What I Wish You Knew | ꪜ

Chapter Fifty Four

To dad,

54. I wish you knew I loved you.

Hayley's POV

If I knew it would feel this good after opening up to Doctor Maxine about what happened between my father and I then I would have done it sooner. I can't blame myself, I was never prepared and it isn't as easy as saying just go do it! It took me three years to get to this point and I'm damn proud of myself.

I had been holding on to the guilt of my father's death and mother's departure for far too long. No, it was not easy to sit there and pour my heart out. But my mother gave me the push that I had been in desperate search of for all these years.

And I finally did it.

I confronted my demons.

"Happy birthday, Hayles." I pivoted on my heels to face the direction in which he spoke and found my brother standing on the threshold of the door as he gripped a white envelope in his hand tightly. "I thought you were working today." I hadn't made an effort to plan anything for my birthday this year seeing as there was so much going on.

I'm not big on birthday celebrations because for the past few years it's only been Drayton, Landon, Jenna and I and I've been pretty content with that. "C'mon, it's your birthday. Why would I be working today?"

"So where were you all morning?"

He sauntered into my room, "you'll find out soon enough. Firstly, you need to open your gift." He placed the envelope into my hand and motioned for me to tear it open. With a smile, I ripped it apart and dove my hands inside.

"I know I promised to take you back to Korea this year but with everything that's been happening lately, it kind of slipped my mind. So. . ." I peered down at the plane tickets sitting in my hand, "I bought this for next summer. But we're not only going for vacation."

I peered up, "we're going to meet our family."

"Huh?"

Drayton chuckled, "I uh tasked Jingyi to do something for me. I don't know how he did it but he found our family. The reason why we failed to find anyone when we went to Korea is because our grandparents are unfortunately dead and mom's brother moved out of Daegu. He now lives in Busan with his wife and kids.

Hayles, we have cousins! We have an uncle who has kids and a wife and we're gonna go visit them! I spoke to him and he wants to meet us. . .apparently we met when I was a kid but after mom left she never stayed in contact with him."

"We have an uncle and he–he wants to meet us?"

Drayton nodded his head vigorously, "yes! Are you happy? Please say you're happy!" Without responding, I jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. I've always longed to know of my extended family. Both my parents saw fit to keep their past lives separated from this one so we never got to know about them.

But standing here today and learning that I had cousins out there who I've never met and an uncle? I couldn't be happier. "Thank you, Dray. This is the best gift I could ever ask for." He pulled away from my arms and smiled before reaching up and ruffling my hair. "Don't sweat it, plus, it's not the only gift I have for you. So get ready and meet me downstairs."