‘That’ Side Character Chapter 63: Life Goes On

“Oh, heavens no!” Lolita replied sternly but in a loving voice, “I won’t have you paying me! Let’s talk about all of this later. For now, let me find you something nice to wear.”

You conceded, sighing as you did so.

“Ohhhkaaayy, if you say so,” you said with a playfully reluctant eye roll.

“Now come. I never had a daughter so let me treat you,” she said with a bright smile as she turned and started to totter her way towards the shops.

“You’d be an awesome mum… just saying,” you said as you jogged a little to catch up to her.

“Thank you, sunshine,” she said happily.

The next 3 hours were a massive conglomerate of dresses, pants, suits, and other such clothes as they were handed to you over various stall doors; and with you trying on so many different outfits, all you could see by the end of the day, when you closed your eyes, were clothes.

“This is it!” you said, stepping out of the change room for the final time, “I feel it in my bones, this is the one.”

You pointed to the outfit you had just put on and Lolita clapped her hands together then adjusted her glasses.

“You look fabo, sunshine, you’re glowing in that outfit!” 

“Thanks,” you said with a grin, “I like this one a LOT.”

“Then let’s get it!” she said confidently, “if you like it then we’ll get it.”

“Ok,” you said with a nod before disappearing back into the change room to get out of it and back into your normal clothes.

With your prom outfit all sorted, accommodation sorted, and a happy future on the horizon you were starting to feel like you had escaped that bad thing after all. 

“Sunshine,” Lolita asked once you were done for the day and walking back to the station.

“Mm?” you hummed happily.

“What was the last thing your father said to you when you told him you were leaving?” 

“Oh! Umm…” You thought hard for a second, “umm… I… I don’t remember? Kenma was with me and we just left?”

“Does he know you’re safe at least?” she asked, giving you a concerned look.

“Umm?” you thought hard again. “No? I haven’t spoken to him since leaving and I’ve blocked him on my phone so he can’t contact me,” you said.

She frowned.

“Honey, I think we need to at least let him know that you’re safe?” she said.

“He doesn’t care,” you shrugged.

“Even if you feel that he doesn’t. He’s going to start questioning where you’re staying if you’re not staying with him at home.” She said. “The only reason I bring it up is I understand the situation you’re in and I had the police after me when I was younger because I had been registered as a missing person!”

“You what?!” you asked her with surprise.

“Yes,” she said with a small chuckle, amused by your shock.

“Oh… no, but he won’t be caring about me… if anything he’ll be more upset that he has no one to control and so he’ll start looking for me when that starts to get to him.”

“Hmmm,” she hummed. She didn’t know all of the situation but she also knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to be able to have access to you again- just judging by what you had said.

She glanced at you from the corner of her eye.

“I need to protect her, the poor thing. She’s still so young. I’m hoping I can help her see her worth and be a good influence on her to drown out the damage her father has already done.”

You stayed at Kenma’s house again that night. You would stay there for another 3 nights then you would move into Lolita’s studio apartment.

This would be your new start… you were sure of it.

………………

That night, your father came home to an empty house.

He called out for you when he first entered the house, thinking you were cowering in your room or something. 

When you didn’t reply to him it got his hackles up and he stormed up the stairs to give you a piece of his mind about being rude and not answering when he called you.

That’s when he sat that you weren’t there… and your clothes were gone too, leaving only an open and empty closet to meet his enraged silence.

It took him a few seconds to register what was going on and then he scowled and turned to march back down the stairs again.

“That stupid girl has gone to stay at her boyfriends house. Well I won’t have that. She can’t just go off and sleep at someone else house, how irresponsible. His parents are probably annoyed with her presence. They’ll be wondering what kind of a parent I am to have such a dimwit of a daughter.” he sighed angrily to himself, “best I bring her back home so she doesn’t rub anyone else up the wrong way.

He was about to storm off and turn up on your boyfriend’s doorstep but then he stopped short at the front door.

“I don’t even know where he lives… and I can’t remember his name,” he thought with frustration.

Pulling his phone from his pocket he tried to call your number but it said that he couldn’t get through, or that your phone was switched off and he seethed with anger.

“If she grew up a little she would have enough money to afford to pay her phone bills OR get a new phone. God. How is she every going to survive in this world. She’s as thick as a brick.”

Unable to do anything else, with the lack of information on your location, he just decided to enjoy the peace and quiet of the house and get some more work done instead.

It had been a long week at the conference but he still had to follow up emails and leads from potential new clients, so without another thought of you, he set about to focus on his favourite thing- himself.

Lolita, was busy tidying up the small studio apartment attached to her place for you to stay in, still wondering if she should go to the local police station and just explain who you were, and briefly what had happened, so that if a call did come through, stating that you were a missing person, then the police would be aware of your situation and wouldn’t come after you.

<<< ‘That’ Side Character Chapter 62: Shopping Date with Lolita

‘That’ Side Character Chapter 64: A Morning at Kenma’s >>>