Indebted love

Jasmine 

"Hello Hello Hello Teawan City , Cottagecore Pie is open! start your morning with our coffee! Yes ; along with ice creams now we have delicious coffee for your mornings that will enrich your day , so come on" I grin at william after I speak in the loudspeaker and my bubbly voice echoes outside of our ice cream palour and my smile widens as I see a man passing by turning to look at my voice .

At least one person noticed ; that is a good sign.

"Well , I hope our idea of morning coffee with snacks works" William says adjusting newspaper on book shelf "not until you stop putting boring politics newspapers on the top of spicy romance novels" I say and nod and he chuckles.

He shakes his head and takes the news paper bundle from the shelf and walks towards me , his kind eyes smiling at me and I grin at him , bending a little to grab my coffee whisk and mug as he puts the bundle on the coffee table "decoration is on your account , daughter ! Keep it wherever you think people will look at it" 

He says with hope dimming eyes and my smile threatens to fall.

Oh no ! He can't give up! 

I and my friend , professor and father's best friend,  we both have put all our savings for our this little start of ice cream parlour shop and it's only been two weeks since we opened it , it'd take time but we will have whole city talking about our delicious hand made ice creams and special coffee with spicy books to grab , at least that is what I hope for.

He looks outside at the crowd rushing and sighs and I put the whisk and mug on table and grab his aging and wrinkled large hands in my smaller ones "hope is the most beautiful thing in the whole world, if not today then someday , if not 50 customers then 5 , our Cottagecore Pie will grow" I say to him and nod with a smile . He looks me in the eyes and something unreadable crosses his face and his eyes saddens more.

Oh no.

What wrong did I say? Dad is probably right to say that I never learnt when to speak and how !

I open my mouth to say something more to cheer him up but he speaks "I am not worried about spending all my savings in this shop , neither for only getting 9 customers in two weeks , as long as you and cassie - my two baby girls are happy , I'm fine" 

Then what is it?

My eyebrows raises and then lips parts as I try to remember his medical reports "did the doctor-"

"It hurts to see a rare selfless good girl like you suffering , Richard will realize his mistake but it'd be too late till then" 

He says and I swallow deeply and bite my lip as the memory of dad getting angry at me for making him slightly burnt omelet flashes through my memory .

Two weeks ago , at lunch, I was making him omelet and on the edge , it somehow got burnt and I missed to see it , if I'd have seen then I would have kept the burnt omelet for myself and would've served him another but it was mumma's death anniversary,  that was the day I lost my mother to cancer ten years ago , I could barely focus on anything , I could barely eat or talk or so much as breathe , I was so lost in my grief that I missed seeing the slight burn in his otherwise perfect omelet and I was startled when he threw the plate with omelet and it crashed against the wall and he started yelling , I could barely speak through my tears of knowing he won't hug or console me at mumma's death anniversary like some part of me, hoped ,  not like he remembered the day and then as he was yelling at me , saying words no father should say to his daughter and I broke down and started whimpering thinking of mumma , If she was alive then she'd never have let dad treat me so bad , he said he doesn't want an absent mind crying mess in home and dragged me out of the house and then he threw me out . Ever since mumma died , he despises me with every morsel of his because by some dirty game of fate , she got cancer the same year that I was born. Unlike every other time , that day I could not fight or beg him to calm down , I let it happen and one moment I was making omelet in kitchen - another, I was pushed and thrown out in our garden .

And then after hours of silent crying in garden, I stood up and walked to my one and only friend Cassie , William's daughter and she was kind enough to hug me and force me to stay with her in her house when I said I didn't want to be a burden on her , not like I had money for hotel or anything .

The only reprieve was this shop that I and William were planning from two months , so I started giving my every second to this shop from that day.

I stop tears from threatening my eyes at the memory flash back as horns blows outside in the busy streets.

I can't cry.

I . Can . Not .

William has critical medical conditions and I can't cry in front of him , I can't stress him !

"Everything is okay at the end and if it ain't then it ain't the end , I don't know what will happen but I hope someday I will be dad's little pie again , every thing will be fine once again" I say and feel my vision blurring with tears as William squeezes my hand.

I don't know if I'm optimistic or deluded...

"You are forever my daughter though , remember?" He says and I nod and smile as he pats my head , nodding and then puts on his croaky specs and walks towards the registers .