“Yes. This morning. She was almost gone when I came in. Those are her drugs and her hospital card, I will be on my way. Phil is waiting for me,” she informed him while pointing towards the drugs.
She picked up the card and gave it to him. Denise collected it and asked, “What about the thing you wanted to discuss with me?”
“Oh! Other events had overtaken that, and one of them had been sorted out naturally. We will do that some other time.”
“I see.”
“Erhe! Denise,” she called out when she remembered something.
“Yes, Big sister.”
“Please make haste, so we can visit her parents before people get to hear about it. I will inform Mom as soon as possible. Take good care of her.”
After advising him, she inched towards the door. Denise could not say anything about her advice but just greeted her, “Have a nice day.”
At Seven Oaks – Louis’s Apartment.
Louis’s staff members could not believe the scene they saw when they got into his bedroom after pulling the door down. He blacked out at the thought of Olivia being in the camp of rapists and being gang-raped. They found him lifeless on the floor and lifted him without questions while they hurried him to the hospital.
When he recovered after a short while, Dr. Quain noticed that his face color was brighter than usual which could be caused by the absence of food or shock.
“Mr. Bailey, what happened? I don’t expect this from you. You are one of the people that hardly visit the hospital.”
Now, Louis had put his guard down. He was not the young Chief Executive Officer who was always alert and careful when dealing with others.
“Doctor, I am losing my mind,” he lamented.
“Before we talk, take your tea. It will go a long way. Do you mind if I order food for you from the company’s canteen?”
“Yes, Doctor,” he accepted at once.
The doctor was surprised that a fastidious Louis would agree to have a meal from the canteen. He ordered the food via a call, and the canteen delivered it to the doctor’s office, who took it personally to him.
“Here we are. You need it,” the doctor, a thirty-five-year-old family man who joined the company ten years ago, knew Louis when he was in school before he graduated to head the Seven Oaks branch of Bailey International Conglomerate. He watched him eat his food and observed his countenance.
‘He looked helpless,’ he thought as the distraught Louis eagerly ate his food.
After the meal, the doctor maintained a face void of expression. He took the tray away from him and dropped it on the locker beside his bed.
Then he put up a friendly and encouraging smile before he called out, “Mr. Bailey.”
“Yes, Dr. Quain.”
“Can you talk to me as your friend and doctor?”
“Yes. I can.”
To the secretive Louis’s consternation, he poured his heart before the doctor. After his story, Dr. Kadon Quain had to maintain a positive outlook to give him hope because his case was hopeless.
At last, they maintained eye contact, and he spoke, “Mr. Bailey, if I am right, your greatest and immediate need is to have the information on the whereabouts of your fiancee.”
Louis began to sob again and lamented, “I was heartless. I failed her.”
The doctor swallowed hard and cautioned him, “We may not make any headway if you continue like this.”
He locked eyes with him and the doctor requested, “Can I have her number?”
The naturally cautious Louis cast a quizzical look at him before he inquired anxiously, “What do you want to do with my fiancee’s contact?”
“I thought I’m your friend and doctor?” he reminded him.
“I apologize for doubting you, doctor, This is her number.”
The doctor collected it and made a call in his presence and he watched him with keen attention
“Hello, Doc. Good to hear from you,” the person at the other end answered.
“Yes. It is good to hear from you, Kiran, I am going to forward a number to you. Kindly, furnish me with the owner’s whereabouts. Thank you.”
“It is all right, Doctor.”
The doctor cut and looked at Louis for a go-ahead, and he nodded in admittance. Then, he sent Olivia’s contact to Kiran, and they began to wait for his response.
“Let me leave you and attend to other patients. I will be back,” he excused himself after he dropped his phone on the bed.
Louis was surprised as he watched him walk away without his phone. The doctor did that to avoid any suspicion from him. Likewise, he laid back on the bed.
Before the doctor returned to the ward, his phone had beeped with a message alert and rang after a few seconds. Louis did not bother checking the message, as he believed it was rude to check other people’s phones. The doctor picked up his phone, read the message, and returned Kiran’s call before talking to Louis.
“This is the response from Kiran. You can read it by yourself,” he said and handed his phone over to him.
He got up from his bed and sat down before going through the message.
At Dover. Denise’s Apartment.
Denise, who had forgotten that he was a semi-married man, walked into his bedroom without knocking and searched for Olivia. He saw her coming out of the bathroom but she was not properly dressed as she was with only the towel she wrapped around her chest.
On seeing him in the bedroom, she went back to the bathroom.
“Oh! I’m sorry to barge in,” Denise apologized and returned to the sitting room.
He was lying on the sofa reading a magazine when Olivia walked in and sat on the next Chair. She looked at him, not knowing how to address him, but she could only mutter.
“Good morning, Mr.”
Denise rose from the couch, dropped the magazine on the center table, and responded, “Good morning, Angel. How are you now?”
“I’m fine. And you?”
He turned on the television and gave her an affectionate look before replying, “I am fine. Welcome to my humble home. Attempt to make yourself comfortable. Okay?”
“Okay,” she nodded.
“Feel free and don’t hesitate to draw my attention when you need help.”
She nodded again and Denise stood up. He began to walk to the room, but her voice halted him.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Please, what is your name? My name is…”
Denise cut her short politely and declared with a smile, “You don’t need to tell me your name, I already know. My name is Denise. Let me go in and take my bath. As you can see, I’m just coming back from work.”
“It’s all right, Denise.”
He walked upstairs to his bedroom and surveyed it. She had dressed the bed properly. He also noticed that all her stuff was still in her luggage. He walked into the bathroom, and it was the same thing. She had gathered her toiletries into her suitcase. He opened the wardrobe, but none of her clothes were there. There was no sanitary pad in view, both used and unused.
“She must be a reserved girl. She was not intending to stay,” he thought and ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath.
“Miscarriage? Could she be someone’s wife? Or is it an arrangement from God? Let’s see how it goes,” he muttered as he undressed before he got into the bathroom.
He saw the note he dropped for her beneath the bed and picked it up.
‘It must have fallen off when Freya was attempting to take her to the hospital,” he thought and walked to the bathroom.
He took his bath and joined Olivia who was watching the television in the parlor with two cups of tea.