My Last And My Only

Chapter 60: Becoming Someone Worth Staying For

It had been two days since Khae had written the words Dear Aiah, yet the page looked exactly the same. Every morning before leaving for work, she would glance at it. Every night before going to bed, she would sit in front of it for a few minutes, hoping the right words would come.

They never did.

She had always believed she was good with words. Apologies came easily to her. Promises came even easier.

But this time, every sentence she thought of sounded painfully familiar.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to hurt you.

I'll do better.

She had said those things before.

Too many times.

Writing them again felt meaningless.

With a frustrated sigh, Khae closed the notebook and leaned back in her chair. Her room had become unusually tidy over the past few days. She had cleaned it twice without realizing it, as though organizing her surroundings might somehow quiet the mess inside her head.

It hadn't.

A soft knock sounded against her door before it slowly opened.

"Busy?"

Marcus peeked inside, still wearing his office attire.

Khae shook her head.

"Not really."

Marcus stepped into the room, his eyes wandering briefly over the neatly arranged desk before settling on his daughter.

She looked tired.

Not in the way someone looked after a long day at work.

This was different.

It was the kind of exhaustion that sleep couldn't fix.

He had seen it once before, years ago, after Amanda disappeared from Khae's life without an explanation.

Seeing it again worried him more than he cared to admit.

"Want to have dinner outside?" he asked.

Khae looked surprised.

"Just us?"

Marcus smiled.

"Just us."

For a moment, she considered saying no.

The thought of sitting in a restaurant, pretending everything was fine, sounded exhausting.

But then she remembered how many times she had ignored her father's invitations over the past week.

He was trying.

She owed him that much.

"Okay."

Marcus smiled a little wider.

"Good. Give me ten minutes."

As he disappeared down the hallway, Khae found herself staring at the unfinished letter once more.

Maybe getting out of the house wasn't such a bad idea.

The restaurant Marcus chose overlooked Manila Bay. It wasn't particularly fancy, but it was quiet enough that conversations didn't have to compete with loud music.

Khae hadn't realized how long it had been since she and her father had eaten together without anyone else around.

For the first few minutes, their conversation stayed comfortably ordinary.