3 months ago. Monday, October 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Yesterday I was in a car accident. No broken bones. No blood. Nothing dramatic enough for the movies. Just that moment when everything slows down, your chest tightens, and your mind goes blank…until it doesn’t. Until it catches up and starts running faster than your heartbeat.
This morning, getting back into a car felt like the worst punishment. The minute the wheels hit a hump, I froze. My hands were shaking, my breath shallow. It wasn’t just the car, though. It was the sound of it…the memory of screeching tires, the smell of burnt rubber, the weight of “what if?” still hanging in the air.
But the accident isn’t what truly broke me. Its everything that happened after it.
Because when the dust settled, my uncle, who was my first family at the scene because he was the closest. This morning took it upon himself to call my estranged father and inform him I was involved in an accident yesterday. The same father I haven’t spoken to in five years. My uncle decided that this was the perfect time for a reunion I didn’t ask for.
So my father called me. It was a WhatsApp call. The name didn’t appear because I lost my contacts when my phone crashed a few months ago. I answered without thinking because I always answer...what if it’s important? What if it’s work? etc. He started talking before I could even process the voice. I asked, “Who is this?”, and he said, “Your uncle told me you were involved in a car accident”..."Okay yes...but who is this?"..And he said, “So you don’t have your father’s number?”
That one line hit harder than the accident.
I didn’t even respond. I just… froze. Because what do you say to that? To someone who disappears for years. After the call, I just stared at the number. I knew it. I knew that number. It was the number I memorized as a little girl...the one my mother made sure I knew by heart. Back when my after-school routine was simple: get home, take off your shoes, and send “please calls.” One for Mom, one for Dad. I would get in some serious trouble if i didn't do it.
And so I did...Every. Single. Day.
Even on weekends. Saturday morning before cartoons. Sunday before church.
“Please call.”
“Please call.”
“Please call.”
And he never did. Not once.
Still, I sent them. Because I thought maybe, maybe one day he’d see one and call me back. Maybe he’d be reminded that he had a daughter who still waited for him.
He never did.
He never came.
So when I saw that same number on my screen, it felt like my childhood reached through time and grabbed me by the throat. It reminded me that hope can hurt just as much as loss. He said he didn’t have my number anymore. That he had to ask my uncle to send it to him. And I just sat there thinking...how could that be? I’ve had the same number all my life. The same one I used to send him “please calls.” The same one I messaged a few years ago on WhatsApp when I found out he was active there.
I remember the first time I saw that he’d read my messages. Those blue ticks. My heart jumped so hard, I actually smiled. I thought, “He’s finally going to reply.”...and i was anxious waiting for his reply...But he never did. He just kept posting statuses...about his wife, his sons, their birthdays, their outings. I watched from the sidelines as he built a family he actually showed up for. And I learned what it felt like to be seen but ignored, read but unanswered, remembered only when something bad happens or when he has "Time"... i felt so insignificant.
And then, as if yesterday wasn’t enough, he showed up at my workplace.Why you may ask ...because not only did my uncle give him my number, but he gave him my work address too. I walked out to find him standing there. He came to me, acting like it was the most normal thing in the world. As if he hadn’t missed years of my life. As if I hadn’t cried myself to sleep wondering why I wasn’t enough to be loved the same way he loved his sons. He insisted on taking me home. I didn’t want to make a scene, so I got in the car.
He tried to hold my hand. I pulled away. He said “You’re okay” I said, “No. I’m not okay. Not just because of the accident...but because of you.” He looked irritated. He said, “You don’t have to keep emphasizing that you’re not okay.”... "But I’m not. Do you want me to lie?"
He didn’t know what to say. Or maybe he didn’t want to. He just sat there, uncomfortable in a silence he helped create. When he finally spoke, it was to tell me, “You don’t have to keep saying you’re not okay.”
But I am not okay.
And I wasn’t about to lie to make him comfortable.
In that moment, I realized how much he hasn’t changed. Still uncomfortable with emotion, still dismissive, still pretending everything’s fine. Still refusing to acknowledge the absence. And I’m just… tired. Tired of being the bigger person, tired of pretending it doesn’t matter, tired of watching him pop in and out of my life when it suites him.
At one point, he even got angry at me because I didn’t call him “dad” or “father.” I called him “sir” instead. And just like that, everything I was feeling...everything I had carried since the accident, since the phone call...just got heavier. It wasn’t about disrespect; it was about how I saw him, how I needed to protect myself in that moment. But he didn’t see it that way. He got angry. And in that anger, I felt small, frustrated, and exhausted all at once.
After he left, I blocked him. Because I can’t do this right now. Not again. Not when I’ve spent years trying to stitch together the holes he left in me. And yet...blocking him didn’t make it hurt any less... but it hurt ten times more. It hurts more because it should not be like this, i shouldn't have to block him, he should be present.
Beneath the anger and exhaustion, there’s still that little girl standing on the balcony, waiting. The one who memorized his number and whispered to herself, maybe today.
I am still her. Even as an adult. Still hoping, still waiting for a day he’ll come...and stay...and keep his promises. And if that day never comes, I tell myself I’ll be fine.
But the truth is… I don’t know if I will...Not yet.
Maybe one day I’ll stop tearing up when I see a father and daughter holding hands. Maybe one day it won’t sting so sharply. Maybe one day I’ll stop rehearsing conversations with him in my head. But for now, I’m still that girl...standing on the balcony, watching the road, hoping that the next car that passes might finally stop.
Xoxo
Nirvana