Jamal Kunis POV
The door opened and Methis popped her head from behind the door. She was in only towels and her hair was dishevelled as a bush that has been tossed about by the wind.
“Are you OK?” I asked.
“Yes, I am,” she said. “Come on in.”
“Oh no,” I said, trying to be gentlemanly. “Maybe I should let you finish up first.”
“Come on in don’t worry about it,” she assured me. “You have seen it before, you might as well see it again.”
She was flirting now, I thought. I let out a laugh and walked in.
“How is leaving going?” I asked.
“You mean preparation for leaving?” she laughed. “It is going well.”
I stared at her for some time wondering why good things never lasted and only became good in the final moments. When she first came into the castle, she was timid, scared, and looked to be weary of her environment as well as always on guard as if she was going to be attacked from all sides at any moment.
“What are you going to do once I leave?” she asked.
Conrad had told me she might answer this question and I replied just as he would have replied. “Sit and wait until you grow bored of the human side of the world and return home.”
“Wow!” she turned and blushed. “Is that so? Maybe I should not go then.”
“Nah. Get out of here. Go to your father. Watch after him.” Then I thought of the stepmother who had sold her. I should ask in that direction, I reasoned. “What would you do to your stepmother when you return to her?” I asked.
“Maybe I would thank her.” We both gave a hearty laugh. I saw what she was doing.
“It has been a pleasure meeting you too,” I said.
“I could say the same,” she said. “Look after our children, will you?”
“Of course I will.”
“Thank you.”
Methis Delis POV
"Here?" asked the taxi driver.
"Yeah, just by the fire hydrant," I responded. He pulled over and I dropped off. "How much is it?", I asked as I dug my hand into my purse and pulled out some dollar bills (I had forgotten to look at the meter).
"Oh don't bother, you can keep it", he said with a smile before he drove off.
"What a nice guy," I thought as I put the money back in my purse. I turned around and inhaled deeply and then exhaled as I stared at the serene beauty of the human world I had longed for so much. I began walking down the sidewalk, a bit lost in thought as to how I would resume my regular life after one year of utter confusion. As I walked towards my house, I saw a poster with my face on it on one of the street lights.
"Missing?", I read in annoyance. " Urrgh!, this is all her fault", I said as I ripped the poster right off, squeezing into a ball and tossing it away. I was just about to take another step and saw that the posters were literally everywhere. On fences, on streetlights even on stupid fire hydrants! I was really furious at this point. " Imagine how worried Dad would have been all this while", I thought as I walked towards my house.
*** A few moments later ***
"Ding! dong!" I heard the doorbell ring from within as I pressed the button. " Who is it?", a female answered with a distant voice and with footsteps approaching and her voice rising to a crescendo as I heard the door unlock.
"Yes how can I help...." she paused as she sighted me on opening the door.
"Good day to you too," I said sarcastically, staring at her with a mix of disgust and disdain.
"But how did you...."
"Save it, Katherine. I know you weren't ever expecting me to return", I said as I walked into the house, my shoulder bumping into hers and shoving her aside. I really despised my stepmom, more so now than I did before. "Where's my dad?", I asked her as she came in and shut the door.
"He's in the bathroom, probably taking a shower", she answered while still staring at me in shock.
"What?", I asked as I caught her staring, "you weren't expecting me to die over there, were you?", I asked rhetorically.
"But I thought you were......".
"Who is it, honey?", I heard my dad's voice ask from his room as his footsteps approached us. I was nervous. I had been thinking about Dad the whole time I had gone "missing". "How is his health? Has he recovered?", I pondered as thoughts flooded my mind in that moment of suspense as I waited for him to come out. Suddenly he walked into the living room, with his towel over his head as he dried his face. "I heard the door......", he froze up in shock as he laid eyes on me. " Methis?", he asked. A smile etched up on my face, as tears welled up in my eyes.
"It's my dad," I said with tears rolling down my cheeks.
"Oh my precious baby," he said in a teary voice as he ran towards me and wrapped his arms around me. We both sobbed as we hugged. "I thought I had lost you", he cried as he rubbed the back of my head with his palm.
"I missed you so much Dad," I cried. We remained emotional for a while as the hug prolonged.
"Come on, go take a shower and rest up. Kath here will make us dinner", he said as he let go of me, with both his hands on my shoulders.
"What happened? When did you wake up?" I asked as I tried wiping the tears off my face with my palms.
"We'll talk about that later", he said, "right now you need to rest up", he added as he led me to my room.