Adam gave my hand a squeeze as I stared at my father and Kate. I bit my lip as the both of started to walk where they were sitting. Calm down, Sophia, you can do this.

“Let’s leave them alone,” Adam said to Kate, gesturing to me then to my father.

I didn’t want to let go of his hand just to sit across from my father to finally talk to him. He saw the annoyed part of myself in the time of his visit, Adam convinced me to finally tell him how I really felt about his whole engagement to a girl I don’t know.

Kate shared a look with my father and he nodded at her, telling her to give us some privacy as we had this conversation. He leaned down and he kissed her on the cheek and I snapped my head to Adam’s direction, my eyebrows creasing with anxiousness.

“You’re strong,” he whispered, finally letting go of my hand even though I didn’t want him to, “I’ll be at the other table, call me anytime you want to.”

I nodded and he smiled, pulling out the chair for me like a gentleman. Kate stood up from her spot next to my father and she looked at me.

“Hello Sophia,” she greeted. Like usual, I ignored her.

Now am I a wonderful ray of sunshine or what?

I closed my eyes, trying to collect my thoughts as Adam escorted her away from the both of us.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, Sophia,” Robert Valentine said, wrapping his finger on the mug of coffee, “But I know that you have been busy.”

I gripped the table cloth as I tried to collect my thoughts. I promised to Adam that I won’t snap within the first sentence, but if I’m going to do that, I need to choose my words correctly.

“How have you been, dad?” I inquired casually, lifting my hand to order my own coffee. I need something to calm me down if we’re going to talk like this.

He shrugged, leaning against his chair as I straightened up more on my chair, “I’ve been trying to help Kate with the wedding plans.”

The way he looked at me was a clear reprimanding stare that meant that I should have been there to help his dear fiancé. Dad, for once please open your damn eyes and see that I don’t like Kate, it’s going to take the flipping universe in order to bring me even close to the idea.

Maybe he thought that when I said yes to his invitation for lunch, I finally dropped my stubborn act and agreed to play dress-up with her.

No, just no.

“All of those people in the bridal shop are asking where you are,” he continued on, he paused momentarily when my coffee arrived. The waiter asked for our food and we just ordered the same thing, the one that was first listed off in the menu to make him leave faster.

“They’re giving Kate special attention because of you,” he told me, “You’re really something in this town, or any town for that matter.”

I nodded at him, refusing to speak. I wanted to make sure we had no interruptions so I waited for our food as he tried to fill our silence with mindless chatter.

 “I really wish you were there with us,” he sighed and when I saw our waiter delivering back our food, I chewed on my bottom lip as he set the plates on our table. He gave us a small nod as he retreated away from our table.

I eyed my untouched coffee, I’m pretty sure it had gone cold already, before switching my gaze to the sandwich that I had mindlessly ordered.

 “Sophia, it would be nice if you actually talked to me,” the patience in his voice was thinning.

Don’t snap, Sophia, don’t snap. For once, push Heart to the back of your mind.

“Daddy,” I said gently, using the sweet approach, “Why didn’t you tell me about Kate?”

He lifted a hand to massage his temples. When he said that I should talk, I guess he wasn’t expecting me to ask about such a taboo subject.

“I tried, pumpkin,” he let out, using my old pet name, “But the right time never came.”

Frowning, I stared at him with disappointment, “And you decided that this summer will be the best time? You waited until you were engaged to tell me?”

He exhaled through his nose and lifted a fork, finding the silverware much more interesting than this topic, “I tried, Sophia, I sincerely tried.”

Too bad, dad, you didn’t try hard enough.

The damage would have been less worse if he just straight out informed that he was seeing another woman. Instead, he appeared here in front of me with a girl wrapped around his arm like a leech.

“When you popped the question, did you ever consider how I will react as you presented her the ring?”

He was silent, a clear sign that the thought never arose when he proposed. Was I even in his mind the whole time, he never considered how his only daughter would have felt. I knew it was none of my business, but he used to call me the only girl in his life.

How about my mother, did he remember that he had a past marriage with a girl who might possibly still arbor some feelings for him?

Now I know where I learned to become selfish.

“Don’t be mad at me, Sophia, it’s not like you’ve been a total angel during our visit here.”

I slammed my palm on the table before I curled it up into a fist, trying to calm myself, “Imagine if your father visits you after a really long time and then find out it’s not because he wanted to see you, but to rub it to your face that he’s engaged to a girl you never heard of before.”

His lips pressed into a tight line and I shook my head at him, this bullshit.

Calm yourself, Sophia! It was like a mantra that I had failed to follow.

“You need a mother figure, Sophia,” he tried to excuse.

“No, I needed a mother figure seven years ago!” I practically yelled at him, suddenly remembering how I survived the big bad world called puberty without my mother physically present to help me through it. I was twelve when it happened, the day my mother kissed me goodbye and left.

What I loved about her is the fact she still dotted on me. It was like she never left, but I still missed the hugs, the touches, the warming comfort she gave off.

My father looked down on me that day and promised that he will raise me. He did, he helped me with everything until that faithful day three years later.

At the age of fifteen, I dropped everything I ever lived with since the day I was born and moved to America. My mother packed her stuff from Georgia and flew to California so the both of us can live together.

She was there to support me, guiding me through the twists and turns of Hollywood. I forgot how many times did I crawled into her bed as I sobbed because of a nasty rumor. Even then, she comforted me and kept telling me to be strong.

Along with Taylor, she helped form the strong Heart Valentine, but she treated me as gentle as she did to Sophia.

Besides, she’s the main reason why I’m named Heart. She thought it would be an amazing pun because of my last name. My father got to choose the first name, and she got the middle.

It was kind of weird. My father raised Sophia while my mother took care of Heart.

“This is the first time you’ve ever visited me in America,” I pointed out truthfully, “And the sad thing is, it’s not the reason I was thinking of.”

When he gave me the news that he was coming, I couldn’t wipe the big grin on my face. Finally, I would be able to see my father in the flesh. I thought that he missed me just as much as I missed him, I thought that was the reason why he flew over.

I was completely and utterly wrong.

“Just like you, I can’t drop everything, I have a job to do back in England.”

He shouldn’t really use that excuse on me.

“Story time!” I crossed my arms over my chest as I kept my face hard, “There’s this girl who got a big Hollywood deal and in order to do that, she had to move to California.”

He stilled, already knowing where this was going. His face was pleading, begging me not to remind him something he obviously didn’t want to hear. Too bad, I’m telling it anyway, “But her father said that he will miss her, so she did the painful decision of flying back and forth between the two countries. She was tired, she was sick, her body was becoming weak but she didn’t care, because the request was from her daddy dearest.”

“Sophia stop!” he demanded but I kept going.

“Her body clock was so confused to the point all she did was sleep on the plane. While working, she will start to have high fevers. Her manager advised that she should just stay in Hollywood, but she rejected that idea because she knew her father would miss her.”

“Sophia…” he trailed, his face pale as the words kept spilling out of my mouth.

“Her father was happy every time she would come home to England as he kept praising her about the fact she still decided to live in the UK, it was like a silent demand that she should just continue with this practice – flying back and forth, living her life inside an airplane.”

“Stop!” it was now a command, telling me to shut up about it.

“But one day, her body finally collapsed. She got admitted into the hospital and you know what happened after that, my dear father,” I finished.

I was so young back then, the stamina I had today couldn’t compare to what I had back then. I barely managed with the flights, but right now, I can deal with a world tour. The thing was, my body is used to it now, but during those horrible times, I was still adjusting to my new career.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “So, so sorry.”

His eyes were sad, a pain to think that he was the reason that his daughter faced so much hardship years ago. Thinking back, it was also my decision, a very stupid decision.

“You’ve cause me pain, but nothing can beat how much you’ve hurt my mother.”

Another subject he obviously didn’t want to approach. He held up a hand to stop me, “She was the one who wanted to have the divorce.”

He should really think more of these things through. I remember those days, my dad wouldn’t be home till the late hours of the night. My mother was speculating something, but she kept a strong face for me.

“That’s because you did nothing but hurt her,” I nearly shouted, “You’ll come home at one in the morning and then you had the attitude in you to yell at her whenever she asked where you came from?”

He froze when he heard the statement, “You knew?”

“Our house wasn’t the biggest one in the world, it didn’t help that the walls were so thin.”

Those night when my mother would tuck me into bed, reassuring me that my father will be home soon. I was only woken hours later by the yelling from both of my parents, they’ll fight about every single thing they can think of, turning their words against the other.

“Mom loved you,” I gritted out, “Heck, mom still loves you!”

He was shocked by this statement, having the mentality that the woman he used to call his wife loathes him. New flash, she still adores you!

“It was still her choice.”

Those words were so painful to hear. It was as if he thought that he was a saint while my mom brought out all the flaws in their broken relationship. Wasn’t he aware that he was the one who started it?

“Bastard!” I had enough of this.

I’m so sorry, Adam, I tried to be patient with him, but I can’t do this anymore.

Grabbing my purse, I slammed some cash on the table, enough to pay for my untouched food. I stood up and looked down at the man called my father.

“Call me when you finally have some sense in you,” I breathed, turning on my heel as I exited the restaurant.

On my way out, I caught Adam’s gaze and I gave him a silent announcement that I was done with my father.

When I was outside, I got inside my car and I finally allowed myself to cry, pour out every single emotion I had kept in while I was talking to him. The tears kept rolling down from my eyes, I hit the steering wheel, sobbing as I dug my nails at the palm of my hand, trying to stop myself from crying.

I can’t waste my tears on him, it meant that he had won.

The admiration that I had for him went down the drain within twenty minutes. That was it, just one simple conversation took it away.

The passenger door opened and I tilted my head to the side, expecting Adam to be there.

For one thing, it was Kate drumming her fingers on her lap as she continued to stare at me.

“Where’s Adam?” I croaked, plucking out tissues as I furiously wiped away my tears.

God, how embarrassing can this get?

She leaned back and rested her head on the headrest of her seat, “Would you believe that he’s scolding your father inside?”

The image of a nineteen year old reprimanding my own father was enough to make me crack a smile.

“Adam is really something,” she laughed lightheartedly, “He’s very protective of you.”

“In what way is that?” I asked, disposing of the mountain of tissues that I used.

“Before we went here, he was aware that you would be upset. He automatically told Robert to step away from you if you start to cry,” she explained, focusing her gaze forward, “When you came running out of that place, he looked like he was about to kill somebody.”

Folding my legs to my chest, I hugged my knees. It was kind of difficult considering the tight space of the car but I always curled up like this if I wanted comfort, “Impossible, he’s always so gentle like he can’t hurt an ant.”

“To you,” she informed, “Trust me, he’ll bend hell and earth just to make sure you’re always smiling.”

A laugh made its way out of my system but I sounded like a dying animal. The thought only made me laugh harder.

Kate looked at me before her lips quirked into a smile, giggling next to me.

Maybe she isn’t too bad if we can act like this.

“What were you thinking when dad proposed to you?” I asked her suddenly.

She smiled wistfully, “I’m going to live the rest of my life with the man I love,” she stated confidently, “And that was one of the reasons why I said yes.”

I’m still mad at my father, but right now, Kate looked so kind. She reached out and touched my shoulder, testing waters. When I didn’t snap her hand away, she took at as a good sign, “Can we start over?”

I didn’t reply to her, instead I let out an over exaggerated sigh, “Just saying, I’m not calling you mom.”

She looked like she finally got what she was fishing for. The smile I showed that told her I was teasing meant that I had finally given her something she had been searching for since she came here.

My approval.

“I’m Sophia Valentine,” I said, sticking out my hand to her.

“No Heart?” she quipped and I shook my head.

“Heart will take a little bit more effort to get,” I told her, “But you got the person Robert Valentine raised.”

She lifted her hand and shook my hand, “Nice to meet you, Sophia, I hope we could get along.”

“I hope so too.”

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We have an earlier update than usual so don't go wild because I didn't put up any drama with Adam and Axel. I was actually stalling you guys because since we've hit the twenty chapter mark on my next update, we're going on full speed with this story. Wait for more revelations, fights, and maybe we'll get rid of how dense Sophia is.

But before that, I have to surive this and next month. College admission tests will start next month and I'm pulling my hair with my projects so let's start practicing our patience.

Dedicated to @superstarsushi for the banner on the side. Props to you for using the cast!

Question: Thoughts on Sophia's daddy dearest?

Look at the bright, she's warming up to Kate! I love you guys, see you all next chapter. Don't forget to vote, comment and follow.