"It's not what you think," said Johan as he blocked another attack.

"I know where this is going, you pervert!" Norman replied as he swung his arm toward Johan's face.

"Dad, please," Lucy shouted. "Just listen to us."

As Norman went for another attack, Johan saw an opening to push him away causing his feet to slip and fall on the wet ground. Norman goes in to finish him off but is stopped when Lucy got between the two. "Dad, what are you doing? Calm down."

"Get away from him. I won't let him take you away."

"He was going to drive me home."

"He's lying. He's going to kidnap you."

Johan got to his feet, “There's been a misunderstanding."

"Shut up, you pervert!" Norman said as he attempted to grab him again.

Lucy got between them once again and pushed her father away. "Stop hurting him. You're not thinking straight." This gesture from his daughter had an effect on him as he stopped his onslaught.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Lucy asked Johan.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Johan replied.

"Lucy," Norman said after calming down, "what are you doing with this man? You know you're not supposed to be talking to strangers."

"What stranger? He's been my friend for some time now."

"But what are you doing late at night? I went to your mother's place and you were not there. Why are you buying a train ticket in the middle of the night and running off to unknown city with a strange man?"

"He is not a stranger, he's my friend, and I wasn't running away with him. I was running away by myself, but he managed to find me."

"Lucy, you got to understand how I feel right now, seeing my only daughter with a strange man."

"If anyone is a stranger, it's you!"

"What?"

"I don't recall a father treating their daughter as an employee. I don't recall a father demanding an appointment from their own family. I don't recall a father missing their daughter's birthdays or their graduation. You might as well not be my father but a complete stranger!"

Norman froze in place as her words sent an unnerving displeasure into his very spirit. "Johan, you're getting a bruise on your face,” Lucy said still tending to Johan.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." Johan replied.

"I have some cream that could work in my bag. Let me get."

Johan sat on the passenger side as Lucy went into the back to get her duffle bag. Once she found it, she turned her attention back to Johan. “Here's the cream. Let me apply it.”

“I can apply it myself. Besides, I got wet again.”

"Alright, if you insist.”

All this transpired as Norman watched, seeing Lucy being so caring and concerned for a man he hardly knew but she knew too well. He turned around and started walking away but stopped when he heard footsteps approaching him.

"I told him to go home," Lucy told her father. Norman turned his attention to the car backing up from the parking spot and eventually driving off but not before Johan waved at Lucy. She waved back as the car exited the parking lot.

–

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you," Lucy said as they drove down the highway.

"No, don't apologize," Norman said as he turned off the windshield wipers. "I understand now. In fact, I should be the one apologizing. I now finally realize the error of my ways. My great-grandfather's company was passed on to my grandfather, then to my father and will soon be passed on to me. We have all been devoted to keeping the company going, but in order to achieve this, we had to sacrifice ourselves to it. My grandfather always said that poverty was the worse fate a person could be cursed with and he wanted to make sure we were never poor. However, what was once a way to survive has now become nothing but greed. When I was your age, my father told me that I must work harder to keep the company going and it was my life's devotion to keeping it going, but in the end I've realized that I've given up too much of my life devoted to something so arbitrary.

"He wanted me to quit school and work for him when I was your age. I never had a high school graduation or went to college. I didn't have any friends or went on dates. It was all about the survival of the company and obeying my father. He kept telling me that money was everything and that poverty is misery. It didn't help that we were surrounded by luxury, so we were spoiled. He didn't want this life of ours to end, and neither did I. But it wasn't until I was asked to marry a woman I hardly met that I started realizing that something was wrong."

"You mean, mom?"

"Yes. By the time I married her, I was in my late-20's and I had to become a family man in order to inherit the company. But the choice wasn't mine. I had to marry the daughter of a CEO who owned another company and this marriage would lead to a merger between two companies. That woman was extremely spoiled. Not that I wasn't spoiled myself but I was disciplined, your mother was not educated in such things. She was a party girl to say the least. She didn't want to be held down but her family insisted she get married and have children believing that was going to finally snap her out of this childish state she's still in."

"You never wanted to marry mom?"

"Not at first. I'd thought it could work out, maybe we could be a loving couple after marriage, but the reality was I just married her because I was ordered to do so. I was told to marry her for the good of the company, and at the time, I was still obedient with no questions asked. But the marriage was a disaster. She was too outgoing and a hard drinker. She just wanted to spend my money and not take any responsibilities in the business. I complained to my father and her parents but all he said was that it was my responsibility. What responsibility? She's supposed to be an adult. It all came to a head when I discovered that she was having an affair with multiple men. I tried confronting her about it but she just didn't care. She just doesn't care about anyone but herself. To think this woman was making me miserable, and even after giving birth to our daughter, she was still acting very immature.

"I was so angry that I wanted a divorce, and our parents were furious with me to even think about it, but we separated regardless of what they think. I just want this divorced over with. I'm still fighting with both parents. They demand I return to that horrible life, it disgusts me that all they care about is their money. They don't even care about their granddaughter, even decrying me for not giving them a proper heir, as if this was some kind of royal family in the dark ages. What is wrong with them! I can't believe they would fight to give that woman custody over-"

"Dad!"

Norman snapped back to reality as he noticed his hands were red from gripping the steering wheel so much. "Sorry. I lost my train of thought."

"So what you're saying is that you left the company?"

"Not yet. I'm still under some contract I don't remember signing. I'm right now fighting to get out of it. I'm still technically a partial owner."

"So why did you keep insisting I work for you? Why did you keep saying I should quit school and devote myself to the company if you regret doing that?"

"At the time, I was just obeying orders. It's only now that I've opened my eyes and woke up to the reality of my situation. But at the same time, this is all I've known. I don't know anything about being a father. I don't know what the first thing is about being a husband either. All I know is how to work and do business. Nobody taught me to be anything else, so I wouldn't know what to say. I'm sorry Lucy but you're right. I might as well be a stranger to you."

A sight she had never seen before had developed in front of her eyes. Seeing her father remorseful, his face displaying agony, his body posture showing defeat. For so long his humanity was desperate to emerge, hiding the cold-hearted man he was before, and was finally revealing how he truly felt after so long.

"No, Dad. I'm sorry for saying that. You're not a stranger. You're my father."

"But I've ignored you for so long. It never occurred to me that I was so neglectful until you told me that you were seeing an older man. I got so scared when you said that. I was mortified when you were not at your mother's house. When I learned that you bought a train ticket to run away, I felt like I was about to lose a part of myself and it would be all my fault. How could I call myself your father when this all happened."

"But Dad, you're here now. And even if I did run away to another city, now I know you would come looking for me. Maybe I would have been mad, but at least I would know that you really did care about me. If you really were a terrible father, I would still be in that train, or at least going home with Johan instead of you. You wouldn't know that I was running away. You wouldn't even know that I existed." She stopped herself as she started wiping the tears emerging. Noman reached into the glove compartment to offer her handkerchief. She accepted and wiped her tears away. "Thank you for looking for me. Thank you for acknowledging that I exist."

With a serious look in his eyes, "Do not thank me, because that's the worst thing a father can do to their child. If anything, I should be apologizing a thousand times and more, and never expect an apology for any one of them."

"But I do forgive you, Dad."

"Do you actually forgive me?"

"I don't want to hate you. I just want to love you, like a daughter should love her father. Like a father should love their daughter."

Norman exhaled. "Will you really forgive your father? Will you forgive this flawed human before you who doesn't deserve any mercy?"

Lucy unbuckled her seat belt and gave her father a big hug. It was so unexpected that the car swerved. As he rectified the car with one hand, he gave Lucy a hug with the other.

When Lucy returned to her seat and Norman composed himself, "Come home with me, Lucy. I promise I won't see you as an employee anymore. I refuse to work for that stupid company from here on. I don't care about their stupid contracts. I will quit the first thing in the morning. Come live with me, I will make sure you get everything you need from here on."

"But what about mom?"

"The last time I saw her, she did not change. Your mother is not a very good person and doesn't seem to be interested in being a parent. She's not taking care of you at all."

"But even still, she's my mom. I can't just abandon her, even if she did abandon me."

"Lucy, your mother just wants to do whatever she wants. She has no sense of responsibility. She didn't even know you were gone when I went and visited you. Do you understand? Your mother has practically abandoned you."

"But I just can't leave her. I got to at least say something to her."

"I'm telling you, your mother wouldn't care at all."

"Even so, it's not fair to just pass her off like this."

"Lucy, I've known her longer than you have. I'm telling you-"

"I don't care what you have to say. I'm not going to abandon her. I want to talk to her, and I want you to be there with me."

"I have already made myself clear about this. I have nothing to say to her."

"But you have to. Regardless of whether you like her or not, you're both my parents. All three of us are connected. Abandoning her would be no different than leaving me on that train."

After a few moments of thought about this, "Okay, you win. Then let's head over to your mother's apartment and talk about this."