Page 213 - Till the Last Breath . . .

man who wouldn’t believe his daughter, but his questioning gaze kept her

from going.
‘Fine,’ she said and plonked down on the sofa. ‘But it better not be about
the guys whom you have chosen for me. I am too busy to get married right

now,’ she declared.
‘I am not talking about that,’ he said. ‘I want to talk about us.’

This can’t be happening. Zarah felt someone had pulled the rug from
beneath her feet. All of a sudden, she started to feel light-headed. She

wanted to run from him. Why? Why does he want to talk about us?
‘Why do you want to talk?’ she asked.

‘There are some things that I know that you think I don’t. And things that
you don’t know.’
Oh no. This was only getting only worse. She wished he would stop and

not go any further. It had taken her years to put what had happened that
night behind her, and him digging out the past would only mean it was real.

She looked at him with rapt attention and saw his eyes glaze over.
‘I have been a coward.’

Yes, you have.
He continued, ‘I know what happened that night. I have wanted to talk to

you about this for very long, but I have never found the words. I tried to get
close and make you understand how wrong I had been, but it never helped.
I understand your hatred for me. I understand that it’s hard for you to sit in

the same room as me. I know I have failed as a father.’
‘Can I go?’ she asked. Her eyes had started to well up and she didn’t

want to cry in her front of her father. Despite all the years she had spent
hating her father, she also had the lovely memories of her childhood when

her dad doted on her and loved her like a little newborn baby. She didn’t
want to be reminded of all that.

‘Yes, you can. I understand why. I know I should have believed you, but I
didn’t. Years later, I came to know what happened from the daughter of my
senior and about what he had done to you … She told me that you had gone

to the hospital when her dad was in a coma and told her that her father was
a monster, a disgrace, a paedophile, a depraved pervert …’ His voice trailed