All Bets Are Off

Chapter 14

"For you," Dara said as she turned to look at Donghae. "Your father made it."

There was a tick on Donghae's jaw. "Throw it in the trash."

Dara walked over to him. "Your father made it for you and took the pains in bringing it to you. He said it's your favorite and will keep your brain healthy. Though I seriously doubt that. If you want to throw it, do it yourself."

Donghae just stood there with his brows knotted together, his chest slightly heaving but it only fueled Dara as the look on the old man's face is still in her mind. "You didn't even have the decency to talk to him. I guess letting him in your house would be a bit too much."

Donghae scoffed. "You only saw him for like, what? Five seconds and you think you know everything? Stay out of my fucking business."

"I don't want to be in your fuckin' business," Dara said. "All I know is that there's an old man out there, who happens to be your father, whom you shut your door on. And then you go around in your little home getting mad and thinking he hasn't been a father to you all these years so you wanted to punish him by not being a son to him. I guess that's how your logic works." Dara stopped because she felt like her voice would crack at the pressure of suddenly feeling emotional. She breathed in to get some calmness. "I don't know what happened between the two of you, and you're right, it isn't my business. I just wish I didn't see that." Knowing she's not making any sense, she turned on her heel and walked out the door and gulped in a lot of air when she reached the elevator. She doesn't know why but the sudden thought of her father made her feel like breaking down. Wishes and regrets resurfacing again and hitting her as hard as it had been the first time. She knew her and Donghae's father-issues aren't really the same but it made her remember what could've been.

If only she hadn't been so self absorbed, she could've found the time to talk to him and then maybe understand exactly what he was not saying. If only she had looked at him, really looked at him, she would realize something was wrong. Maybe she could've done something. Maybe there's a chance he would still be alive.

She hates it that Donghae doesn't even realize how lucky he is to have that chance she had wanted.

Neither of them contacted the other after that. Except the next morning when Donghae picked her up to drop her off to CSW, as per the deal, but they rode the entire way in silence. Neither of them spoke, neither of them even utter a single word. Dara asked herself why she even got on Donghae's car in the first place. She should've taken the bus but when she saw Donghae's car parked in front of the apartment that morning, her feet automatically went there before she remembered she was supposed to be mad at him.

Donghae wasn't speaking though. Just focused on his driving without even looking at Dara, just staring through the windshield as he drove thoughts running through his mind. Last night wasn't the first time his father visited him. He had caught sight of him last week, just standing outside the building of his unit and when he looked up, his eyes met his father's. He was shocked to see him after almost 20 years and he stood there rooted to the ground. A look of hesitation passed through her father's features before taking a step towards him. That movement woke him up and he turned his back to him and entered the building, sudden anger rearing up inside him. How dare his father suddenly appear after all these years? He had already made him dead after he had left him and his mother without any explanation. Without so much as a word. He suddenly up and left when he was just 9. Now he would suddenly appear thinking he could go back to the way they were? He wasn't a kid anymore to believe anything he says.