Chapter 143: Meeting August (3)

Third Person

Everyone was sitting inside the living room together.

April’s father kindly offered cold beverages to the girls, but he still had absolutely no idea what to say to his first daughter after all these long, silent years.

The room wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but there was definitely a strange silence hanging in the air. Everyone seemed to understand that this was something between April and her father, so nobody wanted to interrupt them or make the situation even harder than it already was.

There were two little children currently running around the living room.

June January was sitting right beside Angel on the couch, curiously touching the dark tattoo drawings scattered across her arm.

Julie January, a chubby two-year-old toddler, was happily playing on the rainbow floor with her teddy bear. Coco and Percy happened to be sitting right there, calmly watching the small kids play.

"Is this really a real drawing on you?" June asked in total awe, her eyes wide as saucers. She repeatedly rubbed her small palm against Angel’s bare arm, trying hard to see if the dark ink would somehow come off on her skin.

"Yes, it’s a real one," Angel said softly, gently pulling her arm back. "Go over to your sister and play with her," Angel suggested, pointing her finger at the toddler playing on the floor.

Angel was honestly starting to get the strong impression that the kid was going to end up biting her if she stayed sitting there much longer.

June stared at Angel’s arm for another few seconds before looking toward her little sister. She seemed slightly disappointed about leaving the interesting tattoo behind, but she eventually climbed down from the couch and walked toward Julie.

Angel quietly watched her go before turning her attention back toward April.

Mr. January slowly sat down on a single cushion chair nearby, desperately trying to bring out a single proper word to say to April.

But every time he looked at her, the words seemed to disappear from his mind.

When he looked directly at the girl sitting across from him, seeing with his own eyes how much she had grown up since the last time he ever saw her as a child, Mr. January immediately stood up from his cushion chair and knelt down flat on the floor right in front of his first daughter.

April, who had been staring blankly down at the floor the whole entire time, slowly looked up at her father, completely stunned by his sudden actions.

For a moment, she simply stared at him.

The man in front of her was her father.

The same father she had spent years wishing would come back.

"I am so sorry, April," Mr. January said, his voice trembling heavily as tears welled up in his eyes. "I really, truly don’t know what to do or say right now. I have completely failed you as a father, and whatever I try to do today will never bring back all those years I missed out on in your life."

He looked down at his daughter’s feet, unable to hold her steady gaze any longer out of pure shame.

His hands were shaking slightly as they rested against his knees.

April folded her hands tightly together in her lap as she slowly opened her mouth to speak, her voice shaking with raw pain.

"Why?" she asked softly, the single word echoing in the quiet room.

Her eyes began filling with tears.

"Why did you return me to her that day when I ran to your house? I just wanted to stay with you, Dad. Not her..."

Mr. January squeezed his eyes shut as a fresh tear spilled down his cheek.

"I was so weak back then, April. I simply couldn’t fight her in court for your legal custody, and when I officially lost the case, there was absolutely nothing left for me to offer you as a broke man."

He slowly looked back at his daughter.

"Eleanor was taking good care of you and giving you all the things I could never give you myself. I only wanted you to have it all, even if it meant I couldn’t be there."

His voice became quieter.

"I thought I was doing the right thing."

April stared at him through her tears.

"I thought giving you a better life was more important than anything else."

April started sobbing out loud...

"I did not have you, Dad!" she cried out, her shoulders shaking violently with every breath. "The only thing you ever taught me in my whole life was how to ride a bike!"

Her voice cracked as she tried to continue.

"I wanted my dad to teach me other things as I grew up! When I was with you back then, I had so much more freedom than living in her house!"

She wiped her tears, but more immediately replaced them.

"I just wanted you, Dad! Even if you were in a really tight spot financially, I still wouldn’t have minded it at all!"

Mr. January’s lips trembled as he listened.

"I missed you so much that I cried every single night in my room, wishing you had never left me all alone with her!"

Those words seemed to hit him harder than anything else.

April lowered her head again, crying into her knees.

"I didn’t care about expensive things," she whispered. "I just wanted my dad."

Mr. January couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

He moved closer to her, but stopped for a moment as if he wasn’t sure whether she would allow him to touch her.

As both father and daughter continued crying together in the middle of the room, letting out all the built-up pain in their hearts, June stopped bugging her little sister, she slowly walked over toward them....

The little girl looked confused at first.

She had never seen her father crying like this before.

"My school teacher always says, ’Hug when you are sad,’" the little girl said in her sweet, high-pitched voice, looking back and forth between them.

"Daddy, hug my big sister right now and you will both feel much, much better..."

Mr. January looked at June through his tears.

April also looked at the little girl.

June didn’t seem to understand how complicated the situation was. To her, the answer was simple.

If someone was sad, you hugged them.

June reached out her small hands and grabbed her dad’s hand along with April’s hand, gently pulling them together until the two of them wrapped their arms tightly around each other in a full hug.

April froze for a second, she hadn’t expected it.

Then she finally wrapped both arms around her father.

As father and daughter hugged on the floor, holding onto each other like they would disappear, their heavy crying only grew louder inside the room.

Mr. January held his daughter tightly, his face buried against her hair.

"I’m sorry," he whispered again.

April squeezed him harder.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

Seeing them like this made June get emotional too.

She started crying loudly right along with them, burying her little face into her dad’s shirt.

"Daddy..."

Mr. January reached one arm toward June and pulled her into the hug as well.

Soon, the three of them were holding each other tightly in the middle of the living room.

Angel kept quietly watching the whole emotional family reunion from her spot on the couch.

She smiled softly at the touching scene playing out in front of her.

She knew there were still many things that couldn’t be fixed simply by one hug or one apology. The years April had spent without her father couldn’t suddenly return.

But at least today, April wasn’t carrying those feelings alone anymore.

Now, the heavy tears she saw streaming down April’s face were finally tears of pure joy and relief.

Her precious girlfriend had finally gotten the chance to see her dad again and get the closure she desperately needed.