eighteen.

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present.

"SO...SO HE'S here?" Emily asked as she sat next to her grandparents. ever since she found out that she was indeed his daughter , she hasn't been the same. she cried the night away and her grandparents were always there to console her.

Emily was now seated in Mr Joseph King's office where she planned to meet her father for the first time. Joseph told them that Leo was there on Rosarío , planning to meet his daughter.

she didn't know much about when he was coming , but she knew that he will be there.

she was going to meet the person who she hadn't ever seen in her life , but was told that he was her father.

Emily put on some skinny jeans , a pair of nike sneakers and a brown hoodie.

her hair was neatly into a bun and she had put on some light make up , just like her mother taught her.

she was super nervous and scared to start this new chapter of her life with her father.

Emily now looked at Joseph who nodded his head. "he's downstairs , actually. are you ready to see him?" Joseph asked.

Emily didn't know the answer to that. how was she supposed to do this without her mother? why did her mother leave her to do this all on her own?

she glanced at Louise who gave her a smile and a quick nod and she then looked back at Joseph. "i...i'm ready" she said and cleared her throat.

Joseph smiled and nodded his head. he stood up from his chair behind his desk. "Mr Messi and his wife is downstairs , i will let them up in a minute" he said and walked out of the office.

Emily's throat went dry. his wife was also here. what will she say? how will she act? Louise seemed to notice her granddaughter's uneasiness and put a hand on her shoulder.

"it'll all be fine , hija. just trust me" she said and Emily hesitantly nodded her head. David handed her a bottle of water which she gratefully took . she took a huge gulp out of it , to wet her dry throat and put the bottle back on the desk.

the handle of the door started to turn and Emily grabbed her grandmother's hand.

inside walked Joseph , an older man , another man and a woman walked in. Joseph gave Emily a smile and the people all took a seat.

the man with the light blue shirt stared at her intensely and so did the woman. Emily diverted her eyes to her lap , suddenly nervous.

she kept thinking of her mother in that moment and tried to be a strong girl for her.

"Emily?" she heard Joseph's voice and Emily looked up. she glanced at the man who stared at her in shock and she herself noticed that they looked a lot like each other.

she took a deep breath and finally realised that the man was her father. he was the guy who she saw on magazines and painted against the brick wall in town.

she looked at the woman. the woman had olive brown skin and beautiful light brown hair. she was gorgeous.

she was probably his wife. Joseph cleared his throat. "Emily?" he asked again and Emily cleared her throat and let go of Louise's hand.

"y-yes?" she asked softly. Joseph then looked at the people in the room. "why don't we give them both space? to...let them process it and maybe talk?" Joseph asked.

everyone nodded their heads and Emily's grandparents , as well as the other man and the woman , left end exited the office one by one.

suddenly , there was two and the only people in the room were Emily and Leo.

Leo moved a chair in front of her ad sat on it , making her look up into his eyes. he looked like an older version of the person in the pitcures in the box.

"h-hi" he stuttered. he was nervous as well , probably more nervous than she was.

"hi" she said back. "i'm Lionel , but you can call me Leo" he said in one breath and she nodded her head. "I'm....Emily" she said.

he then smiled. "Emily. that was the name i picked" he said and she frowned as she looked at him. "what do you mean?" she asked.

"i pomised Vale that i'd name our future daughter Emily" he said and she softly smiled. the fact that he just said that, made her want to cry.

"you...you d-did?" she asked softly and he nodded his head. "mmh , i even wrote it on  paper in my old diary" he said.

Emily didn't know how to feel. "you look so much like me" he said as he stared at her. "i got that alot from my mom" she said with a smile.

It was silent for a couple of seconds before he spoke. "did...did Vale ever...talk to you...about me?" he asked. he was scared to even ask this question , but he just had to.

to his surprise , Emily nodded her head. "she did. once." she said. she saw his curious eyes and then continued. "on my eleventh birthday , she decided to tell me about you." Emily continued.

"she showed me pitures of you two on the beach" she continhed. "is that the picture where she had on that embarrasing mickey mouse towel around her?" he asked with humour in his voice.

Emily nodded. "and she almost fell off your back?" she asked and he nodded as they both laughed.

once their laughter died down , Leo spoke up again. "i miss her too" he said. "i didn't know she...passed" he said softly.

Emily felt tears threatening to come up. but she swallowed it and looked at her father. "i was a wreck when i found out." Emily spoke.

she saw Leo ran a hand across his face. "i'm so sorry , Emily" he said and she shook her head.  "it's okay. none of us knew she wouldn't get home after work" Emily said.

Leo nodded his head slowly. "is that...your wife?" Emily asked and Leo smiled and nodded his head.

"she's very excited to officially meet you" he said and Emily slightly frowned. "i thought....she hated me" she said and Leo frowned and moved closer to her.

"she doesn't. she was the one who told us to come straight away" he said and Emily genuinely looked surprised.

"don't worry , everything will be fine" he said and she hesitantly nodded her head  the door opened and everyone walked in and smiled once they saw Leo sitting close to her and them actually conversing.

Joseph smiled. "everything okay?" he asked and Leo nodded his head and he smiled and looked at his daughter.

"everything's perfect"

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