Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-two

“Dad!” I scream subconsciously as I notice who it is. He was the big guy? How was he even here? How come he saved me? Could it be that Brandon had worn a mask that made him look like my dad? Were those his new tricks?

“Hey waffle,” he said softly as he took slow, regal footsteps towards me with a small smile on his face. This was certainly my dad and not Brandon with a mask! This was his special name for me, and until now, I hadn’t realised how much I had missed him calling me that.

You might be wondering why he called me waffle, but trust me, it is not as weird as it may seem to you. In fact, I might likely say, that is my favourite name in the world, but no one else can call me that except my dad, because I am my dad’s favourite waffle and no one else’s.

It happened when I was still a baby of about four years old, but surprisingly, I could still remember all that had happened as clearly as the day. I was sitting angrily on the dining table, folding my arms across my chest and fuming at everyone, including the food set before me. I was refusing to feed myself, which was very unusual of me. That was literally a shade of Galena that was hard to accept or understand. A part of me that my parents grew anxious of and tried as much as possible to see it never again if they could help it.

“You’re not eating Galena.” My mom noted with a worried look on her face but I didn’t say a word to her. My face expressed its cute, little anger. An anger that could pull down the walls of every heart to listen to its concerns.

“Don’t you like the food?” My dad asked instead, breaching the silence between us, as he stuffed a spoonful of chicken soup in his mouth.

“What does it matter to you anyway?” I retorted in my tiny, angry voice hardly forming the words, as I glared at him angrily.

He seemed to be taken aback by my question and dropped back the spoon of soup he had scooped back in his plate. My mom seemed to have taken the hint and soon, she excused us to settle our differences.

“Ooh,” she laughed with a knowing look on her face. “I see who you’re mad at, Galena.” She laughed again before turning to my dad; “I see you’re in a bigger soup than the chicken. When you’re done settling your trouble, holler on me and I’ll be back to eat. But for now, bye fighters.” she winked and quickly got up to leave.

“What? Wait…” My dad tried to hold her back but she flipped her hand away from his and walked away, laughing.

My dad turned to me with a guilty expression on his face. He seemed to have grown nervous as I glared at him hatefully. Each time he tried to pick the spoon it found a way to slip out of his hand and I almost laughed, but I found a way to push through and maintain my angry expression. I think he was doing it on purpose just to make me laugh, but that didn’t work. Ugh!

“Hey… Miss Fields, are you there?” he called in a loving tone, trying to ease the tension between us.

“I wonder who Miss Fields is, ‘cos I am no longer one, Mr. Derrick.” I said angrily in my baby voice with folded arms. Gosh! I was such a vixen.

My dad stared at me stupefied, wondering where he had gone wrong. He had never seen me in such a fit of rage before and his expression showed that he was totally confused.

“Hey…” he called softly in his sweet, lullabic voice, “How can you say that baby, remember you’re my best girl in the world, right?” He asked with a concerned look.

“Tell that to your waffles!” I snapped back at him as I threw some waffle cakes on the table, taking him by surprise. He seemed to be totally confused and couldn’t just understand my childish overreaction.

“Uh… what’s this about, baby?” He asked, looking totally bewildered.

“Don’t baby me!” I screamed, crying as I spoke. I felt betrayed by him, yet he sat there pretending to be oblivious of what he had done.

“I heard all that you said. Everything. You liar!” I accused again, making him more confused.

“Wh-what?” he asked in confusion with knitted eyebrows.

“You said it. You said waffles was your favourite,” I said through a broken voice as I cried bitterly. I felt betrayed by the one I thought loved me the most. “You said you loved waffles more than anything in the world. You said; “ain’t trading nothing baby.”” I said mimicking him with a broken voice as I kept crying and poured in all my concerns to him.

His gaze softened towards me and his lips gently curved up into a smile. “Hey… you know I was talking about you right? You are my most favourite waffle in the world baby.” He said softly with a sweet smile doting his lips. I felt confused by his confession, and I wasn’t sure I could believe that.

“You’re lying to me. You’re lying to me dad.” I said in a defeated tone as I hid my face behind my hand.

“I’m not lying to you baby, of course, I can’t trade anything in the world for you, you’re my favourite waffle.” He whispered desperately, and I could feel his hands tugging at me gently, pulling me to his side.

“But I’m not a waffle!” I opposed it but in a defeated voice.

“No, you’re not a waffle, but you see, mom calls you honey because she loves honey. That doesn’t make you honey, but it shows that you’re just as sweet as honey to her and she treasures you so.” He pulled me closer to him then picked up a broken piece of waffle from the table and displayed it in front of me. “And that’s why I call you my favourite waffle, because without you, no waffle is sweeter. You are the waffle of all waffles, and because I love waffles, I call you my favourite of them all, and I ain’t trading you for anything else baby.” He said grinning at me convincingly and my anger softened towards him. I stared at him defeatedly, not knowing whether to believe him or not, but his story sounded really genuine, and I couldn’t help but believe him. I was his favourite waffle - that didn’t sound bad. I was mom’s honey anyway.

“See, it’s really delicious especially when you’re here.” He said with a big smile as he gobbled down some of the waffles. He stuffed some into my mouth and I ate slowly, confirming its deliciousness, and I let out a small, nervous smile.

He picked me up and placed me on his thighs, laughing and kissing me playfully, and I laughed and cringed as his kisses tickled me.

“Mmm… I’m carrying the sweetest waffle here. Let me have a taste!” he said playfully as he gently grazed his teeth over my earlobe, teasing and biting it gently, making me laugh loudly. It didn’t look like we were fighting some minutes ago.

“Daddy,” I called sweetly, waiting for an answer.

“Hey, waffle,” I could feel his smile on my neck.

“Why are you calling me a waffle?” I was confused.

“Why can’t I? I mean, you’re my favourite waffle anyway.” He said, squeezing my tiny hand gently, playfully.

“But waffle is weird!” I protested dramatically.

“And honey is weird, but you are called it anyway. So why not be a little different sometimes?” He asked and cocked his head to one side, and I could see his expression to be that of amusement and mockery.

“Well. fine! Call me waffle then!” I said in a defeated but energetic voice.

“That’s my waffle!” he said laughing and I nudged him playfully.

“But can I put some honey in my waffle?” I asked innocently, blinking my eyes coyly at him.

“How are you so brilliant!? That would be so fantastic!” he laughed and roughened my hair playfully.

“We’re gonna do that sometime when mom is not home…” he was saying but mom interrupted him as she walked into the dinning with a tray of fish barbecue.

“You won’t try it cos i’m home, and this time, for a long time.” she said glaring at him as she took a sew opposite him.

“Still mad at me, waffle?” he turned and asked me gently, but when I answered, I discovered a deja vu had just happened. My dad was asking the same question from many years ago, and I just gave him the same answer. Quite cliche.

I was staring at my favourite man in the world with tears dropping down my cheeks and neck. He looked much older now, with his eyes getting a bit of wrinkles and a sprinkle of dullness that made it seem like he was really stressed or maybe, ageing. He looked a bit sad and devastated, nervous even. He wanted to touch me but it looked like he was scared to do so, maybe, feeling too guilty to do so.

I couldn’t just keep the tears from pouring, so I laid there, watching the clouds in his own eyes form and almost pour out as he stared back at me, hazel eyes to hazel eyes, only that his had started losing that old spark I used to remember it held.

“Dad…” I called wearily between my sobs, “everything he said was not true, right?” I asked sadly, hoping he’d just say no. Hoping that Roland Bones would just be proved wrong, and he’ll completely be that liar from one of my nightmares. But the answer I seemed to be getting from my dad was something I never hoped for, and I shook my head painfully hoping that everything was just in my head, and it would all go away. But no. It was really happening.

His mouth quivered and his face trembled with emotions as he struggled to form the words in his throat. The tears in his eyes flowed down freely like an unblocked tap, and his lips quaked as it formed the words; “Everything he said… it was true.”