Melanie Pov
A noisy ringing of my phone wakes me up from my intense sleep.
I whine silently cussing at whoever decided to annoy me this early.
I needed that sleep so quite much. Grabbing the phone from my bedside table, I answer it without checking who the caller is, and to my dismay is someone I didn't want to contact me.
Way to tarnish my lovely morning.
"What?" Rude, I know
"Melanie, it's your father" I roll my eyes at his intro. Of course, I knew that, am not silly. He's been blowing my phone like forever.
"How may I help you? 'Father' " I add sarcastically
"We need to talk, you have to hear me out" he pleads
"Am all ears, talk" I don't mean to be rude, am making an effort to be as polite as possible by talking to him.
"Can we maybe meet physically " hell no
"Am quite bus, I don't think it will be possible so this might be your only chance" I mutter
"Okay, I understand," he says sadly
As much as I sound unaffected, this shit hurt. I sigh tucking the detached strands of hair behind my ears. The man abandoned me and 18 years later he wanna talk? Am I that disposable?
You can do this mel, you've always been a tough girl.
"How may I help you" I attempt to sound strong. I don't want my voice breaking at this moment.
"Am sorry, I did what I did to keep you safe" he begins
"Protecting me from what," I ask curiously
"There is a lot you don't know, and I wanted to keep it that way but now I think you deserve to know" I remain quiet and he carries on.
"I met your mother when I was young and she was my human mate, she was everything to me and made me happy.
"A year later after meeting her she became pregnant with you. My parents had created enemies in their line of work and one night our pack was attacked".
" They killed my parents, my two brothers and a few pack members. Your mother was only 8 months pregnant when it transpired and unfortunately, they got to her too"
" We were able to save you and I went crazy. It was too much for me and I couldn't take care of you, am sorry. Marie and I are the only ones from my family who lived and she took you with her to hiding" he sighs
" Continue" I murmur.
My poor mother didn't even meet her child.
"I went crazy, my world turned upside down. To werewolves, the loss of a mate it's not something easy"
"I was lost for approximately a year, my pack was perishing because I was supposed to be their alpha. It took me a while to get back to my feet and when I did, I didn't know how to face you" he explains
" So it was easy to assume I never existed?" I ask him. It's a good thing he's not here to see my tears, am supposed to be strong and I will be damned if I let someone who abandoned me see me crying, he'll never see how much he crashed me.
"I didn't assume you don't exist, I have been watching over you all the time, since you were a little girl I have always been there," he says
This man must be fucking crazy.
"So you've always been watching me right? You watched every time I used to sit on that window staring at the gate, waiting for my dad to come for me"
"How I used to write letters to my unknown dad and draw images of you. You watched every time I begged your sister to tell me where you were and you saw her brush me off rudely"
"Heck, I even paid detectives to help me find you, yet you were watching at all that with no slight remorse?" I ask full blown crying, I don't even care anymore.
"You watched your sister mistreat me. You saw a 10-year-old work to pay for her tuition and miss her entire childhood.
You were watching while I cried myself to sleep and of course, you watched how lonely and how sad I was" I add irritatedly
"You watched me beg her to love me, pleading for her attention. I don't know what I could've done if my nanny wasn't around, that's the only parent I recognise"
"She gave me everything a little girl needed, and she's still here with me like always. So am sorry if I don't want anything from your sister or you, because sometimes we don't always get what we want. Life is just unfair like that" I murmur sadly
"I thought I was protecting you okay? Do you think it didn't hurt me to see all that? I have enemies everywhere and word got to them you survived, they've been trying to trace you and staying away is what I thought was best" he says frustration clear in his voice.
"You had the power to do anything but you did nothing, and now 18 years later you want me to recognise you?" does he think am stupid or something?
Am not that little girl waiting for her daddy anymore, am a woman now and a strong one at that.
"I was keeping you safe, people who murdered my family are still out theree and that's why you have those guards following you around" he clarifies
"That's not enough reason, you could have done something " I begin calming down " am sure you have a family now, yes?" I inquire
"Yeah," he confesses
Good.
"Are they in hiding too?"
"No, they're here with me"
Fuck, that hurt, why isn't he 'protecting' them too?
"See my point? you guys are together, they don't have to hide cause you got them, are you that displeased with me? I really must mean nothing to you" I cry out my heart aching.
I can't do this anymore. This shit hurt more than I thought. But I need this, I need the closure and to hear everything so I could move on.
"Forgive me please, I should have never heeded Marie. I fully sent her your funds but she still made you work, arguing she was teaching you to be independent, I should have known" he whispers defeatedly.
"Well it's too late for that now don't you think? You are 18 years too late. I learnt everything the hard way and I made peace with that" I sniffle wiping away the tears
"Am sorry honey, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, I yearned to see you but I was a coward. I shouldn't have let them control me " he mumbles.
"Yeah, your cowardice cost you the daughter you never had. When I needed you, you weren't there now I don't need you, am sorry" I wish he understands.
I dry my face calming down, I don't need a father now or anyone else, I wonder what my mum was like. Maybe she would have loved me, I just know that.
" How was she? my mother" I can't help but ask
He sighs before answering, " She was a lot of things just like you, tough, independent, she was adorable and loved everyone, kind, and always had a smile on her face, I disappointed her" he mumbles
That one he did, if he loved her, he could have at least made an effort for her sake. But he didn't even try, not for a second.
"She could have been proud of you, I know she's watching and I bet she's very proud of you" he continues
That made a slight smile stretch on my lips, she is proud of me.
That's enough hope, I don't need much.
"Do you have pictures?" I ask him
"Yeah, you should come to check them out someday.
Speaking of which, your guards are coming back. I can't risk anything especially now that everything is out."
I don't mind them following me around for whatever reasons, I have learnt to appreciate them. They're one of the few people in my life.
"Think about everything okay," he whispers again
"There's nothing to think about, am fine really. I just needed closure and my priorities have changed now, I hope you understand "I whisper
"Am sorry" he mumbles and the other end goes quiet
" Forgive me please" he murmurs sniffling. Is he crying? am not evil, am I? " I failed
Sarah, I couldn't protect her and I failed our daughter too" he exhales
My mum's name is Sarah. Cute.
"Bye, am gonna be late for school" I want this conversation to end before he guilt traps me with tears.
He remains silent just sniffling, hanging up on him will be rude.
"Okay I'll see around because am not giving up just yet," he says and after a while, he hung up.
I releases the breath I was holding, that was the longest phone call I have ever had.
Am adding one more tattoo, something to remind me of my mother, I have two so far.
What about her name or a star, they say when people die they become stars.
I should go with one special star. My mother.
I will feel better knowing she's always with me not just at night, but during the day too.
A message comes through my phone; " Want to know about the silver wolf in your dreams?
How did they know about that? my eyes lands on the portrait on my wall.
I look back at my phone and the number that sent the text is unknown. Worse, I can't text back or dial it.
Strange.