𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 || RAFE CAMERON

011

Gianna stood awkwardly against the wooden door frame.

She watched her father take his clothes out of his closet, folding each polo shirt carefully and placing it inside his suitcase, which was laid open on the bed.

"Remind me which country you're going to again," the blonde quipped, trying her best to seem unaffected by the situation and her tone calm.

After so many years of her father staying for a few days and then leaving for business again, you'd think Gianna would get used to this kind of routine.

But no. She hated it when her father left. Hated it when others around her asked where her father was. Hated it when she had to explain that he was a busy business man and hated it when she tried to make it seem like she didn't care.

It's not that bad, she'd tell them, twenty days goes by super quick.

Yes, twenty days does go by quickly. But that's when you have a mentally stable mother who isn't a drug addict.

And sure, Gianna's father would message her everyday and FaceTime her as much as he could, but it wasn't the same. Richard Grays presence didn't pass on the same comfort through a glass screen than it did in person, and it never would.

Richard looked up to his daughter. "London. Then probably Hong Kong. I'll keep you and your mother updated on my whereabouts."

Gianna hummed. She barely knew where her mother was half the time, let alone her father who traveled the world all the time.

Katherine waited in the living room as the two Grays came down the staircase, then meeting her by the large couch.

"The Uber is a minute away." Richard checked his phone before tucking it in his pocket and pressing a kiss on Gianna's head.

"Have a safe flight. I love you," the blonde mumbled into her father's shirt, the familiar scent of his Paloma Picasso Minotaure perfume invading her nostrils.

It was a nostalgic smell, that perfume. So nostalgic to the point where Gianna kept a small pillow sprayed with the scent, which she would snuggle with whenever she felt alone. She'd close her eyes and pretend it was her father, only to open them again and realize she was hugging a cotton-stuffed piece of fabric.

"Thank you, honey. I love you too." He broke away from Gianna, moving toward Katherine and giving her a peck on the lips along with a hug.

Richard walked to the foyer. "I'll be back before you know it."

And with that, the weight was back on Gianna's shoulders, along with the anxiety she felt in her chest.

Her mother stopped doing drugs while her father was around, especially since he ended up noticing her tells. And now that he left, she could use them freely, not having someone to "supervise" her all the time.

Gianna knew what this meant, but she also knew how to prepare herself, even if her preparations never really worked anyway.

It's not your fault.

She has an addiction.

She would stop if she could.

Of course, it was easier to think these things when her mother wasn't coked up in front of her. Hallucinating bugs, twisting and contorting her foot, giving half-assed excuses on why she wasn't eating, giving more half-assed excuses on why she wasn't sleeping. So on, and so forth.

Not to mention how different she acted. How the spark in her eyes would disappear. How Gianna knew that person, cleaning dirt that wasn't really there like her life depended on it, wasn't her mother.