SECOND CHANCES - Forgiving Isn't Always Easy

Chapter thirteen: Family?

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, and you to them."

~~Desmond Tutu

---A/N---

Before you start reading this chapter, there is someone I'd like to give special thanks to. nderonakamberi is the wattpadder who created the covers for this and my other book 'I was the lie' and I'm so very thankful!

So I'd like to dedicate this chapter to her!!

Thanks :)

PS:Enjoy 😘😘.

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Selen PoV:

“Are you going to just stand there?”- she asked Alex, who had been eyeing his daughter. Slowly, he entered the room and stood centimeters away from the bed.

“Are you my Daddy? “- Hope asked him, and her eyes started sparkling blue again. Selen could tell she was so excited and expectant.

“Yes, yes I’m your daddy.”- Alex said, trying to maintain composure; yet she could tell he was about to crack up.

“Would it be alright if I hugged you?”- he asked.

“Ehem.”- she nodded smiling and he bent down in her bed. Alex started the hug slowly, as if he was afraid to break the little angel. Hope on the other side hopped on his arms and tightened her tiny arms around his neck.

Selen's eyes swelled up and did so even more when she heard Alex's sob. It was suppressed and barely audible, yet she heard it. Tears ran down her eyes and his. Alex hugged Hope now for dear life.

“Please don’t  go away again, “- her childish voice was heard and Selen had to leave the room. She couldn’t stay there any longer without crying out loud. Closing the door behind her, she walked a few steps and let all she was holding in out.

‘Oh God!”- she breathed and backing into the wall she placed her hands on her chest. This was not how she had imagined this moment, not here, not in a hospital room with the pending threat that hung over her little Tigress and their hearts.

“Please don’t take her away from us!”- she pleaded to none in particular.

“Selen?...”-she heard Maria question mortified.

“Selen what happened?? Why are you crying? Is Hope okay?”- she bombarded her with concern.

“Y-yes.. W-we don’t know anything yet.”- she recomposed herself and wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

“Why are you crying then?”

“Alex is here. “- she faced her friend.

“The Alex? “- Maria raised a questioning look to which Selen nodded.

“Oh… How does he know? Did you tell him? “

“No. I don’t know how he knows, but he is in there with her.”

“How did he take the whole you not telling him about his daughter?”

“Relatively well and even if it weren’t so, I couldn’t care less at the moment.”

“I brought Tiger..”- she then lifted up he stuffed animal from the bag she had been carrying, only Selen had been too distracted to notice. A single tear escaped her eye at the sight of it.

A few minutes went by in silence until the most unexpected sound filled the halls and their ears. It was a laughter…. Hope’s laughter!

All the hurt, all the pain, the dreadful wait… all seemed to vanish at that sound.. The most amazing sound in the universe for her  and it warmed her deeply that her tigress was having fun and bonding with her father.

Oh how she wished they could recuperate all the lost time and enjoy a happy future. Oh how she longed for that to happen. How she prayed with all her being.


Alex had been in talking with Hope for the past three hours. They had laughed together, told stories, she had told him virtually everything and he had listened to every single word coming from her small mouth, no matter how mispronounced she was. She had even told him stuff Selen had wished had stayed in the dark. Several times she had wished there was a giant hole in the ground and she hid in it. Several times she had wished she had been less than a teeny tiny speckle.

One of the unfortunate stories her highly talkative and honest daughter had let out was when she had tried to bake her a cake for the first time. It was a couple of months ago, on Hope’s third birthday. Selen had started following the recipe to the letter and she was so positive she had scored. That was until she and Hope had opened the oven to get the ‘goods’ out and what they had hopped to come across was now highly resembling a plastic ball in  microwave.. At 450 degrees…. For three weeks … Near the sun…

The story got Alex laughing his heart out. Which needless to say got Selen irritated.

“In my defense, it was delicious. It might not look so… “- continuing that sentence was impossible as both of them were holding their tummies. That’s how funny they had found the story and her excuse. And she wanted to be mad, she really did but the scene was the best she had beheld. For mere moments there they all forgot where they were and enjoyed those moments together. It was so weird… It was as if they were a family and just for those moments she let herself get fooled.

Alex PoV:

This day was nothing like he had envisioned it to be. He had planned a normal work da with meetings and awkward silences with Selen. However he quickly found himself into a vortex he didn’t ask for and yet now that he had it… now he wished to be lost in it forever. For a long time now he had lived an empty life. Yes, he had gotten married, had had a highly successful career and had had the best days of his life with Selen's presence on them, and yet all them meant nothing compared to the moments he was experiencing.

It was weird how such a small person could light up his world and delete all thoughts, all connection with the exterior. It was weird how he felt bound to this little creature, despite never having seen her before. It was weird how he felt immense love and feelings of protection and belonging towards her. How he wished to take her in his arms and shelter her from the world. How he wished it was him laying in that bad with the uncertain future, or suffering the most unimaginable tortures, just so she would keep on smiling like that.

Alex hadn’t thought it possible, not for a single moment, that he’d be laughing and so hard. It came as a surprise to him that his little baby was so witty and funny and horribly honest. He loved that the most. In her child like way she had alleviated their torture and buried her mother in a sweeter one. Selen was highly ashamed by the stories their daughter so innocently shared but he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t help himself laugh or smile, or feel part of this beautiful family. And from deep down he couldn’t help but want to know more… know them both more. They felt his!

After the long talk, had come time for his baby's nap and him from the right side, Selen from the left, had held her hands in theirs and sang her to sleep. Alex of course a little less.. Much less. He had taken the time to study his little angel and lose himself in her sight and her mother’s heavenly voice.

“Hush little baby don’t say  word,
Momma is gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird won’t sing,
Momma is gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Momma is gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,
Momma is gonna buy you a billy goat.’

Selen couldn’t finish the lullaby. Their girl was fast asleep and smiling. Alex was almost sorry it had ended. He wished to listen to that voice just a little while longer.. to forget a little while longer…  to fool himself with a happy tale a little while longer…

However he was soon snapped out of this state when Selen signaled him to follow her outside. Without a word and as silent as possible, they closed the door in their wake.

“Thank you!”- she said and it took him by surprise.

“What for? “

“The past hours you just gave to my baby…

“Our baby girl!”- he cut her off, though somehow he managed to do it softly.

“Yes.. Alex, before we go into all this, before we see what tomorrow brings… I- I need to tell you something.”- she said fiddling with her hands.

“What’s wrong? “- he was anxious now.

“I need to tell you about Hope. About the day she came to this world. About why she became my hope. There is something you don’t know.”- she started directly in his eyes and he could tell it was something important. But what?

PPS: As always vote and comment to let me know :)

Love ❤❤❤