it had been the next morning, and the little girl begins to stir awake.
she slowly opens her eyes expecting her daddy to be right there, ready to give her a bath.
but to the little girl's surprise, he wasn't. then she got excited, and thought 'oh he is hiding' she was happy to play hide'n'seek with her daddy first thing in the morning.
she looks under the bed, in the closet, his bathroom, until she gave up.
"daddy? where are you" she says running around the room aimlessly, "daddy?" she peeks around the corners, and she goes to her bedroom, no one.
"okay daddy you win, just come out" she says in defeat, this was when rue emerges from the stairs, "rue! do you know where my daddy is hiding" aurie asks innocently looking up to the nanny.
the nanny had bags under her eyes, she wasn't ready to face aurie yet.
"well, your daddy left for work early" rue says which was the truth.
"oh? so early..he doesn't say bye" aurie pouts,
rue was a coward, she didn't have the courage to even give the letters to his daughter, but somehow she mustered the courage.
"hun. your daddy left these for you" rue finally says, handing the envelope.
the pout on the little girl's face turns into a grin, "yay!" she was quick to open the envelope and inside was emerald earrings.
"pretty!" she exclaims, unable to read the note along with it, "read this to me please" she continues.
rue inhales, she didn't want to cry in front of the child, so she slowly unfolds the note.
"my dearest daughter, remember daddy loves you always." rue pauses, not wanting to continue but she did.
at the end of the message, the little girl already had tears forming, "no! your wrong" she screams crying, as she rushes down the stairs and out the door, running down the driveway,
"daddy!" she didn't believe rue, she just didn't.
why would her father leave without saying goodbye in person. her father wasn't like that, the little girl's tears began to blur her vision.
the nanny had caught up with her, and just pulled the child into her embrace.
"i know hun. you miss him a lot, I know" she tries to soothe the sobbing child,
"I want daddy.." aurie cries as she buried her face into the nanny's abdomen, leaving tear stains to her shirt.
rue finds herself letting some tears slip, she felt so bad for the little girl, a year seems like an eternity to the child. rue understood the feeling all too well, her mother had claimed to be back after 6 months, but never did.
rue was afraid. she was afraid that the little girl's father wouldn't return.
she only remembers her mother returning back into her life at her 16th birthday, just to say goodbye.
rue prayed that it wouldn't happen to little aurie.
"I want daddy! I miss daddy" aurie continues to cry, while the nanny picks her up in her arms, bringing them back to the house.
then a car is heard, and aurie turns to see it was her daddy's car.
she lets go of rue, "daddy is here!" aurie exclaims wiping away her tears, but then the car parks in its' regular space in the garage door, aurie watches as the driver steps out.
"where's daddy?!" she asks, "oh hun.." rue put her hand over her mouth trying to not cry.
"I dropped your father off" the driver states, unemotional.
"but daddy.." aurie full of disappointment.
"I am sorry little miss" the driver says, now he understood why his employer didn't want to say goodbye to the child in person.
even the driver wouldn't want to leave after seeing the distraught child.
aurie returns to daddy's bedroom carrying herself depressingly, shoulders slouched, and she drags onto her blanket as if it weigh 30 pounds,
she lets out a muffled scream through his pillow, till she felt like her throat was raw from all the crying and screaming.
the little girl didn't have any tears coming, so she ended up sniffing, and remains just sad laying in the bed.
rue hears that the crying has dialed down, that she could knock at the door, and when there was no response, she slowly creaks the door open.
"hi hun. are you hungry for lunch?" the child had been crying for hours and missed breakfast, and rue was hoping the child wouldn't be too sad to eat, wrong.
the child didn't budge, it was as if all life was void from her.
"I want daddy.." aurie keeps mumbling, crying had made her too tired, that she ends up falling asleep repeating the same sentence.
rue suddenly had an idea, she'd call chase wallace. maybe he could comfort the child.
after all, chase is her father's best friend.
rue goes out the bedroom, and looks through amaury's office for contact numbers.
finally, she was able to find chase's contact, she nervously hits the call button.
it rings for a few seconds, before it clicks,
"yes? hello, chase wallace speaking" the other line says,
"hi! mr. wallace, I'm the nanny to Amaury Clermont's daughter, and last night her father left for the states. I'd appreciate if you could come visit the child" rue says.
"ah. yes, I'll be there, in a few minutes" chase wallace hangs up the phone, he knew his best friend was taking on a apprenticeship with dr.göçmen, he didn't expect he'd leave his daughter behind.
when chase arrives, he had been a vip list for the clermont estate, so getting into the estate was easy, the security opened the gate.
"where's the child?" chase asks, the nanny who still had her hair up in a messy bun, "she's still stuck in her dad's room. Didn't have breakfast or lunch. she's sleeping now" rue explains the situation.
"thank you" chase says sincerely, "eh? for what sir"
"for letting me help" chase responds.
rue didn't realize her life would be surrounded by beautiful people.
rue offers coffee to chase, which he accepts, "will he really be gone for a year? not even for holiday breaks?" rue begins to ask, chase puts down his mug on the coffee table, before responding "this is something amaury has dreamt of since he's been 7, and for his idol to want him to work with, it's an offer he couldn't refuse, and holidays don't mix with surgery." chase hopes that the nanny could understand, she was younger than him by 3 years, and he felt sympathy for her, having to be left with a 5 year old child.
"that's incredible, I'm happy for him truly. it's just really unfair to his daughter. i mean look at her, she's like a depressed 5 year old. she isn't even a teenager." the nanny expresses her concern for aurie's mental health.
"I get that, but knowing amaury, he probably wants what is best for her, he wants to provide everything for her. So this job is going to roll in the money" chase continues,
rue just didn't understand, everything amaury owns now is perfect, it's luxury enough, she was sure that his daughter wouldn't care if she didn't own high end brands, as long as she had her daddy.
"I see. i mean, we want what is best for our future generation" rue says keeping her opinion to herself, "im willing to stay around to help out. after all the child is a niece to me" chase says taking sips of the coffee.
"I'd love that. thank you." rue was grateful, she knows she can handle aurie herself, but with her father being gone, she didn't know how she'd manage.
aurie begins to wake up from her slumber, and feels her stomach grumble, she tiredly walks out her dad's room, using the elevator to go down to the main floor.
she sees her nanny, and uncle chase sitting at the dinging room, "uncle? rue?" she says sleepy. "hi little one" chase says, aurie runs up to chase hugging him, he was closest thing to her father.
published: 10.29.22
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