Chapter 365 A father’s forgiveness
Chapter 365 A father’s forgiveness
Ying Sheng heard the doorbell ring but stalled in her backyard, hoping that Liam, her boyfriend, would get the door and deal with whoever was at the door.
The ringing persisted then cut off abruptly, she breathed a sigh of relief and allowed herself to go back to enjoying the bees visiting her flowers. All summer long she had jumped from the euphoria of having her flowers blooming to watching the bees and butterflies visit.
It may seem commonplace but it gave her a sense of creation, there was something to be said for having your flowers blooming beautiful.
Footsteps headed towards her paused her reverie, the door opened to reveal her boyfriend, Liam as he stepped into their lush backyard.
"Over here," she called and his eyes darted towards her.
She smiled up at him from her spot in the grass and he smiled back, a crooked smile that revealed him more handsome and drove a pang straight through her heart.
"Hello gorgeous"
"Hello, you" her voice suddenly breathy and low as he closed in to give her a kiss that ended too soon.
"You have a visitor," he told her after a while, his hands tugging her hair gently.
"You mean a package?" She teased him
"I'm sorry babe, your dad is here." The words were innocent enough but the preceding apology did nothing to soften the blow.
Ying Sheng stiffened before slowly allowing herself to relax into her boyfriend's embrace. She didn't even know her father knew her current location, not with them busy with their own lives.
Growing up her parents had never been around and had been too busy to "partake in such mundanities with their offspring" as her mother had so scathingly phrased it on the day she had challenged them, fought, and finally moved out.
She thought that would have been the end, barely seven months later and her father was at the door. She was curious enough to go and meet him but she wondered if that curiosity was not motivated by her need for her parents' love.
"Should I bring him down here?"Liam asked, Ying Sheng shook her head immediately, she didn't want him in this area of her life.
"No, I'll meet him in the living room" she replied softly
"I Love you. If you need me I will be close by, so just call me." he struggled to say something else but finally settled for a kiss on her forehead.
"Thanks, babe" she replied easily, mentally girding herself for the encounter ahead.
She walked into the room with a touch of trepidation and feeling like a little child about to get a scolding. The image of her father seated gingerly in the living room was one that was going to live with her forever.
He hadn't noticed her, and at that moment the well-dressed man sitting there was the picture of despair, he slumped imperceptibly, something her image-conscious parents would never allow normally and his eyes trailed from one part of the room with eyes that saw but didn't actually see.
"Hi Dad," at her words he straightened quickly until he turned back into that familiar father figure of her childhood, he stood until she sat down before settling back into his seat
"Hello Ying Sheng, it's been a while. I see you've done well for yourself" he stated gesturing vaguely around them.
Ying Sheng nodded absently before challenging him, "Dad why are you here?"
The question seemed to freeze him, suddenly the facade of a man in control melted away until what remained was the somber figure she had glimpsed when she came in "I came to tell you that I'm sorry"
Ying Sheng jolted to her feet with a shout "you're what?"
"Please have a seat, Ying Sheng , I know I don't deserve for you to hear me out but please, for the last time." If his earlier words were a shock, this did not soften the blow.
"I'm just shocked" Ying Sheng mumbled as she settled back into her seat feeling oddly chastised
"I'm still going through the shock myself, your mom and I had a divorce." The moment he came back from his punishment, his family had a meeting and with the help of his sister, he was able to convince them to grant him a divorce. But that too came with a price, a price he happily agreed to pay.
He was stripped of his position as the face of the family and as the CEO of the family business. He was now an outcast of the Ying family. In order to save his mistress and their unborn baby he had given up his rights and family name away. Now he was just an ordinary man who is fighting for the love of his daughter. A daughter he had mercilessly broken due to his own shortcomings.
Somehow, Ying Sheng couldn't help her reaction, "What did you do, scratch your armpit in public and ruin her poise?" She asked with a rude scoff then suddenly cringed
Her father didn't notice, he greeted her actions with a low chuckle "we deserved that, I deserved that"
"I'm sorry Dad" Ying Sheng demurred, appalled at her bitter tone and attitude. Such snide remarks were the premise of her mother, she wouldn't sink so low.
He nodded curtly, "This is hard knowing that I deserve whatever you say right now, no matter how disrespectful but I came to ask for your forgiveness"
"But why did you and Mom divorce? You were perfect together"
"Were we? I don't think so, I think I am have lost my way at some point, I'm not an angel myself but I allowed your mom to take over our lives and here we are." he lamented softly, his eyes focused on hers
"What really happened, why are you two divorced" It seemed inconceivable
"Well...after sitting down and sorting out our differences, we decided to go on our separate ways. She has been cheating on me and I...you know" he blurted without preamble.
"Oh, Dad!"
He continued as if she hadn't said a word, "I know I may not present myself as the best father but I'm not that heartless to trap her in her marriage she hates."
"But how did you find out"
"Your younger brother is the son of her lover and she threw that in my face like it was my own shortcoming too."
"I'm so sorry Dad"
He shook his head again with a tired sigh, suddenly she could see the tired lines all over his face and the despair he couldn't quite hide painting his words "No my dear, I'm the one who should be saying that I'm the one who failed to see the perfect daughter in front of me. I'm the one who allowed your mother to put a distance between us, I'm also the father who was never there for his own child. I let you to fend for yourself all these months"
"I have a good life here." And she felt the need to mention that
"I'm aware and I'm sorry that I was not the one to give it to you, I just wish that you will let me be a part of the rest of your life. But if you don't I understand, I've waited too long I guess" he replied before he got to his feet and headed for the door
For the first time in her life, she saw her father not as one of her tormentors or a prison warden but as another human being with his own shortcomings and failures.
The point was that he owned up to those failures and was willing to try. That was all she had wanted all her life, someone, willing to try for her.
Ying Sheng scrambled after him, "Dad wait," he turned around and for the first time in a long time she gave in to the little girl clamoring in her heart and hugged her father, his arms tightened around her too.
"I forgive you Dad and I really want you to be a part of my life going forward."
"I'll be there" he solemnly promised
"You don't need to make any promises" she returned
He sighed again as he looked at her, "you deserve everything, it's such a pity that it's taken me so long to see that you are the best thing I've ever done with my life."
"Oh Dad"
"I love you Ying bear"
"I love you too Daddy"