I STILL LOVE YOU !

"Oh Dad! I'm bored, very bored. I've got nothing to do.", complained Samantha as she placed her phone away after hours of using it mindlessly.She had been raised by her father alone since her mother had died the day she was born. But she had never felt the absence of a mother. Her father had made it sure . She knew her father loved her a lot and she loved him back too, with all her heart.

" Well, do you want me to play with you ,like we used to when you were a child." , replied her father Dave, a tall , good -looking man of about forty years of age with graying hair.

" Dad, I'm not a child anymore. I'm seventeen now!", said Samantha ,furrowing her brows.

" What about a story , my princess?", asked Dave.

" Yeah!that would be okay but please don't make it boring. " , said Samantha.

" I'll tell you a story of someone you know, okay?", said Dave.

Samantha replied with a "hmm".

" So, about seventeen years ago, some young lads were having a late-night party. All of them were having the time of their lives with no worries or responsibilities. And all of them were pretty drunk." Dave would have continued but was interrupted by Samantha saying "Lucky them. They didn't have a deadly virus locking them in their homes.", with an annoyed look on her face.

"But that night wasn't entirely lucky. At least for one of them.All of them had rich parents and had everything they had ever wanted. Among them was another boy, rich and everything, but he was slightly kleptomaniac.''

'' You mean, a petty thief?"asked Samantha.

'' A thief ,but not by choice . Even that night, when he was partying with his friends, he felt the urge to steal something . The fact he was drunk, made this urge even stronger." ,said Dave and continued '' The boy didn't want his friends to find out his habit of stealing. So, he left the party and started roaming aimlessly in the streets. His urge to steal was getting stronger with every passing second. Finally, he couldn't control himself anymore. He spotted a small home with its windows open and got into the home as silently as he could. But he was drunk, which meant that he wasn't as quiet as he had thought himself to be.''

''Very stupid ! Dad, you know what I feel? I think one of our servants is also kleptomaniac. I mean, very often my pens and watches go missing. But a day or to later, I find them on my dresser as if the thief had done it unintentionally'' ,remarked Samantha.

'' Very stupid, yes of course. The boy would have gone with a showpiece if he hadn't been spotted by a woman in the house. Even in the dark, the woman looked tired and depressed. There was no one else in the house , the boy had noticed . Panicking at the sight of the woman, the boy picked up a vase close to him and hit the woman hard with it. The woman did not scream. She lay there motionless, dead, with blood oozing out of the side of her head.''

This time Samantha had nothing to say.

'' The boy , still twenty - three, was frightened. He had killed someone, without meaning to , but he had killed a woman.His train of thoughts was interrupted by a baby's cry . He moved towards the direction of the cry and found a baby wrapped in green blanket, crying . Without any further delay, the boy picked up the baby in his arms and ran towards his home , scared and desperate.''

Dave paused for a moment and looked at Samantha, ''Interesting , right?''.

Samantha just nodded her head and asked her dad to continue the story.

''He was lucky, his family was rich. When he told his parents about what had happened, his dad settled the matter swiftly with no one questioning about the death of the woman and the disappearance of the baby. It turned out that the woman was deserted by her boyfriend after he came to know about her pregnancy. Lately, e had been troubling the woman for money as he had become a drunkard and a gambler.''

''But what happened to the baby girl?'', asked Samantha.

To this, Dave replied, '' The boy is no longer a boy. He is a man , growing older now. As for the baby , she is a pretty girl now."

''She stayed with the man?'', asked Samantha.

''The man was devastated by his own actions . So he thought the least he could do, was raise the baby with all the happiness in the world.'' , replied Dave.

''Does the girl know about this?'' , asked Samantha, getting more and more desperate.

''Not until her dad told her the entire story right now.'' , replied Dave looking at Samantha with tears in his eyes.

Samantha looked at Dave , confused, almost crying , with a thousand thoughts running in her mind at the same time.

'' Who is the girl? Who is the man?'' ,asked Samantha ,just on the verge of crying.

Dave looked at her , his eyes full of tears and said ,'' You know its me ''

'' You are lying. You are joking right?'' asked Samantha, her tears now running down freely across her face.

Dave couldn't control himself anymore. He broke down and amidst his crying , he said, '' I killed your mother, but I didn't mean to. I have tried to make your life as happy as I could. I am very very sorry. I have raised you as my own daughter and I think my daughter should know the truth, now that she's mature enough. I'm sorry. I'll accept whatever punishment you decide. If you don't want to stay with me any longer, that's okay, I understand. You can stay anywhere you want to. I'll pay for it. You don't need to worry about the money. Wherever you go, just be safe and happy and remember, I've always loved you, loved you more than I could've loved my own daughter.''

Samantha hugged her father tight and said, '' You didn't kill her intentionally. That was an accident, and her drunkard boyfriend would have made her and mine, our both's life much worse. You are my dad and I'm not moving anywhere. I love you , dad!''