MY LITTLE PRINCESS

WELCOME HOME

Feeling her stomach growling, Loralei slowly opened her eyes. It was dark around her with nothing, not in the slightest bit, absolutely nothing were lighted.

This sight is not a stranger to her. She grew up in a dark and cold place with her mother. The hunger and darkness were the usual occurence to her. She became used to it.

Tears started to flow and her sobbing became louder and louder.

"I don't want this.... I don't ... want to live like ... this again..... I want to go home... I want papa... I want to see papa..." Loralei voiced out in between her sobs and harshly wipes her tears away.

Her sudden movement actually woke Albert but he just stared at her, afraid that he'll spook the kid if he speak immediately. But upon hearing her sobs and the words that she wanted to come home, he cannot help but also tear up.

"Loralei..." Albert said in a low voice as he opened the lamp on the bedside table.

The kid looked at him agape. She stopped crying and reached out her hands to him but retracted them again and holding herself to actually touch him. Seeing her action, Albert cannot help but question her.

"What's the matter, Loralei? Papa is here." He said as he awaited the usual hug he receives.

"If .... if I touch you, you might disappear and I will wake up from this dream. I don't want that! I want to see papa longer... I will not touch you and I will stay in this dream!"

Albert felt a squeeze in his chest as his eyes started to accumulate tears.

Just how much hardship did she receive to actually choose to sleep and live in a dream than to actually take action? Albert questioned himself as tearsdrops fell from his eyes. Wiping his tears away as he sniff, he stretched out his hands towards his daughter.

"Don't worry. I will not disappear. Come here, my little princess." Even after wiping them away, his tearducts are in active duty that time.

She hesitantly move towards him.

Slowly.

Slowly.

She slowly shifted her body and crawl toward his father.

But when she was just inch away from him, she stayed still. Still hesitating about touching her father.

Seeing her hesitation, Albert himself made the move. This time, it was his turn to hug her first.

The warmth she is feeling at that time from the embrace, the strength of her father's arms and the beating sound coming from his chest. It is all real.

Loralei began to cry again in the arms of her papa.

"I'm ... I'm finally home. I'm home papa!"

"Yes. Yes. You've done your very best. Welcome home, Loralei, my daughter. Welcome home." He caressed her curly blond hair as he embrased her tightly.

"I don't want to be with mama. I'm scared of her. I don't want her." She looked up at her father and begs him in the midst of tears.

"Don't worry you will not see her again. Actually I have something to tell you." He released her from the embrace and looked at her lovingly.

"She is not your mother. She is someone we don't know. Your mother is a very kind woman and her smile is just like yours." Albert touched her cheeks and wipes her tears away with his thumb as he remember Anne's smile when they were in college.

"Really? Mary is not Lory's mama?" Her round eyes showed much curiousity about her real mother.

"What is her name? What do she look like?" With excitement in her, even with not the correct usage of words, she squeezed herself to her father's body as she awaits this answer.

"Her name is Anne. Annita Salve. That should've been Annita Salve Oldenburg. You know what? You look just like your mother, except for your blue eyes that looks just like mine. She also have blond curly hair too - a messy curly hair at that. And she have a smile like yours which is like a bright sun. If you look at the mirror, you can actually see her." With her in one of his arms, Albert rang the bell to call for Sebastian.

"I see that the little miss is doing well. How may I be of help?"

"Prepare some food for the both of us. We'll eat here at my room." He ordered as he comb Lory's hair with his fingers.

"Right away." Sebastian bowed but before he exits the room ...

"Welcome home Miss Loralei." The kid smiled at him and nodded.

"Thank you, Grandpa Sebastian." Both men were astonished at her words. Albert looked at Sebastian and nodded. The latter one smiled as he is allowed to accept the title given by the little miss. And with his steps light as it can be and his chest filled up with joy, Sebastian unconsciously made the chefs prepare a grandiose feast for the father and daughter duo.

"Papa. Do you have a picture of her?" Continuing their conversation, little Lory leans on her father.

"Hmm... do I have pictures of her? Of course I do. I got a lot of them on my drive. And not just pictures, I even have some videos of her singing and making funny faces." Albert lifted her up and placed her on the side as he stood up from the bed to fetch for his laptop. He opened the protected files all related to Anne and showed them to their cute daughter who is now full of smiles even with puffy eyes.

"Hmmm.. actually, I changed my mind." Lory's jaw dropped when Albert suddenly closed the laptop.

"Papa? Why?"

"We better clean you first and then we will eat our very late dinner and then sleep. I promise to show them all to you tomorrow on the big screen. What do you say? I will even skip work to spend the whole day with you."

Loralei continue to nod and can't help but be more excited for the plan her papa set for tomorrow.

Sebastian knocked and entered the master's bedroom with three food trolleys full of appetizing meals. Upon seeing the feast, Loralei's stomach growled in response which made both Albert, Sebastian, Lucy and another maid who brought the food to chuckle.

After their late dinner, Lucy helped the young girl for warm bath before heading to bed again.

"Goodnight papa. I love you." Loralei's eyes flutters as she once again enters slumber. Albert brush her hair as he watch the kid beside him sleep.

"I love you too my treasure." Albert utter those words as he kissed her forehead and doze with her in his arms.