𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, d. dobrik

009. oh ! the places you'll go !

ミ★
"where do you want to go, Aubrey?"

Aubrey was at her peak. Work was doing well, she was doing this research for her dad. The reason why she was in London wasn't really for the foundation, it was for a research that she was helping her dad do. She was cultivating supporting data for one of his current research. It wasn't for the company, it was for himself.

Robert Hughes was a man of science. Heck, he was often called the embodiment of Tony Stark himself, without the flying suits. Like the character, he loved inventing things for the fun and for the sake of it. However, sometimes, his inventions were far too dangerous for public, so most of them were only for the Hughes to see. Which is why Aubrey was the one assigned to go to London. The middle child has always been known as her father's favorite. After her mother left them she's always been the one to step up and keep the household together for them, not to mention she was blessed with her father's genius brain.

Robert came back to London with Aubrey after their New York trip. He had a couple of business ventures and he had plans to reunite with a bunch of his friends. So the father and daughter duo took their private jet and went back to good ole' England together.

It's been a week and her father was still there, which was somewhat unusual for him. He usually never stayed longer than 5 days away from his personal lab down in San Francisco. It drove him crazy.

Their London home doesn't have a lab, since the property was actually bought for business purposes only. Aubrey was enjoying her time with her Dad, though, she hasn't really seen him around for long in years except for maybe their annual vacations and Christmas. It was weird for her, going from working in his lab with him everyday to only seeing him once a month.

One day, after about a week and a half past since their New York trip, Robert called her daughter to his office.

The two were in a very serious discussion about an idea that her father was pitching to her. Now, the both of them were just trying to build the idea and thinking of ways on how to make it work.

They were waiting for their current model to render and be calibrated by his AI when Rob suddenly broke the silence.

"I miss doing this with you, you know."

Aubrey just smiled at her dad, "I've missed this too, Dad."

"You're the only one who can keep up with me, Aubrey. I'm paying our scientists millions of dollars and yet the best person to work with me is still my own daughter," Robert snorted, shaking his head.

"I don't think the problem is with their skills or knowledge, I think it's mostly because you're THE Robert Hughes. You're probably the smartest guy on the planet. Do you know how intimidating it is for people to talk to you? Even I get intimidated sometimes."

"Yeah, I figured that was the case."

Aubrey didn't say anything in response and instead looked back at the screen in front of her, making minor changes to their current models.

"Have you figured out what you want to do yet?"

"Huh?" Aubrey asked distractedly.

"Aubrey, come on, look at me."

Aubrey finally stopped typing and looked back at her father.

"Where do you want to go, Aubrey? What do you want to do next?"

Aubrey furrowed her eyebrows, "Dad, what do you mean? I know what I'm doing already, I like it like this."

"Aubrey, come on. You're 23. You refused to take a stable position at the company, and you're holding the most senior position you can get at the foundation. You can't possibly tell me that that's it. That this is all you want to be in your life."

"Dad, I love being a consultant. I love being able to help you every time you need me because my position allows me to move around all the time. I like it like this, and I don't see myself doing something else anytime soon."

Robert shook his head then laid his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "Honey, please don't ever think that you have to always be the one to drop everything for us. I know that when your mother died you feel like you have to be the one to fill in her position so we'll never miss out on it, but you need to stop putting yourself as the caretaker of everyone. You need to stop thinking about us so much that you don't even want to be in a position where you might sometimes be unavailable to us. We all love you so much Aubrey, and you are too good to only be doing what you're doing now. Yes, you're in a very esteemed position, but is that really all the legacy you want to leave behind? You're a Hughes, Aubrey, you have the power to make most things happen."

"I just always want to be there for all of you. There's nothing I hate more than to know that you guys need help or something and I can't be the one to help."

"And we love you for it," the dad said pointedly, "it's just that you need to remember that you have a life to live. I've always wanted you to be the best person you can be, Aubrey, and I don't think you're even trying to live up to your potential now."

That last one stung Aubrey more than she thought it would. Deep down, Aubrey had always known that she had no idea what she was doing in this world. She wasn't really doing anything that was worthwhile or great. She loved her current job because it gave her projects. Nothing was ever really permanent. Another project always comes along and the next thing she knew she's suddenly in another place in her life.

Her heart has always been everywhere. Her mind might be focused enough to finish her projects but her heart was a different story. Her heart was with her Dad that always needs someone to help him with his craziest researches, it was with her sister Madi and her college life struggles, it was with Dani and her battle with anxiety, and it was with her brother and his insurmountable workload.

Wherever she is, she's always doing something for her loved ones. She never went to work for her own ambition, or for a cause that she desperately believed in. She's never wanted something for herself.

And it was time for her to finally figure it out.