Chapter 89

89 Flatly Rejected

“Do ... you have an employee named Fred Johnson?”

“Fred Johnson? Oh, there it is. He’s one of the systems analysts at my company. What’s wrong?” Arthur asked.

“I-I see. Has he been with your company for a long time?”

Arthur was silent for a moment, trying to remember. “I forget exactly, but it seems like it’s been around six years?” Arthur replied, looking dubious.

“It’s been quite a while, huh,” Kalea commented, smiling bitterly. And Kalea was able to find the man because of her relationship with her father’s boss. If she didn’t know Arthur, it seemed like Kalea would never have known that Fred was still in this town.

“Is he your acquaintance? Your father?”

Arthur’s question made Kalea flinch in surprise and the girl immediately shook her head quickly. “Un-uncle! He’s one of my very distant uncles,” Kalea replied, lying without thinking of any other suitable reason.

“Ah, that’s right. Now that I remember your faces are quite similar, is he your father’s uncle or your mother’s uncle?” Arthur asked again and again and made Kalea even more confused looking for an excuse.

“F-from dad,” Kalea replied as she fiddled with Arthur’s pajama buttons, so it wouldn’t be too obvious if she was currently very nervous.

.....

“If you were my girlfriend, I might have asked Mr. Johnson and familiarized myself with-”

“F-for what?!”

“To be close to him? But since our relationship is not like that and indirectly you are hidden by me, I’ll act as usual to Mr. Johnson,” Arthur replied, slightly wondered by Kalea’s current panicked attitude.

“Oh ... it’s supposed to be like that, haha! Alright, let’s sleep,” Kalea said as she closed her eyes.

“Is there something you’re hiding?” Arthur asked as he touched his sugar baby’s lips.

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

Kalea hugged Arthur and buried her face in his chest, hoping Arthur would understand if she didn’t want to be asked any further. Fortunately, Arthur understood. The man no longer asked and fell asleep beside Kalea.

***

[I have already sent the data regarding Kalea Orlin Lovaata. Anything else needed, sir?]

“No, thank you.”

Arthur pressed the file sent by his men. Seeing Kalea’s behavior at that time certainly made him suspicious, and finally made Arthur want to know the girl’s family background. From the start, he had been holding back from finding out for fear of making Kalea feel uncomfortable, but the longer their relationship went on, the more Arthur felt that there was indeed something strange about his sugar baby family relationship. Several times, he secretly checked Kalea’s financial history. There were quite a lot of funds spent, but Arthur didn’t know what the girl was using. Meanwhile, Kalea rarely spends the money he gives.

Arthur read one by one the collected data, until he finally understood everything that was happening. Fred Johnson, whom Kalea said was her uncle, turned out to be the girl’s father.

“But I think Mr. Johnson already has a family with two kids- oh, he’s having an affair, huh,” Arthur mumbled, reading Fred Johnson’s profile. No wonder sometimes he was familiar with Fred’s face, which was really similar to Kalea’s. Even with his increasing age, it is undeniable that Kalea’s father is still handsome.

“Haha, it’s useless to be handsome but cheat and throw away his wife and one child. Damn, it turns out that there is a man like this!” Arthur cursed, hitting his desk. As if he didn’t realize that he was also one of a group of jerks. His eyes flashed with hatred when he saw Fred’s photo, it’s only natural that since childhood, Kalea had to work hard and even quit school. Apparently, because her father suddenly left her. “Unfortunately, I just gave him a promotion,” Arthur muttered.

Arthur took a deep breath, he couldn’t act arbitrarily. He would monitor until he could do something that made Fred regret what he had done all this time. “Just watch, Mr. Johnson. I don’t know if I should be grateful or what because you abandoned her, but because of you, I can get to know Lea. After this, you will know the consequences,” Arthur said, still looking at Fred’s photo as if he was talking directly to Kalea’s father. A slight smirk etched on his lips made his handsome face look sinister.

The man typed a name in his contact and called the contact.

[What? I have nothing to do with you.]

“Zeline, are you on campus?”

[No, I’m taking a break at the coffee shop.]

“Alone?”

[Why do you keep asking? You wanna accompany me?]

“Wow, I’d be happy to accompany you.”

[Tch, cut the small talk and get to the point!]

“Since Lea didn’t go to college yesterday, was she being bullied by other students today?”

[Oh, Lea told you she didn’t come in, huh? Hmm, looks like there isn’t. After all, Lea has dared to fight them, you don’t need to worry. Wait, why are you even that worried about her?]

“I see. Eh? Of course, I’m worried, she’s my baby~”

[Ew, disgusting. Bye.]

The call was cut off unilaterally by Zeline. Arthur smirked, Kalea lied saying the reason for not picking up her phone was because she was in a hurry to get to campus. But it turns out that the girl didn’t go to college at all. Arthur guessed that yesterday Kalea had run into Fred by accident. Of course, it made Kalea very shocked.

Everything is getting clearer.

Arthur wouldn’t be angry, it was a natural thing for Kalea to do. The girl really didn’t want him to know about the condition of Kalea’s family.

***

Unbeknownst to Arthur, Kalea had come to the man’s company again, but with another intention. She made up her mind to speak directly to her father. After college, she waited in the lobby wearing glasses and a hat. Her hazel eyes continued to search for the whereabouts of people she knew. She had been there for almost three hours, even the receptionist had asked him to come home immediately if there was no need with Arthur, because Kalea turned out to be making other employees suspicious of her. However, Kalea asked for another hour to wait.

Until finally, she saw Fred who came out of the elevator alone. Kalea got up from her seat and quietly followed the man from behind. Feelings followed even into the parking lot, Fred stopped walking and turned around to see who was behind him.

“You’re following me? What do you want?!” Fred asked, raising his voice. In the parking area where they were, it was deserted only the two of them were there.

Kalea took off her hat and glasses, she looked at Fred very seriously. Suddenly, the man was wide-eyed in disbelief and then pointed at Kalea with shaking hands. “Y-you-”

“Hi, Dad. Long time no see,” Kalea said with a faint smile.

“How did you get here?!”

“Because I saw you here. How are you? You haven’t forgotten me, have you?” The longer Kalea asked, the more her smile became a compulsion because she didn’t think she was that strong after meeting her father in person.

“I don’t know you, don’t bother me!” Fred snapped, back walking away from Kalea and heading for his car. However, Kalea didn’t give up.

“Don’t lie! Dad, it’s me, your daughter!” Kalea exclaimed, walking after Fred until the man had grabbed the knob of his car. His eyes stared intently at Kalea full of hatred as if to tell her that he was really not happy with this meeting.

“Your relationship with me is over, why are you still looking for me?” Fred growled, very cynically.

“Over? You suddenly disappeared without saying a word! And that was after mom found out that Dad was cheating on her,” Kalea whispered, biting her lower lip, holding back tears that were ready to roll down her cheeks. “Don’t you know how our condition was after you left? Mom immediately changed drastically, she had a hard time controlling her emotions, was addicted to alcohol, and was torturing me just because my face was similar to you! Not to mention that I had to drop out of school and work extremely hard-”

“I don’t care! Do you think when I hear your sad story I’ll feel sorry? I really don’t fucking care, Lea!” Fred snapped, until he glared at the child of his own flesh and blood. “I’m happy now with my wife and two children, you guys are nothing to me from eleven years ago. Can’t you just let me be happy with my own choices?!”

Kalea stares in disbelief at her father, who had the heart to only think about himself, never feeling guilty and even blaming Kalea and her mother. “Dad, why are you like this? Aren’t you the kindest and most loving father to us? What made you like this? What did we do wrong, Dad?” Kalea asked in a voice that trembled even more, her vision getting blurry because of the tears that had accumulated in her eyes.

Even though she always believed that her family at that time was harmonious and didn’t lack anything.

“I don’t want to remember the past, and you don’t ever call me dad again. People will hear it, and I don’t want you to mess up my work here!” Fred snapped again.

Kalea couldn’t hold back her tears anymore, the tears escaped from her eyes. Her chest kept getting tighter because she was again getting insults and evil words from her father. “Mom is suffering a lot, Dad. She loved you very much, but why did you have the heart to leave her.”

“You’d better get out of here, I have nothing to do with you anymore, even from a dozen years ago! Don’t let me see you again, let alone your mom!” Fred threatened, while pointing at Kalea, and then got into the car. The man immediately drove his car regardless of Kalea’s screaming and knocking on his car while running after the car until finally it was difficult to catch up again.

Kalea looked at her father’s car, which was disappearing from her sight. She walked unsteadily to her car, still not expecting that Fred would actually be that bad after finally seeing each other again.