*•Eight (8) Months Ago•*
A stretcher was rushed out of an ambulance into the city hospital building, a few nurses were pushing the stretcher as it was escorted into a ward —a VIP ward.
A man in his mid-twenties was laid on the stretcher, he was barely breathing —he's visibly in a coma. Although, he was putting on a new (clothes) but there were still traces of blood on his clothes, mostly around his left arm.
He had a bandage on his head and some other part of his body —his left arm precisely, without being told, no one would know he had a bandage around his stomach too. He was given a first aid in the ambulance, which resulted in the bandages on his body.
The gentleman was involved in a ghastly accident, but luckily for him, he managed to survive, falling into a nearby pond at the last minute.
Well, of course, he was badly injured and lost so much blood. Before he was being rescued by a passerby, he was already in a coma and might have drowned if he wasn't rescued on time.
The rescue scene was surely a scene as an ambulance rushed in the scene, taking him on immediate effect —there, he was given a first aid to stop his continuous bleeding at least.
Coupled with the few nurses who escorted him into his ward, a doctor also followed suit almost immediately. With the tension in the air, anyone would easily guess the man in a coma was not just an ordinary or random person…
*****
“How is he, doctor?” A distressed woman, who was richly dressed, asked the supposed doctor, urgency laced in her voice. They were in his office, and she was seated before him. “How is my son's health?”
The doctor let out a small assuring smile, probably to calm the troubled woman down. “We managed to save him from the coma, ma'am.” The doctor explained to her. “Since the injury on his arm is very deep, he will be spending some time here in the hospital —and he's having some internal injury too.”
The news was supposed to calm the woman down —at least a bit, hearing that her son was out of coma, but it didn't. Instead, it went the other way on her.
“And you sounded like he's totally fine, doc?” She muttered in complaint, her voice was far from calm. “How am I certain that he will be fine with those kinds of injuries on him, did you not say he sustained internal injuries too?”
“Don't worry, ma'am…" The doctor reassured her again, trying to sound cajoling enough. “—he will be fine soon enough. That's the nature of our job, and we will make sure of it. You should trust us on this, ma'am.”
She wasn't convinced enough, which resulted in her continuous shaking of her head in denial. “That doesn't answer my question enough, doctor.” She told him. “You should know how much Ryan means to me, I need more assurance to ease my tension.”
The doctor smiled at her, he knows what the woman needed to hear, these words wouldn't ease her enough. They've known each other for years, and he should know her —if not much, then a bit.
“I already assigned a private nurse for him, she will be responsible for his health as from today. I can assure that she's already with him.” He told her, staring keenly at her to see her reaction —he got what he wanted from her.
A small yet coy smile formed at the left corner of her lips, but it disappeared the same moment as it wasn't on her face seconds ago.
“How good is she…?” She questioned him, her demanding eyes fixated on him. “Can I trust Ryan with her?”
He smiled, returning the same vibes as hers. “I would not have assigned her with Ryan's health if she wasn't good enough, you know.” The doctor uttered in response to her question. “I promise you, she's one of the best among my nurses —if not overall of them all.”
The coy smile which seemed to have disappeared with no traces on her face suddenly reappeared, her eyes mixed with unexplained emotion in them.
She felt like she just got what she wanted, does she still need anything else from him? Of course not!
“Let me see her myself…" She sounded like it was an order. “I need to make sure she's what I want first before dropping any comment whatsoever. You know what I mean, doc…"
“Sure, sure, ma'am.” He uttered, rushing his words as he struggled lightly to get on his feet as fast as he can. “I'll just show you the way then.”
“Well, I got no time to waste…"
The woman, who seemed anxious and was begging for her son's life to be saved, has returned to her usual bossy self. The doctor could not help but wondered how she always managed to change in a split second.
•••••
They both stepped out of the elevator, and he led her through the passage way to the heart of the hospital. Ryan's ward was on the far end of the passageway, he's been transferred to a new ward on his mother's order.
“Here…" The doctor mumbled, but audibly to her hearing as he laid his hand on the door knob. He was about turning it to open the door, but her voice stopped him abruptly.
“I don't need to go in.” She told him, her gaze was elsewhere and not on the doctor.
He frowned his face confused, unable to comprehend her words. “Uh —why, ma'am…?” He muttered in questioning. “I thought you wanted...”
She cut him off lightly, waving his talk off. “Not to worry, I'll just watch from here.” That was her response as she watched from the open space on the door.
Ryan was smiling. Her son was smiling at his assigned private nurse as she talked to him, this is rare. The son she had breed finds hard to laugh or smile so carelessly, but he just did?
Just as the doctor has said, she's excellent at her work. She smirked, her eyes darkened with emotions. She just got what she wanted. The nurse fit perfectly in to fill in the gap for her.
Ryan's mother turns towards the doctor, still wearing her smirk. “How do I meet her privately…?” She asked all of a sudden, stunning the doctor…
It was almost dusk already and Ciara had almost finished with her patient for the day. This time, she was not really as exhausted as she used to be —in fact, she seems to prefer him better than her last few patients.He is responsive and easy to communicate with, his state was not that better due to the much injury he sustained —but still, he acted like he was much okay.At first, Ciara had wanted to declined being his private nurse, but after much persuasion from the doctor, she finally agreed. Well, not because she wanted to.Finding out about the cause of the accident, Ciara felt she could relate to it —she had a familiar incident but not with her, it was her parents. There is only but one difference in it.Ryan was lucky enough to have survived, but her parents did not, they died in the scene. Looking into it several times, she believed it wasn't just an ordinary or a random accident, something fishy was related to it.—this made her grow interest in becoming Ryan's private nurse.
Over the few years, she had tried all she can, to fix him up with other ladies, arranging him up for a numerous blind dates on different occasions, however, none of them turned well as she had pictured them to be —her only son is really obstinate.Now, seeing him getting real well with Ciara, she felt as if she has seen the dextral lady she's been on the lookout for him —and without hesitation, she's ready to set them up together like she's been doing with other ladies.This time, she simply wants to be believing she is not wrong this time else, she will be left with no other option but to accept Anne as her son has desired. No, the thought of it make her skin crawl.“Earlier today, I saw how he was doing well around you…" Ryan's mother began, drawling her tone. “—well, I must commend your skills because it's really rare to see Ryan getting acquainted with someone he doesn't even know.”How does she explain what the older woman is trying to nail at? Should she explain her words as jus
Reminiscing over how they met and her motives for accepting the marriage contract, Ciara felt she had been wrong from the beginning —in every manner and everything.He used to be a pleasing guy —so, she thought of him. However, all of a sudden, he started changing his mindset towards her. At first, she did not examine much into his change of conduct, but soon, she was compelled to get used to it.As the contract stated, it is a one-year lasting settlement and each party ought to preserve it. Aside from the penalty for breaching the contract, Ciara in no way liked going back on her words, she always kept on with it to the cease.Ciara's preliminary purpose from the start was to get a few clues from Ryan, however in return, she ended up falling for him —she fell for the guy, who is nevertheless obsessed with his ex and barely treats her like she exists.She sighed heavily, with just one thought on her mind —sign the divorce papers earlier than he returns.Just as he had left it, the pap
“Ciara is nowhere to be found.” He stated with a small sigh afterward. “Well, I suppose she left.”“What do you imply with the aid of using ‘she left’? Just like that and for no cause whatsoever?” The voice thundered and Ryan was compelled to take the phone off his ear, the voice was loud sufficient to harm his ear drum. It was his mother, who was on the phone.Ryan sighed heavily when he realized her voice trailed off before placing the phone to his ear again. “I do not know why she left, but I got back home from work as regular and found out she's gone.” He informed his mother plainly, sounding more like it was a day by day habitual between himself and Ciara. “I tried reaching her, but it seems like she did not only go away but blocked me from gaining access to her.”Ryan's mother was angered on the opposite line, she understood something was fishy. This, she's certain of. Ciara may not just determine to leave on her own without any reason. Clearly, there must be something Ryan is a
Ryan sighed for the umpteen times and constantly rubbed his temple. His head was crammed up —packed with different jumbled thoughts of a wide variety, and they seem too tough for him to sort out.Everything was and used to head on very easy and fine, his great relationship with his mother was intact even though she used to be strict then too. All of a sudden, it seems like everything started colliding with one another —that was after he introduced Anne to her.For the reason best regarded to her alone, she vigorously kicked in opposition to his relationship with Anne without giving him any good purpose behind her rash action.At first, he had thought she was only trying to tug his legs, maybe to see how he would react towards it, but instead of things getting better —it could only keep getting sore as time went on.Against his consent, she commenced placing him up on different blind dates, even when none turned out as she desired. However, despite everything of these, she did not stop
“Are you certain she's the same person as shown in the photograph?” Ryan's mother speaks in the phone, her eyes diluting with an untold emotion.Ryan, on the other hand, was confused as he stared at her with his brows creased. He wondered who on earth his mother was speaking with, and what photograph was she referring to, is she hiding something he was not aware of? “Okay, I get it…" That was her undeniable reply before putting the phone away from her ear. As quietly as she had brought her phone out from her bag, she returned it in the same way, too.For seconds and without batting her eyelids, her intense gaze was on Ryan, who finds her stare uncomfortable.“What now, mom?” He muttered, suddenly looking elsewhere just to avoid his gaze being locked on hers. No matter how much he tries, he can't win against her —staring without breaking is one of the things she's in most cases good at her.He sighed heavily in defeat. “I know you are still staring at me, mom.” He informed her in a ca
Ryan is perplexed right now, he did not even know what to do or say. He saw there was with a little or no hope of ever seeing Ciara. He is aware that the task of ever finding Ciara is a huge one that he won't be able to fulfill. The States is too huge, and he can't be searching for one single soul all over the state, it's like looking for a pin in a well. It is impossible for him to do so —and who does that anyway? His phone began to ring, at first, he hesitates to pick the call but on seeing who the caller was, he had no choice than to pick it up. He couldn't ignore her even in a tight situation, and this won't be exceptional —it was Anne. “Hey, there Ryan…" She called from the other end as soon as he put the phone on his ear. Ryan could stare at his mother without saying anything to the caller. In return, his mother, who had returned because she forgot her keys, gave him a deadly stare. “You don't stare at me in such a foolish manner.” His mother said. Ryan quickly composed hi
“Let's elope…" Anne suggested with a glint in her eyes. “We can go somewhere far away and start a new life together, away from all the drama and stress.”Ryan was taken aback by the idea, but couldn't help but feel a wave of excitement wash over him. This could be their chance to start fresh and truly be happy together. He looked at Anne, her eyes were filled with hope and sincerity. It was if she had planned this for a while now.Ryan felt a smile growing on his lips and without hesitation, he took her hand and was tempted to say, “Let's do it. Let's abandon this present life and go very faraway…” But instead he stopped himself and simply smiled warmly.He can't leave his mother, though she nags a lot, but she's always worried about him. Additionally, there are still many things he can't let go off —mostly the companies.Where would he start from if he elopes? A once CEO turns out to be working under a new manager or worst still, a supervisor —that sounded like a good headlines news,