Juvenal

Chapter 16

"Darling, are you okay?"

Mabel looked up from the book she was reading. Her father was sitting in front of her and was looking in concern at her. Mabel nodded. She did not know why her father had suddenly asked about her.

"Edwin came looking for you last night," he said. Mabel's eyebrows raised up. She had thought that he would come looking for her and he had done just as he had expected of him to do. "He looked very troubled." He added.

Mabel let out a deep sigh. She closed the book and folded her legs under her.

"Did something happen last night?" he asked in concern. Mabel bit her lips and cracked her knuckles. She knew that she could not lie to her father.

"Yesterday, he told me that he loved me." She said after taking a deep breath. She did not want to go into details and make her father uncomfortable.

Robert did not give her a reply. Instead, he nodded and scratched the back of his head.

"What did you say?" he asked.

Mabel shook her head. She hugged her knees, placing her face over them.

"Did you give him a reply?" he asked when she had not answered for a long time.

Mabel shook her head.

"I said no," she said.

Robert nodded. Letting out a deep sigh, he hunched his shoulders and leaned back on his chair. He knotted his fingers in front of him and stared at them.

"Did I do the right thing dad?" Mabel asked, looking up at her father. She knew that it was completely her choice in deciding whether she accepted Edwin or not, but his opinion mattered the most for her.

Robert sighed. He looked up at Mabel and smiled.

"It's your choice darling." He said. "Whatever you do, it's your life and your future. If you know what is good for you, or rather who is good for you, follow your heart, darling." He said.

Mabel looked up at her father with a huge beam in her face. Her heart had not been at ease after her father had said about Edwin, and even though she knew that he knows her the best, she had been afraid that he would ask her to go against her wishes.

"Are you mad, Mabel?"

Mabel jerked and she turned. Her mother was standing on the top of the stairs and her eyebrows were pulled into a straight line. She was holding the banister with utmost strength, her anger making the veins in her forearm protrude.

"Mom?"

Sofia stamped her way down the stairs and stood in front of her. Mabel bit her lips. She had seen her mother in anger many times before. But it was the first time that she saw her mother look like a fire breathing dragon. Her nostrils were flaring as she looked down at her daughter. Mabel tried to share a glance with her father, wondering whether he too was as confused as her at Sofia's behavior, but she was blocking her view of him.

"Are you mad, Mabel?"

Sofia asked again. Mabel shook her head slowly. She knew that she should be very careful in answering her because from prior experience, she knew that things would not end well.

"Why did you say no to Edwin?" Sofia asked. Mabel's eyebrows automatically raised up in her forehead. Knowing her mother too well, even though a mother was supposed to be a daughter's best friend, things were not the same for Mabel. Her mother was a stranger to her at times, and her father was the person with whom she shared everything and tended to reach out for any advice.

"Er..."

Mabel faltered. She did not know how to reply. She knew that she could say that she was in love with someone else, but she was afraid to tell her mother.