35 ᴍᴍ ꜰɪʟᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ᴄᴏꜰꜰᴇᴇ I 🎀 𝒢𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝑒 𝒜𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓂𝓈 [𝑔𝓍𝑔] 🎀

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎: 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 20

Charlie stood just inside the living room, her body tense as she faced Mark. She had rehearsed this moment in her head countless times, trying to prepare herself for what to say and how to make things right. But now that she was standing here, her father's cold gaze fixed on her, all that preparation seemed to vanish.

"Mark," Charlie began, her voice steady, though her heart pounded in her chest. "I want to apologise for everything that happened. I shouldn't have—" she faltered for a moment, then took a deep breath. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry."

Mark didn't respond right away. He leaned against the kitchen island, arms crossed over his chest, his expression hard and unreadable. The silence stretched uncomfortably between them, and Charlie felt the weight of the moment pressing down on her. Just when she thought he was about to say something, Mark's gaze shifted away from her, dismissive.

Instead, he turned to Elizabeth, who was standing nearby, still on edge from the earlier tension. "Tell Charlie I don't want to talk to her," Mark said, his voice gruff and low. He didn't even look at Charlie as he spoke, as if she wasn't standing right in front of him.

Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock, her gaze flicking between Mark and Charlie as she tried to process what had just been said. "Dad..." she began softly, unsure how to handle the situation. But Mark's expression didn't waver, his message clear.

Charlie's jaw tightened at Mark's words. She had come here, trying to make peace, trying to apologise, and now he was refusing to even acknowledge her. Her anger flared, her frustration bubbling to the surface, but she wasn't about to let him get the last word.

She crossed her arms and glanced pointedly at Elizabeth. "Tell Mark," Charlie said, her voice sharp with irritation, "that he's acting like a complete child right now. I'm trying to apologise, and he's just ignoring me."

Elizabeth's eyes darted between them, caught in the middle of the brewing storm. She hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with being placed in this role. "Guys..." she muttered, trying to diffuse the tension, but neither Charlie nor Mark was listening.

Mark snorted, still refusing to look directly at Charlie. "Tell Charlie," he said to Elizabeth, his voice dripping with disdain, "that I don't need to hear her half-hearted apology. It's too late for that."

Elizabeth blinked, frozen in place as the tension ratcheted up between her father and sister. She glanced helplessly at Charlie, but Charlie was already gearing up to fire back.

"Tell Mark," Charlie shot back, her tone biting, "that maybe if he actually listened to people instead of holding grudges like a sappy little teenager, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."

Elizabeth raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, her face a mix of exasperation and disbelief. "Okay, can we not do this?" she pleaded, her voice shaky as she tried to break the cycle of insults. "You're both standing right here; just talk to each other!"

But neither of them listened.

Mark shook his head, still directing his words at Elizabeth instead of Charlie. "Tell her," he said, his tone as cold as ever, "that it's not a grudge. It's about respect. Something she clearly doesn't understand."

Charlie felt her blood boil. She wasn't one to back down, especially not when she felt like she was being dismissed. "Tell Mark," she snapped, "that respect is earned, not demanded. Maybe if he showed a little of it, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Elizabeth, looking like she was ready to tear her hair out, took a deep breath and stepped between them, hands up like she was trying to calm two charging bulls. "Guys, please. Stop talking through me like I'm a messenger service."