Chapter ONE

Chapter One: We Are Leaving Tonight

This man cannot be serious!

"I do not understand why I have to go with you, I know nothing about bioengineering and no offense dad, but I do not want to spend an entire week of my summer vacation with your balding, middle-aged geeky friends! I really do not understand what I'll be doing there, please don't make me go dad, pwetty- pweetty please." I shot dad my best sulky pout, crossing my arms over my chest and pretending to give up on the scrumptious breakfast he had whipped up for me.

Dad only sighed jadely, the kind of sigh you make when you have had more than enough of something and I narrowed my eyes at him as he patted the corner of his lips with a napkin and took a swig of his remaining coffee. I cleared my throat and threatened him with my eyes and "assassin" expression, he looked to be prepping himself to walk out of the conversation like he did yesterday and this time I was not going to allow him. I had hidden his car keys, this man clearly does not know me well.

"How many times do we have to talk about this, honey! No, don't give me that look. We are leaving tonight, you have already been catered for, no cancelations can be made, I do not want to be a liability. You are not seeing the bigger picture here, you will be vacationing in paradise while I work my butt off! Do you know how beautiful Bassadune is this time of the year? And you have been nagging me about letting you visit grandma because you need a change of scenery, I am simply granting your wishes, Barsami, the genie, at your service."

I rolled my eyes to the back of my head as dad bowed his head and donned the biggest smile ever.

Huh! Barsami! I am not surprised; he has never been good with names.

"Me saying I need a change of scenery did not mean I wanted to be flown out to Bassa with your colleagues and share a building with them for a whole week!" I argued, maintaining my sullen expression with bratty toddler-like prowess. "Besides, I am sure you are the only one who is going to be taking his daughter with, it is going to be too awkward for me to be around those senior citizens, I am sure all they talk about is science and you know that science is really not my thing."

Unlike my dad who is literally a modern day Einstein, I inherited my mother's more social, interpersonal, artistic intelligence, hence I suck at math and most sciences, so I hate anything that has to do with the subjects that make me feel like pulling my hair out every morning when I have to wake up and go to school.

My dad's side of the family all have healthy sets of brains and the kind of logical, mathematical intelligence I only dream of having. One of my uncles is a neurosurgeon, another an aeronautical engineer, my aunt is a cardiovascular technologist and then there is Dad.

On top of being the Chief Operating Officer of one of the biggest companies in the continent and the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world, dad is a diverse scientist: a microbiologist, physicist, epidemiologist, chemist, cytologist, product development scientist and all the other -ist I have forgotten- and he's still studying, he does not mind being a student his entire life.

I could never!

 My mother was a dancer and singer; they met while he was on vacation and two polar opposites attracted. I can't imagine how I am going to survive in a room of people who are most likely going to remind of the biggest nerd at school- who is dorky, has no social skills whatsoever and is an absolute weirdo.

I will not be dealing with several other Miles Genburse, not on my last two weeks of summer vacation!

"You will be fine, honey, trust me, us science guys, are not as bad as you think." I scoffed humorlessly at his words. Easy for him to say.

"Are you still punishing me for kicking that perverted, bastard cop in the nuts?" I asked him as he began clearing the counter and depositing our dirty dishes to the sink.

"Not at all, sweetheart, that's old news."

"Are you sure, daddy dearest?" I cocked a brow, my tone hinting at my skepticism.

"Hundred percent!"

I don't buy it.

He must still be punishing me for that 'incident'. A few months back, Frobecka: my best friend of since forth grade, and I encountered an unsightly, overweight, drunk police officer who was also a butt grabbing perv and long story cut short: he groped Becka and my ankle paid his saggy balls a visit. I almost got charged with assaulting an officer of the law and I was grounded for a whole month. I think dad is still holding that against me, that's why he is forcing this trip on me. I only knew about it two days ago, he made it seem like a suggestion, but now he's telling me our flight is tonight and I basically have no say in the matter.

Gosh I can't with this man!

"You know I would have taken mom…. she would have been thrilled, she loved Bassa." He enunciated in that low- tuned voice, outstanding at inducing sadness and I was hit hard by guilt.

We lost mom seven years ago, just three days before my eleventh birthday, she was shot thirteen times by her scorned lover. I knew that she was having an affair, she would bring that bastard over every time when dad was away on business and as young as I was when the affair began, I knew what was going on. To this day, I am still encumbered by guilt, I blame myself, because I can't stop thinking that if I had disclosed the affair to dad, the outcome would have been different, and that mom would still be here. Now I feel even more guilty because I am the only one who knows about the affair since the bastard shot himself after killing mom. I preserved mom's image as the good, faithful, dotting wife by doing so, but unwittingly made it harder for dad to heal.

After mom died, dad has never been the same, she meant so much to him and I had to be the one to convince him to avoid dying alone and start dating, two years ago. The night I learned that mom was gone forever, I made a promise to myself: to always be there for dad when he needs me and to dedicate my existence to making him happy.

So if keeping that promise means wasting an entire week of summer vacation and throwing myself in the deep end, then so be it.

"You should have told me earlier so I could prepare myself mentally." I grumbled, but not as fiercely as before, now my unyielding spirit was obviously spurious. "At least promise me that you will ensure I have as little interaction with your work buddies as possible, especially your boss!"

Dad always speaks so fondly of the almighty Damien Bradley Lane Blackwood, but never forgets to mention his less than undesirable characteristics. From what dad has told me about him; which is a lot, I have summed him up as a classic, ruthless, won't hesitate to chop your head off, movie drug cartel leader. He sounds like someone who should be the head of the Russian mafia or something- and trust me I do not want to see myself anywhere near him, I am sure a single look from him is enough to ruin a person irrevocably.

"You do not have to worry about Mr Blackwood, he is a very busy man, he will probably not even notice you and his flight is separate from ours so you will not be seeing him tonight."

Boy was I relieved to hear that. I had accepted that I was not sleeping in the comfort of my bed tonight, but I still decided to play with dad a bit.

"Alright honey-"

"Yes bee?" I interjected, cutting him short and he gave me his signature 'don't do that' playful glower.

"I have to get to work, hun, there are a few things I need to wrap up, remember that Bassa won't be a vacation for me." Dad hastily packed up his suitcase and his laptop, flinging his suit jacket over his shoulder. I could tell that he was running late, so I decided to strike while the iron is still hot and frustrate him a bit for grounding me last week.

"I have all your car keys and I won't tell you where they are if you do not let me go to Becka's." I thought I had asserted some seriousness with my countenance and the austerity of my tone, but dad just chuckled and wore a look of triumph.

"Well luckily for me, I do not need keys when I have this," he waved his phone in my face as I frowned bitterly, "nice try, honey, you are still grounded, you can't leave the house until Greta gets here, but you can invite Becka over. Alright, honey, behave yourself and say if you need to buy something you'll need for the trip and I will wire you some money … oh and check your phone. Love you." He gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"Love you too dad." I watched him dash off before retrieving my phone from my sleeping shorts pocket. I face- palmed myself hard as I watched myself sneaking into his office and taking his keys, then tasting some of his bourbon- I had forgotten about the surveillance cameras! I know dad would not in any given day condone under- age drinking, so he really must want me to tag along with him to Bassa badly enough to let me drinking his expensive, foreign spirit slide.

I sent dad a text: Alright you busted me, I'm still going to face the consequences later aren't I?

Daddy: You sure know it, hun.

That said, I am going to have as much fun as possible in Bassa and give him a more solid reason to punish me.

I contemplated googling dad's boss but I decided not to. He is probably some middle-aged geek with a potbelly, who wears huge, unflattering glasses and has a collection of the most unfashionable, tacky, oversized, vintage suits. I mean dad is an exception, he is fit for his age of forty two and still hits the gym four times a week to maintain his muscular build and thanks to me and my exquisite taste, he is quite fashionable and his dress is very decent- BUT, I have seen some of his colleagues, I know how these science people are, they are not the most attractive people in the world.

Mr Blackwood's resumè is even longer than dad's, so he must be worse than a typical sciences man.

That's what I thought- and I couldn't have been more wrong.