Chapter 3: Tears

"Hey mum" I greeted as we walked into the hospital room. It was late already, probably around 8:30pm. We had unintentionally spent quite a lot of time at the restaurant. From the way she looked at me, I could tell she knew something was wrong.

"Good day Mrs Tania" Lydia greeted with a wide smile.

"Hi Lydia" my mum replied.

"Hey baby, you're early" She said as she came to my side. My dad was not in the room.

"Where's dad?" I asked.

"He's in the bathroom" She replied and I took a deep breath before walking towards the bed. I sat on it, my both hands folded on my laps.

"What's the problem baby?" My mum asked, noticing my distress. Being the only child made her treat me like a kid, even though I was 22 now.

"Mum, the loan sharks came to the restaurant today" I started, the tears already clouding my vision.

"They took everything in the restaurant" I told her and I saw the way her face fell. She tried so hard to hold her tears but she failed and the tears streamed down here cheek.

I turned when I heard a thud by the side and I guess mum heard it too.

"Dad" I screamed when I saw my dad on the floor, it seems he heard what I said earlier. It had not been my plan to inform him, because of his health issue.

"Anthonio" My mum called, rushing to his side. Lydia ran out to call the doctors while my mum and I tried to revive him.

Two nurses ran into the room and we had to give them space to work on him. After many failed attempts at trying to revive him, they placed him on the movable bed and they drove him out.

Tears clouded my vision, but I didn't sob, trying to be strong for my mum who was sobbing loudly.

I hugged her tight, trying to calm her down even though I was on the verge of breaking down too. Lydia came to join us in the hug, I didn't know what I would do without her.

We stayed in the hospital room and after about thirty minutes, a doctor came to meet us.

"How's he?" My mum asked immediately he walked into the room.

"I'm afraid your husband suffered a severe heart attack and we need to perform an emergency Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery to restore blood flow to his heart" He said with a calm voice.

"Surgery?" My mum was as confused as I was.

"But we don't have the money for it" I spoke up this time.

"Whatever he heard hit him pretty hard and he got a heart attack. We need to perform the surgery as soon as possible, or else, he might suffer from cerebral thrombosis which might lead to him being in a coma all his life, or in worst cases, death" He said the last word as if it weighed a lot. He left the room when he was done and my mum fell to the floor, sobs racking her throat.

**********

"Yeah, we can sell this" My mum said as she took off the golden wristwatch on her wrist. I stared at her, streaks of tears coming down my face. Lydia shook my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

"Let's go home, I'll sell all my Jewelries. I know the money would not be enough, but it would go a long way" My mum said and I nodded. It was our only option anyways.

********

We got down from the taxi, a confused expression on our faces as soon as we saw that our door was lying face down close to where it used to be.

My mum rushed into the house and Lydia and I followed suit. There were three men in our sitting room, they were the same men who had come to the restaurant earlier.

"Hey, give me that" My mum yelled, tears flowing down her face as one of the men walked down the stairs with what I recognized to be her jewelry box in his hand.

"And finally they're back" The man whom I had hit earlier said with a smirk on his face.

"Seize the girl" I heard one of the men say and before I could move from where I stood, someone grabbed me from behind.

"Hey, let go of me" I screamed, my foot dangling in the air as he lifted me off the floor as if I weighed nothing.

"Let her go" Lydia tried to come to my rescue but another one of the men held her forcefully by her hair. It was obvious she wasn't a match for them.

"Let her go please, let my daughter go" My mum pleaded with tears in her eyes. It broke my heart to see my mother in so much tears, but what could I do?

"Take all the jewelry, just let her go please" She increased her pleas this time, as if it would change their mind.

The man who had asked them to seize me earlier, spoke up.

"These Jewelries are not enough to pay half the money your husband owes" The man said with a straight face, while massaging his palm that looked like it was sprained.

"Please, please just let her go. I'll look for a way, I'll pay up the money. I'll sell everything I can, just don't take her please" My mum pleaded as she fell on her knees and I couldn't help myself, I cried with her and so did Lydia.

"I'm sorry ma'am. At this point, this is the only option. Let's go" The man said and he didn't wait for my mum to say another word before he turned around. The other guards followed too while two of them held my mum and Lydia.

I felt weak watching them struggle to catch up with me. A tear dropped from my face as I got dumped in the car, and the man entered alongside me. I didn't even try to fight, as I was too tired to. At this point, I just resigned to fate.

Throughout the ride, I couldn't take away the thought of my dad in the hospital and I prayed to God to help me guide him. Without those Jewelries, my mum had no other money and I could tell what would happen to him if she was unable to give the hospital an advance payment for the treatment. So many thoughts ran through my head at once and the weight of it all just crushed me, pushing me into a deep slumber.