CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“We’re at the hospital”, said the driver.

Rayna and Christopher looked out the window and saw that the three of them had already arrived and were waiting for them.

“Hey, how did you get here before us?”, Chris asked, confused. “I’m very sure we were ahead of you.”

“I think they took the shortcut, young man”, the driver replied, smiling a little.

“That’s right, sir. There’s this cool shortcut that the driver showed us, and I’m definitely using it the next time I ride my bicycle along this way”, Ash replied excitedly.

“Dang, your bruises are becoming more visible now”, Maeve remarked, reaching out to touch his cheek, where the bruises were. He moved away from her hand before it could make any contact with his face.

“Yeah. Uh, Isa, could you take care of this for me? Yeah.” He paid the driver and thanked him. The driver nodded and went on his way.

Rayna saw what he did to Maeve, well, all of them did. Rayna was becoming irritated by Chris’s attitude towards her lately, and she made a mental note to talk to him about it later.

Maeve must have been the one to understand the message the most because immediately after he did that, she was hurt. Chris was a good friend of hers, and she didn’t understand why he’d been mad at her. From that Friday evening when she went to his house and got… ‘Chrissed’, she’d been thinking about what she could’ve done to annoy him. What’s worse, he wasn’t even telling her what she did wrong. He just avoided touching her, talking to her, looking at her, and the few times he did, he looked… irritated somewhat. He’s done it again, in front of everyone in their group, and she wanted to cry. She looked at Rayna and saw her glaring at Chris. Rayna looked away just in time to meet Mae’s eyes. She shook her head slightly to her, to imply that she shouldn’t cry. Mae understood and nodded.

Isa and Ashton also exchanged glances. Isa was confused, but Ashton was more aware and didn’t understand his best buddy’s problem.

The five of them went into Michaelson Memorial Hospital to visit Mr. Devon.

“Hey, what are you kids doing here?”, Mrs. Devon said when they entered the ward, with a look of immense surprise on her face.

“We wanted to know how Dad was doing”, Chris answered for the rest of them.

“Aw, that’s very thoughtful of you children”, Mrs. Devon smiled warmly. She was a lovely woman, with beautiful red hair and green eyes, like those of her son. She was around 5’11 and had a beautiful figure. Aye, Mr. Devon has wonderful taste. Chris had his mother’s green eyes, but he had his dad’s blonde hair.

Nah, Chris was a pretty boy.

“Well then, but if you’re here, who’s with James?”

“Uh…”, Chris trailed off.

“He’ll be fine, Mrs. Devon. He’s not that little. And besides, he’s responsible. Let’s give him some credit. We’re leaving soon anyway”, Isa answered, getting rid of Mrs. Devon’s worries.

“Well, I guess you’re right.”

Chris was seated at his father’s side the second he answered his mother. He was holding his father’s hand to his chest.

“How is he, Mom?”

She went to her son’s side. His friends gathered round Mr. Devon’s bed.

“It was a minor heart attack, heavy on the minor. Apparently, he’ll be fine. Even in sickness, your father’s such a drama queen, or rather, king”, she chuckled very softly.

Chris smiled up at his mother. He stood and hugged his mother. Maeve smiled at them, in spite of herself. Isa draped her left arm across Ashton’s shoulder. He tried to push it off, but Isa didn’t budge. Ash let it be.

“Alright, Mrs. Devon. We’re glad. When will he leave the hospital?”, Ray asked.

“He needs some monitoring”, she detached herself from her son’s embrace, “so he’ll be here for two more days.”

“I am not staying here for another day, woman.”

Mr. Devon sat upright. His wife was right, he looked pretty alright.

“Dad!” He reached out to hug his father, and Mr. Devon returned the hug.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Well, you do look pretty alright”, Chris agreed with his father. “But you should probably stay here and rest up. The doctor says you still need some monitoring.”

“I can rest up at home. Your mother can monitor me, it comes with the marriage package.”

Mrs. Devon rolled her eyes at her husband’s statement. Ashton wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Really?”

“Get lost Ashton”, she hit the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“Drama”, Ray shook her head.

“Anyway”, Chris continued after he shook his head and laughed at the silly things going on the room, “I’m with Mom on this one. See you in two days’ time, Dad.”

“Come on Christopher, seriously. What did your mother promise you?”, Mr. Devon groaned.

“Don’t you bring me into this. I didn’t even know he was coming here today.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Thank you for being alright, Dad. Really”, Chris said earnestly.

“Uhh, what’s up kiddo?”, Mr. Devon looked concerned.

“Nah, I’m not telling you. We’d have surgically reattach your head back onto your body because it’d grow so big it’d fall off."

Ashton snickered.

“Nice, nice. You score, Christopher. Get on out of here.” His father turned his head away, and Chris laughed. He left the room.

“Such a child”, Mrs. Devon shook her head at her husband.

“Let’s go. Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Devon”, Isa said, pulling Maeve along.

“Get well soon”, Rayna said to Mr. Devon as well.

“Yeah, Mr. D”, Ashton put in.

Isabelle and Maeve left first, but as Ashton and Rayna made to leave…

“Wait.”

Mr. Devon stopped them. “Hold on.”

“What’s…wrong?”, Rayna tilted her head a little to the right.

“Chris and Maeve, what happened between them? The air in here was a little chilly.”

“Oh, that. Well, Chris hasn’t been the best guy since he found out that his feelings were one sided”, Ashton sighed.

“Really? That’s…”, his father began laughing.

“Aw, my poor boy”, his mother placed her right on her chest, feeling for her first child.

“What’s funny, old man?”

Mr. Devon dramatically gasped, “You did not just call me old.”

“Of course not, how could I?”, his wife violently shook her head.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“Yes, I am.”

Ashton snorted, and Rayna hit the back of his head.

“Elaine.”

“Yes?”, she replied to him, with fake sweetness, then she turned her attention back to Mr. Devon.

“I’d already made up my mind to talk to him when I get the chance. I definitely will, so don’t worry. He’s been treating Maeve like some… flu, or something. He did it again at the entrance of the hospital, that’s why you felt that ‘air’. I’ll talk to him”, she sighed.

“Of course. I trust you. Can’t say the same for the other one though”, Mr. Devon replied, referring to Ashton.

“Hey, I’m trustworthy too!”, the boy in question protested.

“Yeah, sure”, Rayna and Mr. Devon chorused together.

It was Ashton’s turn to roll his eyes.

Just as Rayna was about to open the door for her and Ashton to leave, Maeve opened it and stuck her head in.

“What’s taking you guys so long? The taxi has waited a while now.”

“As you can see, we’re on our way”, Ashton replied for them. “Bye Mr. and Mrs. Devon, again.”

“Bye, Rayna”, they replied, ignoring Ashton. He shook his head and left the ward. Maeve and Rayna laughed at their friend, walking behind him.

They arrived at the hospital’s entrance and met a patient taxi driver, a relaxed Christopher and a face-buried-in-her-phone Isabelle.

Chris noticed them first. “Why didn’t you guys come right out?”, he stood properly. He looked relaxed, really.

“Your dad had a question”, Ray said.

“A question? What about?”

“Not your business until later. Let’s go”, Ash patted his buddy’s back and pushed him a little, to the taxis.

“What?”

“Chris, shut up, and let’s go”, Isa groaned.

He was offended, and was about to say something, when Isa glared at him.

“Kay, let’s go”, he ended up saying.

This time though, Rayna and Maeve got into the one taxi, and the rest got into the other.

When the driver of Ray and Maeve’s taxi started to drive, Rayna looked at her friend.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am. Why shouldn’t I be?”, Maeve replied. Well, she did look fine, but then again, Maeve was good at that; concealing her negative emotions. Sometimes, even to me, Rayna thought.

“Really?”

“Again, is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”

“Well, I guess not.”

Maeve looked out her window throughout the ride. She alighted first.

“I’ll text”, she said.

“Cool”, came the reply.

The driver drove on to Rayna’s place. She zoned out, looking out the window too, her mind going to many places.

Some, places of pain.

Some, places of yearnings.

The rest? Places of hope.

Hello!

I'm very sorry. I was going through a period of writers block. The fact that I didn't remember how I planned this book didn't help either. I made a planner some time ago, and I found it, so I've remembered part of it, Yayy!

This book is going to be in three parts.

The next chapter was supposed to be the last chapter of this part, but I haven't included a good number of stuff, so it'll be two chapters now. This part was just like an introduction, sort of. I have it in mind to make the remaining two parts thrilling, so congratulations if you've made it this far, I'll try as hard as I can not to let you down.

I hope I'll have less writer's blocks .

Please drop your thoughts or opinions in the comment section.

Love,

MUNAJ.