Chapter 2

Allen I stretch my legs pushing my seat back, tugging the fingers of my hands to one another and examining the old man with a smile who is more than everything in my life sitting in front of me. "So what brought you to St George this morning Mr Richmond?" He dismisses my question and pushes forward his usual statement like always. "Call me Harris." "I am here to check upon Simon and for my monthly medical check up." There was a sudden dip in his voice reaching the end of the sentence unlike the usual enthusiasm in his tone. I narrow my eyes at Harris in a confusion laced with concern. "Like I always assure you, I will do my best to help my patients and Simon is fine, out of danger." I squeeze his hand reaching the other end of the table. He nods to me in a thoughtful composure and I knew the second there was something bothering him other than Simon which did not settle good at the pit of my stomach. Harris Richmond is like a dad to me - the man who brought me up when my biological father was unreachable. He rubs a hand at the back of his neck and answers me a bit pensive. "I had been having a slight chest pain off and on since last couple of months. Yesterday it was a bit more." He runs his hand on his chest gazing at me in anguish. "And the doctor confirmed it today that it was a silent attack." I rose from my seat in alarm gaping at him. "Then what are you doing here? You must have already been admitted in the hospital by now?" I admonish him softly. "You will be fine within no time." I tell him in a gentle susurrus convincing myself more than him. "I will speak to Dr Edward now, on why he set you free?" He held my hand stopping me to move out of the room. "I am good now. A few medicines have been prescribed with some recommended rest." He persuades me with a chuckle. A doctor needs to be strong while treating his patients. Emotions are never to rule over the prescription and he should have the highest willpower. This is what we were taught during our first year of learning medicine but all that teaching trailed behind when it came to this gray beard sitting in front of me. My time passed in a blur giving him instructions on how much he needed to care about himself like I was coaching a pre-schooler on his behaviour at school. He listened to me with controlled titters at the same time studying me with his laser optics but I wouldn't mind. He is a father to me that I don't have. After giving him, a warm send off I retired for the day. I needed to go to a bar, something strong to burn this depressing feeling assimilating in my stomach. Getting into the car with many thoughts occupied in my mind, I could hear an angelic voice from a distance. My frenzied emotions came to a jolting stop and optics sprint in a record, looking around. The kernel flipped out of its rib cage thudding hard and my world ceased functioning. She was a charming bombshell standing a few feet away on the other side of the street. I couldn't leap an eye but to gape at her. My ears quit working as though I became deaf to the world. Everything went to a standstill and my rationality comes to rest. Her piercing blacks arrested to a little white injured puppy laying on the road. Dressed in denim shorts and baby pink button down top her long creamy legs were in full display arresting the looks of every man on the street. Her blonde hair cascades freely in soft curls to the middle of her back, a few tendrils caressing her soft facial melons. Holding up a hand she indicates the traffic to stop for a moment and paces towards the middle of the road where the puppy lays defenceless. During my life I had a good share of women, away from my work with no strings attached. After watching my parents I pledged to my heart, I would not fall for any woman and ruin my life but this girl felt invincible. She appeared from a well-to-do, decent family and felt intimate but wasn't someone known from my work and obviously not a hooker. Why does she feel familiar? I glanced at her full lips that were naturally pink with a cute pout. Her thick lashes covering her midnight black eyes gently caress her scarlet cheeks. An invigorating feeling pummelled in my heart, on what would it feel like on running my fingers on those super soft apple cheeks? Her cute pointed nose flared red while speaking to a girl standing beside her of same age probably her friend. Her friend takes out a mobile from her pant pocket and within a couple of minutes a vehicle stops in front of them. The driver of the car fortuitously glanced my way and greeted me with a nod. Do I know these people? Felicitous, I pick my mobile and note the number of car. No way was I going to leave but find out about this Angel, who managed to capture my heart that I nurtured all the while to feel detached. She steps into the car along with her friend carrying the puppy and the Mercedes Benz percolated into the traffic disappearing in a couple of seconds. I blinked my eyes several times and looked around. Did I stop breathing? Everything felt like a dream. What a mid-day knock out! Few hours later during the mid night I got a call from hospital and the news I heard from the other end came like a thunderbolt. I plummet like a space rocket into the road and reach the hospital in a fleeting time. He looked at me with tired eyes but an incised smile played on his lips. Extending his hand he signals me to come inside the room when I stand at the entrance staring at him crest fallen. "Harris" my voice comes out in broken whisper. "God wants me to reach him sooner than I expected. The years of smoking and drinking finally paid off." He tells me in a wistful snigger. "But I am happy to meet Mercy after long years of separateness. The only thing that is bothering me now is the future of our princess." "Stop talking bullshit. I am going to take care of everything and you will go back home hale and healthy like always." I command him abrupt. Harris shook his head dejected, the corner of his eyes tearing up in thin streams as he tells me in a weak voice. "There is no much time left. But I desire to leave this world with a smile on my face. Will you grant me my two wishes you promised me almost two decades ago?" He asks me with anticipation like a child waiting to taste his birthday cake. I nod gulping heavy unable to trust my speech watching the man submit to the destiny who brought breathe in my life. "I want you take over all my businesses both legal and illegal." Desperation etches my features as he should have probably noticed it, he lightly squeezes my hand. "It is not that nasty like you picture it. Slowly you will get accustomed to your new flowery life." He ensures convivial. "Even at this point jokes strike you?" I criticize him in a chiselled gentleness. "What is your second wish?" He makes a quiet laughter. "The second one isn't that disastrous. I want you to marry my daughter. She is too ingenuous to this sinful world and I want her settled in capable hands before I leave the universe. Ironically for me the second wish felt more dreadful than the previous one. Suddenly my legs felt heavy and I dropped to the chair behind. Harris's eyes were dancing in mischief observing my paralyzed state as he tells me in a snicker. "Don't worry my daughter is beautiful and a virgin, not a decision that you would regret later on." His words held a pride in his voice but they did not do me any better to bring me out of my disconsolate state. On one side of my life was the arresting beauty, the girl with whom I fell in love at first sight and on the other side was my promise to the dying man who entered my life and made it flowery like an archangel with a magic wand.