Chapter 35

The only time I met Seeley's father was after the graduation ceremony a month ago. He was fierce and didn't even smile. He hadn't hugged his son or patted him on the shoulder. All he did was giving a stern nod to Seeley and walk away.

According to Seeley, it was a surprise that he was even there.

From what I've heard, he was always so busy that Seeley has barely met him. And when he was at home, he'd pick up a fight with Seeley.

That was why Seeley was happy whenever his dad wasn't around. It made him feel like he was living alone which was the best thing a teen could ever imagine while living their school years.

Who didn't like it when the parents weren't home and you had the house to all yourself?

Shock was an understatement of how I felt but it didn't even come close to what kind of feelings have been battling with each other inside me.

I blinked if I my eyes only lied and tricked me but Oswald Drewitt was still standing in front of me.

And what was even funnier was that I thought I saw a ring on his hand which he sunk into his pocket when he noticed me staring.

When we locked eyes, I saw him furrow his eyebrows then slowly the color started to drain from his face.

I felt anger creeping up on my spine, posioning my existence in that moment.

"Dad, this is… Heddy." Perkyn put his hand on the back of my waist, pulling me closer when he noticed me standing as still as a tree.

I saw Perkyn giving me an encouraging smile. He had to think that I blocked again because of being nervous as hell.

Only if he knew that my shock was built from knowing his 'father'.

The more I thought about it, the more disgusted and disappointed I became. Seeley never mentioned someone from his family as brother.

And I was there when he first met Perkyn that night. It was clear that they never met before.

Did that mean that they were brothers?

Oswald Drewitt couldn't have lived a double life. It just didn't make any sense.

He was many things but he couldn't have done that. He couldn't have abadoned his son to be a part of another family.

"Heddy, this is my father, Oswald." Perkyn said in a welcoming tone while I felt my heart jumping into my throat.

Oswald gave me a knowing look that also gave me the feeling of something cold and threatening.

Good thing I was so confused that I couldn't even find my voice.

"Perkyn has been speaking of you all the time." Oswald said in an unimpressed tone.

"Shall we go inside?" Perkyn asked, picking up on his father's mood.

Oswald arched an eyebrow before stepping to the side and letting us in.

He was watching me carefully as I walked into the house before Perkyn. I felt like a sharp was glaring at me, waiting for the right time to attack.

What should I do or even say? I would have never thought something like this would happen. I'd even think of the possible worst scenarios that could go wrong while first introduction but finding out that your friend's father was also the father of your co-worker's?

I felt like I was drowning with all the silent treatment that Oswald gave me while Perkyn walked me to the back and led me out of the house.

There were a few other guests gathered around the grill while talking with each other with glasses in their hands.

I smiled awkwardly when the unfamiliar faces turned to us. I didn't have the power to be all friendly with everyone.

A woman in the early of her forties with red hair and matching nails walked toward us. Her red lipstick made her paleness even more obvious. She had a kind smile on her face as she closed the distance between us.

"Hi there, my name is Delilah." She smiled and took my wrist to her hands. "You must be Heddy."

"I am." I forced a smile onto my lips.

"Perkyn has told us so much about you." She told me. "The only problem I had is we couldn't meet you sooner."

I would have preferred never but I was afraid to say anything.

"Delilah, please don't scare her away." Perkyn said awkwardly.

Delilah only laughed.

"Come on, Perkyn. That's what I'm here for." Delilah rubbed his arm.

Perkyn gave me a tired look but I couldn't even smile at his stepmother's teasing him.

When Oswald joined us, he gave me a glass.

I gave him a questioning glance then he nodded at the glass between my hands.

"Raspberry Mojito." He enlightened me.

"I don't like raspberry." I said and put the glass down on the table that stood next to us.

Truth was that I had no problem with raspberry, I just wanted to make s a fist each time I had the chance.

Delilah frowned a little then quickly put a smile on her face.

"We can make lemonade if you'd like or…"

"I'm good, thank you." I tried to reassure Delilah. She seemed actually nice and I didn't want to hurt her feelings because her husband was an asshole.

I wondered if Oswald acted any different than his usual self.

He must have acted differently because there was no way he would have found a wife like Delilah if he was just himself.

"So, Heddy, do you live here?"

"No." Oswald answered for me which surprised all of us.

Delilah furrowed her eyebrows and took, the glass mojito in her hand that Oswald wanted me to drink.

"How do you know that?" Delilah asked.

Oswald moved his neck before he gave a glare to Delilah.

"Perkyn has been talking about Heddy all the time." Oswald said and Perkyn dropped his gaze while his cheeks reddened.

In spite of knowing about Perkyn's feelings, I felt sorry for him for being exposed each minute.

"So Heddy, how long you'll be staying here?" Delilah asked, brushing off the coldness of her husband. She must have gotten used to it.

"Until the end of the summer." I answered politely.

Perkyn seemed sad after my answer but didn't say anything.

I wanted to tell him I'll miss him too but I didn't want to show my vulnerable side to Oswald.

I had other plans with him.

"Oh, so you're here for holiday then?" Delilah asked.

"Yes, I just graduated from high school and decided to celebrate that." I said.

"Congratulations, darling," Delilah smiled. "Do you have any plans? Will you continue studying? Going to college or something?"

I remembered what Perkyn had told me about his parents persuading him to become a lawyer, so they must have been serious about his studies and degrees.

"I haven't got into the colleges I'd applied for." I said with a bitter smile. Of course, I was happy I didn't get in but they didn't need to know about it.

"I'm sorry about that." Delilah looked genuinely upset about it. Bless her heart-

"It's all right." I said. "I was planning on working maybe as a choreographer."

"That sounds great, why choreographer?" Delilah asked curiously.

I shrugged and leaned my hands on the table.

"I used to dance in both primary and high school. Dancing became kind of a part of my life and personality too."

Perkyn's eyes widened but he seemed more proud than surprised.

"You never even told me about that."

I gave him a side glance with a small smile hiding on my lips.

"I have my secrets." I teased him.

Oswald adjusted his shirt and then put a comforting hand on the back of Delilah's back.

"I'll go to Jimmy and the others." He said then looked at us. "Ten minutes or so then we can eat."

I watched him walk over to his friends to the grill with a scoff on my face.

"He is a great guy," Delilah said when she noticed my expression. I quickly recovered and mentally slapped myself.

"Oh, I wasn't…"

Delilah shook her head with an understandning smile.

"If you get to know him, you'll like him." She tried to reassure me.

I very much doubted that.

Perkyn crossed his arms and leaned on the table, his arm brushing mine.

"He is a hardass."

"Perkyn!"

"It's true though." Perkyn said then turned to me, smiling. "Sometimes he forgets that he is not in practice anymore and keeps ordering me around like he was my coach also."

I laughed dryly and tapped my fingers on the table.

"This is what dads do." I said. And they also happen to have a double life.

In the next ten minutes, we talked about Delilah's job as a firefighter and Perkyn's law studies. Somehow he could always ditch his classes and still have perfect grades.

I never understood how people like him do it. I was failing a lot of my classes and I tried everything in my power to get ready for the exams.

It was unfair to other people like me.

When Oswald told us that everything was ready, we took a seat at the table that stood a few feet away from the grill.

We were talking and passing the bowls around while we put everything on our plates that we could next to the deliciously looking barbeque.

"If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it." Perkyn whispered in my ear, referring to my earlier excuse to not drink.

I gave him a knowing look and started to cut the meat.

"I didn't eat anything on purpose so that I'd be able to eat everything." I warned him as he put his fork to his mouth.

He grabbed a beer that had been put on the table and opened the can.

"I like it when girls show that they can eat too." He said and took a sip.

"You don't have to worry about me doing predictable things like that." I reassured him, focusing on my food. It was the only thing that could keep me contained like that.

"That's good to hear." He smiled. "I should have invited you sooner."

"Yes, you should have, young man." Delilah said who sat across us.

We laughed together about Delilah's typical motherly comment. I almost had a great time but whenever I looked at Oswald, my smile faded without my brain catching up.

I was listening to Oswald's friend, telling us about their last few weeks, complaining about work, and also the wives.

They always apologized because Delilah was the only wife among us.

Even though I had a hard time to ignore the burning hatred inside of me toward Oswald, whenever Perkyn noticed me glaring at him, he just nudged me and distracted me by stealing a piece of food from my plate.

And guess what? I didn't push him off his chair for it nonethless I wanted to.