Elvis drove with a sense of urgency, his face covered in sweat as he glanced at Natalie, hoping she would wake up.
“Natalie, open your eyes. I’m taking you to the hospital now,” he shouted, increasing his speed. He finally arrived at High City Hospital, a top facility in New York and also his family’s hospital. Elvis didn’t bother with the garage and stopped in the middle of the hospital.
As soon as some nurses spotted his car, they brought out a wheelchair and headed towards Elvis’ car. He quickly got out of his car, opened the back seat, and gently lifted Natalie out, placing her in the wheelchair. The nurse then swiftly wheeled her into the hospital, with Elvis following closely behind.
When they reached a certain door, one of the nurses stopped him from going any further. “Please sir, you have to wait outside so the doctor can attend to her,” she said.
“But I’m…” Elvis tried to protest.
“You can’t come in. Just wait here, please,” the nurse interrupted him, and without giving him a chance to speak, she walked past him to join the other nurse.
Elvis was restless as he paced around the hospital, his hand shoved in his hair. He kept wondering what had caused the fight outbreak in her shop that resulted in a fire. His mind quickly diverted to Javier, and he thought about whether he should call him and inform him about Natalie’s s situation. However, he shook his head and dismissed the thought, as he concluded that Natalie wouldn’t want to see Javier around her. Suddenly, his mind flicked to Kate, and he thought he should call her because she was the only one closer to Natalie.
He began to walk outside the hospital to his car to take out Natalie’s phone from her bag just to copy Kate’s contact from her phone. He finally retrieved her phone and noticed that Kate was the last person she called, so he quickly copied her number and dialed it.
After a few rings, she picked up. “Hello, who is on the line?” she asked, as her voice boomed on the phone speaker.
“Please come to ‘High City hospital,’ your friend Natalie is there,” Elvis muttered in a rush.
“What is Natalie doing at the hospital?” Kate suddenly flared up and quickly turned her back to stop the cab man who had just dropped her off at the hospital where she was supposed to meet Natalie and her mother.
“I will explain everything that I know to you the moment you get here. Please be fast. Don’t forget it’s ‘High City hospital,'” Elvis emphasized on the name of the hospital and quickly ended the call, without waiting for Kate to say a word.
Kate could sense the anxiety in Elvis’s voice as she quickly gave the new address to the cab man and told him to drive faster to High City hospital, just like she was told.
Within 3 hours, they arrived at the hospital and Kate jumped out of the car, quickly paid him off, and ran into the hospital. The moment she sighted Elvis, she ran towards him and grabbed his shirt. “What have you done to my friend?” Kate screamed angrily in his face as she held onto his cloth tightly.
“Please let me explain what happened,” Elvis pleaded, trying to free himself from her grip on his shirt, but she refused to let go.
“Have you two not caused her enough trouble? What did you do to her? Why is she here?” She asked, tears streaming down her face, bombarding him with questions.
Elvis finally managed to free himself from her grasp and gently led her into the hospital, where they found a seat. He softly explained that he had been passing by when he saw a massive crowd and went to check out . As he got closer, he saw that there was a fire, and he tried to stop Natalie from going into the shop to save her painting tools.
Kate burst into tears after hearing the story. “I hope the head injury wasn’t serious,” she asked, turning to face Elvis, who had kept his head bowed the entire time he was explaining.
Suddenly, a nurse approached them and stopped in front of them. “She’s awake now. You can go and see her, but please don’t stress her,” the nurse informed before walking away.
Elvis and Kate hurried into Natalie’s ward and found her sitting in bed, tears streaming down her face as she stared into space without blinking.
Kate rushed in and embraced Natalie, tears flowing as she saw the white bandage wrapped around Natalie’s head from the cut she sustained when she hit her head on the wall.
“How are you feeling, Natalie?” Kate asked, holding Natalie’s face gently in her hands.
Natalie remained silent, tears continuing to stream down her face without pause.
“Natalie, please talk to me,” Kate pleaded, tears in her eyes.
“My shop is gone. My identity is gone,” Natalie cried out after a long silence, her shoulders shaking as she wept.
“Your identity is not gone, it lives within you. Please be strong,” Kate consoled her, gently patting her shoulder.
Suddenly, the door burst open and a nurse entered. “She can go home now, but please make sure she gets plenty of rest,” she instructed, quickly prescribing some medication and asking Elvis to pick it up on his way out.
Elvis settled the bills as Kate helped Natalie to her feet, and they walked out of the hospital and into Elvis’s car. Elvis quickly got into the car, wondering where he should take them.
Let’s take her to her house,” Kate quickly responded to his thoughts. She told him the direction of Natalie’s house and he zoomed off.
Within two hours, Elvis stopped right in front of Natalie’s gate, and he quickly got out of his car and ran to open the door for the ladies.
Kate got down and motioned for Natalie to do the same, but Natalie suddenly burst into fresh tears and sobbed harder. “Natalie, please think about your health. I beg you,” Kate held her hand and pleaded, wiping away her tears with her hands. “Come, let’s go inside.” Kate gently pulled Natalie out of the car as they both walked into Natalie’s small apartment.
Elvis stood outside as his gaze wandered around. He was amused at where Natalie lived. But he shrugged it off as he knew he would have been in the same place or even worse than this if not for Javier’s father, who picked him up from the dirty garbage where he was dumped by his parents to die. Elvis was forever indebted to Reyes for saving his life and accepting him into his wonderful family.
Reyes never officially adopted him, but he never treated him differently from Javier. He raised them both with love and they attended the same school.
After graduation, Elvis wanted to work for other companies to be independent. He felt proud of his accomplishments over the years, and he knew that it was Reyes, Javier, and hard work that had brought him this far. With his head held high and a broad smile, he entered Natalie’s small apartment.
He saw them sitting on an old couch, with Kate consoling Natalie, who couldn’t stop crying as the images of her burning shop kept flashing in her mind.
“Natalie, I want you to marry Javier,” Elvis said bluntly, as he quickly avoided their gazes.
Both friends looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
“Please, I’m not forcing you into this, but I’m clearly asking for your help,” he explained. Kate furrowed her brows in confusion, while Natalie remained silent, her mind still clouded with the image of her burning shop.
“What do you mean?” Kate asked.
“I want Natalie to help save Javier’s life from being ruined. I know she might refuse because it could compromise her self-respect, which is why I’m offering twenty billion dollars…”
“I’m not interested!” Natalie muttered with the little strength left in her.
“Thirty billion dollars!” Elvis increased the prize.
“Still not interested,” Natalie stated with finality in her voice.
“Fifty billion dollars, Natalie…” Elvis never gave up, hoping she would agree to any of the offers.
“Elvis, please leave. Let me have a word with her,” Kate chimed in. Elvis nodded and quickly signaled her to help him convince Natalie.
Once he left, Kate stood in front of Natalie. “You should accept this offer because of your mother, who is lying half-dead in the hospital. She needs her surgery done as soon as possible. Now you have lost your job and your shop.”
“What if I can’t pay the price of this after marriage?” Natalie asked, confused and in pain. She had lost everything in one day. She had invested all her life savings in that shop, and now everything was gone. She didn’t know what to do at this point in her life.
“Please do it for your mother’s sake, and she will be forever grateful to you for saving her life,” Kate urged.
“Alright, I will do it for my mother. After this marriage, we will leave this city for good,” Natalie sniffed.
Kate hurried out and called Elvis, who was waiting for them to finish their discussion. “Come inside now,” she told him, and rushed inside, with him following closely behind.
“I agree to your request, but under certain rules conditions. I would like to see Javier face to face,” Natalie stated.
Elvis’s heart leaped with joy. He couldn’t believe that she would finally agree. With a broad smile, he said, “Let me call Javier right away,” and ran outside to make the call.