Iris' father had asked her to choose the restaurant, so she did. Even if he hadn't asked, she was still going to do so either way. After all, she had agreed to have dinner with him. As far as she was concerned, everything was to be done on her terms.

Iris had chosen a restaurant close to campus. It was small, and one that she was familiar with. She figured that the least she could do was have some sense of comfort in a situation that was going to be highly uncomfortable.

Iris walked into the restaurant, immediately overpowered by the scent of frying fish and chips. Normally, she would have crinkled up her face in repulsion at the overwhelming scent, but not right then. She clung to the scent instead, inhaling it as deeply as she could. This was something she was familiar with, it kept her grounded.

Iris took in the familiar red and white tiled walls of the restaurant, as she quickly scanned, looking for her father. She wasn't sure if she even remembered what he looked like. After all, it had been so long since the last time that she had seen him.

Yet, Iris couldn't see anyone that popped out to her. The restaurant wasn't full, but everyone there was white. Sure, Iris knew little about her father, but she knew for sure that he wasn't white.

Of course, her father had stood her up. It did not surprise iris in the slightest. It was just the sort of thing that a person like him would do.

Iris was just about to turn on her heel and leave when she caught sight of a hand waving at her. It was a black hand. It was her father. He was seated in a booth at the very back of the restaurant and had noticed Iris just as she was about to leave.

Iris' heart fell in her chest. There was a part of her - a large part of her that actually wished that he wouldn't show up. It was easier for her if he didn't come. It was what she expected. It was the norm, but at least that way she had proof to her mom that he still wasn't shit. But now, she actually had to go through with this.

Taking a deep breath, Iris began making her way to the booth where her father was seated. It was weird for her to think of him as her father, even. God knows, he for sure did not act like one. Not in the slightest.

It was then that the nervousness sank in. It showed in the way Iris' legs shook slightly as she walked. She clenched her hands in a fist at her side in order to stabilize herself, but stable was the last thing that she felt right then. Instead, she felt vulnerable and exposed.

Iris finally arrived where her father was seated and slipped into the booth right opposite him. She took in a deep breath before she looked up at him.

He looked just like Iris remembered him, but at the same time, not at all. His previous high afro had been shaven off, and he now had a low fade. He had also shaved off most of his facial hair, leaving behind a silly-looking mustache above his upper lip. Iris thought that he looked absolutely ridiculous.

But besides that, everything else was the same. He still had his gleaming dark skin, which Iris knew she had inherited from him, as well as his consistent muscular build. He was older now, but Iris had seen pictures of him lying around the house from when he was younger.

As much as she hated to admit it, she could understand why her mom had fallen for him. He was every heterosexual teenage woman's dream back then.

"Iris," her father said, being the first to break the silence, "I am so glad that you could make it."

Iris doesn't respond. Honestly, she doesn't know what to say to this. She was only able to 'make it' because she was basically forced to be here. Iris didn't say this, but glared at her father, hoping that somehow he could read her thoughts.

At that moment, the waitress appeared next to them to take their order.

Iris' father placed his order first. When it got to Iris' turn, she just asked for fries.

"Are you sure you don't want something more?" her father asked her, once the waitress had walked off, "I'm paying for it. You don't need to worry about the cost. I got it."

Iris scoffed then, almost laughing at the words that had left her father's mouth.

"I don't need anything from you. I never have and I never will."

If the tension wasn't already apparent in the air, it sure as hell was now. But Iris didn't care, she wasn't going to let her father buy her a meal and think to himself that all was suddenly all was well and dandy in the world.

"I understand," Iris' father finally responded, nodding his head. "You're right. I have hardly ever been there for you or your mother in the past. I'm trying to change that. I'm trying to work on myself and be better."

Iris laughed then. She didn't believe a word that he said. As far as she was concerned, it was nothing but bullshit.

However, her father ignored this, choosing to change the topic instead.

"How is college going? I know you're on the premed track. That's extremely impressive."

A hot rage instantly flared up in Iris.

"Did my mom tell you that?" Iris asked sarcastically. "what else did she tell you? I hope she told you how she had to work 4 jobs for ten whole years and went to bed hungry most nights in order for me to eat."

The outburst was so sudden and Iris felt she would implode, but at that moment, the waitress returned with their food.

Neither Iris nor her father said anything to the other as the waitress placed their food down in front of them. Iris' father offered the waitress a tight-lipped smile of gratitude, but Iris continued glaring at her father throughout.

It wasn't till the waitress left that he shook his head, bringing his hands up to his face as he did so.

"Iris, how many times do you need me to tell you I am sorry?" her father now asked.

"Sorry will not undo everything that my mom and I have been through because of you. You say it like it's some bandaid that just suddenly cancels out everything," Iris instantly fired back, not budging in the slightest. The last thing she was going to let her father do was to think that he had any chance of redemption.

"I understand that, but it's extremely difficult for me to prove myself to you when you're not even letting me."

"Why should I let you? You don't fucking deserve that!"

Iris' vision was blurring slightly, but she immediately blinked the tears away. She would literally drop dead before crying right then. Crying in front of her deadbeat father was the last thing that she would do.

A couple of people sitting in the booths nearby had begun to give glances towards the booth Iris and her father were sitting in.

Iris sat back and took a fry from her plate into her mouth. She wasn't hungry. She didn't have an appetite in the slightest, but it was something to keep her mouth occupied. It was either this or Iris was certain she would start yelling profanities at her father. Although she wasn't completely against the idea, she didn't want to get banned from the restaurant.

For a few moments, Iris wondered if choosing this restaurant had been the wrong idea after all.

"I want to change things. I want to make things up to you," Iris' father finally said. His voice was gentle, almost begging. But when it came to her father, Iris' heart was hardened. She continued eating her fries as if he had not spoken at all.

"Why did you even come if you weren't going to listen to me?" her father asked. He hadn't touched his food at all, but Iris didn't care.

"Mom forced me," she deadpanned, putting another fry in her mouth.

"Even Irene wants this," Iris' father said, using her mom's first name. "I do not want to have a relationship with her without having one with you."

The fry that was in Iris' mouth immediately turned stale. She could have been eating cardboard for all she knew.

"What do you mean, a relationship?" Iris asked slowly, wishing to all the gods out there that it wasn't what she was thinking.

At that moment, Iris' father's facial expression showed that he had let something slip that he wasn't meant to. He quickly tried to hide it, but Iris had caught it already.

No, Iris thought, God please no.