Love and hate

Christine was about entering her school.

 "Christine?"

 She turned to see Christian walking towards her. She stared at him for a while, looked forward and continued walking.

 Christian was shocked but not surprised. He was expecting her to be mad but not her behaving this way.

 "Christine please wait. I need to talk to you."

 She stopped and faced him.

 He heaved a sigh of relief and walked closer to her. 

 "Christine please let me just have five minutes of your time. Please." He pleaded.

 She moved three inches away from him. He looked at her surprised. 

 "Mommy said I shouldn't come near you." She kept a straight face.

 Christian sighed, "At least hear me out." 

 "I don't have all day. Please say what you have to say and lemme go." She frowned.

 Christian smiled, "Actually I want to have lunch with you. There are things we have to discuss dear. And I believe I have a lot of questions to answer." He looked at her.

 Christine looked somewhere else, "I don't wanna have lunch with you."

 "Christine please. Just give me a chance to explain myself."

 "You wanted to kill me." She said calmly but angry.

 "Kill you? Why would I do that?" 

 "You wanted Mommy to kill me in her womb." She folded her arms across her chest, gently tapping her foot.

 He always did that when he was pissed off but didn't want to show it. He was one hundred and one percent sure that Christine was his daughter. He could see himself in her.

 "Christine please."

 "Mommy would be mad." 

 "Your Mommy won't find out about this, I promise." He crossed his chest.

 "If I still find you guilty?" She raised her brows.

 "Then you can punish me the way you like." He smiled faintly.

 "At 1.00pm, or else it's a bye bye to lunch." She added with a note of finality and strode back to her school.

 He felt his heart warming up. She was exactly like him! How come he didn't notice that the first day he met her?

 The school bell finally rung for the lunch break. Christine was just done with arranging her locker. She walked out of the hall and the school gate.

 A kid roughly pushed past her, she tripped and fell down.

 "Hey don't you watch where you go?" She yelled after the kid.

 Jayson, the kid who pushed her, turned around and walked back to her. He pushed her harder and she fell again, scraping her arm.

 "Ow!" She cried in pain.

 " What are you gonna do? Call your dad?" He laughed, "Hey. You don't have a dad!" He mocked her. 

 "Back off!" A very stern voice warned sending chills in his spine.

 Christine looked at him. It was Christian. He looked at her and smiled at her assuringly. 

 He looked at Jayson.

 "Don't you ever, even in your dreams come close to her." He warned sternly, his tone deadly.

 Jayson gulped, his knees knocking and he nodded frightened.

 "Now go away from here." He added in his calm but frightening tone.

 He looked at Christine and smiled. He bent down and helped her get up, helping her clean herself up.

 "Did he hurt you?" He asked concerned.

 She just looked at him.

 "Are you still angry with me?" He pouted.

 She looked at him amused, "It's okay. It's just a scratch." She tried hiding it but he was way more smarter. He smiled. 

 "I'll clean that. Okay?"

 She still stared at him not saying anything.

 "We're late for our lunch now. Can we go?" He stretched his palm out.

 She blinked and slowly with uncertainty took it.

 He walked her out of the school and led her to his car. He opened the front seat and helped her get in, strapping her seat belt in place. He closed the door.

 He turned around and got in the driver's seat. 

 "You okay?" He asked.

 "Mmh... I'm fine."

 "Okay."

 The drive was silent. It was as if they were a couple who were too shy to speak to each other.

 "Uh... Christine?"

 "Yes?" 

 "Where's your house address?" He glanced at her and back at the road.

 "It's the kuykendahl road. The 25th house on the street." She replied

 "Oh okay. That's good." 

 The drive continued. They didn't say much since they had nothing to say to each other.

 He stopped in front of a small but classic restaurant.

 He got down and turned around the car to help Christine. He helped unstrap her seat belt and to get down."

 "Whoa." She admired the place.

 He smiled at her, "Let's go in." 

 They both walked in. A woman professionally dressed came to meet them.

 "Mr. Powers please come this way." She led them to a table. It was quite distant from the others.

 "This place is awesome." She smiled.

 The lady looked at her, "I've never seen her with you sir."

 Christian smiled satisfactorily.

 "She's my family."

 "Oh."

 He led Christine to the table and made her sit. He placed orders for the both of them. The lady walked away.

 "So." He sat opposite her and smiled.

 "You brought me here so you could explain yourself." She reminded him.

 A waiter interrupted bringing their orders. He placed it in their table. Christian was having surf and turf while Christine had spaghetti and meatballs.

 Christine eyes widened as she saw it, she never really had the chance to eat all these. She quickly dug in.

 Christian watched her eat. He smiled sadly. His daughter hadn't been able to enjoy luxuries like these. From today he was gonna make sure he spoiled her.

 "You can start explaining yourself now." 

 "You're five I suppose."

 "Uh-huh." She nodded.

 "I actually offended your mother five years ago. I had slept with her and she got pregnant as a result."

 "She got pregnant just by sleeping with you?" Curiosity piqued her.

 'Annie wouldn't like it if she heard Christine say that.' He thought.

 "Something you'll learn later." 

 "Ok." She said though she wasn't satisfied.

 "I refused to accept the pregnancy well that was because I was tied." He explained.

 "Tied?"

 "Yes. My Mother somehow got to know about Annie's pregnancy before me. She told me about it. I was confused and happy but my Mother was furious. She threatened she was gonna tell my father about it."

 "At first I wasn't really bugged by it but when she said she was gonna make my father transfer his businesses and all his property which I ran to my cousin, I got angry. I didn't want to let my cousin get all I worked for."

 "I had to accept her condition which was not a accepting your mother's pregnancy. I rejected it not because I wanted to but because I was tied."

 "Your Mother made you reject me?" She asked.

 "Yes sweetheart,that's why."

 "Oh."

 "Yeah."

 "Mommy misjudged you." She said after a long while.

 "I wouldn't blame her, I couldn't tell her anything. She was hurt that's why she still hates me."

 Christine nodded and took the last spoon in her mouth. 

 "That was delicious." She smiled, "Won't you eat yours?" She asked.

 "Nah. Not hungry." He shook his head.

 "What are you gonna do to it? Throw it away?" 

 "Well.. yeah."

 "Oh don't you dare. Wastage is a sin."

 "We could give it to those beggars outside."

 Christian smiled feeling proud, Annie used to say the same thing.

 A waiter packed it well for them. Together they moved out of the restaurant holding hands.

 "Wait here let me go give it to them." He told her.

 He crossed the road and dropped it in front of them. There was a mad rush to get it, he dropped a $100 bill and walked away. There were loud prayers said after him.

 He crossed again to meet Christine.

 "Christine?" He called. There was no sight of her anywhere. 

 He searched frantically for her but he couldn't find her. He asked questions about her but no one seemed to know where she was.

 What was he gonna tell Annie?