The Goddess of Don Pablo
Chapter 39: Pickup ...

"Hello ?" said the man who had sent Mary a letter.

"Daddy.." answered Mary hanging. The father was spontaneously surprised to hear a woman's voice calling him Daddy.

"Marya ? Is that you, Son ?" said the man.

"Yes..Daddy ...How are you, Dad ?I-I have long missed you..."

"I'm sorry Maria..I feel the same way..Hmm...Have you read the letter I sent you ?" ask the man back.

"Yes." she answered briefly.

"Will you forgive me, son ? Forgive all my mistakes and we restart everything from scratch ?" ask the guy across there. He didn't feel like he was shedding tears. The taste of harrumphed from inside the man's chest. Just this time he felt how he had forgotten his nature as a father to the girl across there.

"Well...Daddy..I know.I want us to start everything from the beginning.It's like a child.. with... his own biological father.." said Maria stammered. He tried to hold back the rush of tears flowing down both of his cheeks at this time. Maria is a strong girl. But, just this time he was crying as he pleased without feeling ashamed to hold it.

"I want to meet you, Son.. Can you ?" ask the man back.

"Sure.I can.."

"Then next week, I'll send a driver to pick you up at your apartment..."

"Alright, I have no appointment at 9 am." said Maria.

"Alright.9 o'clock a driver will pick you up at your apartment Sunday morning...I love you, Mary." said the man.

"I love you too, Daddy." replied Maria briefly as she hung up.

***

Sunday morning...

Maria has been getting ready since morning. He wore blue-colored dongker jeans with a short-sleeved shirt collared in red sabrina and brown velvet boots on his feet. Her hair was blown with little gold clasps on both sides. He rubs sunblock and thin makeup on his face, so that the freckles around his nose are still clearly visible when viewed closely. But it makes this woman look beautiful naturally. He was wearing a small golden tenteng bag with matching colored chain straps. His appearance looks stylish and graceful without eliminating the tomboy character he has.

Maria was standing in front of her apartment. When a black limousine stopped right in front of him. A man in a black suit came out of the wheelhouse and opened the back door of the car. Maria looked surprised.

"S...me ?" maria asked as she pointed to herself and turned to her right and left to make sure no one else was around at the time.

The man in the suit just smiled and nodded in response.

Maria got into the limousine. The man returned to the wheelhouse and drove the car to a place where they were going.

Inside Maria's car looked amazed. It was the first time in his life that he had ever driven a luxury car. He was just an IT officer in the police department. The cars he had driven were just ordinary sedan-type cars that were used as patrol cars.

The inside of the car is very large for the size of the sedan. On the side of the seat there are many buttons. In front of him there is a barrier between the steering wheel and passengers that can be opened and closed. In front of it is a mini box.

"Miss, if you're thirsty or want a Snack you can press the little button on the side of the box in front of you." said the man who is now the driver. It was as if he knew what the woman had in mind. Maria pressed a small button on the side of the box. The box was open too. It turned out to be a refrigerator or a mini refrigerator. On the side of the door there is a canned drink. Inside there is a packet of snacks such as potato chips.

"You want to ?" tanya Maria offers a can of Coke to the driver.

"No, miss.thank you" replied the driver kindly.

Maria also took a can of diet Coke and a packet of potato chips for herself.

"This car is so fancy. Does this belong to my father ?" mary said to herself. The driver looking from the rearview mirror seemed to smile seeing the girl seemed flabbergasted by the luxury of the Limousine she was driving.

"Hmm...if I may know what your name is ? Do you know my father ?" asked Maria innocently while chewing the potato chips in her mouth.

" My name is Marlon, Miss. Of course I know your father...I work for him as his personal driver." replied the man smiling kindly in the rear-view mirror. Maria who saw the man replied back with her smile. He could only hear Marlon's answer to him.

"Could my father be this fancy?", thought the girl back. Maria recalls her childhood living in a simple flat in a slum with an aged nanny. His father was a hard worker. He almost never met her before. Every time her father came home, Mary would have fallen asleep. And when, the next morning he woke up, his father was gone. He doesn't even know where his father works and what position he has. He only knew his father was a responsible man who had financed all his needs all along.

Maria had finished off the potato chips and a can of diet Coke in her hands. Until shortly after the Limousine car stopped at a five-star luxury hotel. Maria is now more flabbergasted by all the luxury facilities provided by her father.

Could it...? Maria kept silent but her heart was full of questions.

***