Disobedience

Chapter 49: But Father, I Love Him

Kimberly Jane

"So your baby daddy is nineteen years old and the current president of the same frat I was in, forty years ago." He said as he walked with me here in the hallway of the hospital. Nurse Natalie said that I am to ambulate gently to promote blood flow and to keep my head from swirling thoughts—I was honest with her, I told her that I don't do well sitting down or even laying down for long periods of time. I just ended up with lots of spiraling thoughts, mas lalo na ngayon dahil hindi ko pa rin nakikita si Elijah.

"Okay. I know what it sounds like but I didn't prey on him. The universe knows that I avoided him but it just happened."

"What just happened? Bumukaka ka tapos ayun, nagka-baby."

"Okay, father. That is unfair." Sarkastiko kong sagot sa kanya.

He took a deep breath and took off his squared-styled glasses and slipped it in his breastpocket. He pinched the bridge of his nose and calmly looked at me, "Okay, sweetie, I'm sorry. Explain it to your father, then. Because if I get a twenty-year old girlfriend and I demand that you call her stepmom, how would you react?"

"Uhmm, that would make my skin crawl and I would change my last name because I would be that disgusted."

He smiled. He looked so different when he is calm like this. The frown lines disappear and the wrinkles vanish when he's  laid back...free from all the negative emotions that I knew he programmed himself to feel.

"And don't talk to me like I'm your opposing counsel or the lawyer you are hearing in your court, Judge." Sarkastiko ko pang dagdag.  "You know you comparing your hypothetical relationship with a woman forty years younger than you does not equate to my relationship with Elijah. You know how much of a false equivalence that is."

He did not have anything to say, he stared at me, his brown eyes gleaming and clearly said 'yup-that-is-my-daughter.'

"You know I'm right." I firmly said. "Remember? you mentored me to become the lawyer that I am today." And just like that, I used his own words against him.

Natawa naman siya napailing.

"Anak ka nga ng Tatay mo." Iiling-iling niyang sabi sa akin.

"Plus, I am thirty-two, not sixty two, father. Either way, it wouldn't be as bad as you make it seem like."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but sweetie, he is nineteen and is your student. Those are facts and not false equivalences, okay?" He even raised his hands.

"Ganito pala mag-away ang mag-amang abugado." Pareho kaming napatingin sa security detail ng Tatay ko nang marinig namin ang bulong niya. I didn't even notice that Eduardo was behind us.

"Eduardo, could you please give me and my daughter a minute? We'll be fine, you guys have the hospital parameter covered." My father said.

"Yes, sir." He replied and quickly walked away, leaving me and my father here in the hallway. He gently guided me to sit on one of the chairs that was lined against the wall. Before he sat down beside me, he made sure that my IV pole was not too far and that the tubes were not tangled.

He sighed as we both looked at the glass wall that had the view of the Metro.

"I know........but father, I love him." Pag-amin ko. "No matter what or how it seems like to anybody's eyes."

He nodded silently.

"...You know this whole kind act doesn't make up for what and how you have treated me for the past thirty years." I said after a beat of silence.