12. TIME TO CHANGE

In a small house, there was a child about 8 years watching cartoons, she had big brown eyes that were roaming everywhere in the house nervously.

Her beautiful black hair was tied to the back like a beautiful waterfall. She was sitting on the ground fidgeting with her fingers as she cast a sideglance on the sofa, where a man was slouching on the sofa.

The man slouching on the sofa was snoring as he drooled but even with that. The face of the man had an exquisite design, like a sculptor's best masterpiece.

All of a sudden, the snoring suddenly stopped. The child who was fidgeting stopped and stood up and came close to the slouching figure.

"Dad" The beautiful small brown-haired child climbed up towards the sofa and shook the man who was slouching on the sofa. The child shook the slouching man on the sofa with a concerned expression.

"Dad!" The child shook the slouching figure even more furiously as she seriously thought that something happened to her dad.

The bottles and the mess on the table present in front of the sofa clearly depicted why the figure was unconscious.

Suddenly, the figure slouching on the sofa shot open his eyes as he took a sharp shallow breath. The figure who was unconscious until now took short shallow breaths as beads of sweat precipitated on his face.

The child that shook the figure retreated to the corner of the sofa as she looked at the figure with a concerned expression.

The figure took a couple of moments to calm down as he started searching his pockets. The figure was wearing a black hoodie, so he searched the pockets on his hoodie and then moved to the pockets on his white shots.

The figure found what he was looking for.

He picked up his phone which had a broken screen and battered camera. The figure hurriedly switched it on his phone, the figure slightly trembled as the figure saw the date on the lock screen.

18/08/2040

The figure leaned over the sofa as he genuinely relaxed. 'I really came ba-'

"Dad" The small child whispered in a barely audible voice.

The figure turned his head with a jolt in the direction of the barely audible voice. Finally, the figure's face became visible as the hoodie's cap retracted due to how fast the figure turned.

The face of the once slouching figure was... a caveman.

The big but messy beard and the untidy brown hair, an unkept appearance to his face, and the smell of alcohol that was oozing out of his beard and his clothes screamed of a breakup... or breakups?

But there was one thing that was hard to hide when analyzing this figure.

This young man was unbelievably handsome!

The unkempt hair and unruly beard could only hide this young man's charm for only so long. Anyone could say that there was a beautiful and handsome face underneath this mess of a beard.

But all this was just insignificant to the figure. The first priority for the figure when gaining consciousness was to check on his phone, specifically, to check the date of today.

But the figure was stunned by the barely audible voice. The young man's face was shocked to the core when he heard the soft voice.

The young man looked at the child as he began to unintentionally... cry. Tears welled up in his eyes as his voice cracked trying to say something.

"Dad!" The child came quickly towards her father as the child saw her own father crying and looking at her. Her father had never cried. No, to be more precise, her father never showed any emotion. He was ice cold when she was with her dad.

Her father had never hit her, in fact, she could definitely say that her father loved her. But something was always keeping her father from coming close to her.

But her father's ice-cold facade always broke down when her father was with her mother and foster father. The child was hesitant to say this out loud, but her father was a bit spineless.

But she loved her father irrespective of what his behavior was because he was... she didn't know. In the end, she was just but an 8-year-old girl. She simply craved her father's attention and love.

Her mother would always give her to her father when she goes on a trip with a foster father. This was the day when the mother would return from the trip with her foster father. This was the last day she and her father would be together.

Her foster father was also a good man. He would always buy everything she wanted. Toys, food, education, and everything she could think of were given to her without a question by her foster father.

Her mother was also a person who would take care of her. She was a kind woman who showered her with all the love. She cherished her from the bottom of her heart. She was also one of the most cherished people in the child's life including her father and her foster father.

Coming back to the topic, when the girl saw her father crying and looking at her, she really thought she messed up big time. She really thought that her father would never talk to her. But the next thing that happened broke all of the logic that she kept in her little brain.

He father, for the first time in her life, hugged her!

Her father actually hugged her!

"I'm so sorry!" Her father wailed in a miserable tone. But the child had heard none of it. It was already above her small brain to process that her father had hugged her for no reason

"I'm so sorry, Edda!" Her father had actually called her by her name. At this time, the small head was barely visible from her father's shoulders, and a dumb smile was etched on her face.

Her father pulled back from the hug as he controlled his emotions that were hitting like a tsunami. The dead and lifeless eyes of her father were now full of life and... what was that?

Her father looked at her with eyes full of love. He ruffled the girl's hair as a stupid smile crept on her face.

The dad figure looked at the small girl with his normal-brown eyes with fondness. But a resolute thought suddenly came into his mind as the normal-looking brown eyes flickered with an intelligent glint.

'It's time to ducking change, Zachery' The dad figure thought to himself as he nodded inwardly

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