14 Chapter 14

Rose

"No! I can't be grounded? You can't lock me up here!"

The shrilling voice of Sophia intercepted my leisure time of sketching designs in my pad and I ran with haste as I went to the stairs to witness the drama scene featuring Dad and a two-faced sister.

"Sophia, You are grounded for a month and grounded means you are prohibited to go outside" Dad uttered calmly but the stress was evident on his voice.

"No! I've got plans today with my friends! I already promised that I would treat them to the mall and I can't turn them down!"

I squinted my eyes at Sophia and noticed that her attire was one of the few dresses I own. It was a black long sleeve mini-dress that I just bought from shopping with my workshop friends and it got lost after a few days.

I fumed when the realization hit me, she dared ransacked my clothes when I was out with father for business.

"My decision is final. Inform your friends that you are grounded and move your plans next month."

"But school is starting next month! I don't even know why I'm grounded and here you're telling me I can't go outside? You are absurd!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me, young lady. As long as you're living under the roof of my house, eating the food and using the money I work hard for. You will follow my decisions."

Sophia noticed my scrunched up self on the stairs and she chuckled bitterly.

"Did the two of you plan this up?" She pointed at me and father.

"What do you mean?"

"Did your oh-so-goody-perfect daughter told you to ground me?"

I looked at her with wide eyes and I almost snickered. Sophia never fails to amuse me with what's going on with her brain.

"No Sena told me about the fight-"

"But she was the one who came to me first! It's unfair for you to ground me because of the fight!"

I cocked my eyebrows with her unbelievable response.

If I remembered correctly, she was the one who waited for me, picked a fight, and injured me. Hell, the bruise in my thigh from the fall and the wound in my lip took a day to heal.

And now she insists I came to her first? God, you lying conniving immature bitch.

"And I can't just back out. What will my friends think of me? What will they say to me?"

Dad sighed and shook his head.

"I can't take back my decision. I am your father and you will listen-"

"You are not my father!" Sophia looked at Dad with a deadly glare that stunned us both. Her eyes were sharp and her clenched jaw and forehead made her absolutely scary.

I thought she was quite close with Dad, so why is she telling him all this, straight in his face.

Dad went silent for a while, stunned by what she just uttered. "Sophia back to your room!" Dad boomed

Sophia was about to say something but the expression on Dad's face instantly shut her up. She went upstairs not forgetting to give me one of her glare that relays all her animosity towards me.

"Don't forget to return the dress you borrowed from me" I uttered as she passed beside me.

"Tsk. Your dress isn't that pretty in the first place"

'Yeah but you're wearing it right now' I mumbled in my thoughts

"And please ask permission next time. I might just brand you as a thief."

"Oh, Don't be such a crybaby Rose. It's only a dress." She sneered, trying to mock me.

"It may only be a dress but it's mine and what's mine is mine."

She rolled her eyes and slammed her door as she went into her room. The loud bang reverberated throughout the house and for a moment I was worried about the poor door.

I went down to comfort Dad who's seated on the sofa, massaging his temples.

"Dad are you ok?" He didn't look at me and continued kneading his forehead.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just didn't expect Sophia to say that to me." He appeared to be stressed and sad with the words Sophia released to him.

"She looked like she was about to kill someone" I jokingly said trying to lighten his mood but he looked at me with a sour expression.

"That's not a nice thing to describe to your sister." I shrugged

'She really did kill someone. She killed my baby and me'

The thought of the picture came back to me and I turned to Dad who's still massaging his temples.

"Dad, I found a picture in your office," he stopped and shifted all his attention to me, listening intently to what I'm about to say.

"It's mom and this guy named Gerar-"

"Where did you get the picture?" He snapped and I was taken aback.

"Umm. I just found it inserted in a book"

"Where's the book?" He boomed and I was confused with his negative reaction.

"I returned it to your office. Dad, I-"

"Please Rose, don't talk anything about the picture. Just forget anything you've seen in it" I raised one of my brows with what he stated.

"But Dad who is th-"

"I told you not to talk about it!" He raised his voice and his eyes were showing pure hostility at me that I cowered in fear with his appearance.

He noticed I was quite taken aback with his unexpected display of hostility and his expression suddenly turned to a soft one.

"I...I'm sorry Rose. I'm just stressed out with your sister and all. I think it's not a good time to talk about it" He sighed and he reluctantly shuffled my hair.

"I need to rest for a while and clear my thoughts but please promise me you won't bring back the topic about the picture again"

His face was showing desperation and I couldn't do anything but nod at him and he gave me a tired smile. He walked away and questions began to pile up. My curiosity was killing me and Dad's reaction was fueling it more.

Who was this Gerard that made Dad so furious about? And why was Dad so angry with the mere mention of his name?