Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Isabella's pov;

"What happened?" Mr Martinez asked me when i stood like a mannequin watching the entrance of the basketball court.

"Sophia, I-I saw her..."

"Where is she?" He looked for her.

"She left."

"What are you waiting for? Go after her."

"Should I? What if she avoid me?"

"Just go already."

"Okay. Thank you."

I ran after Sophia and came out of the basketball court.

I found her walking alonside the playground.

"Sophia! Sophia!..." I called out to her but she didn't stop.

I grabbed her hand and said, "Stop!"

"What do you want?" She gave a pissed off look.

"W-Why did you came?"

"What?"

I hugged her and said, "I'm sorry, please don't avoid me."

"Bella..." She tried to break the hug but I didn't let her go.

"Please don't avoid me."

"Do you want back to be friends?"

I break the embrace and said, "Yes!"

"Cancel that contract."

"What?"

"You heard me. Cancel that contract then I'll be your friend again. I miss you, too. So please cancel the contract soon." And left.

While I was seeing her leave like that, it broke me. How could I do that?

"What happened? Did you two resolved?" Mr Martinez asked me while covering my exposed shoulders with his coat.

"I'm tired. Let's go home."

"What happened?"

I avoided looking at his eyes while saying, "I want to go home." and walked towards the basketball court.

"Why are you going inside?"

"I have to change my clothes or do you want me to come like this?"

"No, no, change."

I smiled at him and started walking to the basketball court.

I came to the court and found people taking pictures with the players. I walked silently and came to the changing room. I got into my jumpsuit again and came out.

"Belle"

"Yuyang, i thought you left."

"I was introducing my friends to daddy."

"And did you finished?"

"Yeah."

"Then go and get your daddy. We'll leave to house."

"Okay." She ran into the crowd again.

"Be careful." I shouted while she was sneaking into the crowd.

While I was about to walk out of the basketball court, i saw Big brother and yuyang standing beside the door and i tagged along with them.

We all got into Mr Martinez's car. Mateo was the one who's driving the car while I was sitting with yuyang and Mr Martinez. Big brother sat beside the driver.

After a while, yuyang felt asleep on me. I patted her head slowly.

Big brother said, "I'm sorry. I'll pick her up."

"It's fine. Don't disturb her. Let her sleep for a while. It must be tiresome day for her. She had dance performance and she cheered for me. Big brother, did you see how to yuyang was happy today?"

"I never seen her being happy like this, I hope she don't get used to it."

I got upset.

Mr Martinez said, "You also had a big day today. There's still time to reach your place so sleep a little."

"It's okay. I'll take rest in my home. I don't sleep while travelling, Mr Martinez."

He gave a nod and went back to sightseeing outside the window.

I asked them to drop me at a street closer to my house and I got out after bidding farewell to Mr Martinez, Big brother and to sleeping yuyang.

When i got closer to the house, there was lights in my house. Is mom home? I ran over to the house and knocked on it. The door wasn't opened instead mom shouted to come inside.

I opened the door and stepped in. Mom was lying on the mattress. I ran over to mom and asked her, "What happened mom? Why are you like this? Are you feeling sick?" I touched her head to check the temperature but it was normal.

"When will you give space to others to talk? I'm having a headache that's why I'm taking a rest."

"Did you took medicines? Shall I buy you leafy greens for you?"

"Can't you see the cold pack on my head? It's enough for reliving from headache and i took medicines too. By the time, it becomes night-time, I'll be free from headache. How did the competition went?"

"We won the match, mom."

"How many points did you scored than the guests?"

"Five points. It was hard to take points this time. The guest played very well today and they used a lot of new techniques. The three pointer move uplifted our points and we won in the end."

"Okay. I bought a burrito for you so get a shower first and eat it."

After coming from out of the shower, i placed the burrito on the plate and started eating it.

"Mom, did you ate?"

"Yeah, i did. Don't speak while the food is in your mouth."

I finished eating the burrito and cleaned the plate and turned off the lights and laid beside mom on the mattress.

"How's the headache, mom?"

"It's still paining but if i woke up in the morning, it think it'll be alright. Goodnight, bella."

"Goodnight, mom."

On the next day in school, everyone was talking about the yesterday's event and laughed together. I walked to my desk and took the seat. I couldn't see any of my friends in my class. Not even Evelyn. I took the books out of my bag and placed it infront of me.

Evelyn jumped in front of me and said, "This is for winning match!" And gave me a cake.

Evelyn hugged and congratulated me. Noah came after her and said, "I'm glad that you're part of the team."

Soon, my classmates started to congratulate me for winning the competition, "Thank you, thank you so much for your presence in here."

Ms Devlin came so we all went back to our places. I let out a sigh and leaned back in my chair.

Ms Devlin called me so i walked to her.

"You have to go GU hospital right now."

"Why? What happened, Ms Devlin?"

"It's about your mom. Someone called from her phone and asked me to deliver this to you. You better go now."

I took my bag and rushed out of the school and made my stop at GU hospital.

I walked in and asked for my mother in the reception. A nurse lead my way to a intensive care unit. When i tried to get inside, the nurse said, "We've given an anesthesia a few minutes ago, She's going to have operation in few minutes so don't try to disturb her."

I stood outside the door and peeked through a small space. Mom was having all those tubes and wires like how they show patients in the television.

While I was waiting outside the intensive care unit, i saw my friends walking towards here.

"How's your mom? What happened to her?" Noah asked me while giving a worried look on his face.

Evelyn asked, "Did she get into a accident?"

I shook my head and kept quiet.

Liam asked, "What did the doctor said?"

My friends surrounded me and asked so many questions while Sophia stood quiet.

"Some months before, when mom took me to a restaurant to eat, some guys in the street hit on us and went quickly. We went to a nearby clinic to get treated. After i got my wounds treated, it was my mom's turn to get treated. After the results, the doctor talked to me in private saying that my mom is in the second stage of pancreatic cancer. He said that surgery is a must to cure my mom. After hearing that, it felt like the world's stopped moving, it took me a week to come back to senses. When i asked around where I work, they said pancreatic cancer's survival rate is 7.3%. Do you know how i felt when they said that. My mom's life is based on 7.3% of survival rate." And started crying.

Liam patted on my shoulders.

I continued, "The doctor said it cost more than twenty thousand dollars. That's why i took as many jobs as possible to collect the money for the surgery." Said while looking at Sophia.

She turned her face away from me and remained silent.

"I didn't know it'll be this soon. I don't have enough money for the surgery. I don't know what am I going to do now. I'm going to lose my mother forever."

"Hey, don't say like that. We're here for you." Noah said to me.

"How much do you have on you?" Noah asked Liam.

"Around five hundred or something." Liam answered him.

"I have two thousand dollars." Evelyn came forward.

"Let's lend money from whomever we know. Come on, let's go. Someone has to be here. Sophia, you stay with Bella. We'll back with the money."

Evelyn, Noah and Liam left leaving Sophia with me.

I stood from where I was seated and walked to see my mom who is in ICU room. She was surrounded by the doctors so i couldn't get to see her properly. I dropped my head on the door while thinking 'you're the only one i all have so don't leave me, mom' . I felt someone's hand over my shoulder. Sophia.

Sophia said, "She'll be alright."

After sometime, Sophia got a call so she left.

After she returned, she said, "It's Noah. He's asking how much money does the surgery cost?"

I stammered, "A-Around twenty thousand dollars. I-I have some in my account."

She said, "I think we should head to the reception and inquire the amount of money to be paid so that we can get clarity on how much we still need."

I gave a nod and we two came to the reception.

I asked the lady in the reception about the money needed for my mother's surgery.

She replied, "Is your mom's name (name) ?"

"Yeah."

"It says here that the payment is done, mam."

"What? What are you saying?"

"Yes, mam. It's already paid. Wait. Are you Ms Garcia?"

"Yeah?"

She took something from her desk and slided it over to me on the counter. It's a card.

I took the card and checked what card it is. It's a company card. With a name Alexander Martinez, CEO of Skyland corporation.

I walked away from the counter while holding the card in my hand.

Sophia asked me, "If we didn't pay, then who paid it?... Why aren't you saying anything?... What card is that?"

She took the card from me and asked me, "Who's Alexander Martinez? The card says he's a CEO of some company. Do you know him? Who's he?"

I looked her in the eyes and said, "He's the one i signed the contract with."

"What!? Contact?..." She shooked me and continued, "Why did he paid for the surgery? Didn't you cancel the contract?"

I shook my head and stood still.

"Contact him and terminate the contract now."

"What? How can I do that? If i cancel the contract after getting a lot of money for my mother's surgery, wasn't it considered as I'm cheating on him?"

"What are you going to do? How are you going to pay this debt to him?" She came closer and whispered in my ears, "Are you planning to sleep with him?"

After hearing that, i felt like a sharp knife passed through my heart.

She grasped my collar and asked again, "What are you going to do? Tell me! Come on, tell me!"

I stood still while she was shouting inside my ears.

Some nurse ran over to us saying, "Come with me, Your mother is losing a lot of blood during the surgery. We're going to need your blood."

"I'm A postive. I can't give my blood."

"We have to find a person who's O postive or O negative soon. Okay. I'll contact the blood bank and deliver the message."

Sophia, "Wait. I'm an O positive. I can give blood."

"Good god. Then come with me. We have to hurry up."

When i looked at Sophia, she avoided my eyes and walked along with the nurse.

I waited outside the ICU room with a card in my hands. How did you know before I knew it? Why did you paid the money for my mother? Is it out of pity? How do I pay back the money? It's a lot money. I don't want to be in debt to you but what should I do now?

After a while, Sophia came outside and sat many seats far from me. I stuck the card into my pocket and looked at her. It looked like she made a call to someone.

I heard, "Stop collecting money. It's already paid. Don't ask me anything... Listen to me,Just stop asking everyone you know for the money..."

After she ended the call, she stood from the place like she was leaving. I couldn't call her or make her stop from leaving. All i could do was just watching her leaving.

I know this day will come someday but I didn't expect it today. I thought I could save money for the surgery in time but I didn't. I couldn't. Why am I so helpless to you, mom? I couldn't even take care of you well even in this suituation.

I felt someone's hand over my shoulder. I lifted up my head and saw Big brother standing in front of me. I hugged him as soon as I saw him and started crying in his embrace.

"Why are you crying?"

I wiped my tears and said, "Why did you paid the money?"

"Mr Martinez did."

"Why did he paid the money? How did he know about my mother's condition? How did you he.."

"The only thing you've got to focus here is... your mom. Mr Martinez and I will take care of the rest. Don't worry about anything. Wait here. I'll go and have talk with doctor."

Big brother left and I looked at my mom who was lying on the bed being unconscious.

Big brother came out of some room and said, "They'll start the process when your mom becomes fully unconscious. Since the given amount of anaesthesia wasn't enough, they gave another shot, that's why they're waiting. After she gets unconscious, they will start the process." He stopped for a moment and held my hand and continued, "She'll get better. Understand?"

I nodded and sat in the hallway along with Big brother.