FATED BOND

Daisy’s POV

We watched as Aunt Vanessa jumped into Danny’s arm with tears streaming down her eyes. Danny didn’t recover from the shock until aunt Vanessa kissed his lips and called his name again. Nina looked at me with a puzzled look, and I nodded at her with a smile, hoping she got the message.

I was happy for aunt Vanessa but when I remembered what I was doing before then, sadness engulfed me as I watched Nina dragging my box back upstairs.

“No, mom. Please.” I pleaded with her and tried to stop her from dragging the box.

“Please what?”

I shook my head. “I can’t stay here anymore. I can’t.” I sniffed.

“Daisy, you’ve been here for four years…”

“Please, this is what I want. I can’t do this. It’s torture.”

“Daisy”, Amar called.

I kept shaking my head. I didn’t want them to convince me. I didn’t want to stay. I was tired of holding onto lost hope… it was just like being hopeless. I wanted to be far from Damien. Being close to him would do me no good, I concluded. I was trying so hard not to hate him, for Nina’s sake.

“You don’t understand, Amar. I was doing fine before he got to know of Ellah’s existence. He wants me to hate my daughter but that won’t happen. I want to leave. I can’t let Ellah know him as a father when he doesn’t want us.”

Just then, the front door opened and Damien came. He looked around. He saw aunt Vanessa in Danny’s arm, his eyes wandered and rested on me for a while before it fell on the box in his mother’s hand. “What is going on, here?”

Mom exhaled deeply, still looking at me as she let go of the box. She looked dejected and disappointed but I was less concerned. I didn’t want to be concerned. “She is leaving.”

“Leaving? To where?”

I could see the tears forming in Nina’s eyes. She was going to miss me and I knew I would too.

Even Ellah.

“It’s all because of you. You irresponsible idiot”, she muttered and burst into tears.

Danny was looking around in confusion. I could see the several questions in his mind which he couldn’t wait to ask his wife.

Aunt Vanessa extricated herself from his hold and moved towards Nina at the same time with Amar, to console her, when Fred ran in. There was a look of fear in his eyes and I wondered what happened.

“Mom”, he breathed out heavily, pointing to the door. “Ellah.”

At the mention of my daughter’s name, I dropped the two boxes in my hand and rushed to him. I thought Ellah was in granny’s room. “Ellah? What happened?”

“She’s dying”, he cried.

“Goodness!” I screamed and raced for the door.

Before I could get to the door, it was opened by a large hand. I looked up to see Damien running out of the house before I followed.

*****

“Mommy”, Ellah called, holding my hand. I smiled at her. She was lying on the hospital bed.

Damien and Nina were standing by the door while the others were waiting outside. Ellah glanced at Damien and smiled. “He said he is my daddy”, she whispered into my ears.

The smile on my face vanished. I was shocked. I turned to glare at him. I felt like pouring out my anger and frustrations on him at that moment. Ellah’s grip on mine tightened. She was waiting for a reply from me.

“Mommy, is he my daddy?”

I didn’t know whether to say the truth or not. After a moment of thinking, I decided to tell her no, since that was what Damien claimed. “Ellah, he is not….”

“Yes, I am”, he cut me short. I puffed out air and exhaled deeply almost immediately trying so hard to control my tears.

“Why didn’t you tell me, mommy?”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Don’t mind him, Ellah.” I saw Nina throw a harsh glare towards him too.

I stood up abruptly. I have had enough, I told myself. I won’t let him continue to ridicule me. I needed to let him know the stuff I was made of. I needed to let out my anger.

And the only way to do that is by showing him the other side of me. I moved towards him slowly, without wavering my gaze. When I got close to him, I lifted my hand and slapped him across his face. Then, I left the hospital without a word.

*****

Damien’s POV

It felt like something died in me the moment her hand landed on my cheeks. I could see the hatred on her face. I could see the disappointment, sadness, and rejection.

I had succeeded in making her reject me, even before I could ask her what was on my mind. I was foolish to have thought Daisy was wild. I was stupid to have doubted Ellah’s paternity.

The truth was all over the little girl, her eyes, and the resemblance between us. The Daisy I fell in love with 4 years ago was innocent and she still was, I realized.

What then is stopping me from telling her I’ve never for once stopped thinking of her, about that night. In the car, I asked myself.

Seeing her again brought back the pain I went through, trying so hard to forget her, with the distance between us and my inability to find her before leaving America.

After several attempts to contact her and without seeing any effort from her, I thought I had lost her. I thought she had moved on, without cherishing the moment we spent together. I never knew the moment will always be a moment to cherish forever in our heart, because that moment led to a beautiful thing… our beautiful baby, Ellah.

“Daddy, why did mommy slap you?” Her little voice pulled me out of my reverie, making me realize my hand was still on my cheek.

“Larry asked Daisy out when she was pregnant with Ellah”, mom uttered, without looking at me. I forgot she was beside me. I turn to look at her.

“She rejected him because of you”, she raised her head to stare at me. Larry was so in love with her that he overlooked the fact that she was pregnant. When she rejected him, Larry had to leave because he couldn’t bear it. I wanted her to accept him because I know Larry will treat her right so I tried to persuade her into accepting him. I knew something was holding her back because she didn’t feel any form of attraction towards Larry. Do you know why?” I shook my head, finally Dropping my hand from my cheek.

“She was no longer in possession of her heart.” A tear rolled down her eyes and another followed.

“Mom”, I called with regret, seeing her in tears.

“Same thing with Sidney. I forced her to accept Sidney but it ended badly. I owe my happiness to Daisy, Damien. She wasn’t happy yet she did her best to see me happy. She said my happiness was hers. Why then do you expect me to sit still and not support her and watch her wallow in self-pity? Let’s forget the fact that you are my son. If you were someone else, this is the exact thing I would do. She made sure things work out well between your father and me. The only thing stopping me from disowning you right now Damien….”

“I’m sorry, mom.” I cut her short. I was hurt by my own actions. I felt bad and irresponsible like my mother claimed.

“She gave birth to Ellah prematurely just because she wanted to make me happy by organizing a birthday party for me. Your daughter was born in her 7th month and on my birthday, because of the stress her mother went through. And that resulted in Ellah’s health condition. She is asthmatic and the doctor said she might live with it for the rest of her life.” Mom finished.

“Oh! God. I’m sorry.” I was trying not to sob. I was trying so hard to control my tears from spilling.

“Sorry? Is that the only thing you’ve got? You are no longer the child I gave birth to. Daisy is more than blood. She is my daughter. She called me mom while you were away but now she finds it hard to do that. Do you know how hard I have been taking all of this? I can’t even talk to my daughter anymore because of you.” Mom yelled, pointing her index finger at me.

“I’m sorry, mom. I have my reasons.”

“What stupid reason do you have?” I opened my mouth to talk but no words were forming.

How am I supposed to tell her that I mistakenly had sex with Vivian and she is pregnant? Mom didn’t even know that I broke up with her before my graduation from high school.

“Daddy, why are you crying?” Ellah questioned and began to cry too. I moved away from mom and walked to Ellah’s bedside. “Why is everybody crying?” She asked again and I held her hands. I watched as mom quietly went out, leaving me with the crying Ellah

“That’s because we love you. You scared us when you fell. We don’t want you to fall sick again”, I framed up a lie.

“Is that why mommy slapped you?” She tightened her grip on my arm. I nodded, allowing my tears to flow freely.

“She’s angry because I couldn’t bring you to the hospital on time,” I said.

“I’m sorry, daddy. I promise not to fall sick again.”

“I love you, Ellah”, I kissed her forehead and cleaned her tears.

The worrisome look on her face turned into a wide grin instantly and she touched my cheeks before saying. “I love you too, daddy.”

The voice brought a new surge of excitement in me and I realized at that moment what being a father really means. As I watched the smile on her face, I burst into tears again. It was tears of joy.