Chương 3
“Everything is urgent to her.”
His assistant gave a small smile but looked away quickly.
Richard noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
She hesitated.
“It’s just… people are talking.”
Richard felt his stomach tighten.
“About what?”
She lowered her voice.
“The incident at the house.”
He stared at her.
“How would anyone know?”
His assistant looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was honest.
And somehow worse.
Richard walked into his office and closed the door.
For several minutes, he stood beside his desk without sitting.
The room was filled with awards.
Photos.
Certificates.
Things proving he was successful.
None of them helped him decide what kind of father he wanted to be.
His phone rang.
It was Evelyn.
He almost ignored it.
Then he answered.
“Mom.”
Her voice came immediately.
“You let him embarrass me.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Mom.”
“No, Richard.”
Her tone sharpened.
“You need to understand what happened yesterday.”
“I saw what happened.”
“You saw one moment.”
“Yes.”
“And you think one moment tells you everything?”
Richard looked out the window.
He hated that part of him still wanted her approval.
“He is your father,” Evelyn continued.
“He is Mia’s grandfather.”
“That does not make him right.”
Richard was quiet.
His mother noticed.
“You agree with me.”
“No.”
The word surprised both of them.
Evelyn became silent.
Richard rarely contradicted her.
Not directly.
Not like that.
“I think I ignored things,” he said.
“You are tired.”
“No.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I think I ignored things.”
His mother’s voice softened, but not with understanding.
With strategy.
“You are letting emotions make decisions.”
Richard almost laughed.
The irony was too obvious.
“Maybe I should have let emotions make more decisions.”
A pause followed.
Then Evelyn said something that changed the conversation.
“You think your father is some kind of hero?”
Richard frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You do not know everything about him.”
The room felt colder.
Richard straightened.
“What are you talking about?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Only for a second.
But Richard noticed.
He had spent his entire career reading people.
That pause was not accidental.
“Mom.”
“Your father has always controlled situations by making people afraid.”
“That is not what happened yesterday.”
“You were not there when I was married to him.”
Richard sat down slowly.
The sentence bothered him because it sounded like pain hidden inside an accusation.
He had heard pieces of his parents’ marriage.
Arguments.
Distance.
Years of silence.
But they had always avoided details.
“What happened?” he asked.
Evelyn did not answer immediately.
“I need you to be careful.”
“With what?”
“With believing that one person is completely good and another is completely bad.”
The words stayed with him after the call ended.
For the rest of the day, Richard struggled to focus.
He reviewed contracts.
He answered emails.
He attended a meeting where three executives discussed numbers he normally cared about.
But his mind kept returning to the same image.
Mia reaching for Victor.
Not for him.
For Victor.
That evening, he returned home earlier than usual.
The house was quiet.
He found Mia sitting on the floor of the living room while Victor repaired a broken wooden puzzle piece.
“You fix everything?” Richard asked.
Victor did not look up.
“No.”
“Seems like it.”
Victor turned the small piece in his fingers.
“I just fix the things I can.”
Richard sat on the couch.
For a while, they listened to Mia humming while she played.
It was an ordinary sound.
A sound Richard realized he had rarely stopped to hear.
“I talked to Mom,” he said.
Victor continued working.
“That usually means trouble.”
Richard almost smiled.
Almost.
“She said I don’t know everything about you.”
Victor placed the puzzle piece down.
“She is right.”
Richard looked at him.
The answer was unexpected.
“What does that mean?”
“It means people are complicated.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Victor looked toward the window.
“It is the beginning of one.”
The room became quiet.
Richard wanted to ask more.
He wanted the truth.
But another part of him was afraid of what the truth would require.
Because if his father had flaws, that would make things harder.
And if his father was right about yesterday, that would make things even harder.
Mia suddenly held up the completed puzzle.
“Look.”
Both men looked.
The picture was crooked.
Several pieces were missing.
But she smiled like she had built something perfect.
Victor smiled first.
Richard followed a moment later.
Neither of them noticed how much that small moment mattered.
Not yet.
But it was the first time in a long time that they were sitting in the same room without trying to win.
The following week passed without another argument, which somehow made Richard more uncomfortable than the fight itself.
Conflict was familiar to him.
He knew how to handle angry clients, difficult negotiations, and people trying to gain an advantage.
Silence was different.
Silence gave people room to think.
And thinking had become something Richard avoided for years.
Mia spent more time with Victor.
Not because Richard had asked for it.
Not because anyone had arranged a schedule.
It happened naturally.
She asked for him.
Victor came when he could.
Richard watched from a distance at first, pretending he was busy.
He answered emails at the kitchen counter while Victor and Mia built towers from wooden blocks on the floor.
He took calls in the backyard while they planted flowers near the edge of the garden.
He told himself he was working.
Eventually, he admitted he was watching.
One afternoon, Richard came home early and found Victor sitting on the patio with a newspaper folded beside him.
Mia was asleep against his chest.
The sight stopped Richard in the doorway.
Victor noticed him but did not move.
“She fell asleep five minutes ago,” Victor whispered.
Richard lowered his voice.
“She does that with you?”
“Sometimes.”
Richard looked at his daughter.
May you like
“She doesn’t do that with me.”
Victor did not respond immediately.
