CHAPTER 8: Unfilial Daughter

"My daughter lives here! This whole floor should be grateful. My girl is going places, You think someone like her would just live anywhere?"

Alura who just got back from work already tired and frustrated froze. The yelling was coming from her floor.

She heard it before she even reached her floor and she definitely knew that voice. She would recognize that voice anywhere, even in her nightmares.

She got to her floor and there he was, her father Robert, he stood in the middle of the hallway in a wrinkled shirt, gesturing widely at Mrs. Henderson who lived in the next apartment, She looked like she deeply regretted opening her door this evening.

"Sir, I'm telling you, you can't just stand in this hallway making noise, else I'll call security." Mrs. Henderson said firmly and folded her arms. "I don't care who your daughter is but some of us are trying to rest."

"Rest?" Alura's father scoffed and puffed up like a man who had never been told No in his entire life, which was not true because that was his daily dose. "My daughter owns an apartment here too, she pays for it even though it's really expensive and you're telling me to--"

"Dad!." Alura called quickly in horror before he would spill more nonsense.

Both of them turned.

Her father's face shifted immediately from outrage to a wide grin. "Alura! My dear daughter, I was just--"

"I know what you were just doing." She cut him off immediately. God why did he have to cause a scene at her new neighborhood, just when she thought he would never find her apartment....yet here he was, causing a scene already, typical Robert.

She took a deep breath and looked at Mrs. Henderson. "I am so sorry ma'am. I apologize for my father, It won't happen again."

Mrs. Henderson nodded once at her, then glared at Robert one more time. She went back inside and closed her door with a loud bang.

Alura immediately grabbed her father by the arm and pulled him toward her apartment before he could say anything else.

....................

She didn't even wait to take off her shoes before she turned around.

"I don't OWN this apartment," she stated firmly emphasizing on the word own. "I want that to be very clear Dad. I'm not the one paying for this place, so whatever you told that woman out there...."

"Okay, okay." Robert held up both his hands. "I was just proud of my daughter, Is that a crime?"

"It is Dad, it is,when it's not even true." She dropped her bag on the couch and faced him, looking suspiciously at him. "And how did you even find me? I never gave you this address."

He laughed sheepishly, "Come on Alura, a father always knows where his child is, it's parents instincts." He said pointing at his heart dramatically.

She rolled her eyes at his lie.

"Dad."

He looked at her innocently, "What?Parental instinct is a real thing, Alura, you can look it up---"

"Dad, I will send you back out that door," she snapped in frustration, she already had a bad day at work enduring her impossible boss. "Who gave you my address?" She asked again.

He ignored her and looked at the ceiling, then checked out the neatly tiled floor, and then the kitchen counter which was way bigger than theirs, he just avoided looking at her face. But she stubbornly folded her arms still waiting for his response.Then he sighed heavily like she was the one being unreasonable, and muttered, "It's Nessa who gave it to me. I called and begged her a little bit."

"You---" Alura pressed her lips together. She was going to have a very serious conversation with Nessa later, although it wasn't really Nessa's fault, her father can be really pitiful when begging for something. That was his survival trick, if only he used it for his betterment.

"Okay." She sighed and pulled off her shoes finally, setting them by the door. "What's it Dad?"

He cleared his throat and clasped his hands in front of him looking pitiful. And Alura already knew what it meant, he was about to ask for something she wasn't going to like, just like he had guilt tricked Nessa.

"....You know....I've been thinking," he started.

Alura squinted at him suspiciously, "Dad what do you want?."

"Just hear me out okay? It's just that, I've been thinking....now that everything is sorted with the debt, maybe it's time for a fresh start. A real one this time." He spread his hands out like he was presenting something wonderful. "I could move in with you and help out around the house, I'll even cook sometimes. We would keep each other company, it'll be--"

"No Dad." She said firmly before he could finish, it's exactly just as she had expected, how can he be Soo predictable. There was no way she would allow him to drag her back into risk, being married to her stranger husband didn't even fully mean she's completely free, she's practically still indebted to her contract husband, the only difference was that she would still have a little freedom.

Robert looked at her pleadingly, "Come on Alura, think about it."

"No." She repeated calmly, heading to the couch. "....I'm sorry Dad but No you can't live with me here."

His eyes narrowed in annoyance now, "I'm your father."

"And I know what you can do." She retorted, sitting down on the arm of the couch and looked at him directly. "Dad, I love you. But if you move in here, within two months you will have gambled away the furniture or use the apartment as collateral for something. Or even invite Percy Miller's people here probably because you owe someone else I don't know about yet."

"But I have changed!" he insisted, pressing his hands on his chest. "I'm a new man, I swear to God--"

"You swore to God last time too," she quipped. "Right before you signed that contract with Percy, in fact you swore on Mom's grave."

He went quiet for a moment, she had probably pulled a string.

"Me moving in has nothing to do with Percy," he finally muttered avoiding her gaze.

"....I really wish I could believe you Dad, but this apartment is being paid for by my grandmother in-law," Alura explained hoping he would understand. "She's an old woman I have never even met properly, she did me a kindness I don't deserve to abuse. So I am not putting her property at risk, I'm not putting this opportunity at risk, and I'm definitely not putting myself at risk again -- please understand me."

"Grandmother in-law?." His eyes sharpened with mischief. "So you're really married? You still haven't told me who it is, they must be very rich."

She glared at him now. Did he even hear every other thing she said, she wondered. "Dad that's not what we're talking about, let's focus on the main issue here."

His face twisted, "Alura don't be like this."

"Nessa is moving in with me. So there's no space, and even if there were--" she paused and held her nose bridge, "Dad, just go home. The debt is cleared and the apartment is yours, Percy has no reason to come near it anymore. You have a place to sleep so use it. God I'm so tired."

His expression changed more. The softness facade dropped and what replaced it was the version of her father she liked the least, the one that came out when his pitiful charm stopped working.

"So that's it," he said with a hardend voice. "You've gotten so comfortable. You've moved into a nice apartment, found yourself a rich husband, and now your old father is just an inconvenience."

Alura said nothing. She had learned that responding to this version of him oQnly made it worse, she had tried hard to avoid this, but it happened anyways.

"I raised you, you unfilial daughter!" he yelled out. "I took care of you when your mother died. I--"

"Mrs Clide took care of me not you," she retorted calmly, but firm enough to keep him quiet, rage building up inside her, "When Mum died and you decided to drown yourself in alcohol, it was Mrs Clide our neighbor who took care of me. And then I grew old enough to take care of us. I worked countless menial jobs to see myself through school. And while I worked and sent money home you were at those tables gambling them away!, Dad. Do you want me to go on?" She asked him loudly, but he avoided her burning gaze and didn't utter a word, because it was all true, every single one of them.

Alura took a deep breath, she was already tired and exhausted from work, and here he was trying to make it worse by reminding her of her terrible childhood, "Dad I need you to understand that I'm not rewriting that history again, you should move on and live a good life now. Before it's too late."

The words landed on him like a punch in the gut. Alura could see the complicated look on his face, he looked ashamed and probably remorseful.

For a second, she thought he might apologize genuinely and come to realization of his bad habits. God knows she would still try her best and help him if only he would agree to rehabilitate.

He cleared his throat, and looked around the apartment once more. Then he looked back at her, "Well," he said slowly.

She arched a brow, waiting.

"Can you at least..." He scratched the back of his neck with an awkward smile. "Lend me three hundred bucks?"

Alura's mouth dropped.