Chapter 1

Emilia's POV.

"I don't want to go to school today mummy." My five-year-old daughter, Aria said from where she was safely belted in the back seat of my car. I honestly do not have the strength nor the time to do this with her right now. We have been at this for the past week now, it has suddenly become one of her favorite things to do. She comes up with different reasons and excuses to not go to school and I always end up bribing her with either extra chocolates or promising to let her stay up for extra thirty minutes after bedtime.

"What is this about again, baby?" I asked softly cause God forbid I raise my voice at her at this very crucial moment. I pulled over in her school's parking lot and turned in my seat to face her. She had her face turned down and she kept twirling her hair around her tiny fingers.

"Aria baby, Tell mummy what is wrong. Why do you not want to go to school today?" I asked her. She mumbled a few words in response but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

"You are going to have to speak louder than that, baby," I said softly.

"I want my daddy." She said so softly that I would have missed it if I wasn't paying attention.

My heart literally stopped working for like a minute or thereabout. I have always known this day was coming. The day she would want to know why every other kid has a father and she doesn't and no matter how hard I have tried to prepare myself since the past year...I definitely don't see myself handling this properly. All of a sudden, all the speech and words I had planned to say when this day comes has deserted me.

"Aria...what..."

She raised her head then and my heart tightened in pain. She has been crying, she has tears mark on her face and her eyes were a little bit red and swollen. How long has she been sitting there crying while I was busy driving and being unaware? I should have known something was wrong from the moment when she didn't react when her favorite song came on. I reached out to her and unbuckled the seatbelt and lifted her out of her seat and into my lap. She wrapped her hands around my neck and held on tightly—as tight as she could.

"Aria honey..."

"Everybody in class has a daddy and mummy, and everyone is going to come to school with their daddy's today and I don't want to go cause I will be the only one without a daddy. Don't make me go mummy, please." She cried into my neck and I could feel her tears dropping on my neck.

"But baby..." I started and she interrupted me yet again.

She pulled back and looked at me with those huge eyes that were filled with tears and sadness. "Please mummy, don't make me go." She pleaded.

Those eyes. I couldn't say no to them. I am yet to meet anyone that could say no to those eyes.

"Okay baby, you are not going. I won't make you go. You are going to come with me to work and we get to spend the day together. You and me." I said with the brightest smile I could manage.

"And Aunty Patty?" She asked sniffling.

"Yes, Aunty Patty will be there," I answered and she gave me a watery smile before kissing my cheeks.

"Thank you, mummy. I love you." She said while hugging me.

"I love you too baby. More than you can ever imagine." I answered and we stayed like that for about three minutes before I pulled back and placed her in the passenger seat beside me and helped her to fasten her seatbelt until she was secured.

"You ready to go?" I asked her.

She nodded eagerly. "Yep."

I pulled out of the parking lot and started heading for my workplace while Aria's favorite song was going off in the car and she was singing and dancing along.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We are here," I announced when we arrived at my workplace about twenty minutes later. Aria made quick work of removing her seatbelt and literally jumped out of the car. I turned off the engine and grabbed my handbag and Aria's school bag—she is going to need something to keep her busy. I walked around to the other side and found her bouncing on her feet eagerly.

I smiled at that cuteness, if I hadn't witnessed it I wouldn't be able to tell that she was busy crying her eyes out a few minutes ago. 

"Come on, Peanuts. Mummy is getting late." I told her while handing her her bag to put on.

"Race you." She announced before taking off in the direction of my office.

"Aria, no running," I called after her but it was already too late. I quickly followed her into the building.

I am my own boss. I own a beauty shop where you can get anything done—hair, nails, lash extensions, makeup—literally everything. Putting this business together was not an easy feat...this building right here is my second baby...cause Aria will always come first. I walked inside and found Aria in the arms of her second favorite person in the world— according to her, although that position can change anytime. 

"Mummy, Aunty Patty is going to style my hair for me and we are going to have a manicure and pedicure session, just the two of us," Aria announced beaming at her Aunty Patty.

"Just the two of you? I thought we were spending the day together." I exclaimed jokingly.

"Oh right...do you think we have space for one more person, Aunty?" She said turning away from me.

"Yes, I think we have space for your mum," Patricia answered.

"Great. See mummy, you can join us."

"Thank you, baby. First thing first though, mummy and Aunty Patty have to work and you can make your way to your playroom and keep yourself amused." I said.

She pouted "But...I want to spend the day with you." She whined.

"Mummy has to work, honey. How about we do it this way? If you don't get into any trouble today, you get a special treat. Do we have a deal?" I asked.

She remained silent for a while and look as if she was thinking it through.

"Can I have boba?" She finally asked.

"Sure thing," I answered.

"And Ice cream? With pizza?" She added.

I raised my brows slightly at Patricia who looked like she was struggling to keep her laughter in. Aria knows very well that we don't do ice cream and boba on the same day but trust my daughter to try and make a deal out of it.

"Anything you want, princess," I answered and she squealed and kissed Patricia on the cheek before running over to me and hugging me.

"See you later, Mummy." She said.

I bent down and kissed her forehead. "See you later baby," I replied and she took off running to her playroom. I didn't bother asking her not to run this time.

"Hello there, best friend," Patricia said in greeting and I smiled.

"Good morning, Patty," I answered.

She rolled her eyes at the nickname. Aria gave her that name when she was two and the name just kinda stuck and everyone has been calling her that since even though she has warned us all against calling her that but we still do it anyway.

"Why did it look like she has been crying?" She asked.

Nothing ever gets past Patricia. Nothing.

I looked in the direction that Aria went to and sighed before taking a seat on one of the seats in the reception.

"She wanted her daddy," I said simply and Patricia sighed before sitting beside me.

"What prompted that?"

I shrugged. "Apparently, they have a father-daughter thing going on at school today and she did not want to go because she would have been the only one without a daddy and that is very understandable. It is just disturbing that she didn't even mention it to me until this morning. She was crying, Pat. She begged me not to let her go to school."

"What would you have done if she had informed you earlier?" Patricia asked.

"I would have asked Aiden to go with her. He would have been happy to do that."

I know you are probably wondering who Aiden is. Aiden is my boyfriend and we have been together for close to two years now.

Patricia scoffed. "We both know Aria doesn't like Aiden one bit and that is probably why she didn't mention it to you."

I nodded slowly. "I know. It is not like you like Aiden either." I said.

"I refuse to reply to that. So...did you tell her?" She asked.

"Tell her what?"

"About her father, of course."

"No, she forgot about it the moment I agreed that she won't be going to school today," I said.

"You know a day will come that she will want to know about him and you will have no choice but to tell her about him," Patricia said.

"Yes but until that day comes, Pat, I won't be mentioning him to her and I am going to be here hoping she never asks about him," I answered.

"Whatever you say, hon. I am going to start getting things ready for our first appointment." She said and I nodded and watched her leave the reception.

I know a day will come when Aria will want to know about her father and I have been dreading and hoping that day would never come since she was born. It is why I left Italy in the first place. I don't want my daughter involved in that kind of life, so until she asks, I won't be saying a word to her.