We got home, and everyone was in the living room. Mom, Dad, Ate Twinkle, Ate Lakam and JP were all on the couch smiling. “So apparently we missed the reason why we’re going to this dinner.” I said, leaning against the couch.

Gerald stood behind me, “What’s the good news? What’s with all the smiles?”

Mom laughed, “Well, if you must know, your father’s company is expanding worldwide! He’s been meeting with the investors all week and they’re interested! We are going to dinner because a) we can afford it and b) we’re celebrating your father’s greatest achievement! He’s going to be rich!”

Mom wrapped her arms around Dad and kissed in front of everyone. “Ew, parents should be arrested for doing that in front of their kids? It should be a law!” I groaned at the sight of that, as did the rest of the family.

They laughed, “Well, this is how each and every one of you got here, so maybe you should be thanking us.”

I scoffed, “No one said they wanted any more siblings.” I pushed my mom away from my dad and wrapped my arms around him next. “Congratulations, Daddy. I’m so proud of you.”

He kissed my cheek. “Thanks, Baby.”

“Congratulations, Tito.” Gerald stuck his hand out and waited for him to accept it.

“What are you doing, come here.” He pulled Gerald into a hug. “You’re part of the family.”

I saw the look in Gerald’s face, he looked really happy. I smiled for him, I was happy for him. “Don’t get your hopes up, this family isn’t all that good,” I jokes, slapping him on the arm.

He chuckled, probably realizing him that I caught the bliss on his face.

“Okay, let’s eat. I’m starved,” Ate said.

“That’s because you don’t eat anything,” JP called out, following my sister out the door.

We all got to the restaurant and ate a fantastic feast. It wasn’t only a dinner to celebrate Dad’s victory, but it also seemed to have been a welcome dinner for Gerald. I saw in his face that he broke down some of the walls he built up when he moved. I couldn’t blame him. Since hearing that story, I felt bad for him. He truly did believe he was a monster, and having everyone turn their back on him wasn’t helping.

I knew why he kept his distance, but seeing him let loose, it suited him better. And I didn’t know why, but I wanted to be there. I wanted to be there when I saw him break the chain from his inner demons and really break free. I wanted to be the reason why he could be able to trust again.

After having him open up to me, I couldn’t help but feel special; special enough that it could actually mean something. I shook my head at that thought. First of all, he couldn’t be interested in a high school girl like me, and secondly, my Dad just welcomed him into the family. But there was something. An undeniable something between us. I felt it, and I hoped he felt it. I mean, he did open up to me, only me, so that meant something, right?

I saw my dad get up, and that made me lose track of my thoughts. I looked over to him and I was the only one who noticed he got up. He winked at me and I smiled. ‘I’ll be back’ he mouthed and I nodded.

Gerald leaned in, “Is there something wrong?”

I shook my head, “He said he’d be back.” I got up, “Actually I think I’ll go see him.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” He said to me, and just like a gentleman, he stood the same I did.

I saw my dad in the lobby, and he sounded angry. I walked closer to him as he yelled at the guy on the other side of the phone. “You’re not touching the boy, he’s my family!...No, of course not, he’s not after the money!...Listen if you come near my family…” He stopped when he saw me standing a few feet away from him. “Look we got to finish this some other time.”

I walked to him as he flipped his cell phone shut. “Is everything okay, Daddy?”

He smiled, but I could tell he was lying. It would come in handy if Gerald was here now used his gift on him. “Yea, baby. Go back in.” He told me.

“You coming?” I asked.

He shook his head. “There’s something I need to do. I have some more papers to sign. I’ll be back in five minutes, okay?” He kissed my forehead.

I nodded. “Do you want me to come with you? I’ve never seen your office.” I pushed.

He chuckled, “Go back inside. I’ll be back. I promise.”

“Okay,” I said. I began walking away, but stopped midway and turned back to him. “Daddy, I know I don’t say it often, but I love you. And I’m so proud of you.” I smiled.

He smiled back, “I love you, too, baby.”

I went back to the table, and Gerald stood back up. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know. He said he’ll be back in five minutes, he had to sign some more papers.” I told him, but the look on his face knew that I was worried.

“Papers nine o’clock at night?” He asked, obviously agreeing with my suspicion.

I decided to leave out the part that he was yelling about a boy he considered family, “Look, I trust my dad. I love him and I trust him. So if he promised he’d be back in five minutes, he’ll be back. He never leaves me hanging.” I put a smile on my face, and continued with my dessert.

Half an hour passed and my Dad was still not back. I kept my eyes on the door, but he didn’t walk in. I took my phone out for the thirtieth time and tried to call him, but no one was picking up. Gerald turned to me, “Voicemail?”

I nodded, “What’s taking him so long? What if something happened?”

Right then and there, Mom’s phone rang. We all turned to her, and my stomach did flips, fearing the worst. And the look on my mom’s face proved my suspicion. She dropped the phone and her face went frozen.

Gerald stood up immediately and whispered in my ear, “Stand up, we need to go…now!” He grabbed my arm, “Tita, we’ll take Kim’s car.”

“What? What happened?” Ate and JP yelled, afraid, comforting Mom, running to her side.

I followed Gerald as he dragged me to the car. “What happened?! What happened to Daddy?” He pushed me into the car and started the engine. I didn’t even see him walk over to the other side, but that was the least of my problems.

He drove to a street like a maniac. The street was unknown to me, but there were flickering blue and red lights. My heart fell and I got out of the car and ran, pushing people out of the way. “Dad,” I muttered. Gerald was right behind me, I could feel his hand on my arm.

And then I saw it. A stretcher and people yelling. There was also a fire, and I recognized my dad’s car. “Dad!” I screamed, trying to get passed the police, but they pushed me back. “Daddy! Daddy!” I screamed.

“Kim,” his arms wound around me, holding me back.

I tried to break free of his grip, but he was too strong. “Daddy!” I cried out.

He pulled me back to the car, “We need to go to the hospital. Your mom’s already on her way.” He drove to the hospital quickly. We were there in minutes.

I ran through the waiting room, and my Mom wasn’t there yet. I ran to the check-in desk. “My Dad. He was brought in, car accident. Where is he?”

The lady stared at me confused. But then I heard them rushing someone in.

“BP’s 160/90, he has a Temporalmandibular joint injury, a punctured lung and a couple of fractured ribs.” The paramedic stated Dad’s injuries. “Most of the injuries are on his upper body, but his left leg is also broken.”

I couldn’t breathe, the words were all fading into the room and all I could see was my Dad’s helpless body lying there. His eyes were shot, and something was in his face, probably helping him breathe because of the punctured lung thing.

Something that made my head move was the sound of my mother running into the room. I watched my Mom cry a thousand times, but this was too much to bear. I went to her and put my arms around her, just like Gerald had just done a couple of minutes earlier.

I took her to the chairs, and set her down. “It’s going to be okay.”

We were there for hours. Gerald offered to drive us home, but I refused to leave my Mom alone. Maybe that was the job for the youngest daughter. He drove Twinkle, Lakam and JP home, and promised to call once we heard anything.

I laid my head down against my mom’s shoulder. “He’s going to be okay,” I whispered and she my hair. She stopped crying a little while ago, but I knew it was because she wanted to be strong, Daddy would’ve wanted that.

Gerald returned with a tray of hot coffee. “Thanks,” I said, drinking the hot liquid. It burned my throat, but it seemed like a tiny problem considering what my Dad was going through.

The doctors brought him into surgery half an hour ago to fix his punctured lung, his joint injury and his broken leg. We sat in silence, forgetting the fact that just five hours ago we were all laughing together and celebrating great news. Everything seemed pointless at this moment.

Another hour later the doctors finally came out. He walked straight to us with a smile on his face, which brightened some of the moods. “I have great news: the surgery went remarkably well. We were able to fix his lung and his leg and also the ligaments of the jaw. Now he’s going to be under a lot of pain for the next couple of weeks, and he’ll be put on morphine, so he may not be fully aware of your presence, but you can see him now. He’s out of the woods for now. The most important part is that he gets plenty of rest.”

“Thank you, Doc.” We said, sighing in relief.

My Mom was the first one to rush into his room. She was crying but I knew they were tears of joy. I stopped at the door. “You coming?” Gerald asked.

“I’m gonna call home first. Let them know Daddy’s okay.” He nodded and walked in with my mother.

After I made the phone call, I walked in slowly; my breathing was short and shallow, like I couldn’t breathe at all. My eyes filled with tears and I stopped walking. I saw his still body and for some reason my brain stopped functioning. His face was all bruised, and he had a cast on his leg. He had a neck brace and his body just looked so fragile like he was about to break. I looked at his heart monitor and those lines didn’t look like what they were which were counting his heartbeats. They really looked like they were counting down to his last. My knees went weak and I felt like I had to get out of there.

I turned around and walked out of the room, falling to the ground outside the hospital. I covered my face with my hands and just sobbed.

Someone pulled my hands away from my face and when I looked, it was a blurry picture of Gerald looking back at me. He pulled me up like he’s done so many times before, but then he pulled me against him, wrapping his arms around me, comforting me. I held onto him, burying my face in his shoulder and sobbing. He the back of my head, and just held me. I’m sure he probably didn’t know what to say, but he knew he didn’t need to.

I was the one who separated from him, and I wiped my eyes dry. “I can’t….I can’t…..breathe. He can’t…Oh God, He can’t…die. He can’t. I don’t…I don’t…want him…He can’t…” I breathed, sobbing in between.

He pulled me back to him, and just held me tighter. I was sure my tears were probably soaking through his shirt, but he didn’t move, he didn’t try to push me away, he just pulled me closer. “Just hold on to me,” he whispered in my ear. And at that second, my heart melted.

A moment later we were sitting on the ground once again underneath the moonlit sky, and I was resting my head against his chest, He had his arm around my shoulder, and holding my hand in his free hand. “I was never close with my Dad.” I confessed. “And tonight, we hit this new level. I told I loved him,” my breath shook. “I can’t take it if that was my last conversation.”

He shook his head and kissed the top of mine. “You heard the doctor. He’s going to be fine. He’s all fixed, he just has to rest to get better. Don’t worry; he’s going to be fine. I promise you.”

I nodded, “That’s what he said before he left and then he got hit by a car.”

“I promise you, he will be as good as new, and you will get to know him. Your relationship with your Dad will continue to grow.”

“How do you know? How can you promise something like that?” I asked, tears still dropping down my cheeks.

He offered me a little smile, “Because I always live out my promises. I won’t let your family down, Kim. I won’t let you down.” He kissed the top of my head again, and just like that, I believed him. I trusted him with everything that I had, with absolutely no doubt in my mind. I trusted his promise.