guilty love » joel miller AU ✔️

chapter thirty-two: february

Sorry, the chapter took a little longer...

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Ana gathered all her courage and then knocked on the door. She actually wanted to avoid this, but she didn't know any other way out at the moment. And it only took a couple of seconds for the door to open.

"Hi Dad," she murmured quietly.

"Ana?" her father asked confused.

He rubbed his eyes briefly and she could see how tired he was, after all it was only 3am.

"Can I maybe stay at yours for some time?"

"Of course, come in" he immediately replied and opened the door wider.

He took the suitcase from her and locked the door again after she was in his house.

"Thank you"

"No need to thank me. What happened? Why did you leave the Millers?" he asked confused, and a bit worried.

"I.. I don't wanna talk about it right now, Dad. It's a long story"

Her father nodded, "Okay. But I don't a lot of space here. There is only one bedroom, but you can sleep there and I'll take the sofa"

"No, I'll sleep on the sofa, don't worry about it, Dad" she replied with a weak smile, because she didn't want to bother her father.

"Ana come on, just take the bed" he told her with a small smile.

She sighed, "I'm not tired yet. I'll stay in the living room, okay?"

Her father nodded, "Okay, you want me to stay? Or would you rather be alone?"

"It's okay Dad, you have work tomorrow and it's already 3am"

"I can take the day off"

"Really?"

"Of course, I don't want you to be on your own"

"Thank you so much" Ana whispered and hugged him.

And so they were sitting on the sofa at four in the morning, watching a movie together. Ana had a bar of chocolate in her hand, that her father had brought from the kitchen earlier, and was trying her best not to cry. She didn't want to cry in front of her father.

And she didn't want to think about Joel right now either. Because otherwise she would just miss him immediately.

"Dad tax" he said with a small grin and held out his hand to her. Ana let out a small chuckle and put some chocolate in his hand.

She felt like shit and she just wanted to be with Joel, but right now, she was damn happy to have her father. She had really missed him over the last few years.

"You really don't wanna talk about it?" he asked her softly.

"No, I can't, sorry" she whispered.

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FEBRUARY

Joel would be lying if he said he's gotten used to Ana being gone. Because to be honest, he was miserable.

It's been months. Six months to be exact. Ana left and Sarah moved out just a few days later. Although it wasn't a surprise that his daughter would leave - because Sarah was moving to campus for college - it was still difficult for him, and it was strange to suddenly be alone in the house.

He lost Anabella and Sarah. The two most important people in his life. And he still didn't know if Sarah had actually forgiven him. But he assumed so, because after months of not hearing or seeing his daughter, she visited him for Christmas.

Sarah was distant and still a little offended, but she was there. And he was so happy that she was there, even if it was just for one evening.

She didn't mention Ana's name once, and he wanted to ask her if she had heard from her, but he didn't want to hurt his daughter any more. He saw how happy she was on Christmas, and then she told him why. She got engaged.

Joel was quite surprised, after all he didn't even know that Sarah had a boyfriend. But he promised to support her for the wedding.

And after Christmas, Joel's sadness turned to anger. He was really mad at Ana. She left four months ago and never reached out to him again.

Ana called Tommy the day after she left and said she had to quit. But after that she disappeared.

Joel didn't fill Ana's position at his company. On the one hand, he didn't want to admit that he needed support and couldn't do it alone, but on the other hand, he also had hope that she would come back.

And also today, he sat in the office and sorted the bills, which was actually Ana's job.

"Joel, we should hire someone" Tommy said with a sigh when he saw his older brother.

But Joel just shook his head without looking up from the table.

"Joel, come on. I can see that you're not doing well, all you care about is work these days"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Joel asked back quietly.

"I don't know to be honest. But you shouldn't be alone right now. You know, Maria's friend asked about you again. I know you don't like her that way, but a distraction would be good."

"I don't need a distraction"

"You do. It's been six fucking months and you're still not over it. That's not healthy, Joel"

He let out a sarcastic chuckle, "I'm not talking about it with you. That's none of your business"

"But I'm your brother. I care about you. And I see that you're suffering"

"Leave"

"This office is half mine too, Joel. You can't tell me to leave."

"Fine" Joel mumbled and got up, "Then take care of this, please" he added and left the room.

Maybe Tommy was right, after all it's been half a year. He shouldn't think about Ana all the time anymore. But it was hard to stop, and so he decided to distract himself.

Maybe Maria's friend would have been the right one for him. If Ana hadn't moved in with them, he might have ended up with Maria's friend. He just could never resist Ana. Her character, the way she smiled and looked at him, and how she always teased him.

But Tommy was right, enough time had passed. It's time to move on. And that's why he was in that overrated fancy restaurant that evening.

Maria's friend and he sat at the table and talked about the last months while they had dinner. And Joel was actually distracted, at least for a brief moment.

Because when she entered the restaurant, Joel couldn't believe his eyes.