18 Why is Oscar here?

"Hmm, Oscar?" Emily looked at the handsome young man rushing towards the building. She kept her eyes trained on him and watched his moves.

She held the half-eaten sandwich in her hand and craned her neck out of the window to see where he was rushing.

"What's wrong, Emily?" Gerald asked. His attention turned towards her. After all, it was rare when she was interested in something other than food.

"Nothing. I feel like I saw a friend, but I guess I'm mistaken."

"I see." Gerald wondered who her friend might be. After all, she did not have many friends. But he did not pay any more attention to it.

"Hey Emily, I forgot to ask… what did the doctors say?"

"They said, it is nothing major. She will heal in no time. But I'm worried about something else."

"What is it?"

"Scars, Gerald. Many girls can't bear to see scars on themselves, or rather, their skins." She inhaled a deep breath, the smell of medicine and disinfectant rushing up her nostrils, down her lungs, filling her with a sense of loneliness and sadness.

She thought about her mother's scars. Thinking about her, made her realize that she hadn't called her mother. Neither had she informed her that she might not be able to rush there in the evening.

She turned her head and looked outside again, pouting at the thought that her mother did not bother to call her either.

'At least, she should've called me. I may have said something hurtful like that, but she is my mother. She should understand whatever I said was for her own good only. Why did she have to apologize even though it was not her fault?'

Sighing, she dialed her mother's number. It went to voicemail.

"Huh? How is that possible?" Emily wondered out loud.

She couldn't possibly rush to that hospital now. Even though it was only 20 minutes away, she couldn't leave Meera in charge of Gerald here. She knew Gerald couldn't enter hospitals as it made him nauseous.

'Oscar's phone was unreachable, and now this call is also going to voicemail. What the hell is happening?'

Emily tried to dial Oscar's number again, but it was still not reachable.

"Huh?"

"What happened, Emily?"

"Dunno…"

"Hm?" Gerald leaned forward, caught her chin and turned it towards him, trying to make her look into his eyes.

Her eyes were moist with stubborn tears, which refused to fall. Her lips quivered with silent protest, but before Gerald could open his mouth, Emily grabbed his shirt and burrowed herself into his chest.

Gerald looked at the woman in front of him in awe.

He made no noise. Holding her with one hand, he gently caressed her hair with another, giving her the strength in silence.

'Hic,' she hiccuped. Gerald took the bottle from the holder and then opened the cap before placing it near her lips, urging her to take a sip.

Emily stared at the bottle without any movement. Gerald couldn't understand what she wanted. He was going to pull the bottle away, when she left his shirt and held the bottle with her own hands. The half-eaten sandwich lay forgotten on her lap.

Gerald rolled his eyes at her antics. But he realized that something was wrong with her. She was behaving normally a while back, but something must have happened for her to behave in this way.

'Tsk tsk, what a day!' he thought.

He eyed her sandwich and was going to pick it up when she swatted his hands away and tore a big bite out of it and gulped it immediately before putting the rest inside her mouth.

"Hey, I wasn't gonna eat it."

With a mouth full of food, she said, "Who beliefs you?"

Gerald smiled, and said, "Now tell me what's bothering you."

She put her guard up immediately. An invisible wall suddenly surrounded her. She shriveled up and forced herself into her shell. The coldness that radiated from her suffocated him. It was a clear warning of not overstepping his boundaries.

She opened the door of the car and walked towards the hospital building. Before going, she turned around and said, "I will not disturb you anymore. You can take a nap or do whatever you feel like."

Entering the hospital, Emily looked around for signs of Oscar. She did not see any signs of him and so, she made way to Meera's ward. They treated her and kept her under observation for 24 hours.

Emily sat outside on the bench and slowly leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes. The noisy outside wall dissolved around her, replaced by beautiful lotuses and fairies.

It was quite peaceful there. Emily wanted to be a fish to swim in that lotus pond, or a fairy to fly from flower to flower and chant with them. It was such a beautiful world that Emily did not want to blink, but reality gave a slap on her face and woke her up.

Someone was shaking her.

"Emily… Emily… Why are you here?"

"You are actually here. I wasn't dreaming. " Emily rubbed her eyes vigorously.

"What are you talking about? Are you okay? Why are you in this hospital?"

"My friend got injured, so I brought her here."

"I see. Well then, I shall take my leave. I have some urgent work to do."

The man turned around to leave.

"Oscar," she stopped him and said, "why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?"

"Emily, you're just being paranoid." He laughed and waved her off.

"Am I?" She scratched her head and then added, "maybe."

Oscar looked at her. She was definitely losing it. Poor girl had been through a lot and he did not know how to soothe her pain. He did not know how to tell her about her mother either. Maybe he would just persuade her to go visit her mother the next day instead. But what if she had already noticed something off? Oscar looked at her, many thoughts running through his mind, confusing him.

He only hoped that Emily wouldn't blame him. He didn't know why he was attracted to this girl, but if he could do something for her, he would. And, right now, all she needed was some peace; he shouldn't add more worry to her already existing ones.

Oscar heaved a sigh. He patted her on the head and walked towards the exit. Hopefully, she wouldn't rush to check on her mother. Oscar decided that he would return late at night. But before that he had to make sure Emily didn't visit the Murica Cancer Speciality Hospital tonight.