"Dr. Miller, Mr. Jones has finished his last meeting too. Should I inform him that you are wanting for the last four hours?"
Dr. Matthews Jones' P.A. inquired Arthur for the umpteenth time since his arrival.

"Umm... No, it's fine. I'll surprise him myself." Arthur gulped the forming forth in throat.

He tried to get up and walk those few steps between his chair and the door behind Dr. Jones was.

Dr. Jones, the person whom he always looked up to, his ideal. The person whom he always worshiped. The person who inspired him to be a doctor in the first place.

"Am I dreaming or is it, My boy Arthur sitting here in front of me?"

A matured yet affectionate voice broke his reverie.

For a moment Arthur had to shut his eyes tight to push back all those hovering shadows of shame and discomfort.

He knew this moment would come, the moment, he thought to seek his support in this hour of need.

"Arthur, won't you talk? You have shown up after such a long time, and now Without uttering a word you are hurting me." Mr. Jones's voice sounded hurt this time.

Arthur felt numb to hear him like that. He was the personification of strength and stability for Arthur. How could he see him hurt? What if this decision of his, meeting with him caused the revelation of the past?

"Mr. Jones..." He stood up at once holding his hands, "I never meant to, cause you hurt. It's just, I want to take some time. To heal, to deal with the loss I had. I'm sorry, I couldn't attend your wedding. Congratulations." Arthur looked at the old man's wrinkled face with a weak smile.

"Well, young man, you certainly haven't been here to congratulate an old man for his years-old marriage." Dr. Jones patted his head lightly in his familiar way of showing affection.

"I need you," Arthur whispered only in response looking into his eyes.

"Come, we can talk in the room. How about your favorite hot chocolate?"

"It will be great but maybe next time. Right now I need only You." Arthur said like a child in desperate need of attention.

"Fine, at least come in the room, and let's talk in detail." Dr. Jones chuckled and strolled back to the room, "Why didn't you come earlier? I mean, Miss Dorry just told me that you came here hours ago."

"I didn't mean to disturb your meetings. I know how many people and kids in need, would be benefitted from each decision of yours." Arthur replied following him in the room.

Somehow, he had managed to push behind the real cause of his disappearance from Dr. Jones's life for the last few years. But as he stepped into his room, reality slapped him hard.

"I know it looks odd, but my wife wished for this huge portrait of ours here. At times I feel as if she is insecure about me. Though I should be insecure." Mr. Jones chuckled a bit.

Lily smiling brightly in his arms, looking at him so affectionately as if Mr. Jones is everything for her. Her most precious possession.

Certainly, he was her most precious possession. She broke Arthur wholly for Him, the only good she had done to him was that She never let Arthur know if She had an eye on his ideal from the beginning or went for him after divorcing him.

"It's not odd at all but beautiful. You both look beautiful together." Arthur commented while pulling out a file.

"I want your opinion in this case."

"It does not look that complicated. I wonder, why you need my opinion for this one?" Dr. Jones replied closing the file after having a look at it.

"Ahm... Not opinion, I need you to operate." Arthur cleared his reason for arrival.

***

"Arthur where were you? Cora has been asking for you all day." Luke's curious voice informed him about his entrance into the cabin.

"Arthur I'm asking something."

"I had some important work."

"Is That all you have to tell me? Arthur, I saw your reaction to see Cora bleeding. You were shaken man! Why?" Luke turned his chair around to make him look at himself.

"I saw your face when you saw her blood. The thought of a mere cut had scared you! And you suppose to operate on her heart in a few days. How is this possible if your heart is shaken, what if your hand shaken while operating on her?"

"That's what exactly my concern is! And that's the reason I had to find a replacement for me." Arthur exhaled controlling his overflowing emotions.

"Come on Arthur, whom are you trying to befool? Me? Or yourself? We all know well that there is no replacement for You! You are the best!"

"He is better than the best. You know him, and I have agreed him for it."

"Rubbish! No one can be better than you but Matthew Jones!" Luke said annoyed but then something struck him.

He looked at Arthur with wide eyes.

"No, it can't be him. You won't go to him in any condition." Arthur lowered his eyes, "I can't believe, you went to him! But why?" Luke exhaled with shock.

"Because I can't..." His voice started to tremble "I can't bear it again Luke! I have failed once to save my child. I can't afford to fail again." Long suppressed, hidden tears of fear and anguish swirled out of his eyes.

"Arthur, it wasn't your failure. She wanted to get rid of you. That's why she did that." Luke held his shoulder in an attempt to give him some strength.

"Luke, it's not about Lily or What she wanted anymore. Now it's all about Cora, and I don't care how far I have to go for her. I'll save her. She needs the surgery as soon as possible. I can't bear a small slash on her finger, do you think I'll be able to slash her chest and operate her heart?"

His hand raised to held his dizzy head,

" I can't Luke, I can't take this chance, though I am not her Father but she is my daughter. The very moment, I saw her, her sparkling eyes were keen. As if trying to find something. I felt like... Like..."

"You have seen yourself in the mirror." Luke completed the sentence with perfect words Arthur was scared to utter.

"This was wrong Luke. Isn't it? I know, She is a child. She had no idea how barren I were when she just flew into my life like a shower of heavenly nectar."

Arthur had started to cry bitterly by now.
Luke made him sit on the chair while he kept mumbling, lost in his guilt.

"It's not like I haven't tried Luke, I swear, I have tried my best to forget everything but Her words! It still haunts me at times. That I failed, I didn't deserve to be a father. I don't deserve a family. She took everything from me, Luke. Everything, my love, my child, my trust, my faith. And most importantly, what she took away from me is Me. I wanted to live, to have a reason for it, to have a family. Family sounds like it's something I'm cursed for."

"Arthur, there is nothing like that. You are not responsible for others deeds." Luke held his shoulders firmly. "First of all, you had a brother since the beginning, I was there for you always. Secondly, you have made Us a name, we got a reputed identity of our own. That woman left you because She never deserved You."

"I don't know whom to blame. All I know is, I saw my young version in Cora. Who was so keen to find a base that she accepted a wanton like me as her root." Arthur rubbed his face to wipe off the painful memories, "I never thought to be attached to anyone like this, but I can do anything for her. Even if she isn't my blood, I feel as if she's a part of my soul."

"Congrats Bro, you found your strength. I have been pushing you all these years to face the fact that Lily has moved on so should you too. But you never listened to me. Today for Cora, you went to Matthews, it's a clear indication that she doesn't affect you any longer." Luke commented with a smirk this time.

"You are right. When it comes to Cora, Lily has no existence for me. And today I realized one more thing." Arthur huffed out, "That I was running from Dr. Jones for no reason."

Luke rolled his eyes at the mention of Dr. Jones.

"Come on Luke, you can't ignore the fact that whatever we have achieved in our lives is because of him. He was the one who funded our orphanage then our medicals studies."

"Yeah, it's a different thing that he married your Ex."

"Luke, he never met her when we were together. And I never told him whom I married to. Thought to keep it a surprise for him that I married someone from the same orphanage. Look, what a surprise She gave me."

"Seems like it's not that big thing for you now." Luke taunted Arthur pulling out his pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

"It was until I saw their portrait in his cabin." Arthur pulled a cigarette from his hand, "I thought I would be broken. But I felt nothing, Cora was on my mind. Nothing else. I didn't need to hide anything from him because anything else didn't have significance." He took a puff.

Luke looked at him with wide eyes, " when you learn to smoke?"

"When I started to feel fear of losing her. When I started to be unable to fulfill her desires and She started complaining about everything." Arthur huffed releasing another circle of smoke in the air.

"I thought you might be mad at me to keep in pocket in hospital." Luke chuckled.

"Certainly, it's children's hospital. Boozing and dragging not allowed." He announced, crushing his smoked and Luke's unburnt cigarettes on the floor.

"My friend has lost his senses." Luke could complain nothing more than this.