I glared at him with reddened eyes. I thought about how much I had loved him and contrasted that with how much I hated him at that moment
I don’t know how long I attacked him, but when I was done, his eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were swollen. There were more than dozens of scratch marks across his face.
I was worn out from hitting him and had lost my voice by this point. I collapsed in front of what remained of Dianne’s ashes. Finally, I gathered whatever ashes I could manage and poured them back into the urn.
Leo knelt beside me and put out his trembling hands as if to offer help.
Before he could even graze against the ashes, I jabbed a kick at him. “Get out of here! Don’t touch my daughter!”
Leo kept his head down the entire time, and his voice was choked up. “Clarice, I’m so sorry. I–I thought the nurse would take care of her. How could this have happened? The doctor told me that the operation was successful…”
I cried out with a voice filled with anguish, “Did you think you own the hospital? You didn’t think that the nurses have to take care of other patients too?
“Dianne has always been a sensible person since she was a little girl. She’s the type who hates to bother people and would rather endure the pain than tell me how much she has been suffering. Every day, she texted me to tell me that she was doing fine.
“Then, there is you who has been staying by Rosette’s all day and night. You didn’t even make time to visit your daughter after the surgery!”
Leo fell speechless at the accusations. He buried his face in his hands.
Around this point, someone approached us. It was Helena whose eyes had puffed up from crying. She jabbed an accusatory finger at Leo and cried out, “Uncle Leo, do you know how much Dianne talks about you all the time? She’s proud of you and always tells us you are the best father in the world.
“I lost my dad when I was a girl. Out of all of my classmates, I envied Dianne‘ the most because she had a wonderful father who loved her.
