Saving Mona

Chapter 28 🧔

He waved my concern in dismissal. "Nonsense. Our dishes can't fill us up that much. Besides, it's complimentary. It would be rude to refuse such a wonderful gift." He said like his words had made enough points to end the argument.

I shook my head with a hint of a smile. He could be really silly at times. Not too long later, our meals were brought. I savored the taste of my meal and with each bite, I resisted the urge to moan out loud. I instead, settled for a content sigh. A stunning restaurant that served delectable dishes? Heaven!

We were done with our meals and enjoying the overpriced wine and snacks when I saw it. 

In a table across ours sat a beautiful woman and a man. The black-haired woman was dressed in a low-cut shimmering backless emerald green gown that accentuated her breasts. She was beautiful but from the way she moved, her breasts were her most valued assets. She used every opportunity to rub the large rounded flesh on the man's body. But that was not what caught my attention, well it was but it was secondary.

The man with her looked oddly familiar. Sleek styled brown hair and broad shoulders that wore the suit like he owned the world. A voice that sounded smooth like silk rubbing against your hand and laughter that sounded like smooth jazz. Correction, I knew that man.

I stood up without any preamble and moved towards their direction. I faintly registered Dwayne's surprised protest as I took one step at a time. The emotions running through me were conflicting. One side wanted him to not be who I thought it was, for it to all be a mistake. But the other side wanted it to be him, to give me an excuse to lash out years of repressed pain and anger.

Heavily endowed lemon face noticed me first, her jade eyes looking at me in confusion and finally widening in recognition. That was the answer I needed.

"Father?"

I watched as his shoulders tensed and he turned to face me. Suddenly everything seemed to be in slow motion; my surprised gasp, the strange woman trying to escape, and father's stoic expression.

We didn't say anything, just stared at each other. Even when lemon face stood up from her chair and ran out of the restaurant, no words passed between us. 

"Why? How could you?; How could you do this to mother? To us?"

We were attracting more than curious glances now. They were additional lasting eyes and pointed fingers. Dwayne was understanding enough to not have followed me. He must have recognized the hostile air between me and my father.

My question left unanswered, father rose up slowly from his chair, like a lazy cat, and looked around. His fingers adjusted the buttons on his suit as he pierced me with his dull brown eyes.

They were staring at me without betraying any emotion. Distant memories of me hoping to see an emotion towards me other than stark recognition when I was younger resurfaced. I had wanted to be acknowledged as his daughter who deserved his fatherly love and attention, not blank looks.

"Daughter." He nodded coolly and then, I became furious.

"Daughter? Daughter?!! Do you even know my name?" my voice was getting louder and heavier with each word. I glared at the man standing in front of me. The stranger I called father and laughed harshly.

"You don't, do you?"

"You're being overdramatic. Come, let's talk somewhere else." His eyes roamed around the restaurant with a guarded look on his face.

"Lia," he warned when I didn't bulge. 

Lia? Did this man even know me? Of course not! The time that could have been used to learn about his daughter was wasted planning lavish dates for his whores. I bet he didn't even know about Dwayne.