Dr Miller followed behind slowly into the porch as his wife and daughter walked quickly out of the house to the waiting car. He watched as his wife helped their daughter into the car while the driver helped put her box in the trunk of the car. She turned to look at him and blew a kiss before getting into the car, both husband and wife waved at each other as the car drove out of the premises of the mansion. He gently bit his lower lip as he rubbed his arms with both hands and embraced himself, he was suddenly beginning to feel cold even when he shouldn't afterall the atmosphere was quite warm.
His wife and child were all that he had despite his wealth and successful medical career. He wasn't from a very wealthy home himself but after graduating from the College of Medicine at a very young age, he had worked hard for years at the Bellsview City Hospital where he rose to the level of consultant. After a while he resigned from there to establish his own Medical Clinic. And because he was such a good and competent gynaecologist, his clinic was always flooded with patients on a daily basis.
One could say he was having a really wonderful career and through the support of his wife who was the biggest Real Estate agent in the state, they were able to get a beautiful mansion for themselves; they also made sure to give their child everything she needed.
Melody had come to them when they had given up on child bearing after several attempts both naturally and through IVFs. She was the one who made their family complete and was such a happy soul right from childhood that admired and loved for her beauty and happy nature by everyone in Bellsview.
Even from childhood, she had always made it clear who her favorite was between both parents; him. Although that had been a heartbreaker to her mother but the little Melody who was just give years old at the time had made it clear to her mother why he was her favorite parent
"All you do is yell and scold me mama, but papa doesn't, he also buys me candies, chocolates and toys and that's why I love him more"
"But I buy you all these things too baby, I even buy you pretty dresses, I make your hair look beautiful and give you food." Her mother had cried but the little Melody simply shrugged her shoulders and jumped on her father's laps.
It was all love and joy with her because she was so cheerful and brilliant; tpping her class in academia, even in sports and arts she was excelling too. She kept making him proud by the day and he was glad because even if she didn't make him proud, he would still love her the same.
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"Sir Miller, are you ready to leave for work now?" Dr Miller was startled.
"Yes please. Get my bag from the study, I'll be in the car" the driver quickly went off to get what he was ordered to get while his boss proceeded to the car. A few moments later, the car was accelerating towards the capital of the state to Melody Miller Clinic.
He had decided to name his clinic after his daughter because that was one way he could prove how dear she was to him. As the car moved on, he thought about how everything had changed when he got the phone call from the police that his daughter had been attacked and was been taken to the hospital by paramedics. They had taken her to the Bellsview City Hospital which was about 30 minutes drive from his clinic. He quickly gave instructions to the resident doctors attached to him and off he went to the hospital where his only child was being taken.
He was a doctor and knew the consequences of over speeding both on himself and other road users so he had to caution his driver to take his time even if there was an emergency; the thirty minutes drive seemed to be as if it would last for eternity.
By the time he got to the hospital, he saw his wife from a distance pacing about the hallway and he increased his steps and as he walked up to her, she sighted him and quickly ran to him and burst into another round of tears. Her hair was untidy, her eyes sollen with tears and her makeup had been badly smeared across her face. He felt a sharp pain in his heart when he saw his wife's messy state, he couldn't bear to see her in such state.
"They hurt our child honey... They hurt her so bad. Our baby's beautiful face has been ruined for life" she wailed as her husband gently guided her to a sit by the side of the hall and knelt down in front of her. He reached for his pocket and brought out his handkerchief and dabbed the tears off her face. He could hear his own heart beating so fast when his wife had mentioned their daughter's face being ruined. What did she mean by "Our daughter's beautiful face has been ruined for life?" He really hoped and prayed that it wasn't as his thoughts were trying to decode from what his wife had said.
Just then, the Doctor came out and was surprised to see his senior colleague embracing the mother of the patient he just attended to.
"Hello Dr Miller, what a surprise! Don't tell me you are the father of miss Melody"
"Oh! Dr Kirk, what a surprise indeed. It is good to see you again" both men shook hands and on the signal of Dr Kirk, they both took some steps further away from Mrs Miller hearing.
"So how's my daughter?" Dr Miller began. The other man bit his lips in confusion as if he was shorts of words.
"Apart from the fact that the patient is my daughter, you do realize I am a doctor too right? So why the hesitation in telling me what the situation is with my child?" He was already feeling agitated.
"Well Dr Miller, I'm really sorry, I actually don't know how to say this but Melody has just been a victim of what seems to be a gang attack. And it is really bad" Dr Kirk said this with so much difficulty that it seemed his voice trembled. Miller could feel himself getting really hot and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He didn't want to believe the imagination that was flashing in his mind, he squinted and looked straight at the other man in the eyes
"How bad...? You said gang attack. Do you mean the kind of gang attack that we all know? He couldn't find the courage to say the word because he didn't want to believe that was what happened and when Dr Kirk nodded in affirmation, his heart sunk. His precious daughter whom he had protected for years with all he had, had become a victim of what parents dreaded most; Rape.
"And uhhmm.... There's no other easy way for me to say this... It seems like the right side of her face was also slit with a sharp object. We have done the necessary procedure on that as well. She's currently asleep but you can go in to see her if you want to" Dr Kirk added.