After that phone call, Silas began appearing at my doorstep more frequently. Sometimes, he’d bring tickets to the amusement park, trying to pique Yael’s interest.
“Yael, would you like to go?” he’d ask with a hopeful tone.
Each time, Yael treated him like air, not even sparing him a glance as he walked
away.
Other times, early in the morning, when I was taking Yael to school, Silas would be waiting downstairs. “Let me take Yael to school,” he’d offer.
Yael never acknowledged him and would only politely but distantly reply, “No thanks, Daddy. Mommy will take me.”
A flicker of awkwardness would cross Silas’s face before he stepped aside.
One day, however, I had to attend a friend’s wedding in another city and couldn’t make it back in time to pick up Yael from school. Reluctantly, I asked Silas to pick him up.
When I rushed back later that evening, I headed straight to Silas’s office but didn’t see Yael.
“Where’s Yael?” I asked anxiously.
Silas calmly put away his documents. “I had a meeting earlier. Since he’s at the same school as Yuna, I asked Lily to pick him up.”
A sinking feeling gripped my heart. Without waiting to hear another word, I left, ignoring Silas’s voice calling after me.
As I jumped into the driver’s seat, Silas opened the passenger door and slid in. “Why are you panicking? What could possibly happen to him at home?”
