BEST DAD

"Good afternoon sir." The old woman from a day before greets Malik respectfully.

"Hello ma." He replies politely too. "How can I help you?"

"I am looking for a young man in his twenties." She looks around. "He is so handsome and I think his sister is the one in this ward."

"I guess you are looking for my son."

"Really? He is your son?"

"Yes ma'am." Malik replies with a nod. "But he isn't around for now, he went to get something."

"Okay, what about your daughter too? Is she responding well to treatment?"

"Yes, thankfully she is already awake but right now, she is fast asleep."

"My daughter just came out of the theatre and i want to come and appreciate him for his kind gesture." The old woman smiles. "He paid for the surgery, he saved my daughter's life."

"I am glad to hear that my son did that." Malik suddenly stops while talking and points to someone. "There he is."

The old woman turns and smiles again to him, she patiently waits for him to get closer to her enough before she says something. "How are you doing?"

"Good afternoon sir." Juvenal greets with smiles.

"How are you doing?" Malik asks sounding neutral as he isn't sure of her identity.

"Ma'am, why are you here? I expect you to be with your daughter, Gold." Shamim whispers.

"My daughter just came out of the theatre, so I want to appreciate you once more for saving the life of my daughter."

"Saved the life of your daughter?" asks Juvenal and she faces Shamim. "What does she mean by that."

"Please help me thank this young man, he paid my daughter's surgery fee."

"Wow!" Jevenal exclsims. "Thats so cool of you."

"Do you have a cell phone?" Shamim asks the old woman ignoring the comment his colleague at work just made.

"Yes, I have one." The old woman pulls out a cell phone from her pocket and hands it to him.

Shamim types his number in the phone and saves it with his name. "I already saved my number, call me when you want to talk to me." He returns the phone back to the old woman. "By the way, my name is Shamim."

"Alright, I will get going now, I will come back later to check on your sister." The old woman says rather shyly and walks away.

"Shamim." Malik calls happily and embraces him. "You are making me proud."

"I am glad you are proud of me." Shamim whispers letting himself enjoy the embrace for a while and withdraws himself. "Meet my colleague at work, her name is Juvenal."

"Hi Juvenal." Malik exchanges hand shake with her. "But may I ask what you have in that big plastic bag?"

"Actually." Juvenal says slowly looking at the plastic bag. "I just thought it would be inappropriate if I came here without buying anything. So I stopped by at the market and got some fruits."

"Wow, that's so thoughtful of you, I'm very grateful. Can you go in and want for us?"

"No problem sir." Juvenal obeys respectfully.

"Where is everyone?" asks Shamim.

"They just left here some minutes ago, I had to stay back because you weren't around. They all need to rest, yesterday was too tensed." He pauses and observes his son for a while. "I can see you are better now, it seems your physical stress cleared out your mental and emotional stress already, just as I wanted."

"I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Yesterday, it was written all over you that you were mentally and emotionally stressed, and I knew if I didn't do something to clear that stress, you might end up hurting yourself."

"So, you made me do all the works on purpose?" Shamim asks.

"Yes." Malik nods. "I am sorry if I appeared mean to you."

"You are the best dad in the whole universe."