Lifetime

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My dad was on his feet in an instant, kicking down the footrest that elevated his legs and opening his arms so wide that Julia reproached him.

"Careful with your line." She adjusted the tubing so that it ran down his forearm, moving on to the man who was seated next to him.

It was refreshing that the first thing I heard was his laughter and the first thing I felt was that same strength of his hug as I let myself be wrapped in his arms. We didn't stop hugging until we realized that Julia was waiting to check his vitals. She was handy with a tissue that she offered for the tears that pooled at the corners of my eyes, letting me sink into the recliner next to my dad instead of the barely cushioned seats most guests used on rows that were filled.

She worked at such as quick pace that I hardly caught her leaving until the squeak of the curtain being closed sounded behind my dad's introduction of Seokjin.

We leaned forward to see each other past my dad who seemed oblivious to the fact that we were positioned in a perfect line, having to peer over his beer belly to properly greet one another.

Seokjin picked up on the observation too, a smile that told me he was holding back a laugh spreading across his lips. "It's good to finally meet you. He talks about you all the time." He nudged my dad with his elbow, both of them chuckling like they shared some inside joke about me.

"Well seeing as he seems to be feeling okay, I'm giving myself permission to take a minute to address that I've heard nothing about you or any of this." I turned to my dad, his eyes filled with guilt. "We don't keep secrets from each other." I could have gone on, told him that I was hurt and fighting against the slew of questions I wanted to ask about the months of not knowing.

I watched with my periphreal vision as Seokjin leaned back in his seat, pulling the book of word puzzles that sat on the small table in front of him so that it covered the lower half of his face. My dad looked down for a second before gathering the will to meet my eye again.

"Sellie, I didn't want to burden you with this. You have such a beautiful life in Italy." His tone was soft but my minute wasn't up.

"Had. I had such a beautiful life in Italy." It wasn't fair for me to speak so harshly, but it also wasn't fair that I'd been robbed of time when he needed me, when we would have needed each other. "That's over now and while I'm upset that it is, I'll deal with that because I know I'm where I need to be. Still, you made a big decision about my life without me."

By the time his reply came my time was up. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

I leaned forward to kiss his cheek, giving his hand a sqeeze before I sat back. "I'm glad that I'm here now. I love you." I lowered my voice, keeping my hand in his to wait out the rest of the appointment.

With the fresh emotion of my arrival, Seokjin and my dad refrained from what I'd discover was their usual banter of jokes and story telling for the day. I was unaware that the dynamic had changed until Julia reappeared, apparently earlier than her routine check-in.

"Are we good back here? You know I start to worry when I don't hear you two for so long." She peered around the curtain after an hour that I'd been pretending to watch the gory apocalypse movie that played.

"I told him over and over again, Seline will be mad when she gets here. Now we're sitting in silence because he got scolded for not telling her." Seokjin tsked.

I released a long breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "I'm not mad anymore." With that statement and breath I let the anger drift from my body, another emotion right behind it that I didn't want to show. I stood quickly, too quickly, rushing to pull my phone from my pocket. "I need to make a phone call." I muttered, Julia barely pulling back the curtain fast enough to give space for me to step through, out of the center and to the corridor of stairs next to the elevator.