Memories.

Two years later ….

It had been a long time since Lana had last been to her father's grave. Her father's death leaves scars and regrets that continue to eat away at Lana's heart every day. This is all Lana's fault. Her father's death happened because of Lana.

Lana's chest felt tight. She loosened the pain from her lungs as she filtered the air.

Her breath was choking Lana's neck. Memories of her father's death flashed through her mind again.

Lana's tears could not be held back anymore. Her body fell to the ground in front of her father's green grave.

"I'm sorry, father. I'm sorry," she sobbed as she touched her father's tombstone. "I shouldn't have done it. I should have found another way out to save you. It's all my fault, dad. Please forgive me."

#FLASHBACK ON#

That morning, after spending one night with a man named Darren. Lana woke up in a state of chaos, naked under Darren's thick blanket with no clothes on. Lana glanced at Darren who was fast asleep beside her. Seemed not to respond to Lana's hesitant movements when trying to get out of bed. She immediately took all the clothes lying on the floor along with her bag. As soon as possible Lana got back dressed and left Darren's house.

Arriving at the gate, Lana heaved a long sigh of relief. She immediately reached for her cell phone to check the incoming call. How surprised Lana was when she saw so many missed call notifications and incoming messages. Lana's hands started shaking when she opened the incoming message and managed to make her body limp.

Lana staggered backward, her body hitting the gate fence when she received the news of her father's death. The tremors in her body grew worse as tears of sorrow began to flow.

"This can't be," she sobbed in disbelief, "it's impossible. This is not…" Lana couldn't continue her words because she was too shocked and sad.

She squeezed the strap of her bag along with her cell phone with trembling hands. She was crying and her chest felt tight. It was like a big rock had hit and crushed her whole heart.

With a confused mind and broken feelings, Lana rushes to the hospital. She ran sobbing to her father's infirmary and hoped it was all a lie, but it wasn't. When Lana knocked on the bedroom door impatiently, she only found an empty room without the presence of her father figure.

Lana walked in hastily, throwing her eyes in all directions like an idiot. Still trying to find her father figure who is no longer there, even though she herself knows the reality that has befallen her father.

"No… no… father, this is impossible!"

A nurse walked past the room and saw Lana. The nurse went straight to Lana who stood up sobbing.

"Excuse me, are you looking for the patient who was previously treated here?"

"Yes! Where's my dad? Where is he?!"

"F-father?" the nurse looked surprised as Lana lunged at her with a grip on the shoulder. Her face was pale and filled with tears. "S-sorry to have to tell you this, but… your father is dead. Some time ago, the officers transferred him to the morgue…."

Before the nurse could finish her sentence, Lana had fallen to the floor in a pathetic condition. Her sobs were getting louder and louder, her sobs echoing throughout the room, causing several passers-by to come to the door to see what was happening.

"Father… no, this is impossible!"

"Miss!" the nurse hurriedly grabbed Lana's limp body. She screamed for help and several male nurses came in to help her.

"What happened?"

"She was in shock after hearing of her father's death," the female nurse said. "Help me to get her to bed," she said again when she saw Lana who had passed out in her arms.

***

No family attended Lana's father's funeral, including her stepmother. The rest of the family will arrive the next day because they are in another city. Lana had to prepare everything herself. With a weak state and broken feelings, Lana ushered her father away with broken tears. Her tears hadn't stopped since she woke up in bed after passing out.

Now, Lana can only sit beside her father's grave crying. There was nothing she could do but cry and lament her regrets.

"I'm sorry, father… please forgive me. Sorry for making you like this." Lana kneaded the dirt on her father's grave. Her chest felt so tight, caused by Lana's deep regret.

"If only… if only I had chosen to accept the call, father couldn't have ended up like this." Lana squeezed her chest. It really hurts to remember the moment when she ignored the call that turned out to be from the hospital, which concerned his father's critical condition.

#FLASHBACK OFF#

***

It's hard to forget the face of someone who has hurt their family even though they haven't seen each other for a long time. Lana's eyes immediately turned to the door, right after a woman in luxurious and fashionable clothes walked over to her desk.

The face in her forties looked much younger than the last time Lana remembered her. It was clear that Lana's stepmother had plenty of facilities to beautify herself, considering how wealthy the man she was going to marry was. Little facts that Lana knows about her.

"You've been waiting long?" Lana's stepmother immediately sat down. A luxury bag at a fantastic price was placed gently on the table. "I have to meet some of my friends and clients first, so I'm a little late. Waiting for me doesn't bore you, does it?"

Oh my God!

Lana rolled her eyes in annoyance. She hated her stepmother more than anything. Her haughty and annoying demeanor was much worse than the last time they had met.

"What do you want?" asked Lana matter-of-factly. "After all the things you did to my family. You still have the face to meet me?"

Stefanny smiled brightly as if not offended by Lana's words. "Oh. I didn't know you still held a grudge against me, Lana. It's all in the past… act mature to not reminisce about something that's already been"

"Including how you let dad die without helping with the hospital fees?!" Lana lost control. Her hands were clenched into fists with an annoyed expression on his face. "You have no heart at all, Stefanny!"

"Watch yourself, Lana! I'm still your mother! And just so you know! My boutique almost went bankrupt because I had to pay all the debts caused by your father as well as the ever-increasing hospitalization. You don't think I'm crazy about all that?!"

Lana smiled wryly. "All you think about is money and your career! You never really thought about my father's safety," Lana sneered, "and don't you dare dictate to me because you're not my mother! My mother died a long time ago and it's all because of you!!"