Finding solace within the blanket of crippling thoughts inside my head was close to impossible. All the pain and regret came at me with no mercy; murdering every glimmer of salvation I tried so hard to foster.

As of this crucial point in my life, I made it my goal to patch up the broken pieces of my family. Talking to Audrey about it yesterday seemed a little off to me, knowing the bad blood just kept filling up the bucket as I pushed her all the more.

Although her unexpected cooperation came off quite sketchy to me, I thought it was best not to be bothered by doubts; and that trusting her would make it easier to swallow.

"I really wish you were here, Sarah. I wished there was someone who'd help me survive this hell I've been trapped in for so long. I miss my best friend so much," was what I wrote down on the last few lines on page twenty-two of my journal, sitting quietly on my favorite writing spot.

It was a miracle to even find a place in this vain mansion where I could be myself and think about people and places as I'd wish, without being talked into otherwise. It was the only place where I felt good to write and to be free from whatever was keeping me from being myself.

"Avery..." A concerned voice snapped me out of the moment. Hearing that particular voice was the very last thing I wanted to hear because it was from a person who used to hold a vital part of my life that now means nothing to me.

"No, don't you dare talk to me," I said with a shaky reply, closing my journal. I didn't turn my back to face him; neither did I have the energy nor the kindness to not pray ill to rain down on him.

"There's nothing you can say that would possibly make me forgive you for everything that you've done to hurt me, Eric. And I'm sure I don't need to make a list of all the ways you made me regret even marrying you." Still not facing him, I held the pen so tightly, little more pressure and it would break.

"That's not what I was coming here for," he said, walking closer towards me. And just before he attempted to comfort me, I pushed my chair back and stood up. "Then please leave. I don't want to talk to you."

"I think we need some time apart."

Utterly surprised, I gazed at him with much more relief than of sadness, unable to thoroughly process the words coming out of his mouth. "I'm listening," I said, clearing my throat as I rubbed my sweaty palms against my nightgown.

"All of this has turned out to be a huge misunderstanding. This marriage —- I, uh, we need to clear things through, find out what we want, i— it's just that since we've been married, there wasn't a single day when we didn't fight."

"I just miss you. I miss us," he said, his eyes barely paying attention to me, "uh, our friendship I mean... of course, I missed us —- being, uh —- the friends we've always been."

Seeing him struggle at his loss for words, I helped him get out of an awkward position. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave out a smile. "I know what you mean, Eric." He hugged me right after. His skin was warm and his embrace felt safe, just like before when we were simply friends.

And before things got even more awkward, he let go of me and glanced at my lips like he was expecting something more to happen.
"Oh, and before I forget," he said, sliding his hand into his pockets.

I gasped in complete joy when his clenched fist opened. "The keys to my apartment!" I said, taking it from his open palm excitingly. I shrieked and jumped in circles around the room like I had just won the lottery.

"Are you happy?" He asked.

I giggled at his concerning ask. "Of course, I am!"

"Good. That's how I want to see you from now on."

"Thank you..."

His lips curved into a smile, although it wasn't his most attractive or sincere at that matter. "We'll, uh, we'll talk soon," he said, seeing himself out the door. "Okay," I replied.

Hovered with much excitement, I put on new clothes and grabbed a couple of things. As I ran downstairs hurriedly, I cried to Lydia to inform the chauffeur to take me to the apartment.

But before I left the mansion, I took one quick look at Eric who was peacefully reading in his study room. I didn't know what got into his head to say such a thing, but whatever he did gave me hope that my best friend was still in there somewhere.

As soon as we arrived at Taleauve Boulevard, my heart was pumping with joy to finally come back.

"It's good to be back home," I said to myself as I stood up on the front porch, recalling the life I used to have back when I lived on my own in this apartment.

When I opened the doors, I expected to stay here for a little while and leave all the drama behind. However, instead of a hot shower bath awaiting me, I saw my mother getting busy in the kitchen as she pinned the linen on the kitchen table.

"Mom, why are you here?"

"Oh, honey, you're early," she replied, doing the dishes.

"Well since you came to visit me and reminisced our fun times at Herchard, I thought to prepare a lovely dinner for you and your father. You know, just the three of us, as a family."

"Okayyyy," I said, feeling confused as to how that happened. Taking some time to think of the possible reasons, I failed. "But how did you get inside?"

"Eric let me in," is what she replied.

"Wha—- what? How?"

"I finally got to hit him where it hurt," she said, meticulously laying a number of silver utensils in precise distance away from each other, "that means I talked to him very seriously as any mother would do to her daughter's husband. I exposed him to his weakness."

"Which is?"

"You."

"Wait, what? When did you even talk, anyway?"

"After the little scandal yesterday, Eric apologized to me for the way her snake of a mother acted, then he sent her home. And when Laurel was out of the picture, we talked."

"Really?" I grew more skeptical than ever.

"Eric is a good man, Avery. And that is why, even if it was wrong for me to leverage you into marrying him in exchange for your freedom, a part of me felt relieved that I chose the right gentleman for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to the stupid arrangement," she added, folding the napkins and putting it in every plate.

"Agreed? Like you haven't thought about it all by yourself," I said, rolling my eyes as I crossed my arms.

"Believe me, dear, I hadn't planned everything. I was merely a string to be pulled. It was wrong, but it was necessary."

"But —-"

My curiosity was blown down when a series of loud knocks kept raging on the door. I hastened towards it as the noises never stopped until the doors were opened. A confident, ravishing woman appeared before my eyes, and she blabbered her way inside my home like the entitled lady she was.

"Okay, you owe me big time for helping you in fulfilling your absurd fantasies to fix our screwed-up family, that's why —-" Audrey stopped talking when she realized we weren't the only people inside the apartment. "What the hell is she doing here?" She said obnoxiously, glaring at Elizabeth.

"Audrey...remember what we talked about yesterday," I whispered to her ear.

"It's fine. I'm awesome. It's just that I'm not used to our mother being with us 'cause usually she just leaves her daughters behind," Audrey replied, intentionally striving to bully Elizabeth in the best way she could.

Without a doubt, Elizabeth heard her insult from the kitchen but knew better than to entertain Audrey's sarcasm. She simply continued slicing the tomatoes like she heard nothing.

"Why are you here, anyway?" I asked softly.

"You told me you wanted to fix our family, and if you remember, I offered to help you," she smirked, "I went to your mansion before I even knew this place even existed, and then I asked Eric if one of his drivers could take me here."

"By the way, to really actualize the whole family reunion thing, I brought over ——"

The door opened and entered a very tall, olive-skinned man wearing a plain white polo shirt and casual pants. Completely opposite from what he was wearing, he had raven-colored hair, and aside from the captivating greenish color in his eyes, his flabby stomach gave off quite the first impression.

Staring at him, I didn't know exactly what I was feeling. It's like I've seen him before but we never actually got to be introduced to one another.

He was a stranger to my eyes, but seemingly, not to my heart.

"Who is he?"

"That...is Julian Prawes," she said, "our father."

"You said he was a drunkard and a gambler?"

"I mean...he was, I think. Just look at that pot-bellied stomach," she chuckled, "why, what did you expect?"

"Doesn't matter," I said, continuing to gaze at the person I apparently know nothing about but ironically is my father. "Why did you invite him over, Audrey?"

"Call me sentimental."

His eyes scoured around the room, looking for familiar faces. Audrey went towards him and made him feel comfortable. Meanwhile, as I peeked the kitchen, my mother had developed a more steadfast relationship with her spatula and thongs, therefore had no idea we had a visitor.

As Audrey walked back to me, I yanked her arm towards the other room. "This was supposed to be a family reunion."

"Exactly. There's no family reunion without the man of the house, duh!"

"And here I thought you genuinely cared for me," I said, "you are intentionally screwing this up, aren't you?"

"Why would you think that way?"

"I'm not sure how our mother would react when she sees her past lover in the living room."

"Big deal. They're grown-ups," she smirked. "Besides, that depends on how our special guest would behave throughout the night. Oh, gotta go, I need to get something."

Audrey stepped out of the room to which I followed.

"Hello, dear. Are you a friend of Audrey's?" Julian's shadow stopped me from ripping off Audrey's head.

"Friend —- uh, no, I'm her —- wait, yes...I am a friend of Audrey's." Feeling an extreme amount of awkwardness standing right in front of a stranger who obviously should hold the most value to your life was an understatement.

"It's nice to meet you." He smiled at me and shook my hand the way any man would to another stranger. It wasn't special at all, not even the tiniest bit.

"Uh, feel at home," I laughed consciously. "Will you excuse me just for a second?"

I hastened straight to the dining room where Audrey was going through the groceries that she brought in. "Where is that stupid vodka," she muttered as she threw almost every item out of the paper bag.

"How could you?" I asked. My hands were as cold as ice from embarrassment.

Still looking into her groceries, she replied unattentively. "How could I what?"

"You didn't tell him about me?"

"There you are, baby," she sighed, opening the vodka giddily. "It's a sensitive topic, Avery."

"What do you mean it's a sensitive topic? I'm his daughter!" I lowered my voice when I noticed my actual father was just a few meters away from me.

"It's been decades since he had last seen you, Avery. It's not like he knew what you were gonna look like when you're all grown up. You were still a baby back then."

"Oh, that's your excuse? What did you even say to persuade him to come?"

"I might have told him I was planning to let him borrow money from my night club again for his casino hopping."

I shook my head and squinted my eyes at her, giving off a disappointed look.

"What? Why do you think Lion's Den was shitting money? It was on the brink of its bankruptcy because Julian kept bugging me," she said, drinking straight from the bottle of vodka.

"Great. That's just awesome, Audrey! Starting off this reunion with a web of lies." I took the vodka from her hand and drank it.

"What was I gonna say to him?" She interrupted me as she changed the tone of her voice. "Hey! Your other daughter knows you're her father and she's planning to host dinner for us and with your ex-fiancé tomorrow night. You should come." Audrey stared at me with frustration in her eyes as she grabbed the alcohol back from my grip.

"Why did you help him anyway? You knew his gambling problem needed to be stopped and yet you enabled him all the more!"

"Because he's my father, Audrey. He may not have been a father to you, but he certainly has to me. And even if he wasn't the perfect candidate for father of the year, he was the closest thing I had to a family," Audrey cried, "so yes, I helped him."

Occupied with all the finger-pointing, the actual problem got lost in my head. I ran back to the living room to check on how Julian was doing when fate was two seconds ahead of us.

"Julian..." My mother almost dropped the bowl of savory green beans when she laid eyes on him.

"Liz..."

"Ho—- how are you here?"

"Audrey told me to —-"

And just when the inevitable encounter was about to happen, an even worse addition to the family reunion came into the picture, whose presence would surely bother the already-intimate moment.

I attended to another person knocking on the door, and to my surprise, I reckoned tonight was going to be a long, drama-filled night.

"Dad, uh —- What are you doing here?"

"Your mother called me. She said we were having dinner as a family at your apartment, so I came," William said, removing his coat, "I wouldn't miss quality time with my beautiful daughter." He gave me a swift kiss on my forehead.

Not wanting to witness what certainly would take place later on, I called Audrey to assist me in getting dessert from the fridge to give them, my mother and her two lovers, ample time to talk like the educated and mature adults they were.

On the way to the kitchen, Audrey endlessly teased me with the entire love triangle fiasco happening outside and said I was destined with the same level of a curse as our mother's in terms of choosing and marrying a man. None of her silly jokes were helpful to put my mind at ease at all.

We were just about to return to the table with ice cream parfaits in our hands when we heard the untoward clamor from the living room.

Having rushed towards the brawl, I saw Julian on top of William imagining his face as if it were a musty punching bag.

"You, bastard! I told you I never wanna see your face again." Julian punched William straight on the jaw as he cried the words, "you took everything from me."

Having put the parfaits on the table, Audrey shouted at my mother whose face was plastered with utter fear; her body was trembling in shock that she could barely move. "What are you standing there for? Stop them!"

"Dad, stop it!" Audrey shouted at Julian, and as did I to my father.

Our efforts were futile as they didn't diffuse the violent commotion. They continued to fight like they were surrounded by a crowd who cheered them on not to stop until somebody punctured a lung.

"Looks like you have to choose, Avery," Audrey said, "is it them or us?"

Having been deprived of truly knowing something as basic as family, I wouldn't know how to assess which of the two would win the title as my true father.

It would be unfair of me to base it on DNA or on more time spent because they weren't supposed to be chosen from and won like a prize from some auction.

It was a question of who mattered to me the most. But even I wasn't qualified nor fully ready to grasp the concept of a father, for I never have experienced being with one.

Either dad was an unwanted guest tonight. The only question is, which one? Which among the two was rightful to come, and which one was not welcomed?

Nonetheless, it was one hell of a reunion.