****
"Dad", Keila hesitates before calling out again.
"Mom".
The living room was quiet as if lifeless, which was the case. She dumped her purse on the couch and walked inside the house. She stopped at her Dad's bedroom door and knocked.
"Keila, come in", he said almost a whisper.
She entered and saw her dad sitting by the headboard and her mom's head cuddled on his laps. She managed to smile at him. Her mom was sleeping.
"How is she?".
"No much improvement", Alex said and his eyes dropped to affirm that statement.
"Sorry dad, she will come around soon, I hope. You're really doing your best and I feel there isn't more you can do asides this".
"Thanks daughter, I hope your mother comes around really. She doesn't deserve to stay this way. I miss her old self".
"I do too", Keila confessed. "I miss her being so happy and full of chatter. Even when I was a grown up, she had always loved to braid my hair for me, loved to go shopping with me when you were busy, she loved to bake cake with a new technique each time, and ask me, "baby, how is this flavor?".
By now, Keila has started to sob gently, emotional was an understatement for who she was.
Alex carefully placed Dawn's head on the pillow and walked over to her.
"Let's go out".
Keila had been mad at Dawn when she left, asides Lexy, she could tell her mom every damn thing that was up with her. But Dawn had left without explanations and without looking back. She hated her comeback in a sick condition.
"Dad, I would do anything for her to be well again. I want her back, Hale and hearty, I miss mom a lot".
"She will be fine".
"She doesn't look it, why can't we let her stay at the hospital?".
"Keila, you should understand this better. It isn't about the money I want to pay, I can comfortably afford that, but the medical term she is suffering from, is a very rare and difficult case. It is hard to combat and victims have a little life span to hold on to, currently, she has less than two years left. I sincerely hope she can escape this, but the chances are unsure. When doctors realize this, they don't put an effort in taking care of that patient, since they believe they would be gone soon. I don't want her to be abandoned there, I want to be able to look after her every remaining days she has to spend".
Keila knew her dad wanted to cry but was trying to be a man. He loved Dawn so much and his heart has been torn since she left. She missed every nuclear family moment they once had.
"I'm sorry dad, it will be fine one day".
"I always hope so but at times I'm not sure it will be".
"We just have to be positive in the face of negativities".
"Thanks Kei, I would have wanted us to walk walk around but if she wakes up, no one would be in there with her", he pointed to his room door.
"I understand. Seems we have a discussion pending".
"Yeah".
Alex sat down on a chair on the veranda and he instructed his daughter to sit also.
"Uh, I don't want you to be offended by what I have to tell you, because I never meant to disturb you about this. I wanted you to have your time and bring home the news but now I realize it needs urgency".
"Feels like I know where this is going", she muttered with a half smile.
"Keila you are twenty-seven already, if I haven't missed count. How is everything with that guy who travelled out of the country for his studies?. You don't seem to mention him anymore, neither do you look happy like you have been. I didn't want to ask but it needs to be checked now, I am disturbed and so is your mother".
Keila thought, "what does my mom know about him, she hasn't been here".
"Dad, we broke up".
"You guys broke up or your ended stuffs with him?".
"Either ways, we are not together anymore".
"I respect your decision but why do I feel something went wrong along the way?".
"Yeah it did. I just stopped loving him since we started facing some difficulties. It wasn't easy for me".
Alex took a deep breath and stared at his daughter for long.
"You don't do things anyhow in life. I don't know what could have made you stop loving him or what difficulties you guys came across, but I just want you to know every relationship has its own time of difficulty and it matters how well you're able to handle yourself. You don't expect everything to go smoothly without challenges. If not now, it will come later. Possibly look at your mother and I. It hasn't been easy too, but we are trusting God to make things better".
"We cant come back together dad, it's not possible. He is my past and I don't have any interest in him. We just weren't made for each other".
"You sound like one who can determine the people who are made for each other", Alex jested and laughed.
"It's not funny dad. If we were, things wouldn't have been so tough for me".
"So now have you met the person heaven joined you with".
"I started to like someone after him, but things went shitty, and...."
"Was it because of the person you started to like, you lost interest in that guy?. What is his name?".
"Hayden", she muttered.
"No!", after realizing her dad asked another question.
"It's all over your face, lost puppy".
"Daddd".
"So do you believe things can get better between you two?".
"If we are meant for each other, things will get better, but I don't think so. He has someone he likes".
"You still love this person which is why you believe things can still come to normal. You don't love Hayden anymore is the thing".
"Yeah I don't".
"You can't waste your time for this new guy".
"I'm not wasting my time, I'm just being careful".
"Careful my foot, I feel you've been careless with Hayden".
"Daddy, can we let his matter go?. I have moved on".
"You were always happy talking about him and you didn't mind waiting for him to come back. Maybe you couldn't cope with the distance and time anymore".
"I could, but he was cheating on me over there. Waiting would have been in vain".
"Do you have proof?".
"It doesn't matter, we are done".
"Well, he has just a year to come back, it's been over a year he has left now".
"I don't care".
"Anyhow you want. But please, very soon, you should have a fiancé".
"At the right time".
"That's the only thing your mother asks of you before she leaves, a grandchild".
"I hope you can do that for her Keila", he said after she didn't reply.
"She won't leave".
"You still don't have age on your side".
"Dad, I know", she half shouted in frustration.
"Make things right or i do so for you".
"What does that mean?".
"Just watch out, you have at most four months".
"But I can't make a guy like me. Or make him ready to marry me".
"You should have thought of that before you carelessly tossed Hayden to the winds".
"I didn't do that", she cried annoyingly.
"You're shouting, don't wake your mom".
"You have to listen to me dad. I need time".
"I don't need time to make this come true. Lots of billionaires won't mind my beautiful daughter", Alex replies with a smug smile.
"You won't marry me to your friends, will you?".
"They have sons", her dad chuckled and stood up.
"I won't succumb to your will in this", she replied determined.
"Let's wait and see who will give in first. Make things right Keila".
Having said that, she watched her dad go into the bedroom leaving her wonder who this man was once again. He gave her a look that said "I mean it".
Fuck!.
The toxic side of Alex😌
******
To be candid, I really don't know much about that illness which is why I avoided talking much about it, but I might make some edits after researches. I just know such illness exists😂.
Kaptaine Babbitt ❤️