6 Board meeting

Clarke has always been a constant sight at the company's premise since he was young. Or more likely, he made the hospital his childhood playground. At the age of seven, he was exposed to the board meetings of his dad.

He would be provided with a little swivel chair and he would sit there like a little man.

The rest of the board directors find this amusing and at the same time a very good training ground for him to become the man he is set to be.

One time after a board meeting he would remark,

"Dad, Mr. Suiz took it seriously."

"What was it, Buhawi?" His dad retorted.

"The joke that Mr. Carula bestowed on him. He took it seriously. He went out the board meeting lowly. A joke shouldn't be said that way." Clarke explained.

"Now, what does my nine year old little boy has to say?" Said his dad amused.

"Oh, come on! I'm no longer a little boy for God sake. What Mr. Carula said was not a good joke. He said, Maybe your daughter's life is the price of your undoing. He did not want that mishap to take place. I see him for the last years and he is very dedicated to his work at the laboratory." Clarke justified.

This was one of the moments his dad is very proud for raising his son. He is becoming a sound man.

Indeed, a joke about one's life at jeopardy is never acceptable.

"But son, it was still his fault." His dad quipped.

"And it was not his fault that his daughter is bedridden now. It was the fault of that irresponsible driver who deliberately hit her and then ran away!" Exclaimed Clarke to prove his point and this made his dad smirk.

"I agree, son, point taken."

It was the annual progress meeting for the board but little Clarke was missing.

One of the directors asked Director Sebastian,

"Where's the little director?"

Five minutes ago, Clarke called his father informing him of an accident he witnessed. He is now at the other board hall entertaining or more likely, comforting the victim's child.

Clarke just witnessed an accident with the victim dead on the spot.

"Ami, can you talk?" The seven year old Clarke asked the daughter of the man who was hit by a crane at the corner of their hospital.

The daughter just looked down and stared blankly.

She was indeed, traumatized.

Clarke did not know the girl's name but he heard the man's last words for his daughter and he called her Ami before the rescue took over.

The girl was taken with the man to the hospital too and Clarke, was running towards the hospital after he witnessed that accident knowing the girl will be at their hospital too.

The girl did not cry and surprisingly did not have any injury. But her father sadly, died.

The head nurse knowing Clarke might be a good distraction for the little girl, asked Clarke to accompany her as she will be contacting the immediate family of the victim.

Just outside the board hall is the secretary of the head nurse.

Clarke went near the girl calling her Ami again..

But Ami did not hear him still.

He went on and held her hand. She was trembling.

And just now, she started to sob.

Clarke for no reason but felt very protective of her, pulled her immediately to an embrace.

The girl made his shirt wet and there's snoot all over his shoulder but he didn't mind though.

This girl needed her.

Later he heard her spoke,

"I can no longer have my Papa, can I?"

The girl's voice was very small and so sad but hearing it was music to his ears. That finally after hours, she has spoken.

"Are you hungry? I have with me a packet of biscuits. My mommy gave me this before I went here and saw you while getting here."

The little girl just nodded and ate silently.

"How old are you, Ami?" Clarke spoke as he was watching her eating his biscuits silently and slowly.

"Five." She replied.

"You'll grow strong and a fighter. Believe me." He said reassuringly to Ami.

"Yah think so?" She batted her tearful eyes as she seemingly understood what he meant.

"Yes, you already are." Clarke retorted immediately and gave her a little smile to which Ami just nodded at.

"Hey, Clarke, Ami's mother is here."

Said the assistant of the head nurse.

Clarke got up and asked for Ami's hand for him to help her get up. To which Ami accepted.

At the door, Ami glanced back at him one last time and that was the last time too after how many years that they saw each other.

Clarke didn't even manage to introduce himself to her.

But his poor little heart knew, the girl needs rescuing.

So the director answered,

"Helping someone at the adjacent board hall."

And the meeting continued without the little director but became a hero of that poor little girl.

A loss of a loved one is never truly healed through time. It leads to so many things, bad or good.

But one thing is sure, when we lose someone we love, we are never the same.