When love beckons twice 224 You Do Not Have To Apologize For Anything

She stepped inside and realized the temperature of the room was a bit too cold to suit his health, so she picked up the remote for the air conditioner and increased the temperature of the room. She then turned around and lifted the edge of his blanket and tucked her father in it properly.

Song Chen felt some movement near him and opened his eyes, to see his daughter tucking him in his blanket properly.

"Ah, Xiao Jia. When did you come here?" His voice was hoarse and very weak, barely audible. 

"Umm... just now?" Song Jia said awkwardly. "You should sleep, you look weak. I can come back later." She was feeling a bit awkward and didn't know how to continue the conversation. This was a novelty for her after all.

"No, I have been sleeping all this while. Accompany me for a while if you have time... Ow!" Song Chen said trying to sit and flinched with the pain that occurred in his abdomen.

"Don't try to sit. Your sutures are still fresh, it might cause more pain." She said pressing him down by his shoulders and fluffing his pillow a bit to make him feel comfortable.

Song Chen didn't argue and complied silently. Even though he was calm on the surface, a strange feeling rose in his heart. It was a complex feeling as it had both happiness and emptiness.

'So is this how it feels to have a daughter? So caring? I have missed on so much in life. What a terrible father have I been.' Song Jia's small gesture of care had made him feel equally happy and guilty for how unjust he had been to her all his life. 'I won't ever be able to make it up for it, no matter however I apologize.'

"So... umm... how are you feeling?" Song Jia asked as she sat on the chair beside his bed.

"I am fine now." Song Chen lightly coughed and it made Song Jia turn around immediately towards the side stand to pick up the jar of water on it.

She poured it in a sterilized glass placed next to it and then extended it to him. "Have some water, your throat must be dry."

Song Chen slightly lifted his and she placed her hand beneath it to support him. She placed the glass near his lips and tilted it a bit to help him drink it. 

After he was done, she took a tissue and wiped the corner of his lips to dry the few drops that had rolled out while he was drinking the water. As she wiped it, a few more drops rolled down, just that it was from his eyes this time.

She looked at him and her lips twitched. "What happened? Are you hurting somewhere?" 

She immediately bent to her side to push the emergency button near his bed, but Song Chen stopped her before she could press it. "I am fine, no need to call anyone."

"Then... why are you crying?" She looked confused.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

"I... I am ashamed of how terrible of a father have I been to you."Song Chen said with his gaze fixed at the wall behind her. He couldn't bring himself to look at her in the eyes directly. 

Song Jia's back stiffened as those words came out of Song Chen's mouth. She was not expecting to hear any such thing from him.

"I have failed you as your father when I should have cared so much more for you after your mother left us behind. I never treated you well and the love you always sought from me, I failed to provide it to you." More drops of tear fell from his eyes and soon his eyes turned red. "While I have disappointed you at every step of life, here you are taking care of me, I don't deserve any of it."

"Don't ever say that again." Song Jia didn't realize that she was also on the verge of crying until she heard her own voice that had become heavy due to the lump forming in her throat after what Song Chen said.

After some hesitation, she extended her hand to take her father's hand in her's, and to her relief, he didn't retract it. She held it gently and patted it with a feather touch. "You haven't failed. Let what happened in the past stay in the past. All that matters to me, in the end, is that you are safe and I am glad to have my dad back."

"You what?" Song Chen's eyes had a sparkle in it after he heard her last sentence.

"What?" She was confused.

"What did you call me just now?" He asked again. He was not expecting to hear that word anytime soon in the near future.

"Umm... dad?" Song Jia looked hesitant. For one moment she thought that she had lost the right to call him her 'dad' and this thought made her heart sink.

"Say it again!" His voice had risen octaves higher with joy while his eyes shone.

"...dad." She finally realized he was ecstatic and she brushed off the sad thought from her mind.

"Xiao Jia I am too ashamed to even apologize—"

'You do not have to apologize for anything." She interrupted him in between. "You have already done more than enough for me. You saved my life by risking your own... you..." she found herself at a loss for words and after fumbling for a while as to what to speak, she said, "Just worry about your health right now and recover soon. Don't fret over anything else!"

Song Chen chuckled lightly and nodded his head. After a moment the smile although disappeared from his face again and the look turned grave. "Umm... where is... she?"

Song Jia pressed her lips in a thin line with the mention of that woman, she wasn't sure as to why he asked about her. "She has been taken care of." She herself didn't know much details, apart from the one that she was in Wu Zhang's underworld headquarter.

"Very well, if she wasn't yet, I would have made her go through all the seven hells by myself, right here on the face of the earth." His jaw tightened in a straight line with hatred filling his eyes just with the mention of that disgusting woman.

She would have been really disappointed if he would have still shown concern for her. She smiled and then took her leave, to go to the company after telling her father to rest. A lot of pending work required her attention.

Chapter end