I rolled my hands in a fist, trying to stop them from shivering so much. Wait, this was really confusing. Mom needed to do a heart transplant?
Still gawking, a tear left my eye. I moved my lips, but wasn’t able to state a word. Shock was an understatement of the emotion that was swaying through me.
She glanced at the paper in her hands, and sighed again. “She’s always had a heart issue. I guess you know that. After the accident, we’ve been trying so much to deal with it. For a while, we’ve been noticing that her heart hasn’t been pumping blood properly. Only last night, it skipped beats. And, at a point, it stopped beating. We were a bit nervous, thinking she wouldn’t survive. So, if she doesn’t undergo the surgery, her heart might eventually stop working.”
I pulled my hand over my mouth, blocking the whimpers that were about to leave it. I sniffled, and just kept staring at her.
“I really don’t know how you’ll go about this. But, in a very short while, you’ll have to find about two million dollars,” she announced.
“T-Two million?” I finally spoke.
She nodded. “I’m so sorry. You’ll be purchasing some expensive drugs that are very vital.”
“B-But how’ll… how’ll I find the money?” I asked, as if that was her problem to solve.
“Besides…” She wrote something on the paper in front of her, then kept the paper beside her. “We’ll be testing some of your dad’s organs today. We have a feeling that he might be suffering from dropsy. In that case, he’ll also undergo a surgical operation on his kidney.”
My hands dropped like they lost control, and I was completely short of words.
“Between, we recently discovered that he has an internal bleeding. Prior to the time we found out, we had undergone a scan, but we didn’t find any. So, we’ll also be treating that.”
“But…” I whispered. It was as if I would faint soon. “What’ll I do? Who’d help me out.”
She stood up. Walking to my side of the table, she patted my back when she reached me. “I’m so sorry, Miss Alan. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. Just be hopeful.”
I sniffled. “Why me?”
“I’ll be right back.” Saying that, she walked towards the door, and walked out of the office.
Helpless, shaken, petrified and puzzled, I knocked my forehead against the desk, and burst out crying. It was all I could do.
***
I had decided to ask Ryan for help. But, once again, even before I spoke, he was giving me some attitude. Well, he was only stressed out. Nothing else. He had been working in his study room for a really long time, focusing on his laptop so much, so I understood his frustration.
“You’re okay?” I asked, staring at him. My voice was faint, because I was definitely tired. Being frank, I was upset with him. I looked very exhausted, my eyes a bit swollen, but he didn’t notice any of that. All that mattered was his work.
He glanced at me, sipped from his cup of coffee, and sighed. “Guess so. It’s just that things don’t seem like they’re working fine.”
Okay, I wasn’t ready to listen to his conversation. I had to go straight to the point. I hadn’t come here to hear him rant about the same thing.
“Ryan,” I called. I sighed hard, keeping my hands on his table. “See, I kind of need your help.”
He propped his elbow on the table, raking his fingers into his hair. What was wrong with him? I hadn’t even said anything yet.
He turned to me. “I know I promised to always create some time for you. But, to be honest, right now, I’m extremely busy.”
“That’s not it.” I frowned a little. “I know you’re busy. Whatever. Well, I kind of, wanna borrow some money from you.”
He threw his back into his seat, gazing intently at me. “How much?”
I was really hesitant. If I told him the amount, wouldn’t it sound crazy? He had been helping my family for a while now. It really felt like I was being too dependent on him. But well, my parents’ health was important.
“Can you help with, like, five hundred thousand?” I gulped.
He gave me a neutral expression. Afterwards, he burst out laughing. Shocked, I widened my eyes at him. This was something terrifying, yet he was laughing? First, he hadn’t observed how stressed I looked, now he was mocking me or what?
I blinked away my tears. He was making me lose hope.
“Oh, goodness.” He exhaled, and stopped laughing. Leaning close, he smiled like a drunkard. “Serene, I know this is a prank. You’re doing this on purpose, cause you know I’m so broke right now.” For some reason, he smirked. “Besides, if you ask for that amount of money, you’re probably planning to run away.”
I dropped my jaw, rolling my hands in a fist as I placed them on my lap. I was furious. “Are you… nuts? Why’d you think that way?”
He shrugged, and flapped his hand at me in dismissal. “Well, well, enough of the drama. I need to work. You can wait for me in my room. I’ll be more than ready for you tonight.”
Saying that, he just grabbed his laptop, and began working.
I was totally pissed off and upset. Although he may have been joking, I didn’t think it was right of him to have said I was planning to run away. Run away with his money. Why would he even laugh at me? Couldn’t he scrutinize me, and sense how pained and disturbed I seemed? How could he be this reluctant?
Devastated, I stood up, pulled my seat backwards, and grabbed my purse from his table. “I’ll be on my way,” I announced.
He looked up at me, his eyebrow quirking at me. “Why? Thought you’d spend the night here. Come on, don’t leave. I wanna have you in bed tonight.”
I sniggered. “We need to work first. Keep working, while I’ll go do the same.”
“What?” He squeezed his face as if he was confused. “Wait, are you okay? Is there anything—”
“I’m fine. Goodnight.” With that, I spun around, storming out of the room. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be this angry, but I just couldn’t contain my frustration.
What would I do now? Ryan wasn’t going to help me.
***
“My life is in a whole lot of tension. I’ve been running from one problem to another.” I used a handkerchief to wipe off my tears.
Praise patted my back, seeming very worried. “It’ll be fine,” she said.
After leaving Ryan’s place, I had come home immediately. I didn’t want my thoughts to haunt me, so I had asked Praise and Tracie to come over. They were the ones who knew how to comfort me when Ryan wasn’t available. We were seated on the bench in my garden, both of them worried about me.
“Have you told Ryan about it?” Tracie asked.
I shook my head, sniffling. “I would have. But, he was laughing at me when I asked for five hundred thousand dollars. He said he’s broke.”
“Did you tell him what you need the money for?” Praise put some strands of my hair behind my ear, then soothed my back. “You shouldn’t expect him to just give you that great amount of money, without stating what you wanna use it for.”
I looked down. “That’s true. But literally, he doesn’t have a lot of money right now. Besides, these days, he’s been indifferent towards my emotions. How in the world did he not notice how weary I look? All he cares about is work.”
“I’m so sorry about that,” she said. “I really don’t know how you’d get that money. It’s just too… much.”
“Yeah.” I looked at her.
“Um… can you—” Tracie was about to speak, but my phone rang from the pocket of my Jean pants. Grabbing it, my heart raced fast when I saw it was a call from Vicki. Earlier, she had gone to the hospital to check on Mom and Dad. Now that she was calling, did it mean that something was wrong with them?
Had mom died? No, no. Definitely not.
“Hey, Vicki.” I summoned some courage to answer her call.
She sobbed over the phone. That made my heart explode. “Come over. We might lose both of them. Dad’s health is deteriorating as well.”
I closed my eyes in despair. I just wanted to die.
***