In the special program, it started with Ares' picture with his head lying on the bed while he looked at a sleeping child. And then, there was a recording narrated in English, by a boxing fighter who trained with Ares.
1992 - Brazil.
The tall guy with reddish-brown hair did not stop looking at the baby that slept in bed. He seemed hypnotized by those chubby cheeks and chubby feet, and his chest fill with joy to see so much resemblance in that little. He wanted to touch the small hand of that little being, but was afraid to wake him from his sleep.
— How long has he been staring? —Asked a muscular man, looking into the room.
Arabella was laughing low, leaning against the door while watching that scene.
— Don't mind, he must be missing Nathaniel.
The man looked at Arabella with concern and then whispered to her.
— Are you sure about that? I mean, about us taking him?
Arabela was surprised by the tone of concern of the man. Although he looked like a thug with the look that would kill someone with his eyes, that beta was friendly and warm like melted butter. And that made her smile.
— I'm heartbroken, of course. But I need to think about what's best for my son. Besides... — She looked into the room, where the boy was still kneeling watching the child sleep — ... He is the father, so he also deserves to see his son.
— I don't believe in this situation. It seems like a novel plot.
Arabella turned her back to the room and returned to the living room where she sat on the couch and watched the contract at the coffee table while stroking her seven-month-old tummy. She had already read those lines several times, but still she reread it all again. Not to make sure that everything was right, that there were no misleading words or anything like that. She just felt that everything would be so different after signed.
— You know you don't need to sign.
— I am engaged to a man who comes from a strict family. Loreto's parents will not let us get married because I had a child out of wedlock, but the baby will soon be born and they are rushing us to get married. — Arabella sighed and looked at the brute — And my parents even proposed to raise Nathaniel, but...
— They won't let Antonio visit the boy.
— Yes. They love Nathaniel, but when I got pregnant they were angry with us. Of course, I understand them. But... We took care of each other so much when we went out together. Haa... Everything became a mess.
The beta sat on the couch facing Arabella, and also read the copy of the contract.
— Then you have agreed that you and your future husband will go to the United States three times a year to visit the boy. And they will always stay in touch. You two are really strange to make deals like this.
Arabella lowered her tired eyes. Well, she was going through a stressful period of life. It was clear from the dark circles she had. Taking care of a two-year-old child and still suffer pressure from parents and in-laws, and try to make salted to sell... She needed help, and that person was the only one willing to help her.
Everything would become more intense when the second baby was born.
Not that she couldn't count on Loreto, but he was always working in the barracks. And as he promised that would give her a comfortable life, he was certainly striving to fulfill his promise, which made him travel to work sometimes. But when he was home, he took care of Nathaniel even though he wasn't his son.
What irritated even more his family.
— Bella! — The voice coming from the corridor caught both's attention. Leaning on the sofa, Arabella looked at the room — He is holding my hand! Are you seeing this?
The baby was still sleeping in bed, but his little hand held that person's finger. And that alone seemed like a whole world to him. Arabella laughed low to see him so euphoric with a child holding his finger while he slept.
— Haha, I see.
The man looked back at the child and laid his head on the mattress as he watched him sleep. He seemed so delighted with his own son that Arabella could only smile satisfied.
He would take good care of their son.
Arabella got up from the couch and took the camera off the shelf. She quietly went to the room where she took a picture of those two. She laughed low when that guy looked at her surprised, but how could she miss the chance to record that moment?
— He's so beautiful. And he looks like me.
— Did you get punched in the eye and stop seeing? He looks like me.
— Of course not, look at his little nose — The man smiled all silly, and his smile increased when the child's eyes opened slowly, revealing the light brown tone of his eyes — Haa, he is really like me.
Well, Nathaniel had inherited his father's eyes, and some features of his face were even similar. But he was also like his mother!
— Hey, champ. Awake? — The guy smiled when the child was looking at him silently — Do you recognize me? I came to see you a few months ago, on your birthday. Do you know who I am?
Little Nathaniel looked silently at that man and reached out his tiny hand to touch the face of the man. Maybe he was strange, since he was not so present for living in another country. But that would change soon.
— Daddy.
Hearing that childish voice and feeling the touch on his face made the heart of Ares fill with joy. He smiled openly softening his expressions as if he had only joy in his life.
— That's right, champ. I'm your daddy. See? Daddy is here with you.
The little Nathaniel stretched out his arms and whimpered annoyed, and Ares took him in his lap as if the response was natural and unconscious. Holding his own son in the lap made him look at Arabella and his agent with tears in his eyes.
The door of the house was opened and a man in military uniform entered. Noticing the house full, he went to his bride and kissed her face and stroked her belly, then looked inside the room where he saw the fighter holding the child with tears in his eyes. Loreto tilted his head and laughed low.
— You won your first championship and are crying like a big baby?
Ares looked at the two and smiled. Even if he felt his heart broken for not having the woman he loves, the fighter held another love in his arms. And that would be unbreakable.
— It's just that... I'm impressed how this little piece of people can make me feel alive.
Everyone there knew the lines well.
Ares felt alone in the world.
His family turned their backs on him when he said he would become a fighter, and they treated him as if he were dead. They thought that the agent who always accompanied him was someone who would hurt him. Nor did they try to bring him back home.
And as for Arabella... Well, she loved Ares, but not as much as he loved her. And while he was out of the country training and participating in small championships to use the prize money to raise his son, Arabella fell in love with Loretto, one of the friends of Ares' brothers.
In the end, Ares had the feeling that everyone was living a good life without him. That everyone was happy finding their way while he seemed lost in the world.
Now, there was a small child in his arms, who looked at the print on his shirt with curiosity as his little hands held him. He still remembered when little Nathaniel was born, and when he first held him in his arms.
It was so strange to be responsible for a small being that was so fragile and delicate. Ares was afraid that any mistake would be expensive and so he was always careful with the baby in the first months. Now he was a big boy and talked funny. Nathaniel was a two-year-old who liked to play and run.
Ares wanted to be by his side at those times. So that child would not feel the same way he felt.
— I'll take good care of him. And I'll wait for you.
Arabella sighed low approaching Ares to caress the cheek of their son.
— Remember Ares, whenever you enter a championship you need to let us know. We will go there to take care of Nath.
— We will also go during the holidays and make regular visits when opportunity arises. — Loreto said too — I just ask you to hold a little until we can calm things down here.
— It's all right. Take as long as you need since you're going to have a baby soon. I'll make sure that Nathaniel is fine.
While Arabella and Loreto signed the contract that signed the agreement between the three on the care of Nathaniel, Ares was sitting on the couch with his son on his lap.
Finally.
After months of training day and night, learning more about boxing and almost reaching his limit, Ares had managed to raise enough money to take care of his son. Of course he still lived in favor inside his agent's gym, and when he had no fights scheduled, Ares was an instructor at the academy.
However he could guarantee that everything would be fine.
He could finally live with his son.
A few months later - United States
— Look, here we have training all day. The gym is always busy and we have various equipment. Lately the gym's director has bought some new equipment and people has liked it a lot — said a young voice behind the video camera, recording the whole gym.
The space was not so big and not so small. But what drew attention was the ring in the middle of the gym.
The person who recorded the video walked around the gym showing every corner of it and how the boxing students trained there.
— Here is our future! These guys train hard to one day bring home victory. Haha, it's fun to watch them training.
— Come on, Frank! Are you recording again instead of going to practice?
— I'm done. Also, the sponsors might be curious about what our day to day is like. I'm just doing a favor.
The boy who recorded the video continued walking through the gym. And then he climbed up the iron stairs and came to the front of the rest room.
— This is where we talk and have coffee. Usually we like to talk about the championships, but... Oops. Look! — The boy turned on the camera zoom recording the fighter sitting on his back — While we have the novice fighters training hard down there, what is our champion and rising star doing here in the rest room huh?
Ares looked over his shoulder and smiled at the camera.
— Frank, are you skipping practice again?
— I'm not! I'm doing a community good. And you? Should not serve as an example for others down there and train with them?
Frank zoomed out and went through the rest room. He wanted to film what Ares, the new athlete who gained attention from several people, was doing in the room. And when he approached, he saw the little child taking a bottle in his lap.
— Aaah, it's the little champion. So you in the daddy mode.
Ares looked down at Nathaniel, who was staring into the camera as he drank the milk from his bottle. The camera records that moment when Ares took care of his son with tenderness and stroked his back.
— Eh, Ares, let me hold Nath in my lap?
— No.
— Huh? Why not?
Ares gave an innocent smile, although it is very clear what he means by his words.
— Because he likes to be with his father — Ares lowered his eyes to the child and smiled poking his cheeks — Is not it, my champion?
Nathaniel was more interested in the camera that recorded, but he gave a muted chuckle in response from which Ares took with a confirmation.