Honeyed Lies

THE DAUGHTER WHO LEFT

The rain in Los Angeles had always felt much more different. It wasn't like the rain Amelia Hart remembered from California. Back home, the rain carried memories. It carried the sound of her mother's laughter from many years ago, the warmth during family dinners, and the feeling of being loved without having to question or doubt it. But Los Angeles rain was different. It felt so cold and distant, it carried the feeling of loneliness and a feeling of being left out. Almost like the city itself knew how to keep people at arm's length.

Amelia stood beside the large window of her small apartment, watching droplets slide down the glass while the city lights blurred into beautiful streaks of gold and white. The coffee in her hand had already gone cold hours ago. To anyone who saw her life from the outside, Amelia had everything. Of course she did have everything, she was the daughter of “The Alexander Hart”, one of the wealthiest and most successful businessmen in California. She grew up surrounded by luxury, attended the best schools, she never had to worry about money. But money was never the thing she wanted, because money couldn't bring her mother back. Money couldn't fix that emptiness that had settled inside her heart and their home after her mother's death. And money definitely couldn't replace the one thing Amelia had lost the moment her father decided to move on–Her family.

Her eyes moved to the phone sitting on the kitchen counter as the screen lit up. Dad was calling. Amelia stared at the name and for a moment, she didn't move nor did she answer the phone. She just watched the phone as it kept on ringing.

It's been five years. Five years since she left California. Five years since she packed her bags, looked her father in the eyes, and told him she would never forgive him. It's been five years since she walked away from the home she once cherished and loved with all her heart. A small sigh escaped her lips as the phone stopped ringing. She hated that seeing his name still affected her so much. She hated that a little part of her still craved and wanted to hear his voice. Not because she missed him. At least, that was what she kept telling herself.

She didn't miss the man her father had become…. She didn't miss the man who had chosen happiness with another woman after her mother's death. She didn't miss the father who came home one day and announced he was getting married again when Amelia was still struggling to accept the fact that her mother was gone. She didn't miss the man who seemed to move forward while his little daughter was still drowning in grief.

Her phone buzzed again. It wasn't a call this time, it was a message.

“I know you don't want to talk to me right now, but I hope you are taking care of yourself. I love you, Amelia. Call me when you're ready”.

After reading it, she looked away. Those words should have softened her. They should have made her happy but instead, they only reopened the wound she had spent years trying to close. Those were always his words. “I love you”. Every time she thought about this, she always wondered… If he loved her so much like he always said he did, why did it feel like he abandoned her?... Why did it feel like she was the only one who felt the loss of her mother?..... Why did it feel like he replaced the life they had built for so long with someone new?

A knock sounded at the door, pulling her away from her thoughts. "Amelia?"

She opened the door to see her best friend, Claire, standing there with two cups of coffee. "You know," Claire said as she walked inside, "Normal people usually answer calls from their fathers."

Amelia rolled her eyes lightly. "And normal people should also forgive people who hurt them?" Claire placed the coffee on the table and looked at her carefully. "Is that really what happened? He hurt you, or are you still angry because you were hurt?"

Amelia went quiet. She hated when Claire asked her questions like that. Questions she didn't have answers to. "My mother died, Claire," Amelia whispered. "And before I even had time to accept that she was gone, he brought another woman into our home. He married another woman, Claire"

"Your father lost his wife too."

Amelia looked at her sharply. "Don't defend him."

"I'm not defending him," Claire replied softly. "I'm just saying maybe he was hurting too, you just haven't given him a chance to explain himself."

Amelia looked away. That was always the problem when this conversation came up because a small part of her knew Claire was right. Her father wasn't perfect and he wasn't completely heartless either.

Even after she left, he still paid her school fees, still sent her money every month. He still called, still tried. But Amelia didn't want his money. She didn't want expensive gifts or a comfortable life. She wanted the father who used to carry her on his shoulders when she was little, she wanted the father who promised her that nothing would ever take their family away. She wanted the man she once knew before her mother died.

"I don't need his money," Amelia said quietly. Claire sighed. "I know."

"I needed him." Amelia continued. The room fell silent because that was the truth Amelia never admitted. She wasn't angry because he remarried, she was angry because she felt like he forgot how much she was hurting.

----

Later that night, Amelia sat at her desk, studying through the pile of books in front of her. She had successfully built a life here. A life far away from her father's shadow. She was no longer Alexander Hart's daughter. She was just Amelia, a girl trying to find herself. A girl trying to prove that she could survive without the family's wealth and name.

As she was studying, her phone rang suddenly. She frowned because the number was unfamiliar. For a moment, she considered ignoring it. But something inside her made her answer. "Hello?"

There was silence on the other end, then a deep voice spoke. "Am I speaking with Amelia Hart?"

Her fingers tightened around the phone. "Yes. Who is this?"

Another pause and somehow, that pause made her heart start beating faster. "My name is Robert Hayes. I work with your father's legal team." Amelia stood slowly. "My father?"

The man's voice became softer. "I'm sorry, Amelia."

Her eyebrows pulled together. "Sorry for what?"

There was silence before the words came. Words that would change everything forever. "Your father, Alexander Hart, passed away tonight."

The room suddenly felt too quiet. Amelia couldn't breathe. No, that wasn't possible. Her father had called her hours ago. He had even sent her a message. He was alive. He was just angry that I was ignoring him. He's just being stubborn. He's always stubborn… He was everything she had spent years trying not to think about. But he couldn't be gone.

"What happened?" she whispered.

The man's voice lowered. "It wasn't an accident."

Amelia froze. "What do you mean?"

A painful silence followed. Then: "Your father was murdered."

The phone slipped slightly against her hand. For five years, Amelia Hart had convinced herself she didn't need her father. For five years, she had carried anger in her heart. Standing alone in her apartment, she realized the one person she had spent years trying to forget was the one person she would never get the chance to forgive anymore. And someone had taken him away before she could.