Colorful Love

The Player

Rhidian's eyes widened. "You had a baby from someone else? It wasn't David's?"

"No, it wasn't. But it gets a lot worse than that," she said, looking at me sheepishly.

I knew that this was a family matter, and that I shouldn't be hearing this, so I chimed in, "Maybe I should leave. This is a family matter."

Mrs. Moore shook her head. "No, you need to be here. The reason that I was so surprised when I saw you the first time, Kya, was not because you were with Rhidian. It was because you are the spitting image of your father. The baby's father... Is your father, Kya."

I shook my head. She couldn't mean what I thought she meant. Rhidian looked shocked, too, but gave me a side hug, supporting me. My father had always been my hero. He was strong, loyal, and brave, but he had cheated on my mom, and not even told her.

"Let me start from the beginning.

Back in high school, I had a crush on Bridger Greene, as did most of the other girls in the school. He was the bad boy, and he was handsome. He dated a lot of different girls, each one thinking she would be the one to take him.

Before he met Annie, your mom, he started showing a bit of interest in me. We flirted and talked, and I fell completely head over heels for him. He was charming and suave. We touched, and everything stayed exactly the same.

But one day, we were just flirting and he kissed me. Everything changed, and I saw color in my life. It was so beautiful, but he didn't see anything."

I looked over at Rhidian at that one, and saw he was staring right back at me.

"I told him, and he chickened out. He didn't want to believe me, so we broke up from our almost relationship. He started showing interest in your mom, and you know how the rest of that story goes. Now, I keep my furniture black and white, because even though color fades after a while, you can still see a hint of it. That hint has haunted me for years."

"So how did the kid come along? Isn't the kid supposed to be younger than us?" I asked, gesturing to Rhidian and I.

"Well, years later, after a hard day at work, I went to the bar. Bridger was there, and I realized he was a little tipsy. We reconnected, and then let's just say that I did things I m not proud of. I fell in love all over again, and saw color in full vividness for an entire night.

Weeks later, I found that I was pregnant. I went to his house and told him first. He freaked out, saying he didn't want it, couldn't afford it, and that no one could know that it was his. He said he would try to help out with the money, but that he couldn't care for
it less.

I couldn't handle that. I told him that I didn't need his money, and I left. He knew I was rich, and that I didn't need his money; I only wanted his support.

Next, I went to David. I told him that I was pregnant. He knew immediately that it wasn't his child, and he was furious, not because he loved me, but because of the bad reputation that this would give us. I refused to tell him who the father was, and I refused to get the baby aborted.

I hid from the public, having the baby in secret. I named him Owen, before I gave him to an orphanage, along with an extremely generous check. I never saw him again."

"We want to reconnect with Owen. Do you know where he is?" I asked Scarlett.

She nodded, starting to write on a piece of paper. "Here's the address. Say hello to him for me. And tell him that I'm sorry."

Then, we set off for the orphanage, and Scarlett resumed making her sandwich shakily, trying not to remember the pain that always surfaced whenever she remembered old memories.