The thought of that possibility left Henry feeling as if his heart had been stabbed. Claudia continued to cry in his arms in silence. Eventually, all he could do was pat her on the back and give her the chance to cry her heart out.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHe felt that he might have neglected her recently. She had good grades and never did anything to make him feel worried, which was why he inadvertently paid too much attention to his younger daughter, Thalia. In his eyes, Thalia was slightly inferior and needed more attention.
He had never considered the possibility that Claudia might have been under a tremendous amount of pressure. Succeeding in a school filled with talented students was never going to be easy, yet Claudia had always managed to perform well.
Claudia felt much better after crying in her father's arms. She cout of his embrace, wiped her tears, and forced a weak smile. "It's okay, Dad. I was just feeling a little down for a while. I'm much better now after crying. Everything will be better tomorrow once I get a good night's sleep." Her effort to reassure him despite her dejection made Henry feel even more heartbroken. "You need to tellif you're stressed. I've always seen things through a narrow lens. I wanted both of you to excel so that your future paths would be smoother, but I didn't consider that the pressure on you might be too much. You need to take toff for yourself too, okay?" Claudia nodded and decided to let go of what had happened. "You should have srest, Dad. I'll do the same." Henry touched Claudia's hair lovingly. "Okay." After Claudia left her father's room, she heard a click from Thalia's room before she even reached her own door. She paused for a moment, then went back to her room without looking back. Thalia still owed her an apology.
Contrary to Claudia's expectations, Thalia had eavesdropped on their conversation not out of guilt but rather out of dissatisfaction. She wondered why her father himself apologized when Claudia made such a big mistake. He had misunderstood her so many times before, yet he never once apologized to her! She wanted to know why he was so unfair and what went wrong. They were both his daughters, so there was no reason for them to treat them that differently.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThalia clenched her fists fiercely, wanting nothing more than to rip Claudia to pieces. She owed her everything, and Thalia thought to herself, "If this is how it's going to be, then don't blme for what's about to happen." The next day, a rather odd scene appeared at the dinner table. Henry thought long and hard to himself the previous night and decided that he would strive to be a less strict father. Being less uptight and more easy-going could do wonders for his daughters' cheeriness.
Unfortunately, Thalia and Claudia did not know anything about his decision, and they did not even look at each other at the table. In the end, Henry tried to liven up the atmosphere by himself and melind
quite a comical scene of himself. Claudia then placed sfood on his plate and put an end to his one-man show. "Did you sleep well last night?" Henry asked.
Claudia's smile froze, but she finally nodded. "I did. How about you, Dad?"
"Shere. And what about you, Thalia? It must've been tiring to m spend the whole day in the library yesterday." X