"Dad, how could you do this to me?!"
As Alice remembered the face of that jerk, a frown forms on her face.
"Dear, I'm sorry but it was your stepmother who convinced me as they will further strengthen our family." Her father said as he waved Mel out.
'That motherf*cking b*tch' Alice thought as she cussed her stepmother, Alice didn't blame her Father as he has been living with that witch since she left. The witch could probably have had him wrapped around her fingers.
Alice signed," So what has been their response to all that is happening?"
"We haven't heard anything from them... but don't worry, they won't go back on their words. But..."
"But what?"
"For the bride price, can you convince him to pull in $50,000 dollar for our company"
"What?! No, I can't."
"Please darling. You have to do this for me" Mr. O'Connor pleaded.
"Why $50,000? Don't we already have $10,000?"
"We need the remaining to continue our business after clearing up our debt" Her father said looking at her.
"I'll try my best, Father"
"Thank you, thank you so much. You should try to talk with him when you get back to school" Her father said as he held her hands in his.
"I will" Alice removed her hands from her father's and rubbed her temples, the thought of even talking with that guy annoys her. She looked up at her father; after her mother died and after her father's secretary became her stepmother as she drugged him when he was mourning for his wife, if not for the fact that her father sent her to America after the second case of maltreatment from her stepmother, she wouldn't be doing a this just for his sake.
"But remember we have only two months. You have to convince him within these two months if not..." Mr. O'Connor thought of something and his face became pale.
"I know what will happen dad. I have to use the restroom." Alice said as she stood up and walked towards the door.
As soon as Mr. O'Connor was sure that she had left, he took his phone and dialed a number.
"So? Did she agreed?" Sure enough it was no other than her stepmother, Jane.
"Of course, I made her feel indebted to me as you said and it worked"
These were the words Alice heard as she wanted to open the door to her father's ward.
"Alright, I will" Mr. O'Connor (Kevin) said as he cut the call.
'I was right, she does have he wrapped around her little ugly fingers and it's worse than I thought. I don't know how she's done it but I've to figure out a way to show him her true colors but first I have to deal with this problem at hand' It would be a lie to say that she wasn't feeling disappointed but that wasn't the way out so what's the use.
Alice breathed in and out, steadied her mind before entering the ward.
*****
As Clarie came down from the stairs, she jogged into the dinning. She was wearing a white crop top and pink trousers with her house slip-ons.
As she got to the dinning room, she saw someone who she hasn't seen for a long time.
"Dad!!!" she called as she ran towards the figure seated at the main seat.
"Humgh" Her father, Javier reacted from the impact of the hug.
"My sweet little princess, you've grown so much"
Lily looked at her human hugging and thought, "Meow...So no... meow... hugs for this... meow... cute princess cat?... meow" She with her heads placed down quietly walked to her pink cattery placed beside Caesar's kernel, her food has already placed in front of her cattery.
"Woof... Don't be sad...woof... Come, I'll hug you... woof woof" Caesar barked.
"Meow... shut up... meow... stupid dog" Lily mumbled the last words to herself as she buried her head in her food.
"I missed you too, dad" Clarie said disengaging from the hug, as sat by his left hand side.
"You made it just in time for dinner" Clarie asked.
"Of course, it's to celebrate my little princess arrival. How could I possibly come late?" Javier said as Clarie smiled at him.
Clarie watched as her mother sat by the right hand of her father and her brother took a seat beside his mother.
Clarie noticed how her father didn't seem to place any attention on Charles and she knew that she had to do something.
He took a long look at his food before taking out the celery in it and placing it in Caesar's food and at the same time managed to look as innocent as possible.
'It's no wonder he picked a chair close to Caeser' Clarie thought before smiling deviously. Charles looked up just in time to catch this look on her face.
Clarie looked back at him with a look that says, 'I know what you did' Charles didn't pay attention to her as he continued to eat his food.
"Mom, all these tastes delicious as usual" Clarie said
"The chefs that your father hired are one of a kind" Bella replied.
"Oh... Especially this celery, even brother likes it. He finished his before anyone" Clarie said as her parents looked over at Charles' plate.
Charles was forced to say something, looking at the expectant looks on his parents faces, he couldn't bring himself to say his mind as he replied with a word, "Good"
"Splendid!" Clarie exclaimed startling her parents as she started placing all the available celeries in her brother's plate.
Seeing the monstrous amount of celery on his plate, Charles looked up at Clarie. If looks could kill, Clarie probably won't be alive right now.
Clarie just smiled cutely as she asked," Brother likes it, right?"
"Meow... Wicked" Lily looked up to comment as she resumed her meal.
Charles looked at Clarie and without commenting he continued to eat other foods without touching the celery on his plate.
Clarie coughed a little and drank a bit of water to prevent herself from laughing out loud.
"Mother, you should have some celery. It's helps you to maintain your youthful looks" Charles said as he passed some celeries to Bella's plate.
"You brat! Do you take me for a dead man?!" Javier said sternly as he banged the table.
Mr. Robinson and Charles don't just have a normal dad - son relationship. All this was due to the fact that Clarie was kidnapped right under nine year old Charles' nose. After that, Javier didn't exactly trust Charles with a lot of things, forcing nine year old Charles to mature at a young age. Clarie couldn't understand her father, he was just two years older than her. What was he supposed to do? Thankfully, Bella always tried her best to smoothen their strained relationship.
"Jav..." Bella said her tone starting to sound threatening.
Javier continued to eat his food, planning to continue to ignore Charles. Bella signed disapprovely.
Charlie looked up at Charles, her eyes seemed as if she were trying to apologize to him. Charles smiled slightly and ignored her.
Clarie thought that after all these years, they would have warmed up to each other but clearly it seems that she was wrong.
'I've to make them like each other. Since all that happened is partially my fault'. Clarie thought.