Jake was quite sure that the girl in front of him was his daughter. There was not a shred of doubt left in his mind that the young girl standing in front of him was his daughter. The girl on the other hand was scared out of her mind. Some guy that pretended to be her dead father had just broken into their house. She was scared for her life.

There had been many cases where people took advantage of the chaos to break into houses to steal or just murder someone and blame it on the monsters. The monsters outside were not the only thing you needed to be scared of. The man however simply stopped and stood there. He did not attack her or say anything for a while and he just stood there looking at her.

"Oh, Ellen it is so good to see you." Ellen takes a few steps back, afraid of him.

"Oh, baby don't be afraid I am not trying to hurt you. It's me, Daddy." Jake was desperate at the moment. He wanted her to remember him slowly so he just stood there and talked to her. Give her some time and space and see how she reacts. But she said nothing and simply stared at him.

Her mind was gripped in fear of what was to come. Her mother was not home right now and she had specifically told her not to open the door for anyone. She just never thought that someone would break her door to get in. Everything was a mess right now. If he wanted to steal something or just her then he should just do it. Why was he just standing there? Why go through this elaborate trick of being her father? In the first place, how did he know that her father was out of the picture?

Her mind was a jumbled mess and then she looked at the man carefully again and a memory surfaced in her mind. A memory that was so strong and powerful that it pushed passed all her fears of danger and came to her. A memory that filled her heart with warmth and assured her that she was safe. A memory of her father, Jake Ingram.

It had been so long since the last time she had seen her father in her memories. At first, she had always believed along with her mother that her father was alive and would one day come back. Slowly after some time she had given up hope and decided to accept her reality that he was gone. Her mother might be living under the delusion that he was alive but she will not believe it anymore. She would face the truth and fight it.

Giving up on her father like that had a certain effect on her, the memories where she would see both her mother and her father had changed into something where the father was always absent for some reason. Now all her memories amounted to were her mother and her alone. This was something she decided to survive in this world.

Now seeing this man, his face all her old memories began to surface. In the last few years, only Sylvia would be the one to take care of her whenever she would get sick but now she remembered that there was one more. She remembered that her father used to take care of her all night whenever she got sick.

In recent memory whenever she need help, wanted to say something, or was just generally feeling down she would confide in her mother. but now she remembered that there was another secret keeper. Who knew everything about her and provided her with the comfort of the utmost level. The one who would help her with her homework, who would buy her snack all the time, against the wishes of her mother. The one who would take her out for ice cream when she was feeling down. The one who treated her as his princess, her father.

Before she could do or say anything, before her eyes had the chance to get wet with her changing emotions with her recovering memories she jumped into her father's arms. The nostalgic warmth that she felt just from seeing his face was now made real when she hugged him. The way he hugged her, the way he kissed her forehead and the way he smelled were all shouting in her ear that this was her father.

His face was covered in tears as he hugged her tightly and kissed her on her forehead. She cried her heart out in his chest. There were thousands of things that could be said, thousands of things that may be needed to be said but they both just hugged each other and cried.

"Where have you been Daddy? Why did you leave us all alone? Why did you leave me all alone? Where were you? Do you know how sad Mom was when you left, she cried all the time. Why did you go, Daddy? Why did you leave us? I missed you so much. I kept telling them that you were alive and that you would come back but no one would listen to me. No one believed me. I knew you would come back."

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When Ellen was sure that the man was Jake her father she started pouring her heart out. All the emotions that had been locked away were rushing out with her tears and her questions. She had questions that she asked. Then she told him how sad they were that he was gone and how much they believed he would come back.

"Oh, Ellen I missed you too. I never stopped thinking of you and Mom even for a moment. I never wanted to go away but it was out of my control. No matter how much I tried I could not come back to you. It took me some time and a lot of effort but I came back. I came back to you and Sylvia, I had to. Everything will be alright now. I am back I will make it so that everything is alright." Jake kissed her on her forehead a few times and calmed her down. He assured her that everything would be alright now.

While they were having their father and daughter reunion there was one more person in the apartment. They peeked from behind the door of the room that they were in and then finally they came out when they knew that it was safe.

"Ellen, do you know this man? Who is he?" A woman walked out of the room and asked Ellen who was still snuggling in her father's embrace. The question brought her out of the moment and she broke the hug and stood back. It gave her the chance to look at her father again. She looks at him again and it only confirmed that he was her father. He was exactly as she remembered him. Loving, caring, and warm. This time she smiles at her father as she answers the man.

"Yes, I know him very well. This man is my father, Jake Ingram." She felt a sense of pride for some reason to declare to the world that this man was her father. A smile creeps up her face as she says it. Jake feels happy as well that his daughter has accepted her.

After basking in the glow for a moment he realizes that the other woman that he sensed in the apartment was not Sylvia he is reminded that she might still be out there.

"Ellen who is this woman and where is your mother? I thought she would be here with you. Where did she go? Was she outside from start or did she leave later on?"

"This is our neighbor Miss Choi, she lives next door to us so after the alarm went off she came to our apartment. Mom went out to check on Grandma Kim from the floor below us. She lives alone so Mom went to help her but she has not yet returned. it's been close to fifteen minutes but she has not come back yet."

Jake concentrates like before for a moment and expands his search bubble to cover the floor below him as well but he finds out that the floor below him is completely empty as well. The same is for the floor above them. He expands his mana and searches the whole building for people. On the ground floor, however, a group of people are leaving the building and she might be in them.

"The floors are all empty I have checked. There were a few monster corpses around the building so maybe they were forced to leave. I will go and look for her. You can stay here, don't worry all the monsters around here have been cleared up." Jake tells them the situation and tells them to wait here so he can go and look for Sylvia but then Ellen reacts fiercely.

"No! I will not let you go. You have come back after so long and I cannot let you go. Not until Mom comes back. What if something happens to you? What if you leave again? What will I tell Mom?" Ellen clutches Jake's arm tightly and refuses to let go. She holds on to his arm with such strength that her nails penetrate his flesh.

"Don't worry baby I will be back in a second. I have to go look for your mother and make sure she is safe. Besides, I have Awakened and become a hunter so I am pretty strong. I can take care of myself and find your mother."

Ellen hears him and knows that he needs to go and look for her mother. She knows that he has awakened and can probably take care of himself. After all, he came through all those monsters from the outside looking for her. She knows that she needs to let go of him so he can go find her mom but she cannot do it she cannot let go of him.

"No, I won't let you go, not alone. Take me with you. If you have become a hunter then you must be strong right? You can take me with you. I will help you."

At this point, Jake knows that this is nothing more than a tantrum brought on by the fear of him leaving. The logical thing here would be to leave here and go look for Sylvia but there was no time to convince her and he could take care of her outside no matter what. The monsters he had faced outside were not a threat to her in his presence.

"Fine, if you want to go then let's go. Miss Kim, you can stay here there is no threat left. Everything has been taken care of."

He grabs her by the hand and they both come out of the apartment and are standing on the balcony.

"There is a group of people leaving the building right now. We will first check them and then the area around us. Let's go and find your mother."