that Orlee had misunderstood their intentions, which was the most reassuring outcome.
They had been hoping that one day, Orlee would fully accept them as her family.
'Maybe that day wasn't so far off.'
******
Mason walked up to his daughter's room and knocked on the door.
Orlee, lost in her thoughts as she gazed at the dark sky through her window, was interrupted by the sound of a knock. "Come in," she called out. She heard Mason clear his throat as he entered her room, trying to get her attention.
Chuckling, Orlee looked up and raised an eyebrow at her father.
"I'm sorry," the old man began with an apology. He walked over and sat beside her on the bed, gently holding her hand in his. "It was never my intention to make you feel like an outsider,"
Orlee was about to apologize, realizing she was the one in the wrong. "Sor..."
"Nah, let me speak first, please," Mason interrupted her before she could start apologizing, knowing her tendency to feel guilty over the smallest things.
Mason continued looking down, "When I first saw you on the streets, you were trembling from fear and the cold,"
"your eyes were filled with determination to protect yourself from anyone who looked at you with ill intent." A small smile played on Mason's lips as he looked at his little girl, who gently smiled back at him, reliving the memory.
"I don't know, I just felt these strong fatherly instincts to protect you from everything in this world. I became so protective as if you were my own daughter whom I had lost and never got to see the light of day."
"What?" Orlee gasped quietly, her voice tinged with dread.
"Yeah," Mason continued, his voice trembling slightly, "Camilla and I had a miscarriage with our first child. She would have been your age if she had survived." A lump formed in his throat as he spoke.
"So, when I saw you facing the world alone on the streets, you reminded me of my first daughter. That's when I decided I would protect you from everything—no matter what, no matter who," A lone tear slipped down his cheek as he spoke.
"including me."
A soft gasp escaped from Orlee, tears streaming down her face. She enveloped her father in a tight embrace, finally understanding the depth of his feelings. All this time, she had felt like an outsider between Mason and Crystal, but now she realized the truth of his affection and protection.
The depth of his unconditional love surpassed anything she could have ever imagined.
"I'm really sorry for misunderstanding you, Dad" Orlee kept apologizing, shaking her head in her father's embrace, even as he gently urged her to stop.
In the midst of the confession, both of them overlooked the fact that she had addressed him in the way they had longed for.
"No, Lee, I shouldn't have made you feel like that in the first place. I've—" Mason stopped abruptly, realizing something.
Orlee froze in shock as the realization dawned on her as well.
They both looked at each other and giggled like school kids.
"Dad, Lee, You oldies haven't broken your backs, have you?" Crystal asked, stepping into the room without knocking.
"In any case, the first one to break their back in this family would probably be you, given how much time you spend on your laptop," Orlee rolled her eyes and remarked, earning a chuckle and nod of approval from her father.
Crystal sat down, clinging to the empty side of her father's embrace, and made a face after saying something.
Watching his daughters bicker, Mason felt a profound sense of peace, it was as though a missing puzzle piece had been found and put in place, bringing everything together.
Mason sighed in relief.
******
After they both left the room, Orlee lay down on the bed with a smile that seemed to etch itself permanently on her face. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep while recalling everything her father had said.
Out of habit, she reached for her chain, only to find it missing.
Orlee gasped in pure horror and frantically checked for her chain, but found nothing. She searched around her room—under the chair, in the box, in the bathroom—everywhere she could think of, but the chain was nowhere to be found.
She searched around the house but could find no trace of it. Desperately, she racked her brain, trying to recall where she might have gone earlier that day.
'Office.'