Chapter 13: Chapter 13

"Doctor, is my mom alright?” He mother had been admitted to the hospital. She started having pain again and started bleeding. She just had her chemo three days ago. Olivia could not understand what the hell happened.

“Please come to my office.” Dr. Robert had a serious expression on his face. Olivia followed him with her heart beating harshly. She had been crying non-stop.

“Please take a seat.” The doctor told her gently when she kept standing and looking at him worriedly.

“I want you to listen to me carefully. What I am going to tell you might shock you.” He said in all seriousness making her take a few deep breaths. She was worried to the core. Why was he behaving that way with her?

What was wrong with her mother?

“You mother has entered stage four of cancer.” He told her regretfully. She looked at him dumb-founded. What did he just say?

“M-my m-mom h-as, w-what?” She could not think straight. She just stared at the doctor blankly. She felt like the world had fallen upon her and she was being suffocated. Everything around her started spinning suddenly.

“Miss Olivia, please get a hold of yourself. The cancer has spread to the other areas of her body. We tried to minimize the effect as much as we could, but we cannot change the inevitable neither can you.” He tried to console her, but she could not get a word he was saying. The only thing that was stuck in her mind was that her mom had entered stage four.

What would she do now? Her mind felt like it would explode anytime soon.

She left the office, hardly being able to walk straight. She could not go to her mother’s ward. She could not face her.

She went to the hospital restroom. Her image shown in the mirror told her how miserable she felt.

Was it the end of the world? She had no idea how she was still breathing while her whole being felt like she was floating.

Aunt Mary and Sana were beside her mom at that moment. Both of them came when came to know that she had brought her mom to the hospital. They must have been wondering where she disappeared after going to see the doctor.

Thankfully, no one was in the restroom. She could cry her heart out. As much as she was worried what she would do, she was also scared. She felt so helpless. She had barely controlled the situation where they had nothing left to feed on the previous days as her mother’s treatment had to be done first. She had no job—no one to ask for help.

Sana’s father had helped them a lot. They did not have close family terms, but still they helped them so much. Sana asked her father for some money when they were on the verge of being kicked out a year ago from their apartment. She also helped her when she needed medicines for her mom and did not have the money for it. Recently, she helped her find a job. She also accompanied her whenever she could when they visited hospital for her mom’s treatment.

Although she had paid every penny back, the great favors she did was only what a real friend would do. She could not ask for more favors. She felt like she had been lacking while matching the same energy as a friend.

She could not bother her more than she had already done.

Besides that, she only knew Aunt Mary, who was dependent on her son. She could not ask her for help. She was doing more than enough already, helping her mother every time she needed her.

She did not know any other person who could help her.

She slid against the wall not caring if it was dirty and sat on the floor while letting out heart-wrenching cries.

“Why did you have to leave us so soon, dad? Why?” She was complaining to her dad while the tears flew like river from her eyes. She missed him so much. She was sure she would not be so helpless if he was there with her—with them.

She did not know how long she sat there while some ladies entered and exited the restroom. She probably would have noticed the pitiful glances if she looked, but she was so immersed in her misery that she did not notice anything.

Her phone kept ringing which she ignored thinking it was either Sana or Aunt Mary wondering where she was. It kept ringing for few more times before she grabbed her phone and looked at the caller.

It was not either of them. It was the owner of the apartment where they lived. She did not want to pick up the phone but it rang continuously.

“Hello.” She picked up the phone clearing her throat. Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Where were you? I have been calling for an hour.” He said in a grumpy voice. The owner was not a pleasant person. She always avoided getting into trouble with him.

“I was busy.” She replied heaving a deep sigh. She did not want to tell him anything. He would not care.

“Come to the apartment now. I want to discuss something important.” He gave his orders and ended the call. He did not even give her a chance to say she could not come.

She kept staring at the wall blankly for a while before getting up. She washed her face and straightened her hair a little. She could not still face the three people who were probably waiting for her. She left a text to Sana to tell her that she would be back in a while. She felt bad for leaving them there when she should have been the one taking care of her mother, not them.

But she felt urgency in his voice that was why she decided to go to the apartment. Besides, she needed some time to herself as they would be able to tell something was wrong if they saw her in her current condition.

She reached the apartment where he was already waiting outside. She was confused as to what he wanted to talk about.

“Please come in.” She invited him inside after greeting him. He followed her inside and took a seat on the couch.

“I have sold this apartment.” He dropped the bomb just like that. She looked at him with surprise. Apparently, he was in no mood to waste time. He continued without taking in her expressions, “The new owner is a very rich and disciplined man. He wants the rent of the previous month along this month. He is not lenient like me. You better arrange the rent, otherwise, he would not hesitate to kick you out.” He said getting up and leaving. So that was what he wanted to tell her.

As if the terrible news about her mother was not enough for the day, she was hit with another one.

She dropped her head in her hands and started a new wave of drowning in one’s own misery. Sure crying was not the solution of the problem, but it helped one’s heart to keep beating. It stopped one’s mind from exploding.

Thomas’s POV:

“Why hasn’t she still not contacted me?” He was thinking while glancing at the clock time and again. He was very restless that day. It was the day he believed that she would call him, but she had not yet done that.

That was why he sent the previous owner to inform her and warn her about payment of the rent. As much as he hated to admit, he wanted her to be helpless as that would make her contact him and agree to his offer.

He was never that devilish and evil. He was never that unfair to people. But she had left him with no choice.

He waited till night. He was starting to feel disappointed because he did not hear from her. Besides feeling disappointed, he was feeling angry. Why the fuck was she so reluctant to accept his offer? Was he that despicable?

Other girls would do anything to get his attention, and there he was, stuck with a girl who despite every odds, wanted to be far away from him.

He could not believe she was the same girl who made the crowd crazy and winked at him when she was a stripper. She made him think like she was the biggest slut in the town with how she moved her hips and enchanted the male specie. To be honest, he was also having naughty thoughts—even when he was drunk--while she performed like that in front of him.

He could not understand her at all.

He was getting ready to go to bed when he received a call. He grabbed his phone irritated at the caller for calling that late. He had forgotten that he was waiting for a call since morning.

A smirk graced his lips as he looked at the name flashing on his screen.

“Hello!” He greeted normally while his heart was in an unrest state. He heard a soft breathing from the other end.

“Can we meet tomorrow?” The gentle yet hoarse voice said. He could not have been happier to hear that. He ignored the fact that she had not greeted him.

“Yeah. Of course.” He replied maintaining the normalized tone. He did not want her to think that he was anticipating the call.

She gave him the address and ended the call. Even by her voice, he could say that she had been crying despite how she tried to maintain control.

He could not do anything though. People had problems in their lives. What mattered for him was the fact that he was a step closer to what he wanted.

‘Finally!’ He sighed—a sigh of relief.