Mr. Hephephobias

CHAPTER 137 - He's My Father

All over Lucia's body felt limp, she could not help the pain that was raining down on her heart at this moment. "How is it possible, what happened to my father?" lusia asked Kelvin with a troubled mind.

"I understand how you feel, Lucia, but can we talk first" Kelvin said, holding onto Lucia's hand, holding her open the door.

Lucia was speechless looking at Kelvin with a sharp look, a gaze opposite Kelvin's eyes that seemed to be begging Lucia to understand. Lucia looked back into room 503, she stared at her father and mother and followed Kelvin. Kelvin held onto Lusia's hand leaving the room for them to talk to each other elsewhere.

Rayn held onto the arm of Lucia who had just taken her first step. Although Rayn still could not understand the situation that was happening, but she was sure that Lucia needed her. Rayn stared at Kelvin as if to warn him to take his hand off Lucia's. Slowly Kelvin let go of his hand. Rayn then clasped Lucia's hand and took her to walk leaving Kelvin first without a word.

The patient who is currently with Lucy's mother is Lucia's stepfather. The man who had always hated Lucia after the heart to leave his mother who was pregnant with his sister, Lucas. His stepfather not only left his mother for granted, but he also left behind so much debt. The debts forced the mother to sell her house. Lucia with her small family had to live full of misery and face the debt collectors who came, not infrequently they did rough.

It was like a sudden storm coming in the middle of a bright cloud, all just happening without giving a sign. The depression that occurred at that time was not only a financial burden but also mental for all members of the Lucia family. At that time, Lucia had to be the only person stronger among her family. Lucia did not want anything to happen with her mother and sister-to-be conceived at the time. He struggled and survived by hating his father.

The condition of his stepfather that he saw at this time, made Lucia think that this might be the reason his mother insisted on not wanting to divorce him. Is this really the only reason? This was what currently flashed through Lusia's mind. But why, why did his mother have to hide the fact that made her so hate her father so much. Why did his mother not tell the truth if his father did not run away but was in a state of concern, even becoming a patient at a Nursing Home with a mentally unstable as he saw earlier.

At the Panti park, Lucia asks Kelvin to talk. "Just tell me what you know and how you know him" said Lucia, who only wants to hear the truth rather than a reason from Kelvin.

Of all the people, why Kelvin. Lucia doesn't understand why Kelvin should be the one to know all the facts she doesn't know and why he's hiding them from her.

Kelvin took a deep breath and slowly swallowed it. He himself did not know where to start. On the one hand he wants to tell the truth without making Lucia hurt and on the other hand the bitter reality could make Lucia will also hate him. However, whatever was going to happen and Lucia thought about herself was not important, it was time for Lucia to know what was really going on.

"Your father has not left your family or fled, but he is cared for in this Nursing Home. Your father not only had a mental breakdown but as you can see he had a paralysis that left him only in a wheelchair, which is why he couldn't go back to your family" Kelvin explained.

"Then why hide it? What's with that condition I won't accept or take care of? Is that what she and my mom thought? Not only them, but is that what you think of me? That's why I became the one who never knew?" ask Lucia to Kelvin with great decisiveness.

Kelvin answered with the same question to Lucia. "Is that what you also think of my neighbor? Looking down on you with that stupid thought? Your father." said Kelvin restrained, he looked down for a moment and then looked back at Lucia. "It's not just you that's the reason your mom hid it. But all for your future" Kelvin explained.

"The future? Have you forgotten what my life has been like all along? Speak clearly, don't think of me as a child who won't understand everything!" pinta Lucia to Kelvin.

"I know, I'm very much everything that's happened has been very difficult for your life, therefore your mother does not want to make you more overwhelmed with your father's status" Kelvin replied.

Lucia is getting angry. "I've said speak clearly" he said in a high-pitched scream accompanied by emotions and tears.

"Inmate...! Because your father's current status is an inmate" Kelvin said.

Lucia rounded her eyes. "What did you say?" lucy asked in surprise with a trembling voice.

"Your father was an inmate" Kelvin explained.

Lusia's body suddenly cold and increasingly weak to hear statements that he had never thought of at all. His body almost fell back, Rayn quickly held him back. "Lussia.." call Rayn in an anxious voice.

Kelvin begins to tell her everything he knows about what happened to Lucia's father. A few years ago, Lucia's father was a chief worker who worked under Kelvin's father's company. At that time Uncle Kelvin who was none other than the younger brother of his father who handled and was responsible for the project.

Blood was indeed thicker than water, but it was not realized that the viscous blood also flowed like water. It was a brother who had unwittingly committed treason by wearing a family mask. Uncle Kelvin committed major corruption, not only reducing the budget but also speeding up the work time to reduce the cost of employee salaries. Uncle Kelvin has falsified the reports and managed to steal the funds so fantastically.

At that time Lucia's father knew that Uncle Kelvin had changed the blueprint and cut so many budgets and replaced materials with quality that did not meet the standards of construction of the project they were working on.

After 6 months of development, what Lucia's father was worried about happened. The building that was in the construction stage collapsed and destroyed lulu lanta in an instant. The unexpected incident has killed nearly 70 employees who were working at the time. The horrific event became a tragedy that will never be forgotten for all involved be it the families of the victims.

Kelvin's father's company, which was fully responsible for the incident, was prosecuted and examined. Ironically, the facts have turned 360 degrees. Uncle Kelvin manages to manipulate the data and throws all the blame at the head of the project who is none other than Lucia's father.

Before the night of his arrest, Lucia's father said he had evidence to suggest the person responsible was Uncle Kelvin. That night, Kelvin overhears his father's conversation with Lucia's father over the phone. Although he did not know for sure what Lucia's father said, but he could understand the situation from what her father had said on the phone. Kelvin, however, lives with children who cannot deduce what really happened.

Lucia's father said he would meet Kelvin's father at Kelvin's house to provide evidence. But unfortunately that day Lucia's father did not come and they actually heard the news if Lucia's father had an accident. Lucia's father became a victim of a hit-and-run that led to her critical condition.

No one knows if the accident was planned and the only mastermind behind the accident is Uncle Kelvin. They did not know for sure what kind of evidence Lucia's father had, but the evidence would not have popped if the person who had it had also not appeared. This is the reason Uncle Kelvin tried to commit the murder of Lucia's father.

When the condition of Lucia's father was declared able to receive an examination, he immediately got a summons to be asked for information and had to attend the trial. But his condition continues to deteriorate. After such a difficult and long time, the Judge knocks the hammer with the decision that if Lucia's father becomes the one responsible for the event, he is assigned as a suspect based on the evidence. Fake evidence prepared by Uncle Kelvin to frame Lucia's father.

The pressure he felt and also the guilt that continues to haunt him made the mental of Lucia's father worse. Not only that, Lucia's father suffered a stroke that continued to get worse. This condition makes the father get a suspension of treatment.

The irony is not only that the Lucia father's accident case was closed as a hit-and-run case, but the truth to imprison Uncle Kelvin cannot be done. Uncle Kelvin died 2 years after the heart attack. The company and Kelvin's father thought maybe they should have buried the case and no longer needed to find out the truth that didn't exist.

There are enough people suffering from this. The incident has been a deep wound for the families of the victims who lost loved ones and their backbones. Reasonably unwilling to add further hurt, Kelvin's father decides to stop searching for the truth.

"No way, this is impossible. My father would never have done the embezzlement that made all this happen" Lucia said.

A fact that's been like making him get a painful lash. He could not bear the sorrow of hearing the suffering his father was suffering. The burden and pressure that Lucia could not control made her unable to survive any longer.

"Dad is impossible" said Lucia in a weak voice, her body was dazed and immediately fell down.

"Lussia.." shouted Rayn and Kelvin.

Kelvin restrains his steps as Rayn first embraces Lucia's body. With the consciousness he still had, in a weak voice he asked Kelvin.

"Then why are you getting involved?" lusia asked before she finally lost consciousness.

Rayn immediately carried Lucia's body and brought her in. Kelvin was still standing staring at Rayn who was taking Lucia away. He closed his eyes with tears flowing.

"I'm sorry Lucia" said Kelvin

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*** to Be Continued ***