“Alex, are you okay?” Alex’s grandmother’s weak voice came on. Alex didn’t take his eyes off their hands. He had taken her hand into his from the moment he stepped in and pulled the chair opposite her sick bed. He stole a glance at her and quickly looked away. Alex had plenty of medical knowledge, but he could not save his beloved grandmother now. Because she had no disease, the only problem is she’s running out of her age. Alex could not change the rule of nature. “Do you always look this sad before your patients?” she mumbled. “Not when they are my grandmother.” He sniffled. Tears were already welling up in his eyes but he had vowed not to cry. Not before her. She had thought him to be brave all his life after all. Alex slowly lifted his head and then their eyes met. He wanted to turn away so badly from the eye lock he had been averting. He could feel the weariness in her forest-green eyes. “I wish I could save you!” She flashed a weak smile. “You’ve done enough Alex.” Sh
The grandma didn’t make it. In 3 days, Alex organized her funeral, buried her in her hometown. Standing in front of her tomb, Alex sighed and adjusted the dark spectacles shielding his eyes. It instantly dawned on him that his grandmother sent him away to make some soup probably because she didn’t want him to see her take her last breath. He wondered whether it was a good judgment. He had wanted to be by her side till she took her last breathe but till then, he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the moment. “I hope you are at peace, Grandma.” He mumbled and turned around. He had said only a few things since she passed away. He had little conversations with the people at the funeral home and only muttered a thank you to the priest who officiated the burial rite. Alex was about to take a step toward his black spot car which was parked on the driveway opposite the cemetery when he felt his phone vibrating in his breast pocket. He pulled out the device and after glancing at the p
Standing in front of the apartment of Elisa, Alex was calm. He was going to finish everything today.However, before he enter the building, his phone began to ring.“My condolences, boss.” A very humble voice came from the phone.“Thank you.” He responded and wished the statement never came. It reminded him that he was grieving and he knew that he’d drown in such statements when he eventually resumed work soon.“I may have to inform you that someone from Milton Group called this morning.” The caller proceeded.“They are almost bankrupt and are kind of desperate. The owner, he begged us to invest...we could use their company to carry out our plan.”Alex asked calmly while running his hand through his hair, “What’s their total worth?”“10 million dollars.”“10 million dollars?” Alex frowned, “You know what William, it’s not a good idea bothering me with such small deals.”“I’m very sorry boss.” William's voice was cautious, he continued, “But they do own a good land, which they thought
Mrs. Sanders looked at Alex with suspecting eyes, “Well, this was quite unexpected, it seems now you can recognize what’s happening. Mark is the one who really deserve Elisa. You cannot change anything.”Elisa snatched the document from her mother, ripping it out of its file. The empty file ended up landing on the floor. She quickly read through the papers and then looked up at Alex.He wasn’t lying. The documents were legal divorce papers and he wasn’t requesting for a dime despite the injustice she had served him in the past few days. Even though Elisa had grown to know him in the past three years not to be a cheap man, she wasn’t expecting such composure from him after everything that went down.She could see him getting settled on one of the couches. Elisa couldn’t help but wonder.Who shows up at his wife’s, looking prim and proper with divorce papers acting so cool after he caught her cheating. She was expecting him to throw insults at her, remind her of the act with Mark, and s
Alex left with his ironical smile, while Mark was holding his fist tightly.Mrs. Sanders noticed that Mark was angry, she comforted him, “Don’t mad at this silly bastard, Alex is just a uneducated loser, treating your kindness as shit, how ungrateful!”Mark took a deep breath, he tried to pretend to be a gentle man, forced a smile and said, “It’s OK Mrs. Sanders.”Elisa collapsed on the couch and took her head into her hands. At that point, reality began to dawn on her. If she signed those papers, her three-year marriage with Alex would automatically come to an end and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that move because as far as she was concerned, she wasn’t done using him.She darted her gaze to the papers on the table and shook her head in filial objection. She had been completely taken off guard.Wasn’t that what you wanted Elisa? She asked herself.She had always dreamt of the moment she’d be with Mark, out of Alex’s life for good and now that her dreams were coming true, she
Alex sighed and wondered how he could have forgotten. That night, he had returned home and met Elisa weeping on the couch. On the floor below her feet was an empty bottle of whisky and when he rushed to her, he noticed that she was drunk. Her eyes were red and swollen, marred by tears and when he confronted her, she revealed to him that she was devastated because she had a passion for music but was unknown. That night, Alex discovered that her quest for popularity was greater than mere utterance. The next day, he asked his sibling to purchase an entertainment company named White Moon Company. With this company, he contacted the mysterious composer, asked they to write a song for Elisa. Today there will be a party to announce the official statement to all the artists and staff. Alex frowned. “I see, so she is one of the White Moon Company too? What happened to her?” “Yes, sir. Her name is Dianna Lampton, the only daughter of the Lampton's family. She is also the best singer of Wh
Mrs. Lampton flipped her straight hair and darted her gaze toward Alex. She studied him and turned back to William. “Is this the man who is going to look after my daughter?”“Yes of course.” William replied.Mrs. Lampton looked at Alex with suspecting eyes. He is too young, without white coat nor stethscope around his neck. This is the doctor Mr. Turner brought?Mrs. Turner didn’t want Alex to see her daughter, but she offended Mr. Turner just now, how could she let him lose face again?With Mr. Turner’s power, their family would be done.Mr. Lampton had to say cautiously with a flattery smile, “I’m sorry Mr. Turner, but honestly we’ve found a good doctor, now he is examining my daughter, so...maybe it’s not convenient for Alex to enter...”Alex frowned, if that doctor could cure Dianna, he was OK with that. Anyway he was here to visit this girl, not to show his medical skill.William tried to say something, but Alex stopped him and said, “It’s OK Mrs. Lampton, I wish your daughter c
Dr. O’Donnell was infuriated by Mr. Lampton’s reaction. As more sweat continued to team up on his forehead, he wanted to demand why Mr. Lampton struck him but then he made a quick analysis of the situation at hand. He realized that he was standing before the Almighty William Turner and only a fool would disagree with such a man so the doctor simply sighed and looked away with his bowels heating up with rage. Mr. Lampton then cleaned his forehead with the edge of his palm and turned toward William after heaving a sigh. His lips parted and just when he was about to mumble an apology, William stopped him short with a half-smile. “That’s okay,” William said and waved his hand down, motioning to Mr. Lampton to ignore the doctor. Meanwhile, Dr. O’Donnell was still holding onto the conviction that fried Cicada was not an option because as far as he was concerned, the cicada Alex was proposing was in no way related to the ailment at hand but he chose to stay quiet or might get hit again.