Chapter 1: The Bouquet
“Congratulations, Aaliyah. I’m so proud of you.””
Marcus held the bouquet with both hands, smiling beneath the afternoon sun as families crowded the university courtyard. Cameras flashed. Parents hugged their graduates. Somewhere behind him, a brass band played a cheerful song that suddenly felt painfully out of place.
Aaliyah looked at the flowers.
Then she looked at him.
Her expression didn't change.
“Marcus… why are you here?””
His smile faltered.
“I came to celebrate my daughter.””
Aaliyah's jaw tightened.
“You're not my real father.””
For a moment, the noise around Marcus seemed to disappear.
He stared at the young woman standing in her graduation gown, the same little girl who had once fallen asleep against his chest during thunderstorms.
“Aaliyah,” he said quietly.
“I want my real father here.””
Renee immediately stepped between them.
“Sweetheart, don't say that today.””
Aaliyah pulled her arm away.
“Why not? It's true.””
Marcus swallowed hard.
He had spent eighteen years trying never to use the word stepdaughter.
When Aaliyah was four, he had stopped correcting people who called him her father.
When she was eight, he had learned how she liked her pancakes.
When she was twelve, he had sat outside the emergency room all night after she broke her wrist.
When she was sixteen, he had worked weekends so she could have the car she wanted.
And when she graduated, he had taken the morning off work, driven three hours, and bought the largest bouquet in the shop.
He had never thought to ask what title she had given him in her heart.
Apparently, he already knew.
Then someone behind them laughed.
Aaliyah's face changed instantly.
“Dad!””
She ran past Marcus.
A man in a black leather jacket opened his arms.
He was taller than Marcus, broad-shouldered, with dark hair touched by gray at the temples.
Aaliyah threw herself into his arms.
The man hugged her tightly.
“I knew you'd make me proud,” he whispered.
Marcus stood still.
Renee looked at him.
“Marcus…”
He didn't answer.
Aaliyah pulled away from the man's embrace and wiped tears from her cheeks.
“This is the person I wanted here.””
The man glanced at Marcus.
Neither spoke.
Marcus looked down at the bouquet.
The flowers suddenly felt ridiculous.
He had imagined this moment for years.
Aaliyah walking across the stage.
Her mother crying.
Him cheering louder than everyone else.
Maybe taking her to dinner afterward.
Maybe giving her the keys to the apartment he had secretly rented near her future workplace.
Instead, he was standing three feet away from the man who had just been welcomed as her father.
Marcus lowered the bouquet.
“If that's what you want,” he said, “then let him take care of everything.””
Aaliyah frowned.
“What do you mean?””
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Renee's eyes immediately went to his hand.
“Marcus, don't.””
He pulled out a folded document.
He held it toward Aaliyah.
“Read it.””
She hesitated before taking it.
“What is this?””
“Everything I've paid for over the years.””
Aaliyah unfolded the paper.
Her eyes moved down the page.
Tuition.
Car payments.
Insurance.
Apartment deposit.
Books.
Living expenses.
Even the private school fees from her final two years of high school.
Her face slowly drained of color.
“You paid for all of this?””
Marcus nodded.
“I never wanted you to owe me anything.””
“Then why would you give me this?””
Marcus looked at her for several seconds.
“Because you said you wanted your real father.””
The man in the leather jacket shifted uncomfortably.
Renee's face had gone pale.
Aaliyah looked at her mother.
“Mom?””
Renee didn't answer.
Marcus noticed.
That silence bothered him more than Aaliyah's words.
He had expected anger.
He had expected rejection.
He had even expected embarrassment.
But Renee looked terrified.
Marcus folded his arms.
“What aren't you telling her?””
Renee whispered, “This isn't the place.””
“Then tell me where.””
Aaliyah looked between them.
“What is she talking about?””
Marcus stepped closer.
“Aaliyah, I gave your mother every opportunity to tell you the truth.””
Renee's eyes filled with tears.
“Marcus, please.””
The man in the leather jacket suddenly said, “Renee, we need to leave.””
Marcus turned toward him.
“You knew?””
The man didn't answer.
Aaliyah's voice cracked.
“Knew what?””
Nobody spoke.
Then Marcus noticed something sticking out of Renee's purse.
A white envelope.
A laboratory logo was printed across the top.
And beneath it was a date.
Three weeks earlier.
Marcus stared at it.
“Renee…”
She quickly covered the envelope with her hand.
But it was too late.
Marcus had seen the words underneath the logo.
*DNA PATERNITY TEST.*
His stomach dropped.
And then he saw the name written beside the word *Child*.
May you like
It wasn't Aaliyah.
It was his own.
