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"You've found her?" Nanny Abigail said with a relieved smile brimming on her face when she saw me walking in with Molly but I ignored her. I was beyond furious at the time.
How dare he, after my warnings mess with my daughter? He really deserved what to got. If given the chance, I would do it again and this time, harder.
" Haven't I warned you not to ever talk to strangers?" I asked Molly when we were finally in the living room.
"You did but..."
"But what? Huh?? Why can't you listen to a simple instruction? Why do you always have to make me worried?" I asked angrily. I was trying to hold back myself from screaming at her.
"I never meant to make you worry and he isn't a stranger. He is our next door neighbour and he is grandma and grandpa friends' son." She said.
"Does that mean you have to follow him wherever he goes? He could be dangerous." I said.
"But he wasn't. And you shouldn't have attacked him like that without knowing what really happened." She answered.
"What do you know? Do you even know how worried I and nanny Abigail were when we couldn't find you? Do you even have an idea of the fear I had when I thought you had gone missing?" I asked.
"But you haven't even heard what happened yet." She said.
"I don't want to hear anything from you. I don't ever want to see you anywhere close to him again. If I do, I'll make sure that you'll be grounded for life!!" I said.
"Grounded? You can't do that to me." She said in shock.
"I can and I will. Just try me." I said.
"Miss Natasha, I think you should calm down and try listening to what she has to say first." Abigail said when she noticed that things were getting really heated.
"Don't you dare tell me what to do." I said as I turned to face her. I saw a hint of fear flash through her eyes but I didn't care. It couldn't even amount to the fear I felt when I couldn't find Molly.
"We are having this conversation becouse of you. If you did your job well and watched Molly like you were supposed to, all these wouldn't have been happening. So, don't you dare tell me to calm down." I said, making her quiver in fear.
I took a deep breath and brushed my hair with my fingers. I held back the rest things I wanted to say. If I had continued talking, we will all sleep here. I was about to head into my room when I heard Molly's voice.
"You always do this."
"Do what?" I asked as I turned to face her.
"You never listen to me." She answered.
"Molly, I don't want to go through...."
"You see what I'm talking about?? You told me to always tell you if something was bothering me and now that I want to, you are just shutting me off." She said.
"It's not that I am shutting you off. I just don't have the strength to listen to what you want to say." I explained.
"What difference does it make? This is the same reason I never wanted to tell you that I was being bullied at school. You don't listen but you expect others to listen to you and when things goes south, you start blaming others when you are supposed to blame yourself for your own mistakes." She said.
"Molly." Nanny Abigail called in a reprimanding manner but she didn't listen to her.
"So I'm the one at fault?" I asked.
"Well, I'm not the one to be blamed for not having a father or being bullied." She answered.
"That's why I changed your school, so you won't be bullied anymore."
"And I am grateful for that but I never asked for us to move. You made us move out without asking for my consent." She said.
"I don't need your consent to make decisions. I'm the parent."
"Being the parent doesn't mean you are always right. We moved here and I have no one to talk to. You are always busy at work and nanny Abigail is always busy with cleaning this huge house all by her self."
"Is that why you want to meet him? So he could give you attention?"
"That is far from what happened."
"So tell me, what really happened?" I asked, arms folded.
"When I was playing all by myself in the compound, my ball flew outside by accident and when I wanted to go out to take it, I ran into one of the bullies from my other school. Then he started mocking me and calling me names. He even tore off my ball. Then, our neighbour came to my rescue. He chased off the bully and got me a new ball." She explained.
My expression softened when I heard everything. I never knew it happened this way. I started to feel really guilty.
"Molly." I called as I tried to touch her but she more away from me.
"I never thought it happened like that."
"That's because you never listen. You just place the blame on me like I wanted it to happen. Now, I don't even think that Ryan would want to talk to me again." She said as her eyes turned red. She was about to cry.
"Molly." I called again and was about to touch her when she slapped my hands off and ran to her room.
I wanted to go after her but Abigail stopped me.
"She might not listen to you now. Let me go in first and calm her down before you go." She said and I agreed with her.
I sat in the living room lost in my thoughts. I should have just listened to her but I let my anger get the best of me. What have I done?? What do I do to make her happy?
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Ryan walked slowly back to his house. His groin still hurt. He never expected that she would attack him that way. He never knew that she could kick so hard.
He got into his house and sat on the couch tiredly. At least he got what he wanted. He stared at the strand of hair I had gotten from Molly with a smile on his face.
He still couldn't believe when Natasha said Molly isn't his. He had to check for himself if that was true or not. Whatever the outcome was, he won't stop chasing after Natasha but he really hoped that Molly is his so that there would be something that links him to Natasha.
He prayed silently that the result should be positive before he finally drifted to sleep.
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