As Always (drafts; on hold)

CHAPTER EIGHT ♥ A Movie Night

It's Saturday. I am so grateful that I do not have to face either Cindy or Jillian.

I go down to see dad having breakfast with his morning paper.

"No work?" I say.

"Yep. Day off. It's Saturday!" He says and takes a sip of his cup.

I grab some milk from fridge.

"You have any plans tonight?" He asks, still not looking at me.

"None. Why?" I sit across from him.

He puts the paper down. "Movie night?" Raising his brows.

"Sure."

"Want to come to pick a movie to rent?"

I nod.

Cindy is calling, and Jillian, so I just shut my phone off. I'm not ready to hurt any of them right now.

We just walk to the rental store. The bell rang as we enter. There's a girl a little older than me is in the cashier.

Dad picks the movie then we went straight to the supermarket to buy some snacks for later.

"Steven?" Says an icy voice. We are in the yogurt section.

My dad turns, startled. "Miss Carolina." He says with a smile.

"Cynthia. Just call me Cynthia." She says. "So this is your daughter?" She looks at me and I smile as well.

"Yes." He nods. He touches my shoulder and says, "Stefannie, this is Miss Carolina."

She shakes my hand. “What a beautiful girl. Just like her mother."

"Thanks." I say to be polite.

"I got to go, Steven. Keep in touch." She says like she is flirting with my dad.

My dad just nods.

"She's not my girlfriend." He says defensively when she leaves.

I laugh. "I'm not even asking!"

Then we go home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's almost eight. We had an early dinner. We'll have the movie in the living room. Movie trips aren't new to us. This our way of bonding.

I sat beside him while he's working for the DVD player. "Ready?"

"A minute." He does something and clicks the remote. He finally sits comfortably on the sofa. I place my head on his shoulder. And he places his hands behind my shoulder. Like what he does when I'm still a little girl.

"I should stop doing this." He says.

"What?" I ask reaching for the chips.

"This." He pats my shoulder again. Emphasizing his arms. "Maybe somebody is doing this to you every time, huh?"

I shake my head and roll my eyes.

We watch the movie.

"Dad," Then the question I've been hiding all these years burst out. "Are you planning to have a new wife? I mean, it's been a long time you haven't introduced me to a new woman."

I feel his heart beat faster. He didn't expect the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering... Was it hard? Losing someone you love?" I continue, "I know what I felt with mom, but is it different with you? I was just a kid then so I barely knew her or what she looks like not in the pictures." I glance at the picture of us three on the end table.

He goes silent. "Yes. It's hard losing someone you love. Every second is like a pin puncturing your skin, slowly." He glances at me. Fighting tears away. "It's so slow so that you can really feel the pain."

I kept silent. The movie is still playing.

"But that's how things are, right? People come, people go. It's not how long you've been with them; it’s how you used that short time that matters." He smiles. "Therefore, you should spend time with them while you still can."

...

The next thing I know is that I'm here in my bed room, waking up on a Sunday morning.

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