Santiago Flores is a single father to 18-month-old Isabella Garcia. He works day in and day out at a garage as a mechanic to make ends meet for his daughter. After being left traumatised and broken by his toxic and manipulative ex fiancée, Santiago...
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Santiago's POV
"Papa!" I startled awake at the sound of Isabella's cry. I quickly climbed out of bed and walked to her cot on the other side of our room, seeing her awake.
"Good morning, princesa. Papa's here." I said softly while reaching into the cot and scooping my daughter into my arms. While yawning, I turned to check my alarm clock, not surprised to see it was 7am.
18 entire months since Isabella has been born and I still haven't got used to the early mornings.
"Papa, milk." Isabella whined and I got up to make her a bottle. Luckily, I prepared a flask with hot water last night, and scooped formula into a container, ready to be used.
Isabella clung to my side and buried her face in my chest as I swirled the bottle around gently, careful to not shake the bottle and create bubbles.
After sitting back down, I cradled Isabella and brought the pink small bottle to her lips. She stared up at me with her big hazel brown eyes and I couldn't help but smile.
"I love you, Papa's princess." I whispered while moving a few soft curls out of her eyes. Today is going to be a long day, and my body is still aching from the car I was working on all day yesterday to fix.
It was a Porsche that got fucked up in an accident, and the owner was real douchey. He was insistent that we get it fixed in one day, and he couldn't wait any longer, so my boss charged him extra, but made me work all day to get it fixed.
After feeding and changing Isabella's diaper and clothes, I placed her on the floor to play while I got ready for work. I slipped my black work polo shirt, black cargos and black leather jacket over it.
A lot of black, I know, but as a mechanic it's not really ideal to wear any other colour. I think I've lost count of how many white t-shirts I've ruined at work because of oil spilling on them, and all sorts.
Lastly, I stepped in front of the mirror and sighed while fixing my hair. Dark circles were forming under my eyes which looked tired and slightly red from the lack of rest. My hair smelled nice and perfectly curly from the curl cream I put in, and I adjusted it once more before staring back at the lonely man in the mirror. Sigh.
Isabella was playing with her teddy bear when I leaned down, holding her coat.
"We're leaving for Tia Valentina's house now, princesa. Let's put your coat on." I said while carefully putting Isa's arms in her coat. She wriggled a lot, but didn't cry much which I was very thankful for, because she cried a hell of a lot when she was a newborn.
"Tia... Tia!" Isa said before clapping and giggling, making me smile and laugh too.
"That's right. Val loves looking after you." I mumbled while scooping Isa into my arms. Valentina Flores is my older sister who is 25 and has saved my ass multiple times.
She just finished college, and says she's sick of education and working, so she's not going to find a job until she's ready. This means she's at home most of the time, so she voluntarily looks after Isabella while I'm working.
Before leaving the house, I grabbed my keys, phone, Isa's essentials backpack and locked the door to our two bedroom apartment behind me.
My rather old but reliable black Honda Civic waited for me outside, and I placed Isa in her car seat before getting in the drivers seat. I put on my favourite radio station before zooming off to Valentina's house.
Her house was in the more busier side of New York, since she lived in Midtown Manhattan. It took an hour to drive there, which was absolute hell, but luckily Isa wakes me up early enough to get there early so I'll be on time for work.
"How's Papa's princesa?" I cooed while looking in the mirror to see Isabella looking out of the window at some cars in the traffic next to us.
"Car, papa." Isa smiled before clapping and I beamed before nodding.
"Si, princesa. That's a car." I said while pushing the accelerator due to the green light showing up.
After millions of red lights, me trying not to cuss in front of Isa, and dealing with tourists crossing in the middle of the road, we finally made it to Valentina's house where I dropped my daughter off.
"Bella! Mi hermosa sobrina!" Valentina squealed while taking the car seat from my hands. A smile spread across my face as I watched Isabella get excited while Valentina undid her buckle.
"I'm going to leave now, alright? Call me if anything's wrong. I'll come back to get her at 3pm." I said while checking my watch and Valentina nodded while rocking Isa in her arms.
"Okay, don't you worry your little curly head, hermano. Take it easy on yourself, hmm?" Valentina looked at me with soft green eyes full of concern. I rubbed my arm nervously while nodding.
One thing I didn't like was people worrying about me. I always had this trait of being independent my entire life, and I just... I don't know. I feel weird when people try to help me out or worry about me. Might be a childhood trauma thing.
"Alright, be good, mi princesa. Te amo." I pecked Isabella's cheek before leaving her in the care of my wonderful sister.
