Chapter 5: At Witt’s End

Anika’s P.O.V

This evening, I got harassed by my boss and almost got molested; punched my boss in the nuts to escape. Got home to find my fiancé in bed with my roommate and then found out he had been cheating on me for five whole months. And finally, got kicked out of my preferred hospital and ended up on a stupid clinic by the mountain side where the only patients I would be treating would be a few deer’s and grizzlies.

If only I had been fired and thrown out of my house at the same time, it would’ve been the perfect plot for some kind of a CEO romance novel bullshit.

The CEO’s Doctor Sex Slave, or, CEO’s personal Maid. Wouldn’t that just be the perfect title for my messed up life?

The only difference was, the real world didn’t have half as many CEO’s as they did in the romance novels and not every girl that went through a rough day was lucky enough to land on a CEO’s lap, especially one that would be hot and sexy as hell, who would then proceed to fall in love and live happily ever after. The only COS, Chief of Surgery, who could save me from this mess was the one who put me in this position in the first place. Steven Hallow. And there was no way in hell I was going to beg him for forgiveness when it was him who should be doing the begging.

However, the only begging I would be doing right now…would be to my mother, so that I don’t get disowned by tonight.

“Blast it!”

I cursed at the empty streets, knowing I would have to answer my mother’s call eventually. Parking my car on the side of the road, I dared to pick up my phone from the passenger’s seat and found out that I had more missed calls and messages in the last few hours than I probably had in my entire twenty six years of life. Thank God I had put it on silent!

Should I take the risk of reading the messages?

I knew my missed calls were 99% from my mother, so I took a split second decision and went to my inbox. Once again…79 messages from my mother. Wow. That’s got to have broken some kind of a family record.

Ignoring those, I scrolled down past the nosy aunties, assured for once that I wouldn’t be blocking any other car. The Sapphire Mountains were a hiking trail that became popular last year after a TikTok went viral of the pure blue skyline from the mountain top. Per say, it wasn’t a large mountain, and only had a few wood cabins as far as housing went. It did have a gas station with an attached convenience store, a police station unit, in case any hikers went missing and a tiny coffee shop (thank the gods!).

The clinic was recently built as the steep slopes have caused a good few accidents in the last few months since the video going viral. The resident doctor decided to flee last month because he spotted large wolves in the area. I don’t know how much of it was true, but wolves? I highly doubted that. The doctor probably took any excuse he could get.

I was already half-way to the area where the clinic was and I realized too late that I had no idea where I would be staying…

There was no point in contacting the people at the clinic at this hour, was there? Will there be anyone present?

But then I spotted a message from an unknown number and stopped scrolling.

‘Hi,

My name is Tiffany Bradley. I was informed to let you know the direction to the cabin you’ll be staying at. You weren’t picking up the phone, which is understandable, so I’m texting you the address. Follow these instructions and you’ll reach the cabin in no time. I will be waiting for you in the cabin to help you settle in. See you soon!’

The text was followed by an address and a pin of the map, thankfully. It looks like not, all the calls were from my mother after all.

Ring, ring…

Speak of the bloody devil!

I stared at the screen in silence, my breathing uneven as I debated on what to do. Starting the car, I drove forward slowly as it was getting late and I didn’t want Tiffany to be waiting forever just so she could show me around. I needed to get to the cabin before something started chasing me out of the woods. The dense jungle on either side of the road wasn’t very safe looking and the lighting was poor.

Taking a deep breath, I answered the call and placed it to my ear. “Hello.”

“About goddamn time, woman!”

I cringed at her shrill voice, placing the phone away from my ears in the meantime, as she went on to explain how several of my family members, meaning her, my dad and my grandma, now had elevated blood pressure levels and were at a risk of having a heart attack. My grandmother had probably fainted twice already; no, not because she had some health issue, she was one sturdy seventy nine year old; but because she had a flair for drama and fainted at the slightest sign of distress.

When I thought that my mom’s rant about my family melodrama was finally over, I put the phone back on my ear to hear what she was saying now and yes, I had the perfect timing.

“Are you even listening to what I have to say? Anika! You ungrateful brat! Explain yourself!”

“Are you sure I’m the one who needs explaining, mother?” I told her calmly, gripping the phone tighter to stop myself from getting emotional. This was not going to end well for either of us. Not today.

“How dare you talk back to me?” She gasped. “Do you know just how lucky we were that Mr. Verma agreed to this relationship? Do you know how reputed their family is? Do you think they’ll continue the engagement after the stunt you just pulled?”

I saw red.

“Wait just a fucking minute!”

“Anika, watch yo-”

“I’m done watching my fucking language mother! Did you not see the picture in the group chat mother? Or have you gone permanently blind? Judging by your ignorance, it definitely seems to be the second option.” I snapped.

“Anika!” Mom used her disciplinary tone on me but I was too damn exhausted to care.

“Anika is done with your bullshit!” I retorted. “Lucky? About what mom? The fact that my fiancé, that you especially picked out for me; the one who I was supposed to marry in a month’s time, was found in bed with my roommate? The roommate who, surprisingly, you told me was one of the best girls in our neighborhood? Who were you matchmaking for, mom? Me or Ashwini?”

“Anika, I know that you are angry-”

“Angry?” I laughed humorlessly, feeling tears sting my eyes. NO! I will not cry! Not now! Not NOW! “I’m not angry, mother. I’m exhausted. I was cheated on! I was humiliated. I was almost molested today by my boss and I thought to go home early. And guess what I find? Ashwini and Rahul, naked in bed? What were they doing in bed naked, mom? Some kind of ritual? Some prayer to the gods?”

“Do not bring god into this!” Came my mother’s outraged voice. “I will accept that you are upset but that doesn’t give you permission to insult the gods and goddesses! Now go to that chat and delete that picture immediately! The Verma’s have been humiliated enough as is. And then I want you to come back tomorrow morning to apologi-”

“Don’t you dare finish that senetence!” I shouted before switching to my mother tongue. “Unse maafi mange meri juti! (My sandals will be the only ones apologizing to them!)”

“Anika!”

“I don’t care what you say; I’m never apologizing to a cheater! They can fuck each other for all I care!” I told her my final decision. “This engagement is off!”

“Have you gone crazy, child!” Mom yelped. “Do you know what it means to cancel the wedding only a month before the date? All the cards have been distributed! Plane tickets have been booked! What are we going to tell all our guests now, huh? How are we going to face our relatives?”

“Are you seriously kidding me right now?” I stepped on the accelerator unconsciously. “My fiancé cheated on me! I was nearly fucking molested! And all you care about is the stupid sentiments of our relatives who pop up only when they need something from us?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Mom snapped, getting impatient with me as well. “So what if he cheated on you? It’s never the boys fault! No matter what you say, everyone will think the fault lies in you! You’ll have a very hard time getting married in the future and your prime age is passing by!”

“I’m fucking twenty six!” I screamed, almost chocking myself. “Marriage is the least of my problems right now! Why on earth do you keep ignoring me telling you that I almost got molested? And you didn’t even ask how I was doing! What about me mom? What about my feelings? For once in your bloody life, think about me!”

“I am thinking about you!” She argued, desperate to prove her point. “That’s why I think it’s best to apolo-“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Something jumped onto the road then, an animal of some kind and I screamed in fear, slamming on the brakes as hard as I could, my phone dropping from my hand as I used both my hands on the steering to control the car.

The car screeched to a stop at phenomenal speed, but I heard the slam of the body against my car anyways.

Thanks to my seatbelt, I was hauled back against my seat as the car came to a stop, protecting me from slamming my head on the steering. But then my head slammed on the seat and came forward, hitting the steering anyway, but not hard enough to cause bleeding.

And then everything went deadly silent.