Chapter 142: Meeting August (2)

April

If someone had told me just this morning that I was going to see my dad today, I wouldn’t have believed them for a single second.

I had completely lost all hope that I was ever going to see his face again in this life. Ever since he pack up and was no longer living in Kanoe, I genuinely thought he would just remain a distant memory buried in my past forever.

I stood frozen right at the front door, staring up at the tall man with partly grey hair wearing black square glasses.

His eyes were the exact same shade as mine, a deep emerald green.

"Dad..."

That was the absolute first word that managed to come out of my dry mouth.

How many long years had it actually been since I last saw this man standing in front of me? Even back when we were still living in the exact same town, I barely ever saw his face around the neighborhood.

"April..." he said softly, his deep voice barely carrying across the porch.

He also had a clear look of pure surprise in his tired eyes.

He definitely wasn’t expecting to see me on his doorstep today, just as I wasn’t expecting to see him at all.

I stood there completely lost, not knowing what I should do next. Should I step forward and hug him?

But what if he outright refused my hug? What if he pushed me away, just like he did on that very day when I ran all the way to his house as a child, praying and hoping he would finally let me stay with him?

He didn’t take me in back then.

He had just quietly returned me right back to my mother, like I wasn’t even his real daughter.

Like I was just some random stranger who had lost their way on the street.

I seriously didn’t know what to do with my body right now.

"Daddy, is she really the one...?"

I slowly looked down at the little girl standing beside his leg. She was staring up at her father, desperately waiting for an explanation, while he still looked completely confused by my sudden arrival.

"April, what are you doing here?"

Those were the exact same words he had asked me years ago when I ran to his house crying.

I tried so hard to hold back my tears from falling down my face, but my eyes were burning.

"I’m sorry... I really don’t know what I’m doing here..."

I muttered under my breath, quickly looking down at the floor because I could already feel the hot tears dropping from my lashes.

I turned away from the porch, running past the Alpha who had brought me all the way here without informing me first.

The very second I entered the passenger side of the van and slammed the door shut, I couldn’t hold back my heavy tears any longer.

I heard the driver door open and Angel enter right beside me, but I kept my head down, crying into my palms.

"Hey, why did you run away like that?" Angel asked gently, reaching across the seat. "You finally get to meet your dad... You should be happy..."

"Why did you do it?" I sobbed out, pulling my hands away from my wet face.

There was absolutely nothing else inside my mind except intense anger, deep regret, and a whole mix of chaotic emotions I just couldn’t explain to her right now.

"You were crying so hard the other day because you missed your daddy," Angel reasoned softly, her crimson eyes searching mine. "And I really didn’t like the way you were crying back then. Don’t you actually want to meet him?"

"You should have told me first, Angel!" I yelled out, my voice cracking with pain. "I am not prepared for this at all... You did the exact same thing back then with Tessa and Charlie! I really don’t like this kind of unexpected confrontation!"

I fully understood in my heart what she was trying to do for me, but this was a massive emotional situation that I simply wasn’t ready to handle today.

That man clearly didn’t want me in his new life. If he actually cared about me, he wouldn’t have looked at me like a ghost and asked what I was doing standing in his house.

Suddenly, I heard the mechanical sound of the engine turning over as Angel grabbed the gear shift.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, wiping my wet cheeks....

"We’re leaving right now, April," Angel said firmly, putting her hand on the steering wheel. "I really don’t like the way you’re crying like this, and next time, I promise I’ll let you know way before doing something like this to you."

"Wait..."

I reached out and placed my hand directly over her hand on the gear shift.

"Just wait a second, please..."

Angel immediately turned off the engine and sat back in her seat, quietly waiting for my next instructions.

I was extremely unhappy about everything that was happening right now, but deep down, I also desperately wanted to see how this whole story would finally end.

I turned my head and looked back at the front porch of the house. I realized that he was still standing right there in the open doorway, holding his daughter by the hand, watching our vehicle with a pained expression.

I knew in my heart that I had been longing to meet him for so many painful years, and now that I had finally found his location, it was officially time for me to face him like an adult.

I pushed open the van door, stepped out onto the gravel drive, and headed straight back toward him.

I walked up the porch steps and looked him dead in the face.

"What am I doing here, huh?" I shouted, the tears spilling over my cheeks once more. "I am your daughter, and yet you have never, ever called me or checked up on how I was doing for all these years!"

"Big sister April!"

Before I could vent another bit of my built-up anger at him, the little girl suddenly moved forward and jumped straight onto me, wrapping her small arms tightly around my waist.