IV

MIKAYLA

. . .

"Really? No, you won't, Aaron. I seriously doubt your choice here."

"My choice is the best. See, isn't it pretty? And it'll be even prettier if my precious daughter wears it. After all, she's an exception."

"Proud father, aren't you?"

Dad chuckles, shaking his head at Mama. He opens his mouth to answer her when I knock on the door twice, getting all their attention.

"See, my precious little one is here," Dad says, smiling at me, "Come inside, my child. You never have to ask."

But you have raised me with manners, Daddy.

He proceeds to close the fashion magazine in which he was searching for wedding gown designs.

I nod, walking inside. I close the dark brown door behind me, standing by it. "I wanna talk to you, Dad," I say, escaping my Mama's suspicious gaze.

If she thinks that she knows my reason because she is my mother and keeps saying that she has kept me for nine months in her womb and there is a deep connection between us, then she is right. I'm here for it.

"And I'm