Chapter 23: Chapter 23

PEARL'S POV

“I don’t feel really good this morning,” Aurora groaned as she walked into my room. I was getting ready for work that morning. I knew the burden of this stupid arranged marriage was too much on the poor baby of mine but what else can I do other than curse out?

“What happened? How do you feel exactly?” I asked her.

“Headache,” She responded before collapsing on my bed.

“How bad is it? I asked her. She showed me her ten fingers. “Really bad”

Panic set in immediately after she said that.

“Let’s get to the hospital then,” I advised her. She nodded grudgingly as she stood up from the bed. I picked up I love California t-shirt from my dressing table and made her wear it before heading out of the house.

As we got down the stairs, I saw both of our parents at the dining table having dinner. I was surprised to see my dad at home at that period because he was always too busy for family dinner or breakfast.

“I thought I would grow old before I see you eat breakfast or dinner at home, father,” I commented as we got closer to the dining area.

“Not this morning, Pearl, not this morning,” He grumbled. I shook my head as I watched him gobble down the pieces of pancake left on his plate with so much anger in his eyes.

“These poor pancakes did nothing wrong, take it easy on them,” I advised.

“You know what…” He started as if he was going to say something horrible but he suddenly stopped himself and just shook his head, mumbling about how it wasn’t worth it.

“Where are you headed to Aurora? Are you feeling okay? Is there something you need, baby?” My mother asked as soon as she walked out of the kitchen.

“Hello to you too, mother. Let’s act as if I’m invisible for the time being,” I proposed as I ordered a ride from my phone; I could hear Aurora explaining her symptoms to her.

“Let me pick up my car keys, I’ll take you to the hospital,”

“Pearl said she’ll go with me,” She told her mother. She just waved it off and insisted on taking her to the hospital, telling her to forget about Pearl who’s too busy.

I coughed. “I just said we should act as if I’m invisible right? Please, mom, stop talking about me as if I’m not here. I don’t care if you want to go with her to the hospital or drive her there, I don’t care,” I repeated so she could get the message loud and clear. “All I know is I’m going with her. Even if father wants to, it’s okay, let the whole family just come along,” I folded my hands against my chest, waiting for her next words.

“What is your problem exactly, Pearl?” She spat.

“My problem is the fact that I don’t want a repetition of seven years ago. That exact moment where you told Aurora to lie to me about her cancer and she did and I had to find out on my own. No, I don’t want to go through that pain and betrayal once more,”

“If we’re talking about betrayal, you should know you’re better at it now, Pearl,” My father interrupted, scrolling at me before walking into the kitchen.

“Well. Guess the set of people who made me like that,” I asked much to their dismay. My phone beeped, signaling that our ride was around. I held my sister’s hand.

“Our ride is here, let’s go,” She nodded and smiled at me.

“I’ll see you later, mom,” Aurora smiled at her as well before we walked out of the house finally.

During the ride to the hospital, Aurora held my hand and asked me about the impossible, “Can’t you just make peace with mom? It’s been seven years. I think it’s about time you let go of the issue. She only told me not to tell you just to protect your feelings,” She explained.

“It didn’t start seven years ago, Aurora. It has always been that way,” I told her before I looked away, out of the window.

We got to the hospital and were attended to by a doctor, it was the same specialist hospital, and nothing has changed. I was told to sit at the reception while she underwent some series of tests. Waiting for hours wasn’t a ride in the park, it was hard, I was sitting and standing and walking around and for a few minutes, I prayed at intervals.

After using more than two hours, I sent a message to Lucas, telling him I wouldn’t be able to make it to the office in time. As soon as the message was delivered, his call came in.

“What’s the reason for your lateness? Miss Augustus,” He asked.

“It’s a personal matter, Mr. Anderson,”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to report that to the HR office as negligence of duty and make sure you get punished for that, Miss Augustus,” I couldn’t believe my ears. He’ll do that just because I won’t divulge my personal matters.

“As I said, Mr. Anderson, it’s a personal matter and I’m afraid I can’t tell you about and it’s okay, please go ahead with the report. I’ll answer the query when I get to work later. Thank you,” I ended the call and dropped my phone back into my bag.

I sat back, waiting for my sister to be done. It was almost eleven in the morning, making me three hours late for work. So, I decided to get one of those horrible coffees downstairs. It wasn’t worth it but at least, something to keep my mind off everything.

As I got to the cafeteria, a figure walked past my line of vision and I almost dropped the coffee paper cup in shock. It was someone that I thought I would never get to see again. As I turned to call out his name or follow him, he had disappeared.

Damn! I bite my lower lip. It would’ve been good to see him again.

“Pearl,” Aurora called out as she walked down the stairs. She looked bubbly, better than this morning, and I quickly reminded myself that she was Aurora, my strong-willed twin sister. If I was the one who had to go under testing machines for hours, I would have needed a happiness pill to get through every hour.

“What happened, what was the result?” I asked impatiently

“Slow down Pearl. I was given some drugs and I’ll have to come back for the result tomorrow, but I’m sure I’m fine,” I smiled at her, giving her hope that she was indeed fine but deep down, I was scared.