Taming Mr. Cold And Arrogant

Sophia's POV:

My heart is pounding inside my rib cage as I walk towards the entrance of Bologna's public hospital. I was in a supermarket near our subdivision when I received a call from the nurse's station that one of their patients wanted to see me. 

At first, I was hesitant, but after knowing that he also had a stroke and suffered from a temporary coma, I decided to pay him a visit. Maybe this is now the right time to face him after his son was sentenced to life imprisonment for several cases that the government of Bologna given to him, including the case I filed against him. 

"Sophia Del Mundo?" The nurse in the reception desk repeated my name. 

"Sì, ecco la mia carta d'identità." (Yes, here's my identity card)

"Per favore Seguimi." (Please follow me)

"Grazie." (Thank you)

I gave her back the smile which she didn't hesitate to give me. 

It's been seven years to be exact since that incident happened and after seven years I will be able to see the father of the man who gave me terrifying nightmares and unforgettable past. 

"Ecco la sua stanza." (Here is his room". 

"Grazie." (Thank you)

"Prego, basta premere il buzzer se hai bisogno di qualcosa da chiedere sulla sua conditioner." (You're welcome, just press the buzzer if you need something to ask about his condition)

I nodded at her before she walked back to her post. And I was left alone standing at the door of the second to the last person I wanted to see again in my life. Nicholas De Lucca. 

I didn't even bother to knock, I just turned the knob and pushed the door to open. 

My breath stuck in my throat the moment I saw him lying on the hospital bed. He looked terrible than my father when he was still in the hospital. Nicholas De Lucca, the worst person, the most selfish and cunning man I have ever known when I was young. I couldn't see him then as a person, until now I couldn't find pity inside my heart, even though he's now lying on bed, almost lifeless, paler than my father when he's still alive. 

If I am just like him or if I didn't know that I am a human being, for sure I have already taken his pillow and covered his face until he lost of breath, or maybe I have already turned off the ventilating machine that supplies oxygen to his weak and sinful body, and I laugh as I watch him ask for help until he finally reaches his end. 

But no... 

I still have a heart. I am still a human. 

"B-Belle?"

I took a deep breath when he finally noticed me and called my name. 

"Nicholas De Lucca." I said in an emotionless voice. 

He tried to move but because of the tube that connects to his mouth, he gave up and just turned his head to look at me. 

"H-How are you B-Belle?"

I brushed my hair up and sneered at him. 

"You really had the audacity to ask me that stupid question, Nicholas De Lucca? After what you and your son have done to me, after seven years of your freedom and my misery, and after my father died, what do you think? Can you answer your own question for me?"

"W-What d-do you mean your father is dead?"

"Tss!" I blinked away the tears that formed around my eyes and chuckled sarcastically in front of him. "Yes, did you hear that? He died! My father died two weeks ago, and you want to know the reason? He had lung cancer, a stage four lung cancer! That if you hadn't ruined my life and my family's life, I could have known it earlier! I could have saved him, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard!"

I screamed, forming my fists. 

"I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't know he was s-sick."

"Sorry? Why? If you have known about it before, would you step down from your throne and ask my father to seek for a doctor? No, I'm f.u.c.k.i.n.g sure you wouldn't, so keep your awful mouth from saying words that weren't listed in your brain because you have no rights---"

My statement suddenly hung in mid-air when I noticed his tears. He's crying? 

"I-I'm sorry, B-Belle. In b-behalf of my son, I a-apologize for e-everything---"

"No! Until now you are still a conceited father who begs to keep his precious son away from the consequences of what he has created. Well, I'm sorry but I think I should hear that from him."

"I-I know---"

"Do you know that he already received a life sentence in prison?"

He nodded sadly before closing his eyes. 

"C-Can I ask y-you a favor, B-Belle?"

I couldn't help but raised an eyebrow with what he said. 

"Are you really asking me for a favor?"

"Yes, I know that I have no right to ask you anything after what we have done, but this is the first and last favor that I will ever ask of you. Can you please tell my son how much I love him?"

"Tss! I am not your f.u.c.k.i.n.g messenger!" I said glaring at him. 

"Please, Belle, I'm begging you? Please tell him how much I regretted those times that he felt alone and didn't have a father while he was growing up. Please tell him that I love him and he was the greatest gift I have ever received in my life."

"What are you trying to say? Why don't you just pay him a visit and tell him those words!"

"I can't. I don't have enough time left to do it and I don't want him to see me like this."

"Wait! What do you mean you that don't have enough time left?"

"I'm dying, Belle."

My knees buckled when I heard those words. The same words I heard from my father when he called me one afternoon in LA. 

How many times do I have to hear those painful words? How many times do I have to suffer from the new emotional trauma left by those words? 

I dropped myself into the chair behind me as I suddenly feeling drained and weak. 

"I'm dying and I don't want him to give up his own life because of me. I never became a father to him. He grew up always seeking for my attention but I was too busy attending my business. And I became shock one day when I found out that he was using and selling illegal drugs. I did everything I could to stop him, but I failed as I just came home one afternoon and saw you running down the stairs. And by that very moment, I already knew he had done something wrong, not just based on your ripped clothes but from the frightened look in your eyes."

"So you knew by then, but you did nothing to help me!"

"He begged me. He knelt in front of me and that was the first time he called me daddy after long years. That was also the time I realized that I need to be a father to him even just once."

"Even though you knew it was for a wrong reason and because of that, you stole my Dad's opportunity to become a father to me just because for your selfish reason! Look at you! Look at where you are and think about your son's situation right now, then tell me, do you think you have become a good father to your son?"