Tempe, Arizona

Vincitorio’s Restaurant

November 21, 2050

12:15 PM

Daphne Garza could not quite place if the atmosphere that hovered above them was plain and normal, or awkward with a slight hint of tension. This was not how she pictured out everything on her mind.

She had expected a much loose situation where she could freely express herself in front of the people that she loved, but right now, she could not even look her father, Stefano Garza, in the eye.

Having to keep her relationship with Kled Johnson a secret for two years was not so honorable, and she knew that her father was not impressed of her for that matter.

She felt Kled hold her hand, and it was all the reassurance that she had needed for her to carry on.

Daphne’s face flushed crimson red when she caught her father looking at them, and he probably noticed Kled’s gesture, too.

She blinked twice when her father shook his head and looked away. She then felt a hollow space in her stomach, and she figured that she did not like her father’s reaction. She did not want to get on his bad side, and she knew that hiding secrets from him was not one way to procure it.

However, she got scared of what he might do if he had found out sooner.

He would surely freak out, and that was what she wished to avoid. She had always admired her father for being just and fair, and she was fully aware that there were things which could send one person spiraling as if he was out of his mind.

To be quite honest, Daphne was uncertain of how this day would play out for the three of them. Her father had always been calm and understanding. Perhaps, she did not want to abuse his generosity. There was not a single circumstance that her father actually got angry with her; it made her think he would forgive her for whatever mistakes.

Daring to take a small peek, she could not quite tell her father’s expression. Frankly, she was not expecting him to be happy because the whole romance thing with Kled would not apparently make his heart leap with joy. Ever since she was little, she never had trouble getting anything that she wanted.

Her father made sure that he could fulfill the role of a mother and father. She had never seen him complain even once. He handled them perfectly—both she and her elder sister. Although, she had not noticed the particular treatment he was giving her not too long ago.

Two years ago to be exact.

Her father was extra careful with her.

At first, she just shrugged it off.

She had learned to embrace the fact that he was just protective because she was his little girl, his youngest daughter. With the thought that she was more fragile compared to her elder sister, Dahlia Garza, her father’s actions were obvious. He did not want her to follow the steps of her headstrong sister, but he never spoke even once of it.

Daphne had so much respect for her father, and she certainly did not desire to grow doubts in her heart. She knew that he had both loved them equally.

She shook her head.

“You can always embrace your freedom, my child, but do not forget to stay honest with me. That is the only reciprocation I ask of you.”

Those were his words when she turned sixteen, and until now, it was still deeply ingrained in her mind. She grew inspired by it, and if it was possible to love one person even more, she would always owe to it her father and the wisdom he imparted.

Perhaps, it might be also the reason why she chose to keep that secret from him.

He did not deserve her tainted loyalty, and it took her two years to finally meet her resolve. Since she was of legal age now, she thought it would be ideal to finally come clean. She wished to have the flow of lies discontinued; to conclude.

It was the right thing to do after all.

She had thought about this for weeks now. She even rehearsed her lines several times. Failure to clarify everything was not an option right now, and her hands were starting to get cold and sweaty. She was literally becoming a bundle of nerves, and she knew that one unpleasant word from her father would have sent her spiraling as well.

Clearly, Daphne did not want to mess this up. She had this planned.

She told herself that she would make them meet each other, and she swore not to fail, even that at the back of her mind, she understood that she was at fault here.

She disobeyed a direct order.

“I can give you the world, my child, but you have to understand that I will not allow boys in your life yet—not until you are twenty. Do I make myself clear?”

Memories seemed to have their own will, and they were crashing down on her all at once.

Looking up to see her father, Daphne was on the brink of tears. He was staring right at her, his eyes emotionless, as if they were communicating with her, telling her that she was not good enough, that she had failed him, that she was no different from her elder sister.

It felt unfair at the moment, and no words from Kled would have certainly made her feel any better. She should have listened to Dahlia; her elder sister highly opposed this.

Now, she was beginning to understand why.

“You are the apple of the eye of our father, Daphne. You will only attract his bad side. Do it some other time. You do not know what he is capable of.”

Her elder sister’s words had an underlying tone of threat to it, but she paid no heed.

She did not see any reason to prolong the internal battle she was having inside of her head. Everything must come to an end, and she was convinced that her emotions would have felt lighter if she were to tell the truth to their father. It was not a quick decision, and she had to ponder over the consequences for long.

Daphne would admit that she was terrified.

Coming clean would mean acknowledging her dirt.

She was able to come up with that reasoning because no matter how revolting it sounded, it was true. That was one thing that we must learn to accept; that truth wore ugly faces. They had to be recognized for its veracious form.

Otherwise, you were to suffer two major repercussions: (a) the tendency to develop a cynical outlook toward every person that you would come across (b) or worse, the tendency to become the representation of your fear of discovery. It made her uneasy that she could only be either of the two, and she refused to be her own victim.

“Father, I want you to know that Kled and I have been together for two years,” Daphne admitted quietly, her voice kind of strained and embarrassed. She threw a sideway glance at Kled, and the concerned look on his face was enough for her to sigh in relief.

She was relieved that he did not misunderstand what she had just said. It was not that she was embarrassed of their relationship, and that he was not good enough for her if he was to be introduced to her father.

She was ashamed of the act itself—that she had to lie, that she was able to keep it from her father for two years.

“I see,” her father suddenly spoke, his tone grave, yet there was an unmistakable glint in his eyes that gave her hope. She held her breath when their gazes met, and she saw it in his eyes. “You have been a good girl, my child. It is a shame I know it is only a matter of time that you would make your own decision, and no longer rely on my order.” His tone was strict, yet gentle. It was as if her father was literally talking to a small girl, and she was the receiving end for that matter.

Daphne felt her cheeks heat up, faintly bowing her head down to hide her embarrassment.

She looked down at her hands, and found them shaking. Dahlia was right; no preparation could have transformed her into being ready enough when it came to facing their father down to cardinal matters like this.

She did not understand what her elder sister meant by it at first.

Daphne would never deny that there were times she envied her strength and resolve. Dahlia would often disobey their father, and never once had she seen regret in her elder sister’s eyes, in her actions. Dahlia had never wavered. She never hesitated, and that was what Daphne admired and envied of her the most. Dahlia could withstand anything because she was resilient enough to take matters into her own hands.

“How old are you, young man?”

Daphne snapped out of her reverie, her eyes widening at her father’s direct question.

She bit her lower lip and slowly turned to look at him. She wanted to take a look at his facial expression. She needed the reassurance once again. She wanted to make sure that he would not disapprove of them—of Kled. Right now, there was still a bit of apprehension left within her system; something that could not be tamed until this lunch date was over. Looking at her father, it felt like all new to her. She could not tell what he truly felt about this, about the sudden revelation.

“I am of the same age of your lovely daughter, Sir. I am eighteen, and we are attending the same school.”

Daphne was deeply overwhelmed, and all she could do was stare dumbly at her boyfriend, Kled, who was staring back at her father bravely, and he even had the courage to smile genuinely. Her heart felt so full in admiration for the guy sitting beside her.

She was in awe for he somehow reminded her of her elder sister, and the only difference was their goal. She figured that we were to show faces, depending on what our very goal was. She could not be more inspired of Kled. Of all people, he could always see right through her, thus he had never failed to sympathize.

He had always been supportive, to the point that he became her anchor.

“I see,” her father’s response told her that he was thinking about this, he was actually considering this. “Tell me about your family background, and from there, we will decide what has to be done, young man.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “F-father, that is—”

“We shall respect your father’s wishes for we are hoping to get his blessings, Daph,” Kled interjected softly when he saw that she was panicking.

Why not?

Her father was being unreasonable, and she was beginning to think that he was much more prepared than she ever was.

Kled cupped her face, and made her look at him. From Daphne’s peripheral vision, she saw her father express his distaste of the simple gesture. The urge to turn away from Kled’s reassuring touch was demanding. She wanted to confirm it herself. She must be hallucinating.

“It is fine, Daph.” Kled smiled at her. “I have nothing to hide.”

Her eyes watered. “B-but you are all—”

Kled’s thumb ran across her lower lip. “There is nothing to hide, Daph. We must come to face reality, and this,” Kled turned to face her father, “is reality.”

Stefano Garza laughed.

Her father actually laughed.

Kled and Daphne were both astounded by the fact that her father had the audacity to find the whole situation amusing. She blinked several times to make sure that her eyes were not being cheated on.

It was true.

Her father even wiped a tear from the sides of his eyes. She and her lovely boyfriend shared a look before they joined in the laughter. Daphne could not seem to ignore the warmth, rippling inside of her heart. If her father was at ease, she was now at ease, too. Although, when and how this lunch date would end, she would like to think that it was worthy enough to be charged to experience.

Her father cleared his throat, a knowing smile plastered on his youthful face. “We can discuss about it while eating.”

⊷☽☾⊶

The travel on their way home was reasonably silent.

Stefano Garza was on a phone call right now with a very important colleague. Daphne could sense that just by how tensed her father’s shoulders were. He was trying to whisper his response as well. She could not stare at him for long without feeling a little emotional, so she had to look away.

She felt it before, and she was feeling it once again. It was like a never-ending loop that inhabited her stomach for quite some time. The feeling that could be nearly compared to an opponent whose ploy was to attack from the inside. She was not able to name it, but if she could put a local term to it, it was beyond upsetting.

A lone tear that fell down her eye tasted bitter, just like how the lunch date ended. What occurred was far from what she had anticipated. She knew it was wrong of her to have high hopes, knowing that her relationship with Kled was established out of mistake.

She should have known better, so that, in a way, they could have spared each other from the impending heartache caused by their ignorance—her ignorance.

Dahlia was right; she should not cook up expectations if she was not fully positive that the results would taste good.

Daphne pursed her lips and bit back a low whimper. She was jealous. Her elder sister seemed to have known everything down to the very last detail.

Daphne thought she came prepared. She thought she was able to flatten out the necessary information, her reasons, their excuses. She thought they were going half-way, and things would go smoothly as she planned.

She thought wrong.

She definitely underestimated the consequence of lying. She did not even think about it because she somewhat became complacent. She let herself believe that she could just easily get away with it because it was just her first time anyway. Her father would have forgiven her no matter what. She had not given much thought about how long she was trying to keep him in the dark, and for a first mistake itself, it was as heavy as it sounded.

Daphne took a gamble and put her father’s trust on the line to begin with.

“I came from a poor family, Sir. We are not rich, and I am a full-time scholar at the Arizona State University.” Kled sighed warily. “You may not think this is not necessary to mention, but I will still give it a go. I am the bastard son of the reigning governor in Colorado, and you deserve to know the truth about me, Sir. I am not ashamed of my current standing, and I am not a fan of making promises. All I know is to give all that I have gotten, and accept things as they are.”

Her father’s smirk was smug.

Daphne did not appreciate it one bit, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt. This was all, but a challenge. That was what she tried to put on her mind. He was just testing them, and their reaction and answers would determine their fate. They would have a primary effect on her father’s decision.

Daphne was not aware that admitting things that had been recovered as a lie for too long could be this difficult. If she would think about it carefully, Dahlia said almost the same thing about lying, then confessing. Her elder sister had predicted that Daphne would be having a hard time to get this done because it was her first time, and when things did not go her way, it would hurt because it was her first time.

Her exact words were:

“You should have started young, Daphne. Only then, you could have mastered the art of handling things.”

She would often tell her elder sister that she confused her, but today, she was able to get her point. Then, she realized, maybe the reason that she understood little of her elder sister’s principles was because she never had the chance to experience things on her end; Daphne never actually tried to understand where Dahlia was coming from.

Until now, Daphne was still confused as to why her elder was committed to always go against their father’s wishes. Was it all part of her training? Was she training herself for future matters like this? Was that the meaning behind her words of ‘starting young’? Dahlia Garza was five years older than her, but she was labeled as immature time and again.

However, her elder sister did not seem to mind being called that.

In fact, she enjoyed that her actions were being recognized.

“I love our father, Daphne, and my choice is to defy him. You will realize soon enough that what I did in the past—up until now was to help him realize his mistake. I actually wish to prevent something, but I think it is already materializing as we speak.”

⊷☽☾⊶

Dimora Della Garza

Second Born Chamber

November 21, 2050

6:15 PM

Her phone got confiscated.

It was a preventive measure, she was told.

Although, she already had an idea, she forced it out of her system. Perhaps, she still believed in her father. With a sliver of hope that he would come around soon, she still chose to trust him. He could be just in shock, right? Their lunch date went well. She was under the impression that he had taken a liking to Kled because whenever her boyfriend spoke, her father attentively listened as if he was sincerely interested in his stories.

“I commend your honesty, young man. I see that you are not trying to win me over with flowery words, and I must say that is laudable. You are quite mature for your age. You remind me of someone who cannot act her age in accordance with our norms.” Her father glanced at her and smiled.

Daphne immediately knew whom he was talking about, and she was stunned. He was badmouthing his own daughter in front of a stranger? It gave her a lump in her throat, and got her misty-eyed.

Just a few seconds after she entered her father’s F-150, the door was slammed harshly. She watched her father take his phone out of his pocket, dialing somebody swiftly. When she turned to look who the driver was, their eyes met in the rear-view mirror instead.

Her forehead knotted in confusion.

He did not look familiar, and she was positive that she had never seen him once in their mansion. Nevertheless, Daphne offered him a friendly smile to which he shyly returned before looking away.

Weird.

Soon enough, her father placed himself on the passenger’s seat and clasped his seatbelts. He turned to look at her, his eyes appearing a bit icy and frenzied. She was about to speak and give her thanks to him, but he beat her to it. “Kled Johnson is not good enough. Try again, my child.”

Daphne’s happy smile immediately contorted into an expression of sorrow and helplessness. “F-father?” What did he mean by that?

“I did not stutter, my child,” he said firmly, focusing his eyes back on the road. “You heard me.”