No Reason But Us

Chapter 26 : Collapsed Balcony

It was late, and Oddey was sleeping in one of the rooms in the suite. All of a sudden, she woke up and heard the sound of a piano. She got up from the bed, put on a nightrobe, and then went out the door.

At first, she wondered where the sound was coming from and figured that it came from downstairs. The girl looked through the banister, she saw her father by the piano placing one elbow on the keys as his head leaned on his hand while others were just pressing some notes but not so much playing anything in particular.

Oddey came down to check on him. "Hey, Dad. What are you... playing?"

Leon stopped pressing the keys, then put his head up and gave this blank stare to his daughter with a crooked smile on his face, "hi, Mochie pie," he said by slurring.

"Dad, are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I am. I'm sorry, I just had too much to drink."

"It's okay, Dad." The concerned daughter could sense that her father had something troubling him.

"I finally showed my face to them, and it was the most satisfying thing I have ever seen."

"I bet."

"Adrian completely freaked out that he confronted me in the parking lot."

"Did you get hurt?"

"Nope, I didn't. But the pain in my heart... after seeing them again, it brings back that very day when I saw them in bed together with my ex-wife." Leon rubbed his head. "And from there, I had to see that they have a son, the product of their affair."

Oddey gulped and just kept quiet. "That's awful."

"Definitely, but you know what," he added with light in his eyes and a genuine smile. "No matter what happens in my life because of that asshole, I am lucky to have you."

"You too," she said to him, then went to him and embraced Leon. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you, too, Mochie pie."

Oddey felt guilty that she was starting to get teary-eyed seeing her father depressed and felt like she too betrayed him by being with Gage. Eva appeared, and she saw the young girl comforting Leon.

----

The next morning, a late morning, Eva just finished her breakfast and was reading a magazine by the counter of the suite with some of the leftovers for her boss. Eventually, Leon was up as he came down the stairs with this hungover feeling. "Morning," he moaned, then sat down with her.

"Morning, you looked better," she joked.

"Oooh, my head." The man sat down with her and held his forehead since it was spinning.

"Do not fret, I ordered you hangover juice." Eva took it from the serving tray and placed it in front of him. Afterward, she helped him by filling his plate with scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and a couple of toasts.

"Thank you." Before Leon was about to take a sip, he realized something. "Where's my daughter? Is she still asleep?"

"Oh, I was going to tell you that she had to go to CarmU."

"What? Why?"

"There's an emergency. The set she designed for the theatre club collapsed, so she had to return to school about an hour ago to help fix it."

"I see. I feel so terrible that she had to see me drunk last night," the man sighed, feeling embarrassed about it.

"Don't worry, she understands."

"Still, I don't want her to see me like that."

"You saw Adrian and your ex-wife last night. It must've been overwhelming after all these years," Eva said.