19 Aden

Emily leaned her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes. These few days she was running constantly, without any direction. All bad things seemed to happen to her only.

Gerald closed his eyes as he leaned against the headrest of his car seat. When Emily was here, he could at least spend his time talking to her, but now that she was inside the hospital, he could only close his eyes and get some rest.

He thought back to the incident that happened earlier this day. Ira came to his company, despite knowing that he despised her interference in his work. She came and hurled profanities at Emily, who did not say a single thing until she saw Meera's condition.

He should have instructed the security to not let Ira in. It was his mistake, but who was paying for it? Meera and Emily; one was lying on the hospital bed; the other was spending yet another sleepless night at hospital. She did not even go to meet her parents.

Gerald wanted to enter the hospital and tell Emily to go and get some rest for a while, but he couldn't.

Gerald sat up straight, bent forward and took the phone from the dashboard of his car and called Emily. He heard the muffled sound of her ringtone coming from the passenger seat. She had left her phone in his car. He facepalmed. What a careless girl she was!

Having no other option, he called Aden.

"Hello Boss? Is Meera alright?"

"Yes Aden, she's alright. But I need your favor."

"What is it, Boss?"

"Can you come to the Life Line Hospital right now?"

"Boss, tell me the truth. Did something happen to Meera?"

"I told you that she's alright. Just come here, okay?"

"Okay Boss. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks Aden."

Gerald got down from his car and slowly walked towards the entrance of the hospital and tried to peek inside. It was getting late and most of the people from the patients' families had gone home by now.

Gerald took a deep breath and stepped inside. He went to the reception. A lady was standing behind the desk and talking to a group of doctors.

"Madam, may I know which ward Ms. Meera Reed is in?"

She looked at Gerald and nodded. With a few clicks, she found the desired results and said, "Ward 33. Are you from the patient's family? We need a sign here. The lady sitting outside Ms. Reed's room couldn't sign the documents as she fell asleep. She looked tired, so we didn't wake her up."

Gerald nodded. Taking the pen out of his pocket, he signed the necessary documents.

"Umm, I just wanted to ask whether I can speak to the doctor now?"

"Actually Sir, he left half an hour ago. You can't meet him before tomorrow morning."

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem, Sir."

Gerald hastened his footsteps and hurried towards Emily and Meera. Emily was not allowed to sit inside the ward, so she was sleeping outside on the bench.

When Gerald reached the ward, he saw Emily curled up on the bench; her hands were balled into fists as she twisted and turned her head.

"Emily?" he prodded her.

Gerald realized that she was having nightmares.

'What could haunt her so much that she refused to open her eyes?' Gerald wondered.

Placing his hand on her head, he gently patted her on the head. The smell of the medicines, disinfectant and blood was overwhelming his senses.

Before he lost his senses and his patience, he decided to carry Emily to his car. The sound of heavy boots broke the silence of the corridor. Gerald turned around, assuming a protective stance over Emily.

"Boss?"

"Aden, it's you!" Gerald heaved a sigh of relief. Gerald did not understand why he got scared. He patted his chest and looked at Aden and said, "I'm taking her outside. Can you stay here for a while? We don't want to leave Meera alone. And, I don't want her to stay here. She needs some rest. We will be outside in my car. Can you stay here for a while then we will swap?"

"No problem, Boss. Did you speak to the doctor?"

"No, Emily did. But she is asleep now. I wanted to talk to him too, but I asked the reception and they told me that he left 45 minutes ago."

Aden nodded. He was Gerald's chief secretary. He worked alongside Meera. He had gone out of the country to make some deals on behalf of Gerald.

When he returned, he heard that Ira had returned and splashed coffee on Meera. He had told Gerald earlier that he should restrict her free entry and exit from the company. But Gerald never listened. Aden knew that Gerald had his own problems, but splashing coffee on a company's employee crossed the line. He did not want to talk to Gerald about this right now.

Gerald bent down and placed his hands under Emily's knees. Suddenly a punch headed his way. With his quick reflexes, he held the hand in a tight grip and was going to shout when he realized it was Emily's hand and he left it at once.

"What the heck?" Gerald muttered before carrying Emily.

"You have started to defend people in your sleep as well, huh?" Gerald said. His voice carried a tone of indulgence.

Aden sat down at the same place Emily was sitting earlier. He wanted to take a look at Meera, so he peeked into the ward from the small glass window on the door. She was lying there, asleep. Taking out his phone, he started playing his favorite game—Ascend.

It was a multiplayer game and his friends were online. Logging in, he started playing.

From the corner of the eye, he saw Gerald carrying Emily outside in big strides. He concentrated on his game while keeping an eye on Meera's ward.

Gerald came outside and took a deep breath. The fresh, cold air hit his lungs and he felt revitalized once more.

Thankfully, Aden made it on time. Opening the lock, he bent down and slowly placed Emily on the back-seat of the car. He tried to move away and felt some resistance on his neck.

He looked down. Emily was holding onto his shirt tightly. He tried to remove her hands. Her brows scrunched up as if she was in extreme pain.

"Emily, it's alright. I'm here. You need to stop biting your lips. Come on." He placed the thumb of his right hand and gently tugged at her lower lip.

Gerald gently pulled his shirt out of her hand and then folded her legs so that she wouldn't have cramps from sleeping in the same position all night. Taking the blanket from the back, he covered her with it and then locked the door.

Entering the driver's seat, he set up an alarm on his phone and placed their phones on the dashboard.

"What an eventful day it is!" he exclaimed and drifted off to dreamland.