Smile

Chapter 10

June 23rd 1988 (2:30 pm)

Alfred was sitting down at his desk boredly, he could barely get through the first day of his new office job.

He began to stare out into space as he watched the clock tick. "Mr. Carey?" One of his officemates yelled.

He snapped out of it. "Yes?"

"You have a call and you might want to take it." The woman told him, giving him a 'you really need to answer the phone' look.

Alfred promptly got up from his chair and escorted himself into the lobby. The woman handed him the phone and rolled the chair back, gesturing for him to sit down.

He sat down. "Hello?" He asked trying to find out who exactly it was that was calling him, the only people he could think of was either his 3 sisters or his mother.

"Hello sir, I'm Michael and-"

Alfred raised his left brow. "Wait hold on Michael who? I need to know who in the hell is calling me while I'm tryna work... the bills don't pay they're selves and this better not be a scam cause I don't got time for this shit." He snapped.

Michael sighed. "I apologize sir, I know this may sound crazy and all but my name is Michael Jackson and I was just wondering if you know anyone by the name of Mariah Carey?"

"Who the hell are you? Cause you sure as hell ain't Michael Jackson." Alfred asked in disbelief.

"Can you please just answer my question, do you know anybody named Mariah Carey?" Michael tried again.

Alfred accidentally let a tear fall down his cheek, he was a strong man but his children were a touchy subject for him... well the children he once had.
His first 3 children he hadn't seen in at least 14 years. He wasn't allowed to see them according to Patricia, he still regretted not going to court but he knew who the judge would've picked to have the child.

Morgan.
Alison.
Mariah.

"Yeah, she's.... well she was my daughter." He said, his tone becoming sad.

Though Michael was in shock that he really found Mariah's father he  couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man. After what Mariah told him, he was desperate to find her father.

"Well I was wondering if you could meet me somewhere, I've been planning a surprise for her and she's always telling me she wishes she could reunite with her father somehow... and I just thought maybe I could make that happen for her." He explained.

Alfred put the phone down for a moment and sat there in silence for a minute. Out of all his children the one he thought about most was Mariah, the last time he'd seen her she was almost 4 and he'd always imagine what she was like as she grew.

Morgan and Alison had already had they're own distinctive personalities but Mariah was practically still a toddler.

He got his emotions together and picked up the phone again. "You don't know how much I'd appreciate that." Alfred told him.

July 1st 1988 (11:24 am)

"So you really are Michael Jackson." Alfred said, unfazed by his presence.

A smile appeared on Michaels face. "Yeah." He replied, surprised but happy by Alfreds lack of emotions. Usually people fainted when they saw Michael Jackson but Alfred just looked at him like a person. "Now I've flown you all the way out here and I want this to be perfect." He explained.

Alfred nodded. "I never thought I'd get the chance to see her again, Hell I never thought she'd be friends with Michael Jackson." He joked.

Yeah... friends Michael thought to himself.

Michael forced out a laugh. "So basically Mariah is out right now with my assistant Eric right now shopping and she doesn't know any of this is going on... I told him don't bring her back until at least 3 o clock so that's just enough time to get set up, i got her a cake and a diamond necklace and I'm going to give that to her and then I'm going to snap my fingers and when I snap my fingers I want you to come out of the closet." He explained.

Alfred nodded. "What exactly are we celebrating?"

"Mariah just got signed to the same label as me after I pulled a few strings and she knows we're celebrating tonight but she doesn't know anything." He replied.

Alfred nodded once again.

Michael noticed that Alfred was very reserved and kept quiet unless he was spoken to first. Mariah was the same way except she'd speak first sometimes.

Michael and Mariah's father were driven back to Michael's hotel and once they arrived they both went inside.

July 1st 1988 (3:32 pm)

"Alright sir, get in the closet!" Michael instructed, seeing that Eric had just pulled into the parking lot.

Alfreds heart was pounding out of his chest, he was beyond nervous. What if Mariah was angry with him? What if Mariah blamed him for not being there?

He heard the door creep open.

"Hey Michael!" Mariah exclaimed excitedly as she put her bags down on the small leather couch and then pulled Michael in for a hug.

"How did it go?" He asked her.

Mariah smiled. "It was great, I got a lot of nice clothes."

"That's good, Well I'm going to need you to sit down for this because I don't want you to faint." He told her.

She promptly sat down in the chair.

"Is this cake for me?" She asked, before he could answer she started digging into it.

Well shit just eat it then Michael thought to himself.

Michael slowly pulled the diamond necklace out of his pocket. "I want you to have this."

Mariah gasped at the beautiful
thing. He went behind her and put the necklace around her neck, she jumped as he did it.

"Is everything alright?" He asked her.

Mariah nodded. "Y-Yeah Im fine, just get anxiety when someone touches my neck." She explained.

"Thank you." She said.

"Your welcome." He replied.

Michael slowly snapped his fingers and waited for Alfred to come out of the closet.

Alfred reluctantly stepped out of the closet.

Mariah's eyes widened, she almost couldn't breathe. "Daddy?"