His Favorite Piece Of Art

Chapter 23 | Let you in

They spent their day just laying in bed in each other arms and talking about their families. Or rather what's left of them.

"What about your dad?" Alexander asks cautiously because he never heard her mention him, so he only guessed that it's something she doesn't want to talk about or isn't ready to mention.

Bella heaves a sigh before she answers his question. She is surprised that he didn't ask her before about him, but she knew that he was only waiting for her to be ready to talk about it. And now it seems like a perfect moment to finally tell him.

"I don't have much to say about him...even though he is my father, he never acted like one. Not even when my mom was still alive...I don't know what happened but I was little at that time and I don't know if he was like that from the beginning or if something happened to make him change.

But it only got worse when she died. He was never there for me even though we lived together. My grandparents took care of me most of the time while I was little, but when I got old enough to take care of myself, he didn't even acknowledge me. 

My grandparents died so I couldn't go to them. The whole time I was living with my dad I felt so alone. He was there as a presence, it didn't matter if we were eating together or watching tv...I would still feel alone because for some reason he didn't want to have anything to do with me.

I don't know if it was because I reminded him of mom that he found me so repulsive or he just didn't want a child in the first place. But I wasn't something positive in his life, no matter how much or how many times I tried to be, he would always push me away and act like I'm not even there.

And when I turned eighteen, that's when he spoke to me for the first time in a long time. But only to tell me that I'm old enough to leave and live on my own. Sadly, I didn't even mind it because of the way I've been feeling in a place that I should have called home. But that doesn't mean it was easy to just leave..."

Bella sniffles as she tells him everything, feeling a little bit lighter after letting it all out but the slight ping of pain that she felt then, could be felt now as she reminded herself of it.

"That piece of s-"

Alexander takes a deep breath to calm himself down and not curse in front of her. "I'm so sorry, love. You don't deserve what you've been through." He kisses her tears away and holds her as tight as possible.

"You don't deserve it either." She lets out in a whisper and makes him feel a ping of pain as he thinks about his life. But that pain goes away quickly as he looks into her eyes and finds comfort in them. As long as he has her, he will be okay.

He gives her a small smile and leans down to kiss her lips, but their kiss gets interrupted when his phone rings. Dread immediately fills his body, his mind going to the one name that could be calling, and when he sees that he was right, he stands up from the bed and walks into the bathroom so he can talk to her in peace.

In the meantime, Bella sits up on the bed and looks at the bathroom door, confused. She wonders what makes him react that way every time he gets a curtain call, and can't help but worry a little.

She didn't want to ask him up till now because she wanted to wait for him to be ready, just like he waited for her. But the more calls he gets the more she worries and she's scared that she's running out of patience.

Her eyes snap towards his when he walks out of the bathroom, but he quickly looks away from her. His demeanor was completely different, shattered almost.

"Who was it?" The question flies out of her mouth unwillingly, but she doesn't regret it, because she wants to know. 

Alexander just stands in his spot, still not meeting her eyes while contemplating if he should finally tell her. It would be only fair since she opened up a lot today and he thinks it's not fair to keep it to himself anymore. It might even help him get rid of his sadness if he talked about it.