D-77

Chapter 1/1

Modern days, Latvia, Liepaja region

A little cafe "Pienene" on the A9 Liepaya-Riga highway, was located a few kilometers from the city. According to the locals, the wind was born in the city of Liepaja. The cafe was almost empty that day. Several truckers in old denim jackets loudly complained about the lack of the specialty of the house, which was a soup called "solyanka", and an elderly couple hoping for a quiet lunch outside the house were the only visitors to the establishment mentioned above. Two young women were working or rather pretending to be working, that day. The daughter of the cafe’s owner, tall blonde Wilma, was standing at the bar and playing with her brand new smartphone. Her partner in crime was hiding behind the counter. She had a very old laptop balancing on an equally old chair, as she diligently tried to beat the crap of the keyboard buttons, muttering "damn" or "s**t" under her breath from time to time. After she pressed the button for the last time, the image on the screen turned black and a red inscription “Mission Failed" written in a beautiful Gothic font appeared. She cursed more harshly and put the old laptop away.

“What?” Wilma asked, being bored. Apparently, nothing interesting was happening on her social media at that particular moment.

“Lost the duel, failed the mission,” the girl sighed, “I will be trampled by The Order.”

“Pfft, restart at your last saving, Loser,” wrinkling a paper napkin in her hand, the blonde threw it at her partner, but missed.

The gamer just shook her head – Vilma was right, but her pride was still hurt. Maybe it was better to practice a bit before choosing the hard level. Glancing briefly at the watch, she sighed again, it was only 5:20 pm, which meant that her shift would last another 1 hour and 40 minutes.

“Hey, Dany-girl!” came from the corner in which the truckers were sitting. “Pour me some beer, would ya?”

The girl straightened up, groaning. Danielle Sanders, who was a waitress's name, grabbed a half-liter glass mug from the dryer and, filling it to the brim with kvass, carried it to the truck driver. She had a strict rule - she never poured alcohol on those who had to get behind the wheel after visiting the cafe. And if the rest of the waitresses could be persuaded by puppy eyes or a generous tip, Dany continued to stand her ground. Some even had fun watching new visitors trying to get at least a glass of alcohol. Of course, some old-timers also pulled their luck by the tail and tried to ask for a little extra "fuel", annoying the girl with their behavior. There was this one time when she freaked out and took a chalkboard from home. She hung it in a prominent place, and wrote “Prohibition for drivers of any vehicles! If you want a drink, the waitress keeps the car keys." in Latvian. The inscription was also translated into Russian and English.

The other reason for Dany’s fame was her father - Eric Sanders, the owner of the best (in his own humble opinion) private nursing home in Kurzeme. He also had a private psychiatric practice. However, both Eric and Dany were not citizens of small Latvia, many years ago they came from a land far far away to contribute to local medicine. Eric worked in a psychiatric hospital in Riga for some time, but, having bailed out good money for the sale of a house in his homeland, he decided to invest it in his own business. When the kids at Dany’s school found out about her dad’s previous job, the worst years in her life began.

It's no secret that ten-year-old schoolchildren are the cruelest representatives of the human race. Over the next four years, the girl was teased as "psycho", "crazy", "mentally ill" and so on through a long list of insults, the meaning of most of the offenders didn’t know themselves. The situation was worsened by the fact that the girl was a foreigner, and in Latvia, as in other small countries, strangers were not liked. The girl studied in a private school, so some of the students were representatives of other peoples and cultures as well, so she was not the only target of the local bullies. Sometimes she found support among other little immigrants. Over the years, Sanders became more and more distant from her peers. Although her classmates had already stopped bullying her, Dany didn’t want to make contact. By the age of fourteen, the girl became interested in computer games and had lost interest in communicating with living people.

Now she is an adult, Sanders’ interest in gaming has not disappeared. Fortunately, the girl returned to the real world over the years, but she had never abandoned the virtual one. After she graduated, her father's acquaintances helped her to get a job in a real estate company. Danny worked there for a little over six years. Unfortunately, due to the economic crisis, the company went bankrupt, and the girl had to start looking for a new job via the Internet. It was difficult to find a job where there was no need to contact people without having a proper education. Or the work implied considerable physical exertion. Gritting her teeth, Dany started to work as a waitress. After changing to several cafes and restaurants, she settled in a small roadside cafe and unexpectedly realized that she liked this job. The cafe was never crowded with people, so it was almost never necessary for her to overexert herself, especially since they always worked in twos. She worked there for more than five years.

5:45 pm. The owner of the cafe “Pienene”, Ilmars Liepinsh, went into the room to check up on his employees and the number of clients. And there you have it - an employee of the month (and, according to his personal version, of the year) Danny serves their guests, having time to answer their jokes, and his adored daughter Wilma sits on a stool at the bar. Ilmars screwed up his already small eyes, buttoned his jacket on a single button, which had not yet been torn off by his excessively large belly, and resolutely approached his daughter.

“Why aren’t you working?”

Without even looking up from the gadget, the girl inflated a bubble of purple gum.

“What for? We have a hustler here.”

“I will cut off your monthly bonus!” the man hissed, turning purple with anger.

“Yeah, whatever you say.”

Ilmars has sworn to himself for the thousandth time that this is the last time he lets his daughter show that kind of attitude without being punished. He accepted the fact that he had failed as a parent, knowing that he raised a spoiled brat that could barely manage to survive without him looking out for her and giving her money. That was why Wilma had been working in the cafe for the third year already, bringing all the staff and her own father to rage.

Sanders walked over to the bar.

“Oh, Danny, you can be free for the rest of the day” the man took a notebook from her hand and put it on the counter in front of his daughter. “I think Wilma can handle the rest of it herself.”

“I have no doubt about it” the girl smiled politely and went into the staff room.

Liepinsh looked after her with a hint of guilt in his eyes. Sanders never argued with her boss about it, unlike her other colleagues. She just looked at the man with pity and understanding, and Ilmars was infinitely grateful for that. Taking a notebook from his shirt pocket, he made a note to give the girl a bigger bonus next month.

By the time Danny stepped outside through the staff door, the sky had already begun to darken. She could walk to her father's clinic in 20 minutes, or take an intercity bus, which was supposed to arrive in just a few minutes, but she would have to run to the bus stop, so she decided to take a walk. A cool autumn wind blew in her face. Sanders buttoned up a light leather jacket, although the chill still crept under her clothes. She decided to speed up.

Dr. Sanders' clinic didn't look like your typical horror movie nursing home. It wasn't an old gothic-looking building with peeling paint and dusty windows. There was also no tower resting with its spire on a thundercloud that hung forever over the establishment. It was not like that at all. It was a modern, bright seven-story building with plastic windows, located near the highway. Instead of the stereotypical barbed-wire fence, the space was surrounded by a high stone fence, with large wrought-iron gates at the main and service entrances.

Soon the girl found herself in the spacious bright hall of her father's clinic. Doctors, nurses, and orderlies slowly passed her by. The reception desk was to the left of the entrance and the office of the head of security to the right. Danny went there. The tiny room somehow accommodated a dark blue corner sofa, a desk with four monitors, three of which were divided into 9 small “windows” and an impressive chair on wheels. There was a tall, broad-shouldered man in his forties sitting behind the desk. His short-sleeved blue shirt was badly rumpled, and his trousers were clearly too short for his super-long legs. The guard relaxed in his chair, lazily clicking his mouse to change images on the fourth monitor.

“Hey bear!” Danny shouted loudly while opening the plastic door wide open.

The chair slowly turned around and the girl saw a bearded face with a broad grin on it.

“Well, hello, princess,” the man busily adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses. “How did you manage to run away so early today?”

A smile was the answer. Head security chief Michael, whom Sanders affectionately referred to as a bear, had worked for Eric for many years and knew a lot about the chief's daughter's life. They were pretty close. He was one of the people who Danny called her friend.

Danny visited the clinic very often to take her father home, so she knew the staff well. She even had a personal hook for her outerwear in Michael’s office. It had her nickname written over it with a felt-tip pen. There was also a large board on the wall to hang the keys to the patient's rooms and all the offices of doctors and attendants. But the hooks with the designation of the rooms of the seventh - the top floor - were empty. That floor was the first one to get electronic locks installed. After hanging her jacket, Danny took shoe covers from the drawer of the table and sat on the sofa to pull them over her sneakers.

“Where's dad?”

“Let me have a look,” the man turned back to the monitors. “Let’s see ... hmm ... Aha, I found him! Try to guess in one try!”

“Seven floors and only one try? Doesn’t sound fair.”

“Oh, princess, you have a better reason to be upset,” the guard pointed his finger at the figure of a man depicted on the monitor.

Jumping up to the screen, Sanders carefully peered into the silhouette of a man and groaned. Unfortunately for her, her arrival was noticed by her father's protégé, and he was already running to meet her. Danny quickly glanced at the other three monitors to find her father. Doc sat in his favorite leather chair opposite the cell of one of his personal patients on the seventh floor.

“Will I make it to the elevator?” she asked while taking out a plastic card from her bag.

"Mmm," Michael rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “No chance.”

The door to the room flew open and a handsome man entered it. Brown eyes stared at the back of Danny’s head. He uncertainly shifted from one foot to the other, making the soles of his orthopedic slippers squeak.

“Hi, Danny.”

"Oh, hey, Patrick," she put on a fake smile and turned to face him. “Did you need anything or are you here to say hello?”

Sighing heavily, the doctor ran a hand through his dark blond hair and shoved his hands into the pockets of his medical gown.

“Your father is a bit busy right now…well…he is talking to a patient…”

“Yeah, I know. He's on the seventh floor with that Hungarian dude.”

“He’s Romanian,” Patrick corrected her.

Michael looked at the bewildered, arrogant doctor with ill-concealed pleasure. No one but the daughter of Eric himself had yet managed to throw this pompous little d**k off his pedestal.

Patrick also did not have tender feelings for the head of security. For some reason, he thought that it was Michael who turned Danny against him. And the satisfied face of the guard at that moment did not improve the doctor's attitude towards him. Naturally, he had no doubts about his own magnificence. He decided to be the bigger man and ignore Michael’s smug grin and politely smiled at the girl standing in front of him. And yeah, he was absolutely sure that the guard grinned only to irritate His Highness.

"Perhaps while Dr. Sanders is busy. We could have some coffee and chat?"

“Thanks for the offer, Patrick, but I'd better go and remind my dad that he was supposed to be done working 20 minutes ago. We should hurry up and get home on time or Aunt Martha will be upset with us. And I would hate to be late for dinner.”

This was an outright lie, and everyone in the room knew it. Danny hated Friday dinners with her aunt, and the fact that she turned him down, preferring to spend time in the company of her religious aunt, somewhat discouraged Patrick. Being a certified psychiatrist, he guessed that the boss's daughter wasn't quite fond of him, but he could never imagine why she was treating him so badly.

Seeing how the girl's interlocutor was completely speechless, Michael cleared his throat to divert her attention to himself and took out a box of chocolate candies with almond filling from his huge sports bag.

“I almost forgot,” he smiled and put the box on the edge of the table, “This is for you, princess.”

Danny smiled at him and pulled out an oval-shaped treat, wrapped in gold and red foil.

“And why am I entitled to such an award?”

“Eric said you finally got your driver's license. Congratulations!”

Sanders leaned over and kissed her friend on the cheek.

“Good job. I also heard that not a single driving instructor was harmed by your actions, which makes me super proud of you.” the guard slightly tousled the hair on the top of her head. “Now run after your workaholic dad! And make sure he gets some sleep over the weekend. Or he might start looking worse than our esteemed Dr. Patrick Philippson's patients!”

As soon as Danny closed the door behind her, Michael adjusted his glasses and looked at the doctor.

“Leave her alone, Patrick. She’s too smart to fall for your dumb tricks again.”

The man never answered. He continued to stare at the monitors at the guard's desk.

When Danny approached the elevator, she had to put her pass on the electronic lock and wait to hear a welcome squeak. After the elevator doors were finally opened, she got in and pressed the button for the 7th floor. Since the elevator in the building barely claimed the title of the fastest in the area, the girl had some time to cool off after seeing Dr. Patrick. There was a reason why she disliked him so much.

The thing was that Patrick and Danny were the only possible successors to Eric Sanders. Despite the fact that she did not have the education that was needed, Eric hoped with all his heart that when he decided to retire, his daughter would take over the clinic. And if she refuses, the reins will pass to Patrick Philippson, as the only student of Dr. Sanders. The young man was the only son of an old friend of Eric's. And he was supposed to inherit his father's psychiatric clinic, but in his short practice, he managed to tarnish his own reputation. There were two teenage girls who suffered from unrequited love for the attending physician. Both of them almost committed suicide, because he was dumb enough to encourage their feelings without considering the possibility of them finding out about each other. So, long story short, both of their suicide notes accused Patrick of treason, so he got kicked out of his father’s clinic. Then the father contacted Eric and asked him to take patronage over the unlucky son. Patrick turned out to be an insanely ambitious fellow. When he received a job offer from Eric with a further opportunity to take over the leadership, the young man began to make plans for how he would manage this institution when it passed to him. At that very moment, he had no idea about his boss’ daughter, who was less ambitious, but more devoted, and who was also a candidate for the role of the future head of the clinic.

After working in Latvia for some time, Philippson suddenly realized that Danny, his number one rival, liked him. And when his guesses were confirmed by a conversation between two nurses that he accidentally overheard, he created a plan. Patrick began to court the girl, gave her flowers, said compliments, and even made friends with Aunt Martha. He was sure that if he could convince Danny that he really wanted, and most importantly, that he was worthy and ready, to be the head of her father's nursing home/clinic, she would immediately run to Eric to refuse such an inheritance out of feelings for him.

However, Patrick was not very experienced in relationships with the opposite s*x. He was wrong about one thing. Danny was not as dumb and naive as he initially thought she was. He decided to take the easy way and convince her to give up the clinic. Therefore, on their first and only date, the man begins to talk about how he plans to develop the establishment from the moment he takes Eric's place in the future. Oh, and he did not forget to mention his own magnificence, completely forgetting to say at least one pleasant word to his date. And no matter how she tried to divert the conversation from the topic, he was able to find a way to get back to it. After less than an hour, Danny called a cab, paid for herself at the restaurant, and drove home without explaining to Patrick why she was leaving.

After a while, he showed up at their house with a huge bouquet of red roses to find out why Sanders was not returning his calls and messages. Aunt Marta met him and invited him in, kindly offering to put the flowers in a vase. The very moment Danny came down from the second floor, Patrick was thrown out of the house and the bouquet he had brought was in his face. Standing at the front door, Patrick listened to Martha and her niece arguing inside. The last thing he heard was:

“…but he's such a nice guy!”

“Since you like him so much, date him yourself, auntie! Sly-ass slugs are not my type!”

After saying that, Danny went upstairs. It was then that the young doctor realized that his plan had failed. Moreover, he was threatened with dismissal, because if the offended girl decided to take revenge on him and complain to her father, he would fly out of his place in no time.

But again, he was wrong about Danny. She turned out to be a much better person than he could ever have imagined. She never told Eric anything about their disaster date. So, not only was he not fired, after some time, he was entrusted with the whole department, so since then, Patrick kinda owned an entire floor of Dr. Sanders' clinic. And his daughter's complete disgust.

Since that date, she had been trying to avoid Patrick at all costs. His endless attempts to make peace with him annoyed her. She really wanted to get rid of him. But she knew that their personal problems should not affect her father’s clinic.

Danny was brought back to reality with a piercing "ding" that notified the passenger about reaching the needed floor. Hallelujah!

Rustling with shoe covers, Sanders stepped out of the elevator into a spacious corridor. There were originally six huge chambers on the seventh floor, three on both sides of a wide corridor. But with the arrival of a new patient a year and a half ago, one of Dr. Sanders' laboratories had to be converted into a chamber. The second laboratory remained in its original place to the right of the elevator. There were two stairs that led down from the seventh floor, located at both ends of the corridor, again, one next to the elevator, the second next to the room of Eric's seventh patient. Now, in order to meet with her father, Danny had to pass by all his patients. However, it would be a much greater pleasure for her to have a chat with each of them than spend five whole minutes with Patrick.