Payback

Chapter 27: The Real Revenge

"True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive." -Mignon McLaughlin

I'm making a decision today, Brielle. For all of this to be over, I have to do it. I hope you forgive me when I'm done. -Xander

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"What are we doing here?" I asked Dad when he parked his car outside the arcade we always went to when I was little.

"5:30." He looked at his watch. "I'm sure your mom wouldn't mind." He smiled.

I furrowed my eyebrows, getting confused. "Are we going to play?" I asked and he nodded as a response. "On a school night?" I confirmed.

He laughed. "It's called unwinding, Marina," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You sure know a lot about unwinding, Dad," I teased, referring to his lifestyle back when he was in high school. Mom told us about it all the time.

He smirked. "Your ol' man knows how to enjoy, Ariel. Unlike your mother who enjoyed studying all the time." He shuddered from the thought.

I laughed. "When Mom hears this, you're going to be in trouble."

He shrugged. "It's not my fault she fell in love with her polar opposite."

"I can't believe it does happen in real life. The golden girl falling for the troublemaker. Are you in some kind of a book or movie?" I said and Dad laughed.

"Well, sometimes you find comfort in the most unexpected people. You cannot choose who your heart beats for. Sometimes, the one you can't stand can also be the person whom you want to spend the rest of your life with," Dad narrated.

I smiled. He and Mom had a beautiful love story. It was simple but sweet. Their story was like a flower, it slowly bloomed into something so magical. It focused on both of them, how they grew and strengthened their love, no other person in the picture.

"You're a golden girl yourself and you fought for the right to be with a troublemaker as well," he said and I was taken aback. I was reminded of Sandra and Xander.

Like every story, there always has to be some kind of struggle in the way. This was the bump on the road in Mom and Dad's story. Sandra Planes wasn't supposed to be in the picture. No one figured out that she still had some lost pages.

"And that is the thing I regret the most," I told him. "Let's go," I said before getting out of the car and walking into the arcade.

The first game we played was the racing game. I always lost to Dad because he knows how to drive which is unfair.

We also did the dancing machine which was a huge challenge for him because as he said "he's not getting any younger".

I challenged him to get a prize from the claw machine. Both of us ended up failing because that machine is impossible. We did a few more games before I sat on one of the benches and Dad went to the counter to order a hotdog and some fries. I fidgeted with my bracelet while waiting.

"Here," Dad said as he approached me. He handed me my cheesy bacon fries and coke float.

I smiled before taking it from him and starting to eat. I was in the middle of enjoying my fries when I noticed him glancing at my bracelet.

He cleared his throat. "How are you?" he asked.

I raised my wrist with the bracelet I made when I was trying to stop harming myself. Doc Matt recommended it to me before. He told me to make a bracelet and add a butterfly charm for every week that I did not harm myself. They called it 'The Butterfly Project'.  I stopped wearing it and stuck to my diary entries when I fully had self-control but I had the urge to cut again so I wore it to remind myself not to go back.