AAHARA

OFFENDED.

"Dad." I called when I knocked on his door, the first place I went to after having dinner was his office, I needed to know what he had in his mind. There was very little chance that he didn't know about Di's relationship, what was in his mind?

"Come in." I heard his voice and went in, Dada and Dad both were there. Bad luck.

"Something wrong Princess?" Dada asked and I shook my head, Dad raised a bow and I sighed.

"I wanted to talk to you alone." I said while looking at Dad, he leaned back in his chair while Dada's expression shifted to a more colder one. He got offended. Great.

"Sure." Dad said and Dada didn't need to be told twice, he got up and left without spearing me another glace.

I took a seat and looked at Dad, I had prepared nothing, absolutely nothing and when you have one of scariest person in your life looking at you, waiting for you to speak, your tongue decides to stop cooperating with you. I am dead.

"Kiddo?" His voice pulled me out of my trance, he had a small smile on his face when I looked at him.

"Dad was right." He said and I titled my head, what did Naana tell him?

"You are scared of me." He said and my eyes widened, Naana!!!!! You are a traitor! I gulped and looked down at my hands in my lap, thinking of ways to bury myself!

"Come here." Dad said and I slowly got up and rounded the table, standing beside his chair, he pushed the chair back. He took a hold of my hand, gently pulling me on his lap then he wrapped his hand around my waist, the gesture seemed too soft for someone like my Father, his touch that I thought would be uncomfortable wasn't, it was homey, it was safe.

"Out of everybody in this world, you never have to be scared of me. Dad will never hurt his life." He said and I looked up at him, he wasn't smiling like before but his words were enough, I broke into a huge grin. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I mumbled a small 'Thank you!'

While hugging him, another bitter memory decided to resurface.

"No!" I screamed as the puppy whimpered, as he was kicked by my classmates. They stopped and turned around to look at me, I ran to the puppy and picked him up.

"Hey! We got him first! He's ours!" He said and I glared at him.

"You definitely saw him first but now he is mine!" I said and the boy scoffed.

"Really? I will call my Dad!" He said and ran away, his friends followed. We were neighbours as well and the boy decided that he and his friends could beat up a small puppy.

His parents were in their garden, but they had their back turned to me. Once the boy reached them, he tugged on his father's pants and told him the whole story. The man got up and turned my way clearly angry but the moment his eyes spotted me his anger vanished, being replaced with fright. He picked his son up and went home, all the others following.

I knew the reason for his fright, my parents. My identity was hidden for most part but some people still ended up knowing and those who knew were either too bad to me or too scared to even look my way. It wasn't the first time and it wasn't going to be the last, I thought of thinking about the bright side as I made my way home, how Dad and Mumma protected me even when they weren't around.

But I couldn't, they weren't here and the fact that they weren't was the worst, I wanted to be like that boy. Run to my Dad the moment something bad happened, find peace in his arms, safety and the never ending love, but it wasn't possible. It wasn't....

"Kiddo?" Dad called and I pulled away, he frowned, raising his hand, wiping away a lone teat that managed to escape my eye.

"What's wrong Aahara?" He asked and I shook my head, smiling bitterly.