Page 74 of Gene

“I think mine was probably the most romantic. I mean, I worked for him,” Sophia chimed in. “How did you officially meet Gene? I know you said you work for him, but how did you two meet?”

All eyes were on her as Sophia finished speaking. Her heart skipped a beat for a second as she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

“One of his employees snitched on me. Apparently, I didn’t look too good, and I really had to pee, so I went to the bathroom and couldn’t get my pants off, so I was grumbling.” She took another deep breath in. “Then, when I walked out, he said something about buying me pants so I wouldn’t have to wear a belt and asked if I was okay,” she explained, thinking back to that day. “I mean, I’d talked to him before that since he was my boss, but that was the turning point. Then he figured out I wasn’t drinking water, so he made me come to him four times a day to show him my empty water bottle.”

“Eww!” Everyone’s nose scrunched up at the thought of that.

“You’re telling me. I didn’t want to drink anything because I was already peeing like crazy. By the way, I have type 1 diabetes, and that is one of the symptoms. And so I dumped the water before meeting him to show that I ‘drank’ it. It worked for a while… until I was emptying it out and he caught me. That didn’t end well, and the rest is history from there.” Sammi smiled.

They all blinked several times as they all stared at her, making her nervous.

“Did I say something wrong?” She asked, starting to pet the dog as nerves ran through her.

“Now, that is kind of a cute meeting. I wish my meeting with him was cute,” Echo whined.

“Yours was cute in its own right. I mean, how many people can say they were followed by their Daddy and he protected them?” Charlotte asked. “Sure, it was a little creepy at times, but he totally cares for you. And you’ve known each other your entire lives, and that makes it better. It’s almost like a second-chance romance.”

They fell into silence after that, coloring and chatting every couple of minutes. Sammi was happy and content with them. Looking up at Daddy, she found him already staring at her and smiled.

“I love you, Daddy.” she mouthed to him.

“I love you too,” he mouthed back.

EPILOGUE

SAMMI

6 months later

Everything had calmed down after Sammi had found herself in the hospital. Daddy had taken care of everything, made sure she had everything she needed and wasn’t stressed. It was super sweet at times, but Sammi also found herself going stir crazy the first month out of the hospital.

So much so that she landed herself in the corner and over Daddy’s lap with how disobedient she was. Daddy finally eased up and they had been good ever since, or as good as they could be. Sometimes it was bumpy with her diabetes. While Sammi was getting used to it, she still struggled some days.

Okay, a lot of the days she struggled with it.

Daddy had finally let her get back to work with him. She wasn’t doing as much as she had been before, but she couldn’t complain too much. Daddy didn’t want her to work at all and she fought for it. There was no way she would be able to do nothing all day and not go crazy.

“Sammi?” Daddy called out.

“I’m right here,” She mumbled, standing up. “Is your eyesight going away, Daddy? It happens as we get older or so I’ve been told.”

She was sitting on her beanbag chair in his office…his small office. She had come to terms with Daddy’s side business that was quickly turning into his full-time business, making drugs. She thought it would have bothered her more, but it hadn’t. Maybe because she knew him before she found out and he hadn’t changed once he told her.

He was still the same Daddy as before, loving and caring towards her. Still worrying about her and her blood sugar levels and if she was okay or not.

“Are you calling me old?” Daddy placed his hand on his hip.

Sammi gasped. “I would never. Who would do such a thing? Tell me and I’ll fight them!”

Daddy shook his head and wrapped his arms around her. “You, Little one. You are the one who insinuated I was getting old.”

She thought back and giggled. “Right, it was me.”

“What am I going to do with you?” Daddy asked more to himself, but she took it upon herself to answer.

“Keep me. Love me,” Sammi stepped on her tippy toes to kiss his lips. “Grow old with me.”

“Discipline you. Guide you,” Daddy added on.

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