I Miss You, Daddy

epilogue

                Beatriz Malik fluttered her eyes opened as she heard a familiar song start to play. She had no idea why it was familiar, but she was sure she's heard it before.

It puzzled her that she awoke on the grass. I swear I fell asleep in bed last night, she told herself. She sat up and eventually stood, walking around the area.

Back when I was a child

Before life removed all the innocence

My father would lift me high

And dance with my mother and me, and then....

"Spin me around 'til I fell asleep," her beautiful voice – probably inherited from her father – joined in, still trying to recall where she has heard this before. "Then up the stairs he would carry me."

And I knew for sure, I was loved

"At Daddy's funeral," she told no one in particular. That's where she first listened to this song.

When she looked down, suddenly her Daddy's stone was in sight. She stooped down and let her fingers gently smooth over the name on it. Zayn Javadd Malik. A tear rolled from her eye, and she didn't try to wipe it away.

"Stop crying, Bea."

Like the song, the voice was familiar. However, this time, she knew exactly why.

She immediately stood up and hugged the man behind her; the man from who the voice came from. "Daddy!"

She sounded like a little girl again, but she couldn't care less. She was in a very heart-warming hug, given to her by the person she missed the most right now. "Daddy," she repeated, her voice muffled slightly by his chest. Zayn stroke the back of her head, raking his digits through the tips of his daughter's hair. "I missed you, Daddy."

"I missed you too." Bea pulled away from the hug and touched Zayn's face, checking if he was real.

Zayn pulled out something from his pocket and instructed her to turn around. She did as her father told her, and she felt a cold strip touch her neck. Upon looking down, she saw an infinity pendant hanging from a silver necklace. Once she felt her father finish locking the jewellery, she turned to hug him one more time. She took the pendant with her thumb and index, feeling her engraved name on its front. "Something to remember you by, Daddy?"

He smiled and nodded. "Happy birthday, baby girl."

Zayn calling Bea 'baby girl' once again made her tear up. He held her hands and led them to clasp around his neck then he put his own on her waist. Slowly, he swayed to the music, and she was encouraged to do the same.

"Something tells me you've been praying for this." One of his hands travelled to her cheek. "You're so beautiful, Bea. Just like your mum." Mum.

Before Bea could say something, the following lyrics of the song hit her.

I know I'm praying for much too much

But could you send back the only man she loves?

I know you don't do it usually

But, Dear Lord; she's dying to dance with my father again

Mum. "Daddy, where's Mum?"

Zayn didn't speak. His eyes seemed blank now, but there was a smile on his face.

"Daddy, where's Mum?" Bea tried to ask again, but this time, everything went black.

She shook out of her sleep and shot up at once. She looked around and recognised immediately her room. "Daddy!" She shouted just before realising it was a dream. She got out of her bed and fell to her knees. Bea looked up; her eyes saw the ceiling, but we all know her heart and soul saw beyond that. "Thank you," she began, talking to Heaven. "Thank you so much."

Though it was just a dream, it was the first she had with her father in it since the one she had right before he left.

"Zayn!" She heard her Mum's voice. She then heard something like feet crashing to the floor, and she ran there without hesitation.

"Mum!"

Halfway there, she almost collided with Nikki Malik. Nikki crouched to make her face level with Bea's, and she wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Oh my god, Bea, your father."

She rubbed her mum's back as she always had done when she was a little girl. "I dreamt of him, Mum."

Bea felt Nikki's head nod before they pulled away. "Me too. Oh, my dear, he's still the same handsome young man I –"

Bea shot her hand up to stop her mum's speech, her eyes fixed below her mum's face. A necklace and infinity pendant, much like the one Zayn gave her in the dream, was hanging on Nikki's neck. "Mum, your necklace." Has she had this before? I've never noticed.

Nikki looked surprised then looked down. She stayed that way, touching the silver, for a few seconds. She looked up to Bea, and her sight paused too at the sight of the same jewellery on her daughter. Bea mirrored her mum's previous expression and movement. As she stroke her finger on her pendant, Bea felt her name engraved on it. "Daddy gave me this in the dream."

Tears left Nikki's eyes as she once again enveloped Bea with warmth. "Thank you, Lord." She paralleled Bea's tone earlier. "Thank you, Zayn."

Bea focused on her mum's face as they let go. Both of them gave a smile through the tears.

"I told you Daddy would never leave us. Never."

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Thank you for reading this story!

Happy father's day, everyone. x

~ N