INTO

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

One second, Tina was talking about her weird crush on Tyler and the next, she was claiming to have seen her dad again.

Gwen was left in a state of confusion and was barely able to process what was going on as almost immediately, Tina took to her heels to run in the direction of her dad.

“Hey, Tina!” she called out, watching her dad also take to his heels. “Wait up!”

It was useless as Tina had gone completely deaf. She ignored Gwen’s words and ran, giving Gwen no choice but to mirror her actions.

Heck, her dad was a fast runner and apparently his age had nothing on him. They both chased him ahead and as his steps were way faster than theirs, it seemed almost impossible to catch up.

“s**t,” Gwen let out, pausing as she watched him run into a narrow path. It was going to be almost impossible for him to escape now and she smirked at that thought. Either he was too busy running to think or he simply had no idea, she knew his time of running from them was up as he had gotten himself into a narrow path with a dead end.

It was at such moments her sharp eye and good memory came handy.

“It’s a dead end!” she yelled to Tina who was about to take a sharp turn into the narrow path. “You don’t have to run anymore. There’s no escaping for him.”

“Oh,” Tina immediately stopped her running to take deep breaths. “Oh, okay. How do you know that though?”

“Come with me if you don’t believe me,” she said, leading the way into the corner. “No matter how far he runs, he’ll still have to go through us to leave here.”

“Oh, okay.”

Just like Gwen said, they had only taken a few steps in when they began to hear footsteps coming in their direction. It was initially slow, then became fast, then became slow all over again.

“Dad?”

“Well, hello there,” Gwen said instead, the second they spotted Tina’s dad walking towards them. “You look surprised. What exactly surprised you? Us? Or the fact that you ran into a dead end?”

He was silent, immediately sending his gaze to the floor and taking steps backwards.

“Dad?” Tina spoke up again, taking steps towards him. “It’s you, right. Dad?”

After a very short silence, he finally spoke up. “Who are you people?”

Tina looked baffled, Gwen simply knitting her eyebrows. Exchanging quick glances, Tina blinked continuously as she moved even closer towards him.

“What do you mean who are we?” she asked, her voice almost trembling. “Oh, right. I’m sorry. I forgot it’s been so long. Um, this is Gwen and we attend high school together. I’m Tina. Christina, dad. Your daughter. Your little precious daughter. I know it’s been so long but Aunt Jenn said I look almost the same way as I did when I was seven so you should remember, right? Do you remember me now?”

“Have you lost your mind?” his voice suddenly came out harsh. “What the hell are you talking about? Dad? I’m not your dad for heavens sake and I do not have a daughter!”

“No,” Tina stared at him in horror. Why was he being so harsh? Her dad was never harsh with her. He almost never raised his voice at her so why-

“No,” she muttered, taking another step towards him. It made no sense. He just had to be him. It was him. “You’re my dad.”

“You really-”

“You are my dad,” she cried out to him. “Dad, please stop it. Are you trying to tease me? Fine, I get the joke so stop it now. It’s no longer funny and I get the joke, okay? So just stop it. Please.”

“Tina-”

“No,” she ignored Gwen’s call, shaking her head. “It’s you. You have a mole on your nose. Let me see. It’s still there, right?”

“Stay away from me!” he pushed her away before she could touch him, his palm immediately covering his nose. “What’s your deal? I said I do not know you so why won’t you listen?”

“You’re lying,” she replied him. “You hated the mole so much you wanted to get rid of it. But I thought it was a cute tiny button on your nose so you left it. Why are you hiding your nose from me? It’s still there, isn’t it?”

“Tina,” Gwen moved closer to her to stop her from throwing herself at him again. “Stop it. Just let him be.”

“No-”

“You should listen to your friend,” he barked. “And stop harassing me just cause I look like someone you know. I don’t know you, okay? And I’m not your dad.”

“No, you-”

“Tina!” Gwen grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently. “Snap out of it, will you? Please come to your senses. He said he isn’t your dad so you can’t force him to be what he is not. Just snap out of it and let’s go.”

“You don’t understand, Gwen-”

“And I don’t think I want to,” she replied her. “Have you forgotten what we agreed on? We said you were going to continue living your life the way you were living it all these years without him. You were doing just fine and for heavens sake, you don’t need to try to cling unto someone who doesn’t want to be held onto.”

Gwen’s words managed to calm her down as she let out a sniffle and gave him a final look.

Gwen did the same then shook her head, putting her arms around her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go.”

With a nod, they turned and walked out.