Father?

To say that I was shocked was an understatement, for what I have felt in that moment was beyond shock!

I felt as if the ground was being pooled from under me, and I was left to fall inside this dark endless pit…

I, as well as everyone else, stared at the stranger who claimed to be my father, his eyes were on me though, and for a second, I felt as if everyone else had disappeared.

This man’s face, it had my hazel eyes, my dark eyebrows, and even my beauty spot, the one on the right side of my chin.

However, there is nothing familiar about the man, the resemblance is undeniably there and it is unmissable, but I still don’t remember this man.

Not to mention that his screams and insults are only making me wary of him.

As if he has many sharp edges on him, ones that would cut anyone who gets closer.

Plus, my father is supposed to be dead, no? I look at Maisie and indeed, she is looking just as confused as I am.

Who is this guy then?

“Natalia, I am your father!” he repeats, this time his voice lower as he directs his words to me, I flinch involuntarily when he tries to break out of the giant’s grip.

I…don’t want him near me!

“Right!” Nathaniel scoffs and steps between us with his fists clenched tightly, “As if we would believe that!”

“Yeah, her father is dead!” Maisie said sternly and Nathaniel nodded approvingly, both crossing their arms over their chests.

“I am not dead!! Natalia, tell them!” he looks at me with urging eyes, ones that are so confident about the person they urging, asking me to back him up but I don’t know what to do.

His eyes look at me with that kind of confidence that only a person who is saying the truth can have.

Is he really saying the truth?

How can I tell if he is my father or not when I can’t even remember him?

He does look a lot like me, but that is not enough to believe he is my father.

“Hey!” I look up at Nathaniel who is now facing me, his large frame hiding the stranger from my eyes, and once the uncomfortable eye contact is broken, I am able to focus back on my surroundings, on the green orbs looking at me with concern.

I see him raise his hand, hesitantly at first, but when he sees that I don’t resist him, mostly because this overwhelming day had exhausted me, he places his hand on my cheek before starting to rub it gently.

His touches on me are like feathers, very lite and gentle as if he is scared that I might shatter if he applied more pressure on me, and at first, I don’t even know what or why he is doing this until I hear him say.

“Don’t cry, Natalia…” he soothes me in a very gentle voice, and only then I realize he was not rubbing my cheeks but wiping my tears, I want to stop crying but I don’t, I am too overwhelmed by the emotions, by the revelations, and by his proximity…

“Don’t fucking touch her!! you fucking rapist!!” I hear the stranger roar and I jolt back again, I see Nathaniel’s jaw clench tightly, visibly angry at the stranger’s words.

“Doctor, please take her back inside, I will deal with him.”

“But I want to know who he is!!” I object, even though I was getting the wrong vibes from him, he still looked like me, he still knew my name, and he still knew about the accident, a part of me told me this man had a part of the truth, and I wanted to hear it.

“Natalia, come.” I want to shake Maisie’s hand off me, but looking at the expression on her eyes, I can tell the words she refused to say out loud.

She was afraid I would break down again!

I want to tell her I am fine, that I can handle things, but I am not sure of that myself, all I know is that I am shaking and crying, again, weak and vulnerable.

Stripped out of my resolution, my integrity, in front of everyone.

“I promise, I will get to the bottom of this and tell you all about it.” Nathaniel reassures me before Maisie takes me back to our apartment, all while the stranger keeps on screaming for me not to go.

As we go back, I notice the little crowd that gathered around us, some with their phones taken out, filming the scene secretly, I look at few pairs of eyes and I see a lot in them.

Many had shock and pity in them, for me…

Some had confusion and disgust…

“Just ignore them, babe…” Maisie says as she walks me back to our apartment, and once we are in, I take off my flip flops and go straight to my room…

To my bed…

I had enough for one day, and I just want to sleep…

Maisie places the covers on my, then lays beside me, we lay together in complete silence until I calm down.

“Do you think he is actually my father?” I ask, my voice drained just like my soul, I feel like I might truly break down if even one tiny thing is added to my already stuffed plate.

“No!” Maisie says confidently and I look at her, confused, for I know she must have noticed that we look so much alike, seeing my confused eyes, she sighs before sitting up, placing my head in her lap as she starts caressing my hair ever so gently!

“You told me he was dead in so many occasions.” Maisie says and I swallow the lump that formed suddenly in my throat, remembering that I wasn’t exactly honest with her when it came to the relationship I shared with Nate, maybe I have lied about this as well.

“And you have told Nathaniel the same thing judged by his words earlier, now I don’t know, maybe you have meant the whole thing as a metaphor, but I do know this, baby…” she looks at me with serious eyes.

“He might be your biological father indeed, judging by the physical resemblance between the two of you, however, that doesn’t make him anything more than that, a sperm donor. Not a father!”

“What do you mean?!” I ask without looking at her, her voice and gentle caresses are more then enough to let me know she is here, with me, and I am instantly reassured.

I am not left alone with my questions…

“You know, my parents have cut me sine a long time, eight years to be precise, and sine that day, I stopped considering them as my parents, they were death to me!”

“Why?!”

“Why did they cut me?” Maisie asks to confirm my answer, once she sees me nod, a sad smile is plastered on her beautiful face.

“Let us just say I didn’t turn out to be the way they wanted me to be.” What the hell now? Their daughter is a doctor, a great one! What else could they possibly want?

“It has nothing to do with my carrier baby, let us just say they were very religious while I wasn’t” Maisie says with a light chuckle, as if she had read my mind.

“Let us consider the possibility of this man being your biological father, my point in here is, that doesn’t make him a father, maybe you had your reasons and hated the man! I have known you for a while now, Natalia, and you happened to be one of the kindest people I have ever met in my entire life, so I really doubt it is on you! What ever it is, don’t exhaust yourself with thinking, just give yourself some time to rest, okay?”

“Okay.” I say and Maisie smiles down at me, she then spends some extra minutes talking about different things, like the first time I moved here or the crazy shifts in the hospitals.

One I start yawning, Maisie stands up and let me take a more comfortable position, she places a soft kiss on my forehead and wishes me goodnight before she turns off the lights and walks out of my room.

“How sweet!” I jolt up, almost jumping out of my window when I heard the voice, a very familiar manly voice, I look around the room, searching for him with my eyes, and of course, there is no sign of him.

Was I imagining voices now? I ask myself

Oh God, am I going crazy?