01

The flight was completely packed and almost everything was set for the flight to take off. The flight attendants walked around checking all the passengers' seatbelts. Soon, the flight took off, from sunny Texas to wet winters California.

Among the passengers were a girl with medium height, long hair, pale skin, and exceptional features that could draw anyone's attention instantly. She was silently sitting in her seat, looking outside the window, and observing how the plane was taking off and the land where she was born and bred, going far from her reach. Even if it was the other way around, she was leaving the place, but the sadness was real.

She glanced at her adjacent seats. Mr. William Anderson and Mrs. Louisa Anderson smiled at her warmly and Mrs. Anderson signaled her to lean onto the seat and get some rest. She smiled back and obliged Mrs. Anderson's actions.

She closed her eyes and hoped to get some rest, but to her vail, the event which made her travel to California with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson made its way into her dream.

A few days ago

The chill air breezed inside through the window across. The room was quite evident to be a patient's. On the bed was a man aged around the early 50s. He coughed holding his chest. He then wiped the blood with a cloth beside him. A simple tissue was not enough to wipe out the blood that he had been coughed out recently.

"Angelica, Sweetie come here," he called out.

A girl of age twenty came running down the stairs while holding a glass of warm milk. She placed the glass on the bedside table and took a seat next to her father, Gregory Roberts.

She helped him to sit down and lean onto the cushion behind him.

"Did someone come by?" he asked her with a groggy tone.

She shook her head, "No, papa. Who are you expecting that you are asking me every half an hour?"

She was already heartbroken by her father's health condition. He was diagnosed with blood cancer a few months ago and was also being treated for the same. But the treatment went down the drain. Her father's health went deteriorating day by day. As if adding salt to a burnt wound, her father's business partners talked him to stay back at home since he was unfit to manage the restaurants, and overtime, they took away all his rights from the business and accused him of using business profit to his personal benefits. And now, Gregory was left with nothing but the house which he and his daughter was living in. He was beyond worried about his daughter, Angelica's future. He could not leave her alone and die. He had to make a way for her to live decently. He was very well aware that would not be possible if she were to stay back at this place. So, he had called up his best friends from college days and asked them to visit him because he was on his death bed. Those were the people he was expecting since the phone call.

"Just some old friends," he told her.

Just then, a car honk caught their attention. Angelica got up from the bed and walked towards the front door. She peeped out through the window beside the door and she saw a woman and a man, probably around her father's age, getting out of the taxi. Suddenly, she remembered her father's words. He was expecting some old friends. She wondered if they were the same people her father mentioned.

She unlatched the lock and opened the front door.

"Gregory Roberts…" began the man. Angelica nodded her head and let them walk inside. She led them to her father's room.

"Goodness!! What happened to you Greg?" asked the woman as she walked up to the bed and sat beside him.

"Old age problems," said Gregory laughing lightly. His attempt to mask the pain in his chest did not go unnoticed by his friends.

"What old age problems? We are barely 50 dude," said the man.

Gregory smiled at them hesitantly, "By the way, meet my daughter, Angelica." He pointed at his daughter. The couple smiled at her warmly, "Hi dear, I am William and she is my wife, Louisa. We and your father have been best friends since college days."

"Hi, uncle and aunty," she greeted them softly.

"Aww… look at her Will. She is so sweet," said Louisa Anderson. Her husband nodded his head in agreement.

"Guys, I have something to tell you both and a favor to ask of you," Gregory said. William signaled him to continue speaking and took a seat on the chair next to the bed.

"So, I was diagnosed with blood cancer a few months ago and my business partners cheated me and stole everything from me. I don't have much time."

Louisa held Gregory's hand empathetically and encouraged him to continue his talk. He nodded and continued, "I don't have anything except for this house and my precious daughter."

"Don't worry. We will take Angelica with us and take care of her," announced William grabbing everyone's attention.

Louisa gave her husband a known smile of acknowledging and agreeing with his words. He smiled back and turned to Angelica. So did her father and Louisa. They were silently expecting her agreement to it.

"Papa, I…" she began but was interrupted by her father, Gregory.

"Please, Baby. I won't be at peace even after dying knowing that you are all alone," he had tears at the edge of his eyes. They were ready to flow down anytime.

"Right, Sweetie. Even we won't be at peace leaving you here alone despite knowing about you. Come and live with us, sweetheart," said Louisa. Her words warmed Angelica's heart. Having lived most of her life without a mother, Angelica felt a joy bubble burst inside her heart.

Angelica looked at her father and he gave her an expectant look. She really had no other options.

So, she reluctantly nodded her head and gave her consent to go with them.

Her father's face broke into a smile of satisfaction.

As such, her father breathed his last breath on the same night. To say that Angelica was heartbroken would be an understatement. She was beyond broken and barely managed to complete the last rites and funeral. William Anderson and Louisa Anderson helped her with everything. Soon after that, William helped her to sell off the house and deposited the money into her bank account.

And then, Angelica's travel plans with William and Louisa began.