A change of heart.

"Honey, I thought we talked about this. You promise not to harm her." Mrs Ray muttered.

"Who are you to tell me what to do to my daughter? She has offended me deeply." He muttered, increasing his grip on her hair, but Rachael didn’t cry. She was trying her best to be strong.  Mr Ray was not satisfied that she was not crying, so he let go of her hair and gave her a resounding slap on the cheek. His hand made a red mark on her face as she held her face immediately and looked at him.  He wanted to move closer to her, and she stood up from the chair and grabbed the small knife in the fruit basket on the table.

She held the knife, showing it to them.

"Don’t you come any closer." She stated coldly.  Mr Ray was stunned to see Rachael behave like this. She has become a changed person and even has the guts to stand up for herself.

"I won’t tolerate any form of maltreatment in this house anymore, as long as I am back or else." Rachael muttered.

"Or else, what are you going to do?"Lisa asked rudely.

"I will file a police complaint against everyone of you." She stated, Mrs Ray’s eye lit.

"You see, I told you to let her go. Now you see, she is threatening us." Mrs Ray remarks.

Mr Ray started moving closer to Rachael.

"Don’t come any closer. I won’t hesitate to stab you." She stated solemnly, and Mr. Ray took a step back and looked at her.

"Darling, put down the knife, I promise I won’t harm you." He assured Rachael look at him in a surprised manner. She was surprised by his change of tone.

"Are you sure?" She asked, holding the knife close to her chest.

"Yes, I am sure," he stated, giving her an assuring smile, and she looked at Lisa and Mrs Ray and put the knife on the table.

Mr Ray pulled Rachael into an embrace. She didn’t hug him back. She was amazed. Lisa, whose mouth was wide open, blinked her eyes a few times to confirm if she was dreaming.

He started stroking her hair.

"I missed you a lot. When you were gone, I couldn’t think straight. I felt incomplete, like my missing piece had left me, I am sorry for the way I treated you when your mum died. The truth is, when you are away, I had sleepless nights." He stated hearing all this, she moved her hand slowly and hugged him back. Closing her eyes

"Are you guys for real? " Lisa remarks, glaring at them.

Mr Ray pulled away from the hug and cupped Rachael’s cheeks.

"I am sorry, for the way I treated you all those years ago, and I am ready to start a new relationship with you as long as you don’t ever think of running away from me anymore." He stated bluntly and Mrs Ray glared at them and lifted her upper lip in disgust.

Rate and review my lovely readers.