The Perfect She |Completed|

36. It Is Your Father's Business If He Cares

Posted August 11, 2020

For The Wattys 2020

I tried to find out, at dinner with Nora and my dad, if Ken was my threat texter.

Ken will be sending threats texts messages surprisingly around the time I would receive the ugly words around the dinner table. They looked exactly like something he would say. It was his way of talking. It made it unsettling because was he the enemy, or Blake? Or were they both?

it felt like he was the texter. Whether he was or not would always be a mystery. He defended his name, but wont anybody do so in such a situation? You can't afford to be unmasked if you're doing such horrific things to your daughter.

I will admit though that it didn't feel like how Ken would act towards his prey if he was the enemy.

Ken was smart. Would he really be texting me threats at a dinner table I was at, and where I could see him?...i didn't dismiss the theory that he it could be him. People surprise you all the time. You should never cross off a possibility before playing with it a bit and experimenting a little.

Since I didn't have a lot of time to run professional investigation, I decided to test him the the Autumn Air way.

Nora was wearing a gorgeous long-sleeved red dress, and Ken was wearing a black tuxedo. I felt like the only one dressed down with my cardigan and jeans. But I didn't want to dress like I was walking the runaway. I didn't even want to be there in the first place. I just felt obligated to do because Nora had been nothing but nice to me. For that occasion only, I said yes.i was glad I did after.

My phone buzzed on my lap. I looked.

there's stubborn people.

Then there's you.

More than stubborn.

More than blind.

You can't see a sign,

Or take no as an answer.

You love yourself more than anything,

You are selfish.

I saw the three loading dots that meant he was still typing. Then exactly when father lifted his head up and focused back his attention on the people at the table, they disappeared.

"it's a lovely night, right Autumn?" Nora said.

I nodded, then looked at my dad again.

She looked at him, too. "Right, Kenny?" she said.

Kenny? It looked like a doll's name. what a horrifying name. I'd probably die if I was called Ken and someone called me Kenny in public.

"Of course." he said, looking at the sky. "you have chosen the perfect restaurant. What's better than a dinner under the stars?" he looked at her like he was waiting for an answer.

I decided to answer. "Yeah, what could be better?" I was trying to keep his attention, to see if when it took his phone that i really receive text threat.

We were waiting on our order. In the meantime, I tried to keep the conversation going but Ken was not making it easy. He kept looking at his surroundings like he was expecting someone to pop out of some table with a gun. I needed the enemy to text me while he was not on his phone.

He didn't anseer me. He went back to looking at his phone, completely ignoring me. I tried again. "Father, do you think the sautéed vegetables with chicken will be good? Ever tried them?"