Fall and Rise

Chapter 8: A Punch from Past

Two weeks passed like a blink of an eye. Two weeks in which David and Aiden indulged themselves with lots of work to establish the new company. Annie, true to her words had joined them after three days and was a great help to them.

After a week the office was furnished and two other junior but talented architects were employed by David. And the next week and because of David's influence they already had started three projects.

So at the end of the second week, David left the office early, leaving everything to Aiden, and went to Sunny daycare at exactly five PM to pick up his daughter.

Despite his promise to Sarah, due to his tight schedule he was unable to spend time with Daisy. So Sarah had taken care of the infant most of the time without complaining.

In fact, she had proven both men how much of an angel she was. Most nights they found themselves in theirs or her tiny kitchen late at night, eating the food she had cooked for them, and found great relief at hearing her encouraging words.

Sarah and David had become friends without trying hard. They just hit it off after that night and had become comfortable in each other's presence. They both felt like they were old friends and David, unlike his nature had found himself wanting to spend more time with her and relying on her without feeling bad.

And now David wanted to prove himself to her. She had not told him anything. But he knew she must have been disappointed in him for not spending enough time with Daisy for the last weeks.

Of course, the main reason was that he had missed his daughter, and Sarah's words about Daisy's well-being had a great impact on him. There was no doubt his little flower was the most important thing in his life.

Yet, he couldn't help but want to please Sarah as well and show her that he was a man of his word. Why David - the man who never felt the urge to prove himself to anyone other than his father - felt the urge to prove himself to a woman who was only a kind neighbor, was beyond him.

Taking a deep breath to rid himself of those thoughts, he walked through the sliding doors of the daycare and was instantly welcomed by the warm environment.

Helena was standing behind the front desk and was writing something down. Upon hearing the door, she looked up and smiled. "Evening, Mr. Miller." she greeted politely and put her pen down. "I'm so happy to see you here after two weeks."

Ignoring her accusing words that he knew he deserved, he walked up behind the desk, and looked down at the woman, wearing his cold mask.

"Hello, Mrs. Bowman." he said. "Can you bring my daughter to me, please?"

"Of course." said Helena and took a phone from the desk. "I will ..."

She was cut off by a soft voice that David had become familiar with over the past two weeks and secretly craved to hear.

"Helena have you seen ..., Oh, David." Sarah stared at the man in front of her with wide eyes.

"Hello, Sarah." David smirked at the sight of the shocked woman and walked to her as he saw his baby in her arms. "I see you already have brought my daughter with you."

"Oh, I didn't know you would come soon today." she said and composed herself while gently passing the wide-awake baby to her father. "You didn't tell me you will come here this morning."

David smiled as he brought Daisy up so they were face to face and kissed her small face multiple times while she made excited baby noises. Daisy for sure had felt her father's presence.

He then held Daisy in his arms with her little head on his shoulder as he rubbed her back softly. He looked at Sarah who was looking at them with a bright smile on her face and adoration in her eyes.