In Love with His Dad

Leila:

It was never the first night to be faced with this trouble. The trouble of lying on the bed for hours without sleeping; turning and rolling and turning like dogs on the field of play. Tonight was cold and unusually quiet. The neighbors were all asleep or so it seemed. The street was as well asleep. Everything was quiet and still except for Leila's heart which kept racing from one thought to another until it finally settled on Mr. Dave. She literally could smell Mr. Dave in her little room. It was as if he was present and seated in the room with her.

Mr. Dave was strikingly handsome and Leila could still remember how he was looking when he paid a visit to her school for the career talk. He was an industrious man who was brave enough to own up to his mistakes and let them be a motivation for success to him. Leila could still remember all the words he spoke in the speech he gave during his visit. They were words of wisdom that have been etched permanently into Leila's memory.

Leila could remember all that her teacher told them about Mr. Dave, the CEO of DreamGale Conglomerate. How he got his girlfriend pregnant in high school and did not abandon her but instead, took responsibility for the pregnancy. Mr. Dave was rumored to have come from a poor family while his girlfriend was from a rich family. Because of her pregnancy and her insistence on being with Mr. Dave, she was disowned and abandoned by her family but both of them chose to remain together and start their new life with their unborn child.

Unfortunately, their joy and hope of being together were cut short as the girlfriend died during childbirth. Though the baby survived, Leila could remember hearing the teacher state that it was a baby boy. The teacher went on to say the girl's parents were too griefed with all that had happened and refused to recognize the new child as part of their family or their grandson. They drove Mr. Dave with the child away and told him not to ever come near them or have anything to do with their family.

It was rumored that the girl's family made Mr. Dave and his family sign a contract stating that both he and the child, would have nothing to do with their family both then and in the future or they would destroy his family and jail everyone. Mr. Dave was said to have signed it and boldly told them that his child had no ties with them and that they would turn out well without any help and also apologized for all the grief he had brought to their family.

Leila could remember that while their teacher was telling them the story, she had noticed some tears escape from her eyes as it dawned on her that Mr. Dave did not have an easy life from the beginning, he had labored diligently for the wealth, success, and fame that he was enjoying currently.

They had asked their teacher what happened afterward to Mr. Dave and his son. The teacher went on to say that Mr. Dave and his son luckily relocated to the United States of America after he won a lottery visa. Though, before then, he was able to finish high school, then took numerous part-time jobs to take care of his baby and his family, and from the little savings he could manage to save, he used it in buying the lottery ticket.

Then the teacher went ahead to say that Mr. Dave tried his best and did a lot of jobs just to survive with his son in the United States of America and that it did not stop him from studying and applying for financial aid, which after many trials, he was chosen to be granted the requested financial aid. Then he had stayed off-campus with his son who he had enrolled in a creché day school, so they could take care of him while he went to the university Ir during his part-time jobs as he had more than one.

And amidst the struggles he had to go through, he never stopped excelling or coming out as the best in the University due to his diligence, discipline, and determination, and that was the beginning of his success story. The teacher ended the story by saying that Mr. Dave studied Business Management at the university and also, that his son would be the same age as them but was still studying abroad. Mr. Dave's story changed Leila's life and opened her eyes to a new path that she never knew existed. Shortly after that, in the final year of her senior high school study, when it was time for her to choose her specialization before the final year exam, she selected the business department.

Leila has always been passionate about things she admired and appreciated ever since she was a child. She was strong-willed and a little bit strong-headed, though others seemed to be annoyed by her persistence and stubbornness, she was not bothered as far as she got what she wanted.

These strong personality of hers made her very ambitious, she was always a force to be reckoned with, and was not one to back out from a challenge. Her lifelong Mantra was, "Aim for whatever you want, Then Get it". She had always believed to achieve whatever she desires, be it good grades, favors from people, or even money she would surely come up with a way to get it.

A very industrious and smart lady and there was one thing she has always wanted and was going to do everything possible to achieve, and that was getting Mr. Dave to fall in love with her. Leila has always been a girl with a clear mind right from her childhood and everyone including her parents praised her for that, as she was not one of those girls with youthful wishes. But unknowingly to everyone, she indeed had a secret obsession with Mr. Dave right from the day that they were giving career talks at her high school then. Leila remembered that day vividly like it was today, it was a day that she could never forget as it was the day she met her " Mr. Knight", he took her breath away and at that instance, Leila vowed to follow whatever path he had passed through.

As Leila lay on her bed sleepless, she could still remember how happy she was with her choice and decision, even though her family was surprised with her decision to study business as she had always been saying she would choose

accounting. She just smiled and stated that change was constant.