Lynette was 16 years old. She was and is still daddy’s little girl, and she never grew tired of it. She always loved sitting on daddy’s lap every random moment daddy wanted to say a little prayer before she left the house. She still and always long for moments where she can slide in daddy’s arms once he’s fast asleep. Every evening, just before dinner, she’ll always wait for daddy to come home just so that she can pounce on him and give him the biggest hug a daughter could give. Yeah, she was the perfect daughter every father would want to keep and hold on for eternity (if possible). But daddy knew that there was some time where he’ll have to let little Lynette grow and in due time, leave him one day. So on her 16th birthday, daddy took out a velvet box from the upper section of his wardrobe and sat beside Lynette. Daddy said ‘Honey, you’ll have to leave home one day to be with someone else. To be someone else’s wife and after some time, you’d have little kids to be a mother to…’ Smiling, Lynette listened attentively just as she always has even though daddy’s lectures might be a little draggy at times. ‘But Lynette, dear, before you give your heart to anyone, pass one of these to the man that you think is capable of being yours.’ Slowly, daddy opened up the box. Lynette’s eyes widen. Inside were a string of pink pearls. 7 of them to be exact. They were perfect, without blemish. ‘I have been pearl hunting every time I told you and your mother that I was going deep sea fishing. It was hard finding the perfect ones but I managed after all these years.’ said daddy. Gently, Lynette unhooked the string of pearls from the box and stared at them in admiration. ‘Thank you daddy! Thank you so so much! I promise I’ll take good care of them! Oh! I promise!!’ she said while giving daddy the tightest hug in her whole 16 years of her life. * * * It was her freshman year in college. And Lynette met a special someone. He was a national swimmer, always did his country proud by bringing back sacks of medals. He was a nice person. Good looks, attitude, he had everything. They have been going on for some time now. But Lynette remembered daddy’s words very well. So one morning, in the hallway, Lynette passed him one of the pearls without saying a word. He smiled, gave her a hug and walked away. She thought that she met The One. He was everything that she ever though of. She prayed ever so hard every night that the pearl was still in good condition. Months passed, and Lynette was doing in a favor by getting his Chemistry text book from his locker. But what she found in his locker then literally killed a piece of her. She found the pearl in the rusty corner behind his Maths book. Dented. Chipped. Craked. * * * It was Lynette’s third year in university. She got her dream of studying Law in Cambridge. And there was another. She just recovered from the hurt she endured the last time and decided that it was about time to move on. He was a rather amazing person. Studied Computer Software and guess what? He got her her first webcam for her birthday! And then she remembered what daddy said again. That Friday night after her birthday, she handed him one of those pearls again. They were doing well for some time. They were really an icon in campus. Everyone knew who they were. You won’t be surprised if I told you that they were labeled the ‘Perfect Couple’. Until she found the pearl she gave him just a few months ago * * * Lynette just finished her PhD then and decided to do part time in church before pursuing her career. And she met him. They took care of the same cell group. Little 14 year old kids. He was really the caring one. He would go up to any lost sheep in the bunch and gave that kiddo the attention he or she needed. And so she thought that he could be trusted. She passed him another pearl. But she was wrong. She was terribly wrong. * * * It wasn’t long before all the pearls ended up in the same condition. All dented. All chipped. All cracked. With tears streaming down her face, she took every single one of them back to daddy. ‘Daddy…I…I…’ ‘Hush my daughter, let me take a look at those pearls.’ Lynette took all 7 of them out from her pocket and placed them in daddy’s hands. ‘Daddy I’m sorry…I promised to take good care of them but…’ ‘Hey it’s alright. Let’s see what I can do with them’ Daddy gave her a hug, wiped away the last tear on her cheek and headed off to his workshop behind the house. After and hour or two, daddy came out, smiling. He sat beside Lynette on the couch and opened up his hands with the pearls in them. His hands were bruised with cuts all over. There were a few plasters here and there. And there were even splinter bleeds at every crease of those fatherly hands. But those pearls that were once in Lynette’s hands became perfect again, they were fixed to the way daddy gave them 10 years ago. ‘Thank you daddy! I’m sorry for the hurt I caused you when I asked you to fix them…’ ‘Lynette dear? Is there anything that I wouldn’t do for you?’ Note: Fiction | 
