Her Worry 2

Angel hesitated for a long time without daring to extend her hand to take the phone from Mark. But something in Mark's encouraging looks made her give up her hesitation for a moment and extend her hand to take the phone from him. She denounced this feeling that began to come to her towards Mark.

She began to look at Mark's phone as if she was trying to discover his personality from it. It was a black phone, the size of the palm of her hand. There was nothing else to distinguish it. But the color caught Angel's attention, perhaps because she linked the color of the phone to the color of the shirt he was wearing. Perhaps he preferred this color. From the first day she saw him wearing a black shirt or pants.

She put her thoughts about Mark out of her mind and hurried to call her father. The phone on the other side continued to ring for several minutes before the ringing stopped. Angel said in a weak and tense voice: "No one is answering."

Mark told her: "Call him again."

On the other hand, Liam was looking at everything that was happening in front of him without commenting. content with being silent and thinking about that race, which was very close. as if nothing was happening in front of him and in his presence.

As for Angel, she called her father again and listened to the ringing for a long time, but this time she heard an answer to the phone and a tired voice saying: "Hello, who is this?"

Angel said with eagerness and happiness deep inside her: "It's Angel, dad. How are you? Why haven't you called me yet?"

Henry, Angel's father, said with an exhausted voice: "Sorry, princess. I have been busy all day. I was going to call you after I finished my work."

Angel said with love: "I miss you, dad. more than you can imagine. when will you be coming back? I need you. I want you to come back."

Henry said with a sigh: "Maybe at the end of this week."

His use of the word "maybe" worried her. She said in hesitantly: "What do you mean that you might come back at the end of this week, dad? Do you mean that you will be coming back later than that?"

Henry said, as he was accustomed to his daughter's style and her attachment to him: "I am counting the days until I return, my little girl. I work day and night so I could return before the appointed time. But life ends and work never ends."

And he added with a fatherly smile as if Angel would see or feel it: "Take good care of yourself, Angel.. I have to end the call now until I finish the work at hand. see you later."

Angel said in a cracked voice: "take care of yourself, dad. Goodbye."

She slowly moved the phone away from her ear. She felt a tightness in her chest as a result of her father ending the call so quickly. Then she said in a cracked voice as she looked up at Mark and extended her hand to him with the phone: "Thank you."

He picked up the phone from her hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry about it and no more tears."

It was as if his words had touched a sensitive nerve inside her. Tears quickly welled in her eyes, and she lowered her head in pain and sadness. She turned away from them without being able to utter a single word. She moved her seat away from the place, and tears of sadness and bitterness flowed down her cheeks.

At the table, everyone's eyes followed her and pity was clearly visible in those eyes, but only Mark's eyes showed interest in her. interest that surprised him himself.