Hurts So Good

Chapter 1 | Protection

❄️ FARREN ❄️

"Farren baby!"

I rolled my eyes on hearing that familiar and annoying voice of my best friend calling from behind me as I walked towards my car in the basement parking area.

"Oh God, here he comes again." Nora let out an exasperated chuckle as we both paused and turned around to see the third person in our group.

"What is it, Zeke?"

His face was glowing and he looked super excited. "I can't believe it--"

"You have been saying this since noon." Nora cut him off. "We get it, you got promoted to the head of the department but you don't need to keep repeating it again and again."

Zeke's smile fell instantly and his lips formed an adorable pout. "Sometimes I wonder if you guys are my real friends or the fake ones."

"Okay..." Nora gave in first. She can't resist his puppy face. "What do you want?"

"Let's go clubbing!" He suggested.

Now I was interested and I grinned. "Clubbing? Why not? When are we--"

My sentence was cut short by the ringing of my phone. So I excused myself and picked up the call seeing it was mom calling me.

"Hey, mom." I greeted her.

"Farren." She sounded off. "Where are you?"

"I just got off from work. Why?"

"Your dad isn't well, you should come to visit him tonight."

"What happened to him?" With dad being the head of the Calathans he kept getting hurt frequently but that didn't mean I didn't care. I always did. But this time it sounded something serious.

I never wanted to work in that line for I was interested in software engineering and that's what I did meeting Nora and Zeke in college.

Mom sighed softly. "Just come home tonight, Farren."

"Okay..." I whispered.

"Take care." And before I could reply she hung up.

"Um...guys..." I called out to them over my shoulder.

"Don't tell me you are cancelling the plan," Zeke grumbled.

"I gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, Zeke. You guys go on without me, I have to go visit dad... he's not well..."

They both knew who's daughter I was and what my dad did for a living but over the years they got comfortable with it.

"Oh..." Nora spoke. "It's okay. You should visit him."

Zeke wanted to argue but one stern look from Nora shut him up completely.

"Thank you. I will see you guys later, bye."

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I was late for dinner. I should have reached there fifteen minutes ago as mom told me but what can I do if I get stuck in a traffic jam?

I let out a sigh of relief as I parked the car in front of the house and got out and walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

The door was opened a few seconds later by mom who frowned on seeing me. "We have been waiting for you."

"I know, I know..." I walked past her and went inside. "I'm sorry. Let's have dinner now, I'm hungry."

Mom shook her head slightly and gestured for me to follow her to the dining room. Gosh, I feel so tired and sleepy...