Chapter 56
Ciara froze a bit, as she didn’t expect Cara would straightly confront her father about not showing up for years.
And even Callum looked cornered. He didn’t expect it
“Cara, I told you, he is busy,” Ciara added to at least lessen the tension.
“Then he can’t fetch me, mommy. Because he is a busy person. But he just told me it was easy. I don’t believe him,” she said in her little voice.
It was a straight punch to Callum. Throughout those years, he might have known that Ciara was just in Paris, and yet he didn’t step forward, thinking that she had already moved on from her own life and that he didn’t have the right to show up again.
But Cara is quite right. If he could offer things to Cara now, why not those times when they both badly needed him? He was too late. They already managed to stand up on their own and be content with their lives without you.
“Cara, I know that I’ve done terrible things to your mom in the past, I failed to prioritize her. I failed to be a man for her. But this time, I am willing to earn it and change. I am willing to start another life with your mom and with you, to be your father.”
Cara’s expression remained stoic, but the intensity in her eyes showed how she was mad about something that she was only trying to control
“But mommy is fine now. She is happy. I am content. And..I am fine without…a father because mommy is the best.”
Callum’s shoulder loosened. The moment she struck her words, it already cut deep. It was a straight rejection–an abandonment he didn’t expect that would come from his own daughter.
Ciara looked at Callum wearily. She knew it would happen, knowing how Cara was trying to stand up for being fine with no father.
“I don’t like people who make my mom cry,” she said in a sad yet serious tone.
Callum swallowed hard. “I won’t do it again. It was a mistake. I will apologize to your mom over and over, and I will make sure that she won’t cry anymore.”
Cara shook her head. “You made her cry just a month ago. You you are in a relationship with the woman who hurt Mommy!
Callum’s eyes widened. He stood in his seat as he felt like the distance was too spacious and he needed to face her and close their gap so he would make her understand what he wanted.
Cara carefully watched how Callum stood and went to her side until he crouched down on his knees, just for the both of them to level while Cara was sitting on her seat.
“I have not been in a relationship with anyone since the day your mommy left, Cara. I am not in love with anyone. I am not committed to anyone, and the only woman I want in my life right now is your mom. And you…” he said sincerely.
Cara’s eyes turned bloodshot. She was eyeing the food at the front, but with the pain reflected in her eyes, Ciara could feel how hurt she was, and she was hurting for her daughter too.
Callum bowed apologetically. “I’m so sorry for failing to protect your mom in the past. For making her cry and for choosing
someone else.”
Cara’s eyes went blurry until the tears escaped. “You abandoned Mommy when she needed you the most. You left her. You don’t love my mommy.” Cara’s voice cracked as her lips quivered.
Callum looked at her wearily as the pain in his eyes trickled until it turned bloodshot too.
“I don’t want people who make my mommy cry. I don’t like you for mommy,” she sobbed.
The last words Cara said stabbed him so deeply that the tears in his eyes were already visible while hearing the painful cry of
daughter, telling him how much she hated him for making her mother cry.
Chapter 36
Ciara’s chest was aching as well, and she caressed the back of her daughter and tried to calm her down as she wiped the tears rolling down her cheek.
“I do not like you for mommy because… you will only make her cry again,” she repeated like she had been thinking about it thoroughly, which drove her to a decision she wanted to stand by.
“I’ll earn your mommy’s trust again, Cara. I will exhaust myself until I can show her that I love her,” he said in a hoarse voice, his tears already at the sides of his
eyes.
Ciara’s tears fell as well. She was hurting to see Cara crying and being overprotected of her, and Callum kneeling in front of their daughter just to ask for her trust.
“You don’t love my mommy,” Cara sobbed weakly as her shoulders were rocking. “Because if you love mommy, you will choose mommy. You will not hurt my mommy. You will not make her cry. But…but you did.”
Ciara wiped off Cara’s tears while her tears kept trickling down, including Callum’s tears which were now falling.
“I am willing to marry your mommy this time, Cara. I am willing to choose her over anyone else. I am willing to spend this lifetime with her. With you. I am willing to fix our family,” he said softly while his voice was cracking.
Cara sobbed even more as she glanced at Callum, and she saw her father crying too.
“Please give me a chance to show you how much I love your mommy. Give me a chance to make it up to you. I want to be a father to you so badly. And I want to love your mommy like she is the only woman who matters to me, Cara.”
Ciara was melting, and her tears were rolling down her cheek. It was at that moment that if Cara would give her consent and approve Callum, she would say yes to him right then.
She has proven that she has been in love with Callum. Maybe she loved him from the past too fiercely, and despite the distance and the years that passed, she was still in love with him.
Maybe if Callum was just tricking her, together with her daughter, it was so unbelievable that she was already letting herself down countless times, as she was only praying Callum would catch her, and he was serious this time.
Please. I just want to have a happy family. Why is it so hard to have that?
