Chapter 6

~ LILLIANS POV ~

“What?! " I let out startling everyone on the table.

"I mean... oh"

I didn't bother looking up.

Until...

I heard him ask.

"Is this seat taken?"

My heart stopped for a second.

Javier!

Javier again?!

Ugh!

Why I'm I being tortured by his presence?

I'm I the first person to have a one night stand?

I slowly raised my head .

He was standing right beside me.

For a moment, I thought I was dreaming. But no... it was real... painfully real.

My eyes widened.

“Mom, I should get going...I have a few things to catch up on". I let out, slowly standing up.

"Oh no darling, you've been here less than 5 minutes... you've barely even touched your meal." Grace said and playfully pushed me to sit back down.

I saw recognition hit Javier in the same second.

I tried to hide my shock but I could feel my cheeks heating.

The air between us went tight and awkward.

Why is he everywhere?

Why is he here?... out of all places, out of all nights..

Well, my uncle was well to do but he didn't have the kind of wealth Javier had in his possession.

Why do they know someone like him?

I wanted to sink into the ground.

Of all the impossible things in the world, I never imagined Javier would have any connection to my uncle. Now he has been given the seat right next to me.

Before I could think of the next thing to do... I saw a waiter leading my father and his family to our table.

Oh no.

"Must they sit here?" . I whispered to Grace.

"This is the VIP table, Lily." She reminded me.

I tried not to show how uneasy I was as they all got seated.

I brought out my phone and started scrolling through it to avoid making eye contact with them.

I glanced at Julia Gomez, the woman who ruined my parent's marriage.

Next to her was her daughter, Sandra Gomez...

She was like a life sized barbie doll, everything about her body looked perfect. In a world where nobody is perfect... but of course, I heard she had done numerous cosmetic surgeries.

To me, she was fake.

I wonder if anyone has ever seen what she truly looks like because she's always wearing heavy makeup.

Then I glanced at Javier who looked so nonchalant.

My father sat right across from me.

And he didn’t even look at me.

Not once.

No greeting.

No nod. No “how are you.” Nothing.

It was like I wasn’t even there.

I tried to ignore it, so I focused on my food, but it stung more than I expected. It wasn’t just silence...it was deliberate. Like he had chosen not to see me.

Then things got even more uncomfortable.

"Oh, Sandra... this is Javier Blanca. He's the son of a close friend of mine. He just became the CEO of dova fashion. You should get to know him, I'm sure he'll have a lot of business with us in the future."

My father's voice rang in the air. Smiling in a way I hadn’t seen him smile at me in years.

He runs a small logistics company.

That caught everyone's attention.

Julia leaned forward immediately.

Sandra smiled confidently. She thrieved on attention.

Of course.

Of course...my father had tossed me aside like I wasn't important.

Javier’s gaze briefly met mine.

But he said nothing.

Neither did I.

Sandra suddenly became very interested.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sandra Gomez. I hope we get to know more about each other." Sandra said .

"Likewise." He replied, politely.

" We don't have to be formal with each other." Sandra said to Javier, her tone suddenly softer, almost rehearsed.

I rolled my eyes.

I could already tell she was into him.

I glanced up to see that Javier ignored her and continued eating.

"Javier, how about I get your number? You know, we might have some business to go over in future."

"You can contact my secretary if you have anything to discuss with me." Javier snapped. He was clearly not encouraging the conversation.

That should have been enough.

But it wasn’t.

She kept pushing.

Sandra started leaning closer to him, laughing a little too loudly at things that weren’t even funny. She kept touching her hair, adjusting her posture, doing everything she could to draw his attention.

It was obvious.

Javier, however, didn’t seem interested. He remained polite but distant.

It was funny to watch.

Then she looked at me with a smirk.

And suddenly, I understood.

This wasn’t just about Javier.

This was about me.

I could feel it.

“Well,” she said, “some people get lucky, I guess.”

Lucky?

I'm only doing my best to get through this night.

My father didn’t notice or maybe he did and chose to ignore it, like always.

At first, I wanted to let it slide... but...She continued.

“Actually,” she said, her voice rising, “I think some people here don’t deserve to be sitting at this table.”

I scoffed.

"Look who's talking, an illegitimate child should not be allowed to seat with the legitimate ones "

"How dare you?David, are you seriously sitting there and watching your daughter speak down on our daughter?!"

My father instantly looked furious. " Lilian, apologise now!".

I sneered.

Apologies, my foot!

For so many years my father had not looked at me as if l was his daughter let alone give me the title.

Instead, he stared at me with disdain. I don't even exist in his world.

And it hurts so much that Sandra gets to live the life I should have had even though she's not his biological daughter!

From today... I refuse to see him as my father.

He stopped acting like my father a long time ago.

" David, how can she speak about our daughter like this?!" Julia cried.

My father got up." You would say no such thing about my daughter!"He thundered and slapped me across the cheek.