Loathed Treasure

Chapter 8: Worries

~ Athanasia POV ~ - Many Months Later -

While daddy had gone away on a very long and mysterious trip, I've been seeing Ijekiel over the last months. I constantly miss daddy and pray for his safety even writing letters and keeping them in a box hidden away so the maids won't find them. I would talk to daddy in my mind and hoped that I have reached him through telepathy even though it won't work.

"Sigh." My sixth sense acts up. It means that Ijekiel who's kinda my friend now wants to talk to me but I'm busy writing a letter!

Arg! I grabbed another piece of paper and wrote a message on it, saying that it'll take a while. After I sealed it with wax using one of the stamps I got from the street shops while sneaking out of the palace on my own, I sent it to him.

SWISH

I let out a really tiring and heavy sigh. "What should I say in the letter, Blackie?" I asked him.

'Say how much you love him!' He wags his tail and looks at me with happiness.

"Ermmm." I try to come up with an excuse. "Maybe another time when it feels right!"

'It's ok, Master!' He tells me. 'You should express your feelings in the letter before it's too late!'

"But I don't know what to say!" I'm almost 8 and daddy hasn't come back. "Daddy doesn't even love me..." I said in a sad tone. It's true, he's only training me to be his pawn but as long as he gets what he wants, then I'll get my freedom and live the dream without working.

'How can you be so sure?' Blackie still keeps an optimistic face. 'Maybe he doesn't show it. Everyone has different ways of expressing their love'

"Because I just know, Blackie but I just say that I love him, not feel it"

'Then why are you writing letters to him? Why do you miss him? Why do you feel happy whenever you see him and talk about him whenever he's not around?'

"I-I..." Since when was Blackie so smart?

'Because that's what a daughter does when she loves her father.' Blackie jumps on my lap and puts his front two legs on my chest as he makes eye contact with me. 'And that's when the father begins to love the daughter. They care for each other, Master. You care about him and he cares about you'

"..." I didn't know how to respond to his words. Is he right or wrong?

'Write your letter as you think about him. Whether it's his handsomeness, cruelness, kindness, or even your feelings and thoughts about him' Blackie licks my cheek. 'Write how much you love him and seal it'

He jumps down from my lap and stares at me with easy eyes. 'Go on. Don't be afraid.'

... I guess it doesn't hurt to try.

I pick up my quill pen and begin writing the letter as I think about daddy. From the moment we first met and all the way to my last memory of him.

'While you do that! I'm going to take a nap!' Blackie yawns and sleeps comfortably in his bed.

I write the letter and pour all my emotions and effort into it like it's actually going to be read by papa. I felt my heart warm-up at each word as I thought about all the happy moments we had as father and daughter.

I finished the last sentence, lifted up my quill pen only to put it down again. "Love from your daughter, Athanasia" I murmured to myself.

I fold up the letter and seal it with wax. "I'm done!" I stood up from my chair and looked at my letter to father that he's never going to receive. It suddenly became so valuable to me that I looked at it with gentle eyes and hugged the letter close to my chest, next to my beating heart.