The Day I Stopped Being Mr Nice Guy

CHAPTER 6

The door to the hospital room clicked shut, sealing them in silence. Dante stood for a moment, as his forehead aches, with his back to his daughter. He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to organize his emotions…to breathe.

“Daddy?” A small whimper came from the bed.

He turned to see Daisy sitting up, with her little shoulders shaking, with tears streaming down her pale cheeks. “I am….I am sorry,” she sobbed with each hiccup. “It is my fault.”

Dante rushed to her side and said soothingly, “Oh, sweetheart, no. What are you talking about? Nothing is your fault.”

“It is!” She cried, her voice thick with a guilt that shattered him. “Because of me…you and mommy had a fight. And….and mommy hit you. I am a bad bad child. I made everyone angry.”

The ache in Dante’s heart was now like a physical pain. He gathered her into his arms and held her tiny, trembling body close. “Daisy Vance, you listen to me,” he said, his voice firm but gentle. “You are not a bad child. You are the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful little girl in the whole world. The problems between Mommy and me…they are grown up problems. They are our problems. We never ever should have let you see any of that. I am the one who is sorry. So very sorry.”

Daisy sniffled and nuzzled into his chest. She didn’t fully understand, but the love in his voice was like a soothing balm. After a moment, she pulled back slightly and focused her big, watery eyes in the red, angry mark on his temple.

With intense concentration far beyond her years, she reached up and pressed her tiny cool fingers, softly against the wound.

“Does it hurt?” She whispered anxiously as she fixed her huge watery eyes on his face.

“A little,” he shrugged.

She leaned forward and scrunched her little face in concentration, then she took a deep breath and blew softly on his forehead. “There,” she said softly. “I will blow it for you. Then it won’t hurt anymore.”

The simple, innocent act shattered him completely. He was overwhelmed in a tangled mess of love, grief, and a crushing, overwhelming guilt. He had failed. He had failed to give this perfect, compassionate child the warm, safe, and happy family she so deserved. He buried his face in her hair, holding her tight, as if he could shield her from the entire world.

Knock. Knock.

The sound was gentle but interrupting, Dante cleared his throat and quickly wiped his eyes before calling out, “Come in.”

Nurse Amy peeped inside and said nervously, “Mr Vance? Sorry to disturb you. There is a gentleman asking for you at the main entrance. Security stopped him as he is not on the visitor list. He says it is urgent.”

Dante raised his brows in confusion, because who would be looking for him here? He cleared his throat and asked croakily, “Thank you Amy. Could you please sit with Daisy for a moment? I will be right back.”

“Ofcourse.”

Downstairs, the bustle of energy in the lobby was a stark opposite to the quiet atmosphere of the ward. Dante spotted a commotion near the security desk—a man in a well-tailored coat was standing in front of the receptionist, deep in a heated argument. As Drake approached, the man turned, and a jolt of recognition went through him.

“Leo?” He called out tentatively.

The man’s face broke into a huge smile as he shouted excitedly, “Dr. Vance. sir. It is really you.”

It was Leo, his former assistant. The bright, eager young man he had personally mentored years ago, who had stayed late with him countless nights, brainstorming and running through numerous tastings.

“Leo, what are you doing here?” Dante asked in surprise and shook his hand.

“I heard through the company’s newsletter,” Leo began with a serious expression on his face. “They said your daughter…that she needed the Diathystine urgently and I was in the city for a conference. I volunteered to deliver it myself so I could see you.”

Dante was touched. He smiled at the young lad and said, “Thank you, Leo. This means…more than you know.” He took the small, warm case from him and immediately handed to the nurse at the front desk, and said solemnly. “This need to go to Dr. Alice Reynolds immediately. It is Diathystine for Daisy Vance. It is her life saving medication.”

“Right away, Mr. Vance,” the nurse said and hurried off.

“Come on,” Dante said to Leo and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let us get a coffee. There is a place just across the street.”

Finally settled in a quiet corner of the cafe, as the steam of their coffees rises between them, the years seemed to melt away.

“So, the ‘Nexus’ project,” Dante began excitedly, referring to his last, unfinished work. “What ever happened to it!”

Leo smiled brightly and said, “Lunched. Six months after you left. Doctor Vance, it was a masterpiece. The initial formula you left was solid gold. It performed brilliantly in the market. It is still one of our top three revenue generators. The board still calls it’Vance’s Folly,’ but now, they say it with a lot more respect.”

Dante smiled brightly, which is undoubtedly is his first real, genuine smile for the first time in what it felt like forever. “And the team? Little Peter, who is always nervous during presentations?”

“Peter?” Leo shook his head and laughed. “He is a department head now. A brilliant one. All of us, everyone you taught…we are the backbone now. We still have lunch sometimes and talk about the ‘Vance era. We all miss you, sir. They place is no longer the same.”

He heart thumbed faster as the words hit him with different emotions. Pride for his subordinates clashed with a deep sense of loss. He had given the most precious, innovative six years of his career to his family, to be present, to be its lifeline. And what does he have to show for it? A wife who flaunted her affair and screamed about divorce without care, at a hospital garden. The irony of it was so sharp that couldn’t help but to laugh out suddenly.

“Sir?” Leo asked nervously, his eyes darting to to the fresh mark on Dante’s forehead. “Are you…is everything alright? That looks painful. If there is anything I can do…”

Dante smiled and shook his head. “It is nothing. Don’t worry about it, Leo. Let us not talk about unhappy things. Tell me more about the new—”

His phone rang suddenly with a sense of urgency and the screen showed Nurse Eva - Silver Falls General.

Ice flooded his veins as he picked up the phone gingerly and answered. “Eva?”

Her voice was high pitched and breathless with panic. “Mr Vance! You need to come back! Now! It is Daisy! She started coughing and then…she vomited blood everywhere! She has lost consciousness! We are rushing her to the ICU! You need to get here right now!”

His mind went blank. The coffee, the conversation, the past—it all vanished.

“Daisy,” he gasped and jumped to his feet. With his face clouded with terror, he looked at Leo and whispered shakily, “It is my daughter.”

He did not wait for a reply. He was already running, as a desperate father fleeing from one nightmare and sprinting recklessly into another.