A Photographer's Viewpoint

Talk, Don't Run

I S A B E L L A

If someone had told me that I'd be sitting with the man I call 'dad'–who I haven't seen in eight years–on the hood of my car while munching on a burrito, I'd sent them to the nearest mental facility.

Yet here we are.

How fucking ironic.

"What brings you here?" I ask, breaking the awkward silence.

He didn't say anything for a good minute, almost as if he was trying to find the right words. The only thing I could do was wait and be patient.

"Believe it or not, but I came here to see you." He said, his voice somber as he fiddled with his fingers, "I was on my way to get you a gift but I saw you in the pet store."

"To see me..." I mutter to myself but my father hummed in reply.

"And why is that? After eight years no less."

"Isabella, you know what happened between Alice and I-"

"Whatever happened between the two of you has absolutely nothing to do with me, don't bring me into it." I interjected,"Eversince you and mom divorced, she started pressuring me under the pretense of wanting what was best for me." Turning to him, I asked, "So what really brings you here?"

I had a hunch that it was because of me and my mother's last outburst, our relationship was already deteriorating and at some point it will end up beyond repair. My mother, being the stubborn woman she is won't admit to her wrongdoings. And unfortunately that applies to me to me as well. I don't mind apologising, but, as the saying goes:

An apology goes both ways.

"She reached out to me because of you. I'm not sure what disagreement the two of you had but I want you to understand that I'm not here because of that." He admitted.

"Then? What is it?" I ask.

Apart from him not showing his face in eight years and the only way he kept in contact with me was through emails, I held nothing else against him. My parents' relationship was off to a good start, even after I was born they still looked like your everyday couple who was madly in love.

Where did it go wrong?

I have no idea.

Both of them assured me it had nothing to do with me. But, the time I moved out to pursue my dreams was the same time they had started having their disagreements. I was aware couples had feuds but it has always remained a mystery to me as to what exactly had triggered them to get a divorce.

I had no idea about this until I got home during break and my mother announced it to me like she was telling me about the weather. I remember standing there, staring at her with a number of questions going through my mind whilst she simply sat there without a care in a world, sipping on her tea as if the divorce hadn't bothered her in the first place.

Unfortunately, her acting poised that day was the start to absolute hell for me.

"I'll be moving back to Italy next year, I wanted to know if you're willing to come with me."

What?

Somehow, him telling me he was moving back to Italy was far more suprising than seeing him after eight years.