NEW YEAR RESOLUTION CONTEST.
TO GAIN WHAT IS LOST
"540??!!"
"If that number gets you worked up, then I think the other news I have for you would even be more terrible."
The doctor looked at the paper in her hand that contained my medical checkup. Her grim face told me what news I might be expecting from her. This was my third day in the general hospital’s male ward. As various lines of coloured tubes that was inserted into the back of my hand and a few more on plastered on my chest, I looked at the Doctor while I try to push my oxygen mask away from my face.
“How do go I about putting it so it’s easy for you to understand…”
“Just spit it out, Doctor. I’m used to bad news already.”
“And the news just got worse for you, then. You have an underlying myocardial infarction coupled with your already recorded diabetic and high blood pressure conditions.”
“What’s a myoca…”
“A heart attack. And that’s why you were brought here in the first place anyway.”
Upon hearing the words, I nearly vomited on the Doctor’s white robe. A heart attack? I know I was obese to some point. I weighed about 180kgs so hearing that I was diagnosed with such a high triglycerides level shook me a little. But an underlying heart attack? Ain’t heart attack hereditary? No one in my family had that. A fact that I told the Doctor straight away.
“No. You got a heart attack because of your lifestyle. Not hereditary. Not at all.”
“B-But…”
“No buts, Mike. No buts. If you want to live longer than a few years at most, then you better start changing. Especially your lifestyle.”
“My lifestyle?”
Suddenly, an intercom interrupted our conversation.
“Doctor Jeanne. Please come towards the nurse station. I repeat…”
“Oh?! Looks like I need to be going now.”
Doctor Jeanne patted the back of my hand as she stood up and looked at me straight into my eyes.
“You know how you had lived your own life, Mike. Now please excuse me, I have another patient to attend to. But my word of advice; do something about your own life, alright. We have known each other since kids and I don’t want you to go out looking like this.”
The Doctor disappeared from my view, leaving me all alone yet again. Three days I was admitted to the ward and no one ever came to visit me. Not even my ex-wife, my two children or even my business partner. Jeanne was the only one who visited me. Or more specifically she worked here as a doctor and I’m her patient. If it's not because of that relationship of doctor-patient, I’ll have no doubt that she too won’t be visiting me anytime soon. Today was the eve of Christmas and every other patient else was either discharged from the ward or had their families visiting them.
“My lifestyle, huh?”
I mumbled those words softly as I slipped the oxygen mask onto my face and slipped off into another dreamless sleep. I covered myself with the blanket trying my best to separate myself from the reality of the world. The reality hurts. My business was going down the drains with rival companies tried to buy off my shares and forcefully merge with my company. My business partners were scheming to get me off the board and I’m fighting to keep my position intact. The companies that I set up using my own money, sweat and tears were now up for grabs by those vultures I called friends. And my family? Hah, the less I talked about them, the better. All of them seemed to want me gone as soon as possible so they could inherit whatever that was left of me.
Scums… All of them were scums.
“Hey, old man! How long are you going to sleep like that?”
I was rudely interrupted yet again by another voice. A high pitched and enthusiastic man’s voice. The worst scum of them all.
“You again?! Leave me alone!”
“Aww come on, old man. I’m here to visit you.”
I peered over my edge of my blanket and true enough, the man that I hated the most was standing next to my bed. In fact, he took a stool out and made himself comfortable while smiling his ever evil smile. He was Leon, my eldest daughter’s husband who I vehemently against for. I was against it so much that I did not even attend their wedding reception. And because of that, my whole family acted cold towards me. And now, the first person who visited me was the man I hated the most.
“Are you trying to make a mockery out of me and my misery?”
“Nah. Just wanted to see how you are like, old man.”
“Leave! I don’t need you to sympathize with me.”
“I’ll leave when I want to. This is not your house nor any of the buildings you owned. This hospital is a public place and I feel damned well to visit anyone I’d like.”
Upon realizing what Leon had said, I just kept quiet. I had no time to argue with this bum of a man anyway. Jobless, moneyless, lowly educated and lack of manners. These were some of his traits that I could not bear to be associated with, whats more becoming his father-in-law.
“I heard from the Doctor. Seems like you had it rough, old man.”
“Don’t call me old man. I don’t approve of you!”
“Whatever. I’m not married to you. You cast your daughter and me out, remember? And besides, she married to my family, not me to your family.”
“Hah! Your family? Your poor and uneducated family?”
“Better my family than yours. At least all of us get together for Christmas Eve, unlike the Alistair surname that you are so proud of. Where’s your family and your friends?”
“I-I… I don’t need them!!”
I blurted out my retort loudly to my son-in-law without even thinking. But, his reaction was not I expected at all. He just laughed it out and placed a basket of fruits on the table that was beside my bed.
“Thought so. That’s why I’m here. Someone needs to look after you, you know.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Eat more fruits. Exercise more. Shed more weight. Those fats that are on you looked extremely unhealthy.”
“Hah. And I was right. You are here to mock me. Begone!!”
“Alright. Alright. I understand. I’ll go. But remember this old man. I don’t want my kid to grow up not knowing his own grandfather.”
“!!”
I was startled. I immediately sit up and removed my oxygen mask.
“W-What did you just said?”
“I’ll come back tomorrow alright. It’s time to get your life back on track for you. If it’s not for yourself, then do it for your kids and would-be grandkids.”
“D-Did Eleana got pregnant?
“Hahaha. Who knows. Live and you might see it for yourself.”
The eve of new year. Leon came and visited me yet again, like any other previous days. Seemed to me that he had too much time on his hands for my liking. I wanted to run away from him, or anyone else for that matter, but in the current condition, I would be lucky to even walk to the toilet by my own self.
“So, had you give it a thought over what I told you the day before?”
I snorted. Hah. As if I’m going to let you do whatever you want. And my silence was all he needed.
“You know old man, I was wrong about you.”
“What do you know about me huh?”
“Nothing and everything. You know, from the way Eleana talked about you, I thought you might be a wonderful person. But…”
Leon paused for a while, checking something on his smartphone.
“Look, this is your daughter. See that little bump over there?”
I peered over towards Leon and looked at the picture that was displayed on his smartphone. It was Eleana, and she looked extremely beautiful, just like her mother was. And true enough, I could see a small bump on Eleana’s tummy to remind me what Leon said was true.
“You know, before we got married, she always talks a lot of you. Her father. Saying things that would always get me jealous. You know, something like her father is her first love.”
I just kept quiet as Leon went on.
“And to see you now like this, I do wonder if she was talking about the same man.”
“I-I’m not that man anymore!”
“And so you say, old man. So you say. But are you satisfied being like this?”
“W-What do you mean?”
“Dying alone in a godforsaken place. The company that you built in the verge of ruins, the family that you worked so much for was separated and now you are nothing but an old, obese and grumpy old man who is seeing the last of his days. Far from the magnificent man, Mr Michael Alistair, the billionaire.”
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“Wrong question, old man. You should ask yourself, is this what you want to do? Is this how you want to end up and be remembered by? As a loser and a pitiful one at it.”
The word ‘loser’ suddenly made me snapped. I hate being called a loser. I immediately straightened myself and pulled Leon’s collar.
“Don’t you dare call me a loser.”
“But aren’t you now? Look into the mirror and tell me honestly, that you are not a loser.”
Leon swiped my hand away and readjusted his collar. He was provoking me and I knew that. But he was right though. The current Michael Alistair was a loser. A loser of the highest degree.
“S-So… w-when do we start?”
Leon looked at me and smile.
“How about… now? It’s the eve of the New Year, so go ahead and write your resolution. I’ll be coming tomorrow as usual.”
“I had made my resolution. I-I want to see my grandchild grows up. I-I want my family back!”
“And so you say, old man.”
3 days later, I was discharged from the ward. Instead of driving me home, Leon brought me somewhere else. Somewhere that I’m quite familiar with. The slum area of this city.
“Old man, this was where I grew up. Pretty tough neighbourhood, don’t you think so?”
I looked through the window of the car and saw kids vandalizing the streets, grouping up together and smoking some weeds, I think.
“And this is why I’d never approved of you!”
“Never judge someone where and how they start, but where and how they end, old man.”
We finally arrived at a secluded area. A warehouse that was out of town.
“Welcome, old man. To my paradise.”
Leon lifted the grill door open and we took a step inside. As he switched on the light, I was shocked with what I had seen here. Various tools and equipment that I could not make out were scattered around. There’s a few huge rope dangling from the metal beam that formed a skeletal roof and a few more was lying on the ground with one end tied to a wall.
“This is where I spend most of my youth here. But since the owner died a few years ago, this place was empty.”
“W-What is this place?”
“Like I said, my paradise. But people like you might call it a gym.”
“A gym?”
“But, it's not just any gym. Come on and I’ll show you.”
Leon led me towards a ring. He climbed on top of it and took off his shirt. No wonder Eleana fall in love with this guy. Compared to how I look like, Leon had a body like a sculptured Greek God. I meant, look at the ripped abs and his toned arms.
“Come up, old man. We are going to do what my master always did to us.”
It took me great effort to climb up the ring. With no stairs that I could use, I had to use makeshift barrels, climbed on top of it and then only I could enter the ring. That too was no easy feat as I took half an hour. Leon was just standing there, smiling and urging me on but never once helped me. I cursed him for that though I’m sure he was used to it now.
“Well, let’s dance a little, alright?”
“Dance? Are you fucking kidding me? You think I can dance with how I am…”
Suddenly, Leon threw me a firecracker at my feet and exploded right away. I was so surprised that I yelped out and stepped away from it. But it did not stop there. Leon kept throwing me firecrackers that I had no time to breath and curse him.
“And that’s 10. How about that for a warm up ehh, old man?”
“What fucking nonsense are you talking about? You call that warm up? I could die of heart attack before anything else happened, you asshole!”
“Man, for a man of your status, you sure swear a lot. You prefer if I use a gun and shoot at where you stand? I could always oblige, you know.”
“Shut up!”
“Haha. Good to see that you are still alive and kicking. Come on, we don’t have all days.”
And this was the beginning of what would be a hellish torture for me. I’m a man in his 60s, nearly losing everything that I held dear and now had medical issues. What could worse have happened to me, right? Well, the answer was in the shape of my daughter’s husband, Leon. And no, I had not approved of him. A daughter of a billionaire married to a useless bum like him. I had to admit, he got a body that most men would be jealous of. I wonder if Eleana had fallen for him because of his body.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oi, old man. What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“Good. Don’t think too much, old man. It’s not good for your health. You might get a stroke before anything else. You had the unholy reunion of diabetes and hypertension after all. So, think less and act more.”
“Don’t need a bum like you to tell me what to think and what not!”
Leon handed me a pile of papers as we took out first rest. Well, I needed to take a rest actually as I could feel my heart was palpitating.
“Look at it while you are resting. I’ll be right there doing some workout of my own.”
I looked at the papers and sure enough, it was my training schedule. Before Leon and I first came here, he told me that for me to live long enough to watch my grandchild grew up, I need to do something fast about my conditions. I have to be honest, I’m not what people call health-conscious. I had been focusing on building my wealth. Money, wealth, status and all that it would bring me was my prime motivator. That was all I care about. In business, I was ruthless. At home, I was a tyrant. That if I’m at home, anyway.
My office was my real home and my family grew up without having me around. My wife for 30 years left me without ever divorcing me. I had no time to file the papers for I’m always busy. And my daughters left home, without telling me anything. Even I was the last to be informed when Eleana wanted to get married to that useless guy. Feeling sick that my family deserted me for all I had done, I wanted to disavow them altogether. Who needs a family anyway if all I have was money? Money can buy happiness, right?
But, I was wrong. Money by itself could not buy happiness. As I hospitalized for nearly a week, I looked back at my life. I had all the money, the status and the fame but on the hospital bed, I’m just like anyone else. A grumpy old man with no family. If it was not because I had a heart attack back at the office, I’m sure I won’t ever have ended up here.
I looked at Leon as he took one exercise after another. Was he a steroid junkie? Look at how he went from repetition over another. I just shook my head. He really was a bum. But maybe not that useless anymore. I’m in his care from today onwards.
I continued to read the papers that Leon gave me. Among the papers, included was my diet, sleep time and social time. What’s this? He was supposed to help me lose weight, not nosing around my business!
I immediately stood up and went to Leon. When he saw I was approaching him, he leapt down from this weird contraception that he hung himself with.
“So, did you gone through all the details?”
“Details? Fuck your details! You are butting into my life.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, the deal is off. I’m not about letting a bum to decide how I should live my life. You are here because you agreed to help me get into shape. That’s all!”
“Whatever, old man. The door is over there if you want to call it quits. I don’t care either way.”
Leon took the paper away from my hand and threw it into a dustbin.
“But, you will not take the car.”
Leon took the car key from his pocket and to my horror, he broke it into pieces as he stepped on it.
“There. If you want to go, then go. Walk. You have no money, no phone, no connection. Nothing. You are here, stranded at quite some distance from your comfort zone. And less you know, this neighbour ain’t friendly to a walking turd like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Walk out like this and you will find yourself dead and naked. You saw those kids back there, right?”
Leon let out a smirk. That fucker had scammed me into this mess.
“Besides, are you returning as Mr Loser?”
“Fuck off. Don’t taunt me. I’m not a loser, alright!”
“And so you say. Come on. The rest’s over. From today onwards, you will do as I say, father in law or not.”
“Whatever. Let’s get on with it! The longer I stuck with you, the worse it is for me.”
“Likewise, old man. Likewise.”
2 months later.
“150kgs?!!”
“Yeah, that’s what the scale said.”
“30kgs in two months. I can’t believe it!”
“You better believe it old man. You have come this far, you know.”
I weighed myself today. Before I started my program, I was at 180kgs. For men my age, it was life-threatening. But now, I’m 150kgs?!
Leon cracked a smile.
“Well, time for us to move on to the next step, then.”
“You mean, this is not enough?”
“Hahaha. Nope. This is just the beginning. I can’t let you go just yet, not until I’m satisfied.”
“Son of the devil!”
“Hahaha. Call me whatever you want. Come, let’s jog around town.”
“But you said the town was dangerous.”
“It’s dangerous to you, but not to me. Remember that I grew up here? Come now. Let’s not delay.”
And today, I began to jog. I was walking most of the time, but I did not care. To me, it was a jog nonetheless. And Leon? He was really the son of a devil. He rode on a moped and was yelling at me not to stop. But why should I listen to him? I’m going to stop and walk as I damn well pleased.
“Old man?”
Leon rode up next to me. This was my 18th break in our first 2 miles of my 5 miles’ jog. The windy morning was chilly and I don’t like being too cold at outdoors like this.
“If you don’t hurry up, I’m afraid that when the boys gathered here, they won’t be too pleased to see a stranger around.”
“You said it was safe.”
“Nope. I said it was not dangerous to me. But to you, the danger is real. So, unless you want to get chased by the dogs or threatened at a knife point, do hurry up. Alright. It’s still early in the morning, so you got a little bit more time.”
Curse you, Leon. I had no choice but to hasten my speed. A billionaire, a tyrant and a ruthless businessman now being toyed around by a steroid bum. Fuck you, Leon. I mean, fuck you really.
And the jog ended 2 hours over the scheduled time. True enough to that cursed fellow, I was chased by dogs and nearly ran down by a few kids on bikes. A warning they said if I ever set my foot in their place. Next time, I would have run naked on the streets. And the threat was real if it was not Leon who told them to back off.
“So, what do you think, old man? Your first jog?”
“I rather die than having to go at it again.”
“So, the billionaire, Mr Michael Alistair, is giving up? What’s more, losing to young kids who are barely out of their mummy’s home?”
“What do you know?”
“I know that if you quit, you will be the loser of a father, a husband and as a person. We had this conversation many times, you know.”
“Yeah. Yeah. So, what’s next?”
“Well, let’s jog every day from now onwards. We will keep your exercise schedule intact for now.”
2 weeks had passed and I lost another 5kgs. The dreaded jog was still a chore, I was still chased by the dogs but surprisingly, the kids on the bike was cheering on me. Rather than running me over with their bikes, they rode next to me giving what I think was words of encouragement.
“Come on, fat man. You can do it. A little more.”
“Yeah, fatso. You sure have some balls running through our place. But we like ballsy guys like you.”
“Don’t die on our curbs. Die on your wife’s tits. And make sure she had bigger tits than you, fat man.”
These kids really had a foul mouth. But then again, at least it was a breath of fresh air than what I used to be served with. At least these kids, as foul-mouthed as they could be, do not hide behind their smiles and then stabbed me in the back. Unlike some people who I called friends back at the company. Remembering them made my blood boiled. I jogged faster than I could ever think as I tried to get rid of that feeling. Or as that son of the devil, Leon said, channelling my energy.
“Whoa. Look at that fat man goes.”
“Yeah. If I don’t see it myself, I think I might be crazy or something seeing someone as fat as him run.”
“If he’s not careful, he would end up flying. Hahaha. Go, fat man. Fly to your wife’s tits!”
What foul-mouthed people. I could not help but to crack a smile. As soon as I reached the warehouse, the kids left as they gave me a round of applause. I did not know their motives but it felt good for once. I was gasping for breath as hard as I could as I saw them off.
“See ya tomorrow, fat man. Don’t be late.”
As they left the place, Leon arrived with a moped. He was all smiles.
“Won yourself a few admirers, I see. Not bad. You still had that charisma of yours intact.”
“Don’t mock me, you son of the devil. Where were you? You were gone after I took that corner.”
“Ohh… somewhere. But more importantly, how’s your jog?”
“I hate jogging. If I can make a rule next time, jogging is for losers.”
“Well, better be losers than be a whiner. Now, come on and get cleaned up. We are going somewhere.”
Suddenly, what Leon said piques my interest. I had been stuck in this bloody place for 2 and a half months and I’m getting sick and tired of doing the same thing over and over again.
“Where?”
“Somewhere,” Leon replied nonchalantly as he pushed me inside the warehouse.
2 hours later, we arrived opposite of a house. At the front garden was a young and beautiful brunette tending her roses. As Leon and I looked at her from the car, I could not help but to feel a little ache in my heart. It was not a heart attack but it was of sadness. The girl was Eleana, my daughter.
“Look at the bump on her tummy, old man. Can you see it?”
I nodded.
“It’s been 10 weeks you know.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Who knows. Why don’t you ask her?”
“W-What?”
I could not believe what Leon had said to me. Ask my daughter? No. No. No. How could have I asked her? I mean, she walked out of my life. Not just her. Her mother too. I could never bring myself to talk to people had abandoned me.
“Abandoned you?”
Leon caught the one word that I let out unconsciously.
“You think Eleana abandoned you?”
I just kept quiet as Leon asked of me. I wished I could answer that simply by saying yes. But somehow, my mouth felt heavy.
“You know old man, you might think wrongly about your family.”
“I-I don’t care. The last thing I need now is a distraction. I’m good where I am now.”
“So, you don’t want to go down and ask your daughter? And feel that little bump? And meet them when the child is born?”
“I-I-I will find another way. For now, can we just go, please? I-I can’t bear to see her like this.”
Leon just nodded and drove us off. As I saw Eleana still happily tending the garden, my heart ached a lot. I mean, she abandoned me, right? So, I should just let them go. B-But… why did it felt so lonely and sad?
Another 3 and a half months had passed. I’m now weighed at 120kgs. I lost 60kgs in the span of half a year. It was unbelievable to most people but Leon who had been with me the whole time was all smiles. Even the bike kids came and looked at my weighing scale. These kids somehow became closer to me as I continued to jog every day, without a miss.
“Good job, old man. To lose that much, I’m impressed.”
“Now you know, you devil. I’m the famous…”
“Yeah. Yeah. I know. You hate to lose. Since you like winning so much, how about we do something more… competitive.”
“Huh? I love winning alright. I ain’t some losers like you.”
“I see. If that’s the case, let’s join the local town marathon held in the next two months from now.”
“Whoa, the fat man running a marathon. We would need to tell the gang to come and see.”
One of the kids suddenly spoke and it made the whole others laughed with him. I tried to speak out my mind but before I could say anything, one of them interrupted me.
“Anyway, got to go, fat man. Run the marathon, alright. And perhaps, we could see pigs fly next. Hahaha.”
And then they left while still laughing and high-fiving each other. And most probably at my expense too.
“So, I’ll take it as you would join me in the marathon.”
“B-But I never run in one. Organize yes, but run, no.”
“Well, there’s always a first time for everything, right? I’ll run with you.”
I let out a deep sigh. Running a marathon? At my age? And I’m still overweight though I lost nearly one-third of my weight. I just shook my head in disbelief. I got an underlying heart attack, you know. I could get a heart attack any moment and die. And then whatever I worked for, until now would just be useless.
“No worries, old man. I’m here. I’ll teach you how to run a marathon.” The son of the devil somehow read my mind. Again, I let out a deep and long sigh. I had resigned myself not to lose.
And then began my additional marathon training. I trained hard like never before. I never like to lose and I never lose at anything in my life. Be it in school, university, business or even making myself fame and fortune, I shall never lose to anyone. So, what’s a marathon right? It’s just running at a certain distance. No big deal.
And I was wrong. On the day of the marathon, I finally understand something that I never felt in my life before. And it was called the adrenaline rush. A sportsman’s high, as they called it. Leon had registered both of us to run in the 40km run. And it was to be completed in less than 16 hours. I had calculated everything inside my mind. I had been running and jogging every day, so to complete 40kms in 16 hours was considered an easy benchmark.
We started at 5 am. And as usual, it was Leon and the group of the kids on their bikes. And there seemed to be more of them today. Rather unusual. Or perhaps, as they said, they wanted to see pigs fly. If they want to see pigs fly, then they will get a flying pig alright. Right into their face.
As I was warming up with Leon, I could see that there were many people starting to come around. Men and women, both young and old. Even children too were running though they had their own version. Half an hour passed by and there were about a thousand people who gathered here at the town square. And by 6 am, the number tripled. The mayor, who was a personal friend of mine, came and officiated the marathon. He was quite shocked to see me, but nonetheless, he was all complimentary of my participation. He could not be happier to see a man of my status to run the local marathon. To those who knew who I am came to me and they too took their time to say their pleasantries and appreciation of me joining this marathon. I did not sponsor this event, but I knew that somehow these people were just happy for me to be here.
And when the marathon started with the sound of the wind-gun, thousands of people started to run. I too took a quick step running so I won’t be left out of the main group.
“Old man, relax. We are just starting. Keep your energy and maintain your speed. Don’t rush it, alright.”
And of course, being a stubborn old man that I was, listening to a bum like him was considered blasphemous. The great Michael Alistair, whom the mayor had personally greeted, could not be treated as some small fry.
But of course, I was just a small fry. I kept running and running much to Leon’s annoyance that I failed to notice that my feet were getting wobbly and tired. And the worst happened when I misplaced my step and fell down, face first. I was lucky that I fell to the side, instead to the front. If it was the other way around, I’m sure that people would have stepped on me or I would have tripped others. And my injury would be for the worse.
Once I’m taken aside for treatment, it seemed that I had sprained my ankle. Just 5km in and already I sprained my ankle? The paramedic tended to me for an hour or so to lessen down my swollen ankle. But I could not waste my time here. I need to compete and finished up the marathon.
“Old man, sure you can keep up?”
“Yeah. What do you take me for?”
“An old fool who hates losing.”
“You got that right, you son of the devil.”
“So, what are we waiting for? Let’s run.”
Despite the paramedic best attempt to let me sit out the marathon, I refused and continued to run. If I had problems, the stationed paramedic would help me. The pain of my sprained ankle was not obvious at first but after half an hour or so, I could feel its tingling sensation. And from then, I knew that the condition started to get worse and I could barely run. I could barely even walk. 10 hours in and we just past the halfway mark of the marathon. I dreaded the fact that I might not finish this after all.
“Don’t give up just yet, old man.”
“Who said anything about giving up? Are you?”
“Haha. Good to see that fighting spirit back in you. Come, there’s another 15km to go and 4 hours left.”
“Don’t need you to remind me.”
“Think you can hasten yourself a little more?”
“I could run this marathon twice over if you want.”
And by the stroke of the bell, we made it finally. Both Leon and I completed the marathon exactly on the last minute of the bell. As I collapsed by the roadside because of fatigue, I could see Leon and the bike kids were there cheering for me. And beside them was a brunette. A familiar looking brunette.
Three months later.
The crying of the newborn baby woke me up. Leon came out from the ward bringing me the good news.
“It’s a boy, old man.”
For the first time in my life, I could not help it. I cried out. Leon patted my back as if to ease my feelings. But I was not sad. I was relief and happy.
“Come, let’s see Eleana and the baby, alright. The doctor ain’t too pleased if we don’t let the mother and child rest after this.”
I just nodded as he led me into the room. Eleana was holding the baby as she looked up at me, she gave out the most beautiful and satisfying smile ever.
“Dad, meet your grandson, Mike.”
I was surprised. Mike? The grandson’s name was Mike?
“We named it after you, old man.”
“B-But… why?” I stammered for my words.
“Believe it or not, Eleana was quite adamant that she named our firstborn Mike if it’s a he, or Michelle if it’s a she.”
“But I don’t understand.”
“Sure you would. I told you before right. You are Eleana’s first love. You, her father, the one she admired and loved the most.”
Leon patted my back.
“You know, old man. I’m jealous of you. You had everything and now, your daughter had her father back.”
That’s it. This man was the son of the devil, alright. I-I… I could not say anything else as I let out my tears. A grown-up man crying in front of his daughter.
“Dad? Don’t you want to hug the baby?”
“I-I… I’d love too, sweetie.”
“Well, time for me to leave you two alone for a while. I’ll be back.”
Leon left both of us inside this room. As I looked at Eleana and the baby, I could not help but to feel that this was something that’s missing all the while in my life. I’m such a fool of a man. My new year resolution of getting back my shape was because I want to live a little longer to hold my grandchild in my arms. And now, here I am. And all because on my son-in-law too. Thank you, Leon.
-----
Outside the door of the maternity room, Leon was greeted by two women.
“He’s inside all crying and stuff.”
“He’s a fool. He was always a fool. He never knew what was important until it was too late.”
“You are wrong, Steph. He’s a fool alright, but it was never too late for him.”
“And so you say, Jeanne. So you say. If it was not because of you, I’ve would have lost that man. A fool of a man that I so dearly loved.”
“And I would have lost a dear friend, if I may say so.”
“So, what’s next, Mom? Do you want to go inside and look at that husband of yours? He’s a changed man now, both in looks and temperament. And I think he could need another woman in his life, you know. Besides, Eleana’s sister is on the way back too.” Leon spoke as he sat down on the long bench.
“Sure I will. I’m still his wife after all. I would never leave him for anything else in the world.”
“And yet you did leave him, right?” teased Doctor Jeanne.
“Only to tell him that his family is as important. But I’m sure he realized that by now. So, what do you want to do next, Leon?”
“Me? Well, since we have 3 more months and he had broken all the target I had set in advanced, perhaps something more challenging is needed. Besides, I still had to get his company back on track from those vultures.”
“Why do you go so far for us? For Mike?”
“Easy, Mum. Because he was once my hero, too.”
Both the women were surprised.
“Your hero?” Doctor Jeanne asked of Leon.
“Yeah. It was a long story. I’ll tell you some other time. But I can’t bear to see him this. Not the way he was falling down and losing everything. Yeah… perhaps that might be our next year resolution. To gain back what he had lost.”
The End
To be continued… Next Year!