43. Hazel

HAZEL

Dad

Can we meet?

I had never received a text from my dad before. Not in the group chat with my mum and certainly not on an individual text chain initiated by him.

My immediate thought went straight to death and terminal illness.

Are you ok?

Dad

In person better.

What did that mean? Deciphering the tone of texts was already hard enough. Deciphering the tone of the texts of a 59 year old Asian man was absolutely impossible.

It could be a trick. But it didn't feel like one. If mum thought she could use dad to see me she would've done it a long time ago.

Can you come into the city?

Dad

You come out here, is ok?

Dad unwilling to inconvenience himself even on something he deemed important? Now I was even more convinced he was reaching out of his own accord. If my mum had been perched on his shoulder then he would've said yes as soon as it seemed like I was open to meeting.

I gnawed my lower lip before making what I hoped wasn't a foolish decision.

Tomorrow 1pm at Sunbrook Plaza. In front of the weird horse looking sculpture.

Dad

ok

He was never one to mince words.

The guys insisted on coming with me, of course. I think they were panicking about not knowing what to expect. They threw so many increasingly fantastical, world-ending scenarios at me on the drive that I eventually had to tell them all to shut up.

We arrived early and I shooed them into nondescript corners of the plaza. I wish I had told them to behave less like creepy stalkers because their unbroken eye contact was extremely disturbing. I texted the (still yet to be renamed) group chat.

Be more normal!

I turned back around to check on them. It had gotten so much worse. Remy was rubbing his chin as he pointed at a bird in a tree. Aleks apparently thought it looked more normal to sit down on a nearby fire hydrant. Ben held up his phone and I assume attempted to appear to be scrolling. But the angle at which he was holding it made it look like he was filming instead.

omg you're all hopeless

"Hazel?"

Funny how a voice could transport you back in time. I had a flash of 10 year old me, eating an icy-pole I was not meant to tell Mum about.

"Hi Dad."

It was jarring to see how far back his hairline had shifted, the new lines etched on his face. The lost years between us felt like a chasm.

"It's…good to see you. You look healthy."

"Thanks."

I didn't really know what I was meant to say back.

He cleared his throat. "I don't like what you're doing, Hazel."

I bristled immediately. "What are you talking about?"

Dad held a hand up, the other one running across the lines of his forehead. "Wait, I…let me…this is not easy for me, Hazel," he finally huffed. "I don't…agree with what you are doing. But you need to know that when your mum found out—"

My veins were being overtaken by a creeping cold. "Found out what?"

His mouth was a tight line, his lips white from how hard he was pressing them together. He made a gesture with a hand up and down my body before turning away with a displeased tsk.

Ah.

They knew about my work as Sierra Echo. The only way would've been…

"I guess you guys did see that text I accidentally sent," I sighed. Dumb. Such a dumb mistake to have made.

Dad grabbed my shoulders, his eyes wide with urgency. "You don't understand, Hazel. Your mum went crazy when she found out. I've never seen her like this before. She's always been very worried about your soul, Hazel."

It took everything to not roll my eyes to the back of my skull.

"But I overheard her talking to an alpha. They were talking about their plans to have him take care of you because she couldn't have you living in sin any longer."

The DMs.

The threat to expose me.

The car that tried to run me over.

I couldn't even process it.

"She almost got me killed, Dad!" I snapped.

His face dropped, all the colour draining from it. "What?"

God he didn't even realise how far she'd gone.

"What does she have planned for me next?" I asked coldly.

"I-I don't know."

I massaged the spot between my brows trying to make the ringing in my head stop. "Where is this alpha from, anyway?"

"He goes to our church."

"Doesn't sound very Christian."

"Hazel, do not start this with me."

Still religious then.

"Be careful, ok?" His eyes were wide and imploring. "You're…still my daughter. Even after everything."

He seemed very small to me at that moment. A dad choosing his daughter was not something that should've ever been surprising or unexpected. But sadly for us, it was.

"Thank you for telling me instead of defending her," I said quietly.

Dad made a motion like he was about to reach out and touch me but faltered. He stared at a spot on the ground between us. "I really messed up. With what happened in that facility."

I'd never heard so much emotion in his voice before and I choked back the hot pricking sensation in my eyes.

"You…you were very hurt. It wasn't ok."

A tear slid down my face. I knew it was his way of apologising. He didn't have the right words but I understood.

"Thank you, Dad."

He finally met my eyes. Despite his honesty, the gulf between us only felt wider. Filled with more unspoken words that two lifetimes could not encompass.

"I have never stopped worrying about you."

I knew it should've been cathartic. But his words broke my heart all over again.