Twins And Falling In Love
88. Paternity
EL grimaced small when the pain felt in his left upper arm when moved, indeed the wound he obtained was quite large, but he could still quite tolerate the pain, he felt pain, slowly EL came down from the bed so that Olivia did not wake up. El did deliberately not go home to his apartment because he did not want to leave Olivia at all, now the woman is in a state of shock and trauma, even though EL has been hard-earned to treat the woman, and she is now in a state of shock, but because Michel Olivia's mother had nightmares last night, several times the woman woke up from her sleep, fortunately there was El who was ready to take care of her.
They did not talk much overnight, the topic of the recent incident happened to Olivia seemed to be a taboo to talk about, and the two just sat down while occasionally commenting on the ball game show on television.
EL stepped into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, her lips twisting a smile as she looked at the display of Olivia's refrigerator, where there was a photo of her and EL holding the championship trophy.
“EL? You awake yet? How about your hand?” Olivia's voice has shocked the EL. The woman approaches El to confirm the wound on the EL hand, this is the second time EL has been injured on the hand, first because of Olivia's bite and second because it protects her. “I've called the campus and told you that today I'm taking a leave of absence. Let's go to the doctor, I only gave first aid yesterday, let a professional check it so as not to infection” continued Olivia.
“I'm fine, brother. You took very good care of my wounds last night.” EL said smiling warmly. “This is a picture of who's sister?” ask EL at the childish picture he found while looking through Olivia's fridge. “What is this picture of sister when she was a child?”
Olivia shook her head, “that's not my father's picture”.
El slightly scrunched his head confused to hear Olivia's words, the article was a crayon picture with two people in front of a house, and the picture was like a child.
“What you saw just now was not my picture. Precisely I never save my pictures when I was little” Olivia's birthday.
“your statement confuses me, Kak”
“You really want to know apparently?” Olivia took a deep breath while considering her options.
The man nodded in spirit. “The more I spend time with you, the more I realize that there are so many things about you that I don't know—and I can say I'm curious half to death.”
Olivia smiled faintly, “Alright I was being generous this morning.” The woman shrugged her shoulders at a glance before she moved from her position, towards the credenza in her living room to grab something from inside the closet. EL follows Olivia up close, and she immediately grabs the picture frame Olivia gave her.
“He was my first father, his name was Budi.” A proud smile appeared on the woman's face. “He is my hero and also my first love, no matter what he looks like.”
EL turned her gaze from Olivia's face to the frame in her hand to study the photo in earnest, a young man in his thirty years with a happy smiling little girl on his lap. In the photo, Olivia appears as an adorable little girl with hair in pigtails two is using a fruit-patterned sundress, and her father does look different. EL can conclude that with just one glance.
“So, you were adorable when you were small.” The man could not help but hold his smile. “You've been looking like a pretentious miss since childhood apparently.”
Olivia rolled her eyes while snorting, “hah, surely if we go to school at the same place, I will also be a victim of your bully.”
“Do I look like a child who bullies my friends?” Challenge EL.
Olivia nodded steadily.
“Do you really deal with bullying at such a level?” Ask curiously.
The man let out a long sigh, there was indeed an awkwardness in the photo he was holding. Although Olivia looks like a smart sweet girl, the man who holds her does not look the same. The man's smile was awkward, his eyes were blank and the accompanying expression was as innocent as a child being asked to take a picture together.
Olivia smiled bitterly at the reaction of EL who was now silent, surely the man did not dare to ask the things that he thought would offend Olivia. But the frown on his forehead, as well as the obvious question in the look in his eyes were quite an indication of his curiosity.
“I hope you don't look at my father like my friends used to look at him.” Connect Olivia.
“You mean?”
“You can definitely see there are irregularities in that photo right?”
EL nodded doubtfully, “but were you bullied because of this?”
“My mother left after she gave birth to me and this man raised me alone, even with all the limitations he had, I was not his real daughter, but she raised me like her own daughter” Olivia's eyes started to get hot when talking about her father, “My father suffered from developmental disability, she said, so he looks like an adult man but his mental capacity and mind are stuck in the development of a nine-year-old boy”.
EL froze in place, confused as to what to say to Olivia. He often guessed Olivia's background, but he never expected that this woman was raised by someone who had a mental disability—because she grew up to be someone very awesome.
“My father has been my best friend since I was a child and I have never bothered about his flaws. Obviously my classmates used to be so mocking and insulting to me, because my father always looked funny and different from other parents when he picked me up at the school gate. In the past he always jumped for joy every time I appeared, while the parents of other children still look cool—of course this attracted the attention of many people.” Olivia slowly began to wrap her arms around him to embrace herself. “But he was aware of my discomfort, so one day he spent his lunch money to buy me the book—book Three Little Pigs, he said, it was the first book I had—and also my father's favorite book—ia tried to find a way out so I didn't feel pressured by the ledge of my friends.”
El feels he must immediately shift the subject, not because he does not care about Olivia's past story, but because the woman in front of him now looks sad. But he understood that it was not easy for Olivia to share, so he decided to keep quiet and keep listening.
“For me, dad is a guy who tries to cross his boundaries to be able to keep pace with my development. Although he had limitations, but it was the man who taught me to read—what I would be now that I had never been taught to read by him.” Olivia swallowed a lump in her throat, trying to hold back the crying haru she had been holding.
“Your father sounds great Brother, he raised you alone and successfully made you a very great woman.” El rubbed Olivia's shoulder slowly.
Olivia shook her head slowly, “She has not had time to feel my success, because she died in an accident, after which I was taken care of by my adoptive parents, they were the ones my father had helped and they had no children, so once my father died they immediately took me to America to live with them, and there I began to be able to standalone” said olivia slowly.
The heart of EL is painful to imagine the separation that Olivia had to face when she was very young. It is fitting that this woman's attitude is very mature, if EL has to face the same difficulties as Olivia surely she will slowly be forged into someone more resilient than most people.
Olivia started sobbing remembering her memories with her father, and it made EL regret having asked, the man immediately grabbed Olivia's body, “Cry, I'll be here for you kak”
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