Chapter 83

"I came from Harmony"s house," he simply said. He just nodded to his dad who was looking at him.
"Oh, how is her father? Did he already get discharge?"
"Yes, grandma. They are already at their house."
"I see. I am hoping that he can recover fast so they can attend to my party," his grandmother said. He knew that there was actually a meaning on what she had said.
Drake didn"t know what to do. What was he supposed to be saying to his grandmother? How could he tell her that Harmony started to avoid him because of the confession that he made about how he felt towards her?
"Yes, indeed. Please include them in your prayers," he said to his grandmother and then he continued walking.
"Drake, do you have a spare time?" His father suddenly asked. He didn"t know what he should be feeling. For the first time, his father was already checking on him. He wondered what he had eaten, and he seemed to be okay to him.
"Yes, dad?" He answered without looking at him. He was just hoping that if they would talk, it wouldn"t end into a fight. He had been so tired for the whole day. He must admit that he never felt so exhausted like this before. Just today. Probably, he was also emotionally tired.
He had been thinking a lot of things since he and Harmony parted ways. He felt stupid because of what he had done. He should have not told her about what he was feeling. Drake felt like Harmony wanted to avoid her because she felt like she didn"t deserve to be his girlfriend because he came from a wealthy family.
But that was his family"s wealth and not his.
He was trying to build his own name. He would like to make himself rich but unfortunately, no one in his family had believe in his capability. If there was one person who he felt trusted him, that"s no other than Harmony.
He felt so bad because the woman changed. He wanted to get mad at himself because he should have waited for the right timing. Suddenly, he realized that Harmony might have been pressured because of all the things that he had done to her and her family.
He took a deep breath as he recalled everything that happened for the whole day.
"Son, can you go to the study room?" His dad asked which brought him back to his senses.
"Yes," he said and then he turned around and heading to the study room. He had no more energy to argue with his father. He planned just to listen to him.
He realized that after all, Nelson was still his father. He knew that he had his reasons why he was treating him like this.
"Lock the door. I don"t want your Aunty Carmella to come inside," he said which made him confused. What would his father going to tell him? Why he looked so serious?
He just shrugged his shoulders. He didn"t want to think about anything as he had been thinking about a lot of things lately already.
"Son, how is everything from your end?"
He rose one of his eyebrows as he couldn"t understand what his father was saying.
"I--- I am sorry. I mean, the wedding proposal. How is it? Your grandmother told me that you will be proposing to Harmony on her birthday. Do you need any help?" He said which shocked him. Did he hear it right? His father was asking if he needed any help for the wedding proposal.
"I--- I can managed," he said while his eyebrows were drawn together. "I don"t understand, Dad. What happened? Why all of a sudden you got interested and you wanted to help me? Didn"t you reject Harmony as my girlfriend? So, why the sudden change? What happened?" He couldn"t help but ask one after the another.
He shook his head.
"I am sorry, Son. I know I have judged her. But you are right, she has a good heart. On top of that, I am getting old. To have disagreements with my only son, is the last thing that I wanted to happen. When you get married with her, I want you to be the happiest man in the world," he said while looking at him.
Drake couldn"t understand but his dad was being so emotional and he never saw him like this before.
"Dad? Is there something wrong? Why are you saying that?" He said because his dad sounded like he was already saying his last words.
He shook his head.
"Nothing, son. Your grandmother made me realized how I have been a father to you since your mother left us. I know that it is not your fault that she left us but I made you suffer. I want to make up with everything, son. If you will let me," his father continued.
Drake couldn"t find the words that he should be saying. What was he supposed to say? He felt like he had swallowed his tongue. There were no words that wanting to come out from his mouth.
"D--- Dad," he said but he was still at lost.
"Son, please, forgive me. I know that you are already old and I don"t know if I could still make up with all the things that happened to you," his dad said and he could see the tears that were formed in the corner of his eyes.
He was sincere in everything that he was saying.
"Dad, it"s okay. Let"s just looked at the bright side of that. If you haven"t treated me like that, I will not grow up like this," he said and then he looked at her. "I am competitive and though that you don"t believe me or Aunty Carmella, I believe to myself that I can make the company grow. And, do you know why I love Harmony so much? Because she is the first person who believe in me," he continued.
"I am sorry, son. I know that I have been wrong to judge what you can do in your life. I am your father and I should be the one who had been guiding you on how to do things but I failed. I let the anger that I have to your mother control my emotions. I hope you can still forgive me, son," his father was now wiping his tears. Nelson was unable to fight back the tears that he had in his eyes.
Drake didn"t know what he should be doing. Should he go near his father and hug him? They never had this kind of moment until now.
He felt very awkward but when he saw his father"s shoulders were shaking, he was unable to restrain himself and he went near him.
He hugged his father for the first time that he had grown up.
He never felt his warm embrace because more often than not, he and his father had disagreements. He couldn"t believe that he would be in this kind of scene. He didn"t know what his grandmother had told his father but she should have done it before so he had experience how to have a father close to him during his younger years.
But again, it was not too late for his father to make up with everything that happened between the two of them.
"Dad, please stop crying. Don"t think about the past. Let us think of what tomorrow could bring us. I know that you feel bad but just think that what is important is that we can understand each other now and you are there to support me," he said as he tried to calm down his voice. He was thankful that he didn"t stutter. He didn"t want to show his emotions to his father.
"Thank you, dad. I have been waiting for this moment but honestly, I already lost my hope because every time that we see each other, we are like cats and dogs. So, I never thought that I will be able to hug you like what I did earlier," he said while smiling at him to comfort him.
He knew that his father"s heart was heavy at the moment. He could feel and he could see in his eyes that he felt like he had a lot of things that he missed on him. It was the truth but he was happy that his father was now on his side.
"Thank you, son. You don"t now how much you made me happy. I know that you have been through a lot. You tried to fight life and now, you are not alone. I will be with you and once you marry, Harmony, I will personally train you as the chairman of the company. I think the marriage is the last thing that you need to satisfy your grandmother. She wanted you to get married before you take over."
He nodded.
"Yes, I don"t know why that is needed to be honest."
"I cannot blame her. She is just afraid that you will drown yourself to work. She just wanted to see that you already have your own family before you become the chairman," he said. "That role is not a joke, son. But I know you can do it. Always remember that when you became the chairman, a lot of people are depending on you."
"I know, dad. And that"s the reason why I wanted to do it on my way and not the other ways that you are trying to insist to me," he said.
He looked at his father in the eyes as he was trying to make him understand.
"Do whatever you wanted to do but son, please be careful. Once you take over the company, all the eyes would be on you. You will hear a lot of things but you should have a strong heart to just brush those off. Remember that you have to be very critical when it comes to receiving opinion. You can avoid those people who wanted you to fail."
Drake smiled at his dad. He never thought that this kind of simple talk would make him very happy.
"Thank you, Dad. I will always remember that. I think I have to make sure that I have already master my emotions once I have taken over," he said.
He was thankful for the talk because he admitted that he learned a lot.
"Son, let me know if you need anything for your engagement. I know that I have to apologize to Harmony because of what happened on the first dinner that you have invited her," his dad said.
"She is cool, dad. I am telling you. If you will just give yourself a chance to know about her, I am sure that you will enjoy being with her."
Nelson nodded and smiled at him.
"I could see that you really love Harmony. I know that she just came from an ordinary family but based on how we saw them at the hospital, your grandmother and I thought that they are good people. I saw how Harmony"s mother loved her husband," he said and he couldn"t hide the bitterness in his voice.
Drake wanted to ask his father about his mother but he was having a second thought. He didn"t want to ruin the relationship that they already have. He knew that his father wanted to forget his mother.
He let out a deep sigh and decided just to keep to himself what he had learned about his mother.
"Dad, I know that we haven"t been that okay the past couple of year especially recently but I want you to know that I love you. I am grateful for this day that finally you understood me and you will be supporting me in everything that I do," he said while looking intently at his father. He couldn"t describe with words what he was feeling right now.