Expired Expectation

“Mom, can we not go?” Coco asked as she wrapped her arms around Astrid Payne's neck.

There were tears in her eyes.

“Daddy gave me a music box decorated with rainbow patterns today, and he wasn’t angry when I called him Daddy. I think he’s starting to like me.

“I love daddy. I don’t want to leave him.”

Astrid looked at the longing in her daughter Coco's eyes and could not bear to tell her the truth.

Isaiah Lear did not love either Coco or Astrid. He had no love to speak for his family.

At the time, Isaiah was engaged to his first love and girlfriend, Juno Calzier.

Then, she ended up cheating on him.

Juno dumped him at their wedding venue and left with another man.

No matter how much Isaiah pleaded, she refused to go back to him.

Isaiah was so upset that he chose a new bride for himself straight from the crowd.

That bride just so happened to be Astrid.

Even though they have been married for five years, they have been sleeping in separate rooms the entire time.

One time when Isaiah got drunk, he ended up sleeping with Astrid in a night filled with passion.

And that was how Astrid unexpectedly found herself pregnant.

After that, Isaiah’s mother pleaded with Astrid to cancel the abortion she had scheduled to keep the baby.

Isaiah ended up fostering resentment toward Astrid because of what happened. He extended the same resentment towards Coco.

After Astrid gave birth, she spent half a month in the ICU. Isaiah never bothered to visit her, and Coco once.

He never hugged Coco and would much rather watch her choke on milk and vomit than step in to help.

Though he was the father, he regarded her with less affection than a stranger would.

Then one night, Juno returned to the country following a divorce.

Isaiah, who had always ignored Coco, suddenly had a change of tone.

He coddled Coco in his arms, kissed her, and even gifted her a music box.

“Listen to the song on this music box, Mommy! It’s ‘My Dear Baby’!” cried Coco as she danced enthusiastically to the music.

“Do you think Daddy picked this song for me because he loves me?”

Before Astrid could even form a reply, Coco grabbed a picture frame with a family picture inside and went on again.

“Look! This is Daddy holding me! He loves me, doesn’t he?

“Look how happy he looks smiling in this picture!”

At Astrid's silence, the light in her eyes dimmed, and tears began to fall from her cheeks.

“Mommy, Daddy must be tired from having to perform so many surgeries every day, that’s why he never smiles at me or hugs me. He doesn’t hate me, does he?

“Please, can we stay here? I want to see Daddy, I can’t sleep if I cannot see Daddy.”

Astrid’s lips trembled for a moment, and when she tried to speak, nothing came out.

How was she supposed to tell Coco that the reason Isaiah gifted her a music box was because he was celebrating Juno’s divorce and her return to the country?

How was she to tell Coco that the picture she was holding was photoshopped by Astrid?

Should she bluntly tell Coco that this was a mirage she had created to give Coco an impression of a harmonious family?

Or how did Isaiah react when Coco was ill?

He tried to sign a document to stop treatment.

She could not bear to reveal such cruel truths to Coco.

All she could do was endure the pain.

“Coco, the only reason we’re leaving Uncle Isaiah is because Mommy is going to take you to a better place.

“I don’t want to call him Uncle Isaiah.”

Coco wiped her tears and spoke in a choked-up voice, “I am the only one in my class who calls my father Uncle.”

Astrid paused.

After five years of marriage, her commitment to him never touched Isaiah.

He had demanded to marry her secretly.

Then he forbade Coco from addressing him as her father.

He wanted to be addressed as an uncle as if he were an outsider to the family.

When Coco turned two, Astrid took her to the hospital for a routine examination. When they were in the elevator, Coco happened to bump into Isaiah, who was at work with his fellow doctors.

She blurted out, “Daddy!”

That night, Isaiah locked her in a small, dark room, completely ignoring the fact that she was afraid of the dark.

Coco ended up developing a fever and fainted for three days before coming to!

On Coco’s third birthday, Astrid had to beg Isaiah to attend the birthday party.

Just like the last time, Isaiah took offense to Coco addressing him as her father. He ditched her in the park and left by himself.

When Astrid finally managed to find Coco, human traffickers who were close to snatching her away had shaved her head.

They even had her change into flimsy outerwear despite the cold.

If Astrid had only been five minutes late, Coco would have been kidnapped!

When they got home, Coco threw herself into Isaiah’s arms and bawled her eyes out while holding onto his clothes, “I’m sorry, Uncle Isaiah, I was wrong!”

Since then, she learned to address him as Uncle Isaiah and never laughed in his presence.

The mere thought of it made Astrid experience the searing pain again.

She took Coco into her arms.

“Coco, Uncle Isaiah doesn’t like to have us around. Be a good girl, alright?”

Coco burst into tears.

She held the music box firmly.

“If Uncle Isaiah doesn’t like me, why would he bother giving me a gift?” she asked in confusion.

“Coco, be good. You know there’s going to be another woman moving into the house soon.”

Coco wrapped her arms around Astrid’s neck and started to bawl again.

“But I just want Daddy to love me,” she said, her voice caught in her throat.

“Let me give him three more chances. If he still hates me, I'll give him up.

“Alright,” Astrid relented.

“Isaiah, we will give you three more chances. If you let us down again, we are going to leave you for good. It would be like we never existed,” Astrid said inwardly.