Marriage For Dummy

Chapter Two

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The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.

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Iris

I welcomed the feeling of my home, as soon as I got inside. My heart almost lept in my stomach when I saw that Dad was not in his room or his bathroom. My eyes looked for him frantically in the whole house until I saw him sitting at the balcony.

He seemed deep in thought because he did not even hear the front door being opened and closed. When I got outside and cleared my throat, he still did not look back. With my heart on my sleeve, I sat beside him and looked at him; his eyes were shut. I panicked and shook his arm momentously. Please don't be gone.

His eyes fluttered open before tears could came out of mine. I looked at him and grinned, not letting him know that I was dreading his departure.

"Please stay as normal as you can for him." The doctor had so much desperation in his voice, even he feared the last stages in which my Dad was living.

"I'll try...it's just hard."

Dr. Alec consoled me, he was like a second fatherly figure in my life. "I know it's hard, you know it and your father knows it too. That does not mean we can make him forget it."

"Do you think he will be able to forget?"

"I think he will be able to, if he sees you happy."

"Hey, dad."

He put his head back and rested his neck on the wheel chair. His eyes closed for a moment before opening again and smiling at the sky. "Did you have a dream?"

He nodded, his eyes looking much further than the sky. His mind was distant.

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

He took a while before saying, "I saw your mother and I, and you," my teeth gritted. "We were happy, not in this life. That world had pink skies and blue ground and it was just us three and a camel." A light laugh escaped my lips. His eyes were starting to have the light in them now.

"Who was the camel?" I inquired, bemused at the way my Dad shrugged.

"I think he was your husband." I bellowed in laughter, clutching my stomach. He stared at me for the first time since I got home and grinned. My hand wrapped around his forearm as I layed my head on it.

"I won't marry a camel, Dad."

"Don't marry at all. There is no such thing as true love." I wanted to break down there and then by the way he delivered those words. It only made me hate my mother even more. I wanted nothing more than to collect every single bad memory of my father's and just throw them out of his brain.

My tongue was tied down, it was hard to think of a rational answer to give. He sighed and put his head above mine and I realized he didn't need any answer. He just wanted to be heard. I'll always be here to hear. Just like you were.

And the moment he placed a gentle kiss on my hair and started snoring again, I figured out his reply. I know. He said.

It was half an hour or so of sleeping that when I woke up, Dad had his head on the other side of the wheelchair. I brought a pillow for him and tucked it under his head efficiently and then headed towards the kitchen to prepare his meal before changing my clothes. In the middle of the cutting process, I received a call from Ana, a college friend.