Regan Knight - My Angel

Anna was standing inside a large master bedroom. There was a king size bed in the middle of the room surrounded by blue and white walls. The white curtains were hanging loosely allowing the faint light of the sun to bask in which filled the room with a unique warmth. There was a large picture of her and Ashton hanging above the wall of the bed. On the right side of the bed, there was a big book shelf which consisted of various books of her interest specially collected by Ashton for her to read in the free time. On the other side, there was a chest of drawer. She moved closer to open it and took out his small photograph. She sat on the bed and caressed it reverently.

"Hi love! I missed you...very much." She said and kissed it lovingly. "It has been a month since I visited our home last time. I missed it too. See what I have brought for you." She took out a file from her bag and laid down.

"Ashton... I have taken the first step towards your dream. Your dream project.....You know what? I met so many new people in Seattle. I know you might be surprised after hearing it. But I think I have conquered my fear of going there alone up-to a certain level lately." She chuckled and continued, "I met Mr. and Mrs. Knight over there. I call them Grace and Nathan. They are so much in love just like us..... and they love me too. Then yesterday, I met someone similar to Emily. Her name is Stella. I must say she was quite annoying because she pestered me with so many questions but she is a sweetheart. She has a boyfriend, Drake..... he would be from one of the people with whom I would be dealing in the future but he is a good person."

She sighed and said, "Last but not the least, I have met someone Ashton.....Regan.....Regan Knight. He is the man who has unknowingly given me the hope that I would be able to pull up this project successfully and at the earliest. People say that he is a Satan but he is nothing like that Ashton. He is a good man who has always been considerate and gentle with me and also protected me at times. You always used to say that God send his angels to help out his loved ones at difficult times. Unknowingly, he has become my angel to help me to accomplish your dream."

"I am missing you so much right now." She said and a tear escaped from her eye. "I know you never wanted me to cry, especially here because this was our happy home but love..... there is no happiness in my life without you. Without you, it's just a house. I..... I want my home back Ashton, my happy home. Would you give it back to me? Would you? Please come back. Please. When I went for dinner yesterday, they all asked me about you but I had nothing to say. You know why? Because you are not with me... not with me anymore. It made me realize how vacant my life is..... without you. She whispered and the tears that she was holding started flowing frantically.

"I love you.....I love you so much that it hurts Ashton. You were my angel and I want you to be the one for me not anyone else. Please come back for me... for your Anna..... Please." She sat there talking to his photograph for hours until exhaustion engulfed her and she reposed with tear stained cheeks and red puffy eyes.

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"Dad..... it's night time, Anna has still not arrived. I just hope that she is fine. I called her but she's not even picking up my phone." Emily voiced out her worries to Richard.

"Don't worry. She is okay. I have already talked to Max...."

"Okay"

They were talking about Anna when the door bell rang. When the butler opened the door, Richard and Emily were surprised to see her at this time of hour as they very well knew her routine of visiting her home during the end of every month. She usually went there and would return after an overnight stay. However, today something was different. Richard abruptly stood up to look out for her and noticed her desolation.

He quickly went to her and gripped her hands. "Princess..... what happened? Is everything okay?"

She gingerly smiled and replied above a whisper, "I am fine dad..... it's just that I am feeling a bit worn out. I need some rest, that's it. Don't worry. Ummm... Can I take some rest please?"

"Of course princess. Go ahead." He kissed her forehead and let her go.

She had just taken a shower and dressed in her night suit when she heard a faint knock on her door. "Come in."

It was Richard with a glass of warm milk in his hand. "Dad? What's this? She precipitiously took the glass from his hand and led him inside. "Dad you don't need to do this."

"I just wanted to talk to you and besides I had perceived that you might have skipped your dinner. So instead of keeping it aside, have it first." He took the glass from the bedside table and handed it to Anna.

Being an obedient daughter, she drank it without any altercation. "That's like my princess." He smiled and patted her head lovingly. "Now that you have finished this, let's talk. What is bothering you Anna?" He could see her pale face and red eyes. It seemed as if she was completely broken.

She lowered her gaze as her eyes busted with tears. "I am... I am sorry Dad for all..... for all this. It....it was my fault. I... I have never been a good... good daughter to you. I always make.....make you worry about me. It's just that I..... I am missing him so much and I couldn't..... couldn't stay there for long today because..... because of the nightmare and..... and....." She answered between the hiccups and couldn't continue further as she was a crying mess by then.

Richard immediately consumed her in his embrace and rubbed her back gently to calm her down. His vision became blurry due to his own tears. The loss of Ashton had agonized him too. Nonetheless, he always regulated his emotions for his daughters, especially Anna. Although she always tried to keep herself strong in front of him, his insides knew that it was just a facade to keep him away from worries. They were not related by blood but their hearts were connected to feel the bond of affection that they had developed in all those years for each other. However today, watching her so grief stricken and broken hearted..... he felt as if he lost a part of his self and was unable to fulfill his fatherly duties properly as he couldn't do anything to reduce his daughter's pain.

Eventually, he got a grip over himself and said to her, "You are the best daughter that I can ever have. And you are sorry for what Anna? It was never your fault. I have told you this for umpteenth times. And me worrying about you is just so obvious. You have every right to make me worry princess because I am your father and even a single scratch on you pains me. We all miss him Anna but look at you... what have you done to yourself? I want my daughter back princess. You can't live like this for your entire life...you can't. Promise me that you would not be like this Anna...if not for us then atleast for his sake. Do you remember his last words? He wanted you to live your life Anna. Your life is a gift from him to you and you are..... No princess. Promise me..... promise me today that you will never be like this anymore. You will get a hold over yourself and try to live as he wished you to live. It would be difficult, very difficult... but we will be there to hold you at every step."

She nodded her head, leaned on his shoulders and cried again. After a few minutes, when she slept, Richard tucked her in a blanket and went outside her room. But to his surprise, Emily was already standing there waiting up for him. She wanted to check out on Anna and heard their conversation. She immediately went to Richard and hugged him.

"Dad..... you don't need to hide your tears atleast in front of me. It's painful to see Anna like this but it's more painful for me to see you in this state. I know you have been strong since three years but you have every right to cry over his death. Don't hide your emotions anymore dad... please."

"I have to be strong Em..... for you and for Anna. It's enough now. I cannot see her like this anymore. I have waited for long to let her move on. But she loves him too much to do it on her own and this time... I am not going to sit doing nothing. I already had an idea of what to do about this but I wanted to go with the flow..... but now enough is enough. Before we lose her too..... I have to take some tough decisions for her."

Emily was puzzled over Richard's thoughts. "But dad..... how? I mean Anna, she would not...if what I am thinking is true, she would never..."

"No Em.... I know it would be difficult for her to accept my decisions. May be she would hate me. They won't be easy for her in the beginning but she will have to accept them for they would be for her own good."

Richard's determination caught Emily off guard as she didn't know with whom to side with. She always wished for Anna's happiness and she knew that her happiness was bound with Ashton even if he was not with her. However, she did have an idea about Richard's thoughts which made her anxious as she didn't know what impact it would create on Anna as it had the chances of either loosing her forever or making her get the happiness of the world which seemed to have very thin chances.