"I let my pride, jealousy and sadness get the better of me... I should have never did what I did, especially not to the people I cared for so much and I really don't know what happened to me..." said Lia as she took a pause to look at her father and she could see that he was still listening to her even though he did not say anything.
"But I... I don't know... I just lost my mind, in the moment nothing else mattered to me anymore, I just wanted to get my way, I wanted to make sure that Natasha felt all the pain and hurt that I felt, how it feels to be rejected and neglected, and I know I went too far, I should have never gone that far in the first place" said Lia as she looked down.
"I thought that Dom was mine... but he was never really mine to begin with in the first place" said Lia as she sighed, she was truly disappointed in herself, now that she was calm and in her right senses she wondered how she could have stooped so low to do something so derogatory.
"But that's not what matters right now... what matters right now is your forgiveness daddy... I want to earn your forgiveness" said Lia.
"I want you to forgive me because I never meant to hurt you or mom, I'm so sorry for what I did, I'm sorry for making you disappointed in me, because I never wanted that" said Lia as she looked up at Cecil, she was being her most honest right now and she hoped that he could see that.
"Daddy, don't blame yourself because you did nothing wrong... you raised me in the best way you could, it is not your fault that I chose to forsake the morals you taught me, because you have never given me a reason to be selfish or greedy, you always provided whatever I needed for me, I never lacked anything, it was wrong of me to be selfish" said Lia as she kept her eyes on her father as she saw small tears escape from the corner of his eyes as he cried silently.
"But that is exactly why what happened is my fault" said Cecil as he cried, he had always been soft, especially with his princess, pretending to be hard hearted and cold but on the inside he was sorrowful and he just melted hearing his daughter's words, he could tell that she was sincere.
"If only I had been more hard on you, if only I had not given in to your every whim and want like your mother had said, if I had done that, maybe you would not have turned out like this" said Cecil as he cried and his words caused Lia to start shedding tears as well.
"Oh daddy, don't say that, please don't say that, you are the best father in the world, it's not your fault that I did what I did, it was my choice, don't blame yourself daddy" said Lia as she cried.
"No my princess, it is my fault, I should have been a better father, I should have raised you better" said Cecil as he cried looking at the framed picture of his little girl on his desk, his innocent little girl, he knew that she meant no harm, it was his fault for not paying attention to her lonely moments.
Why had he not asked her if she was in any serious relationships? He had thought that when she was ready she would tell him, but who knew that she was struggling with all these negative feelings of being rejected and not being enough?
"No daddy, I know no one is perfect, but you are perfect to me daddy, you've always been a good father" said Lia as she cried and shook her head.
"I'm so sorry that I am making you cry, I'm so sorry that you are doubting the way you raised me because it's not your fault daddy, not at all, so please don't blame yourself, please don't do that, because it's all my fault, you did nothing wrong, I did what was wrong" said Lia as she cried and Cecil felt his heart breaking again seeing her cry.
They were both just broken by this thing that had happened, he knew that she did not mean to cause so much pain and harm to everyone, but she did, and he truly felt sorry, but he could never stay angry at her for long, he knew that she felt sorry for what she did, and she was suffering as much as they all were.
"Don't say that my princess, I had my part to play as well" said Cecil as he cried and he leaned forward and wiped her tears.
"You cannot completely remove the blame from me princess, part of being a parent is accepting your faults and I would be foolish not to do that, and you are right, you did what you did of your own accord, however, I can see that you are truly sorry for what you did" said Cecil as Lia nodded quickly.
"Yes daddy I am, I promise you, I am so sorry, I feel so bad and terrible" said Lia as she nodded and leaned in to her father's touch.
"All I want is for everyone to forgive me... especially Natasha, I can only pray that she forgives me because I really need her forgiveness... I hurt her quite a lot and I know that I don't deserve her forgiveness, but I just pray she does forgive me" said Lia as she sniffed.
"You know how kind Natasha is princess... I am sure that she will forgive you eventually... but for now you need to give her some time to process everything... you cannot forget that her life was torture for several years because we all blamed her for what happened while in truth you... you were the one that caused what happened" said Cecil as Lia looked down and nodded, she knew that he was right.
"But do not worry princess, if you show her how sincere you are by respecting her wishes, you will be fine, who knows you might become friends again" said Cecil as he smiled and Lia smiled, that was a rather hopeful statement, and she truly hoped so.
"Thank you daddy, thank you for forgiving me, because I don't know what I would have done if you were still angry with me" said Lia as she sniffed and smiled as she held her father's hand and he smiled, rubbing away his tears with his free hand.
"Oh my princess, I can never be angry with you for long, I was dying on the inside, but I am glad that we are both okay now" said Cecil as he smiled and Lia nodded, but there was one more thing on Cecil's mind that bothered him.
"Now princess, there is something else that is worrying me... do you still feel lonely and inferior not just to Natasha or anyone else because I feel like you need to talk to someone, maybe a professional about how you feel" said Cecil with a concerned look on his face.
"No daddy, I'm fine now, I don't feel any of those things anymore... before I was just being childish... comparing myself to anyone would do me no good, it only made me feel worthless and angry and I assure you that I don't feel that way anymore, I promise" Lia as she smiled and Cecil smiled at her.
"I'm glad to hear that..." he said as his tone showed that he had more to say.
"And what about Dominic... do you still have feelings for him?" asked Cecil because if the answer to his question was yes, then their problems were far from solved.
"Daddy, I will be honest with you... I don't have feelings for Dom... not any longer, I promise you I don't... actually the truth is that I have a... boyfriend" said Lia as she spoke softly, this was not how she planned to introduce Pete to her father at all, but she had to work with the situation on ground.
"You do??" asked Cecil is shock as Lia nodded and felt embarrassed with the way her father reacted.
"Yes I do daddy, his name is Peter, and he's the guy you saw with me outside... actually we've been together for a long while now, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before daddy, I just wanted to be sure that it was absolutely serious before I tell you" said Lia as she looked at Cecil.
"And is it?" asked Cecil as Lia nodded.
"Yes daddy it is..." she replied.
"This Peter man... does he care about you?" asked Cecil.
"More than myself daddy, he loves me a lot, and I love him too, daddy you are going to like him I promise you, he's such a sweet caring man" said Lia as the way she spoke about Peter with so much confidence and trust in her eyes, that was enough indication to Cecil that their relationship truly was serious.
He had never seen his daughter speak so highly of a man like this besides Dom, so that was a good sign.
"If you say I will princess then I will definitely like him" said Cecil as he smiled and Lia smiled.
"You know what, ask Peter to join us for brunch" said Cecil as he smiled, he had been so distraught in the morning that he had not eaten anything and so had Alyssa, but she was currently preparing brunch for them this would be a good time to get to know Peter.
"Alright daddy... but are you sure that's a good idea? Mom... mom is still extremely upset with me..." said Lia sadly.
"Don't worry about that princess, your mother will come around, but for now, let's have brunch, the four of us" said Cecil as he smiled and Lia nodded, she felt much more confident now that her father was no longer upset with her.
...
"So how did it go?" asked Pete as Lia walked into the guest room and she rushed to hug him.
"Oh it went wonderfully Peter, you were right... my dad and I talked and everything is fine now, thank you" said Lia as she smiled.
"You don't have to thank me Lia, I didn't do anything, you were the one who decided to speak to him" said Pete as he smiled.
"You will never know just how much your support means to me" she said as she hugged him tightly and Pete smiled.
"Anyway my dad wants you to have brunch with us, he wants to meet you, what do you say?" asked Lia as she let go of him and smiled.
"I will be honoured to" said Pete honestly as he smiled and Lia smiled at him.