OWNED BY HIS FATHER.

Chapter -: 3.

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A TRIP INTO THE PAST: 2

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"It's okay, Daddy…" he had told his father that night. "I can do these things for myself from now on, I know how." He never liked saying no to his father, no matter what he requested of him. He felt it was the only way to show his gratitude for his love. He has seen so many Dads leave their families and he knew his father would never leave him no matter what and he never left. On the condition that he gets to shower himself, his father told him he was going to teach him how to cook and he agreed. They went to bed that night and he had another episode of a nightmare. His father was in his room before his mother got to him; he was already carrying him into his bedroom.

He thought they were going to start another round of argument but his mother just shook her head in disappointment and returned to her room. His father kept to his words, he taught him how to cook and do his laundry and he learned speedily.

Four months to his fifteenth birthday, his mother started taking ill. Her illness would come, last a week, and then she would recover. Then it got closer. She took ill in the morning and at night she's back on her feet and taking care of the house. He saw her sick in the morning and by the time he returned from school she was in the kitchen healthy and making dinner. He wondered what her illness was but his father never really talked about her illness with him. The doctor started frequenting the house as often as three times a week.

It bothered Danny greatly. He hated seeing his mother that way and in so much pain and he could tell it troubled his father too. He feared his nightmares were about to come to pass. Some days he feared going to school because what if he returned and was told his mother had died while he was at school? He wouldn't forgive himself.

His father was his pillar, he kept his mind clean and the reason he would always find himself in the school the next day.

He wanted to make his father proud.

And he did just that.

He studied hard and got good grades. He began to learn the family business and his father couldn't be more proud of him.

Two months to his birthday he had suffered another nightmare and his mother's illness had triggered it.

He returned from school and saw his mother coughing up blood into the kitchen sink. There was so much blood in the sink it scared the shit out of him. He has never been more afraid. He spent hours turning and tossing on the bed that night and when he finally fell asleep, his mother was there in his dreams, lying in a puddle of blood and gore yet choking on her blood, it was the scariest, most disturbing nightmare.

It felt like something he had seen in a horror movie.

His father's protective strong arms around him that night brought him back to life and when he had woken up at 3 a.m he was beside his father.

He stayed awake thinking about that nightmare, he didn't realize he was trembling in fright until he felt his father's gentle caress on his boyish skin.

It felt warm.

It felt good.

It was comforting.

But, most importantly it stopped his trembling.

Then it happened.

His father rolled him onto his back while he hovered above him.

Danny could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest, so loud he had to reach the side of his chest where his heart was and grab onto it, fingers clutching onto his PJ-shirt and emotions swirling around in his young mind.

Emotions, he could not comprehend.

"It's alright, baby." His father cooed ever so sweetly and he stared into his eyes. "Do you trust me?" He asked and he nodded.

Of course, he trusts him.

He would never hurt him, right?

"Right, I would never do anything that will harm you. I love you too much to see that happen, my boy."

That may have been the first time his father lied to him because when he woke up again that morning, his body was on fire. He ached all over. He was sore. He couldn't sit down for longer than a few seconds. He stayed in bed all day until the late evening when his father came to carry him down for dinner. The memories of the night still linger but he shoved it down to the deepest part of his mind because he didn't want to think about it.

It was better that way.

"Where is, Mom?" He had remembered asking. His father kept it away from him until the next morning when he was much stronger and his body hurt less, then he called him into the living room, sat him on his legs, and told him his mother had died the previous night.

"Why didn't you tell me yesterday, Daddy?" He had cried bitterly, his heart burning tightly in his chest. He wanted to see her for the last time.

He knew it was going to happen, it was inevitable with her constant illness. The blood she would cough up, the sleepless nights, the constant pain she would complain of having all over her weak body.

But, no matter how prepared or ready one thinks they are for these sorts of things, you would never be ready enough.

It still hurts.

He wanted to be there for her.

But, he wasn't.

He was with his father who is now the only family he has.

"You were in pain, I didn't want you having another added to it... I'm sorry." He reached for his father's face and swiped tears from his eyes.

It doesn't matter, she's gone now and there is no point picking fights with his bereaved, grieving father.

"T-the n-nightmares... it finally h-happened." The boy choked painfully. His mother was still very young, just like his father. They were just one year apart, why does she have to die? It's not right.

But then again, what is ever right?

His father held him until he fell asleep, he laid him to rest and when he woke up, his father had a mug of warm chocolate sitting beside his bed. He drank it all happily and came downstairs to find his father talking about funeral preparation with some men in the living room.

He returned to his room and waited until his father came for him.

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A week later his mother was laid to rest and that night his father invited him into his room.

"Sit with me." He pleaded and Danny sat beside him on the bed. "Look at me, Danny." He obeyed. "Your mother is gone now, your grandparents died when you were nine, you remember that?" Danny nodded with tears rolling down his cheeks. "It's just you and me now, my baby. I promise you tonight that I am never going to marry any other woman. No one will take your mother's place and nobody would have my love but you alone. I will never get too busy for you and I will always be there when you need me." He reached for Danny's hands and held him softly in his. "I will love you, protect and take care of you as long as I shall live and you promise to do the same for Daddy, don't you?" He raised a questioning brow at him and Danny nodded his agreement.

"Y-Yes...yes...Daddy, I-I promise." He sniffed.

"That's my boy." He hugged him and gently lay him down on the bed.

But, what Danny didn't know and his father never mentioned to him till this day was that on the night his mother had died, she had caught them together that way and she had argued with his father again while he slept.

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