The College Bully (Love Came In #2) ✔️

Chapter 33

The morning sun filtered through my windows and fell on the breakfast table I was placing a cup of coffee on, and I sent a small prayer up hoping that today would be a day of clear skies. As I was reaching for sugar across the table, my Dad walked out of the room, his grey-black hair somehow perfectly combed through even though it seemed like he just woke up.

"Good morning, spawn father." I greeted him and turned around to pour a mug of coffee for him as well. Like me, he was a bit too dependent on coffee, so it wasn't exactly a mystery where I got my addiction from.

He smiled at my words and sat down on the opposite side. "Good morning, kiddo. Why are you up this early? I know this is a habit for me but its 6 AM on a holiday, you should be sleeping in like Alex."

"I know, but I wanted to get ahead on some internship work and make my schedule for studying."

He shook his head as I placed the pot of cream next to his mug. He never took sugar in his coffee but creamy coffees were his kryptonite. Honestly, I can't blame him for that.

"Sometimes I think you work a bit too hard, Iris, maybe just slow down and -"

"Um, excuse me, but this is coming from the man who till this day, in his 60s, has a bed and closet he actively uses in his office."

He shut up at that and took a sip of coffee.

"No further points, your honour," I said sweetly, turning in my seat and reaching for something from the fridge.

He laughed as I uncapped the bottle of hazelnut syrup. "I don't like that I passed on my wit to you. It's biting me in my ass now."

I laughed at that and put some syrup in my coffee, stirring with a long spoon. "Too late for that. Okay trust me on this - I know you don't like your coffee sweet but just try this, I know you'll like it."

I poured less than a spoonful of syrup into Dad's coffee as he protested, stirring and asking him to taste it. I watched as he grumbled a little and then took a sip, his eyebrows raising as he tasted the flavour.

I grinned as he nodded grudgingly. "See I told you you'd like it, the nutty aftertaste is great, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "You certainly think highly of yourself. But yes, this is surprisingly quite good." He took another sip and I continued to smile smugly.

I grabbed today's paper from the kitchen counter where I'd kept it when it had arrived at my doorstep, plopping it in front of him. I always got the paper for when he was staying with me because he read it every day. I might have to make this a permanent change, however, as Reece got the paper delivered daily as well.

Getting ahead of ourselves, are we?

I scolded my thoughts internally and took a sip of coffee to hide my chagrin as Dad thanked me and opened the paper, peering over his glasses at the articles. My smile at his habit faded as I observed the deepened lines on his face, which seemed to etch themselves deeper into his skin every time I saw him. Mom and he had kids later in life, so he was already into his late thirties when Alex and I were born. Everyone goes through the fear that comes from seeing your parents age, but I think younger siblings, especially ones with older parents like me, saw that fear a little earlier in their lives than would be ideal.

He parallelly opened his phone and started responding to emails, somehow switching between both tasks seamlessly, and I wondered how he did it. I still had a lot to learn from my Dad.

My phone pinged and I looked down to see a text from Reece. He had replied to the message I'd sent in the morning as soon as I woke up.

Good morning, baby.