C3

"Wow, it's really you!" she cried excitedly. "How have you been?!"

He didn't respond. He simply stared back at her silently. She was so beautiful; her face glowing with joy as she stood on her tiptoes and waved her arms around like an animated cartoon character. Her curly red hair framed her cute little face perfectly; her blue eyes shined brightly, sparkling with excitement and anticipation as she stared at him. He tried not to stare at her; however, her beauty captivated him completely. He knew that she had to be aware of this; otherwise she wouldn't be staring back at him like this!

After several seconds passed, she suddenly lowered her arms to her sides and took a step backwards. She turned around abruptly and started walking back towards the house without saying another word. He could tell that she had been expecting someone else and was surprised to see her daddy instead.

And there goes my chance...

He sighed deeply when she disappeared from sight, realizing that his hopes of reuniting with her were fading fast. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it except watch her leave through the window.

"Well... hello there," came the sudden voice of a woman behind him. Daniel jumped in fright and spun around so quickly that he nearly tripped over his own feet. A woman stood behind him wearing a white shirt and gray shorts, holding a large umbrella above her head.

It was the girl from across the way!

Her mother?!

He was speechless.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully. "Have you finally woken up?"

He couldn't believe it. This was his new neighbor? The same one that he kept fantasizing about for the past week or so – yet never thought that he would ever meet in real life?

This was too much... to be expected, but definitely not accepted!

"Um, yes. Thanks," Daniel stammered nervously. He wanted desperately to talk with her, to ask her a thousand questions at once. But what should he say first? Should he invite them for coffee sometime? Or perhaps dinner at the steakhouse? After all, what better way to get to know your neighbors than to share a meal with them? Maybe he could take her out on a date to show her that he truly cared about her... but how does a guy get a woman interested in him these days anyway?

The only thing that mattered to Daniel at that point in time was getting her alone. He needed to speak with her, and he needed to do it right then and there – before anyone else arrived to ruin his chance of reconnecting. So he decided to play dumb as he made an obvious attempt at pretending to ignore her. "Oh yeah, good morning."

Her expression turned stern, and she narrowed her eyes menacingly at him for several seconds without saying a single word. Finally, she sighed heavily and walked away. Just when Daniel began to feel relieved, the woman reappeared out of nowhere and blocked his path.

"Hey, don't act like you don't recognize me!" she angrily yelled at him, pointing directly into his eyes. "I can tell when people are lying."

Daniel's mouth fell open, and his eyebrows shot up towards the top of his forehead as if he couldn't comprehend what she was saying. How could this possibly be happening? This can't be true... It can't be...

Then the memories returned as quickly as they had left his mind. His eyes widened, and he stared blankly ahead at the wall – unable to look anywhere else for fear that he may lose track of them altogether. It's me, isn't it? It's really me? Oh my God, it's me!

His heart thundered within his chest as he recalled every detail of his encounter with her six years ago. She remembered everything about him... And now that he thought about it, it was easy to understand why. The way she looked at him during their first meeting was exactly how Maya looked at him today: curious, intrigued, and excited beyond words. Only his daughter seemed to look at him in such a passionate manner, whereas she didn't seem to feel anything remotely similar towards him – which explained why they always got along so well! In fact, they acted as if they were old friends rather than father-daughter in every sense of the phrase.

The moment that his gaze fixed upon her beautiful face again, he immediately recognized her from the pictures in magazines, movies, and television shows. He knew who she was; after all, he watched hundreds of interviews online while researching her life story. He read about her childhood and found out that her parents divorced shortly before she reached the age of thirteen. At some point later on, her father moved from New York City to Orlando with his girlfriend. They both ended up marrying other people afterwards, and they remained happily married for the rest of their lives – until her mother passed away from cancer two months ago. He learned about her early acting career and her success as a movie star before landing her role on the hit TV series "Lost", and he became enthralled by her work ethic and positive outlook on life. And although he watched her performances on the small screen with pride and admiration, he couldn't help feeling jealous of the millions of fans that followed her on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. She was famous worldwide and extremely successful... and he was a nobody.

But what matters most is that I remember you, Maya...

For years he searched tirelessly for answers... and now that he had finally reunited with her once more, he couldn't help feeling overwhelmed with emotions that threatened to consume him entirely. Tears rolled down his cheeks freely without a care in the world as he sobbed uncontrollably in front of this stranger – his own child.

"Daddy?" she asked softly, looking genuinely concerned about what was going on with him. "Are you okay?"

No! No, I'm not fine! But he couldn't tell her any of this; it wasn't possible in any shape or form. Not now anyway. Not until he was ready to confront the reality of things and explain everything to her in person. Until then, he just had to wait patiently and endure through the pain...

"Do you want to come inside?" she offered. "Or would you like to stay outside where it's cooler?"

Daniel quickly wiped away his tears and composed himself before nodding. "Thank you," he told her, wiping his wet cheeks clean. "Yes, I'd love to go inside if that's alright..."

They stepped aside to let him pass first, and he quickly rushed into the house to escape the scorching hot sun.