THE ENCOUNTER

"Have you told Daniel about it?" Mrs. Darlington asked.

"I have but, uh, he doesn’t want to do it. He says his father is going to die anyway, so there is no need to try something new." He answered. She pursed her lips.

"How could he say that? Doesn’t he want his father to be healthy?" She asked, raising her voice, and the other patients in the ward stared at her.

"No ma'am, you are getting things wrong. He wants that, but um, he doesn’t think he will be able to survive if he goes under the knife." He explained. 

"Let’s try to do it. Please try to contact the doctor. There is no harm in trying." She said she was taking out her phone to call Bella. 

"Alright, ma’am." He said and walked out of the ward. Mrs. Darlington rested her back on the wall with the phone in her ear.

Mason opened the door of the restroom with great force and saw Lily taking her purse from the stall. He also saw Eric standing behind her. They were talking before, but they stopped talking the moment he entered the room. Mason stared at them with a serious face. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He was the same guy that was arranged to marry her, but what were they doing in the restroom.

"Eric, you have to go out before my husband sees us here." Lily said while washing her hands in the sink, but he didn’t reply. "What’s wrong, Eric?" she inquired. She grabbed her purse from the stall and wiped her hand with a tissue. She turned to look at him. She spotted Mason, and the purse fell from her hand. She stared at him with wide eyes. 

"M-Mason," she stammered, staring at him. He was looking at her with curled lips. He shook his head in disbelief. 

"I thought I invaded the privacy of a woman, but it turns out I am not the only one who did that." He remarked, with his gaze fixed on Eric, who didn’t say a word to defend himself.

"Honey, I can expl…" Mason cut in.

"I told you to stop calling me that," Mason said with a creased brow. "If you finish doing what you are doing in there, I will be outside waiting for you." He said and exited the restroom, shutting the door with a bang. 

Lily let out an exasperated sigh, "I told you, you shouldn’t have come here now. My husband is angry." she said with gritted teeth.

"You mean ex-husband?" He corrected. 

"It doesn’t matter. Now he is angry, what will he think of me?" she inquired, gazing at him. "I am talking and you are still here," she whined.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, raising his hands. 

"Ugh! Get out!" She said in a frustrated tone, pushing him out of the restroom. She pushed him out of the restroom. He stood on his feet and adjusted his suit. Mason didn’t pay attention to him; he acted as if he didn’t see him. Eric wanted to talk, but he decided to mind his business. He started walking away. 

Lily looked at her reflection in the mirror and adjusted her makeup. She couldn’t face Mason. Although they had divorced, she still saw him as her husband, and she felt as if she had cheated on him.

You can’t do this. You are not scared of him. He is not God. She thought and squatted, picking up her purse before making her way out of the restroom. As soon as she opened the door, Mason grabbed her hand with his huge arm and pushed her a little with her back against the wall. He put his hand over her, trapping her in place with his angry eyes fixed on her.

"What are you doing? I am pregnant, remember," she said.

"I know, you idiot. You don’t have to tell me." He snarled. 

"What you saw was." He placed his hand on her lips, preventing her from speaking. "You don’t have to explain yourself to me; I saw everything," he said, and removed his hand from her lips. 

"You were in the restroom with the man your parents asked you to marry. Who knows what the both of you were doing in there?" He said with a snarky remark.

"No! "It's not what you think. We didn’t do anything nasty," she protested. He smirked. "So you did something nasty, huh? You know what? I don’t care, but seeing both of you in there makes me doubt if I am even the father of the child you are carrying," he said, her eyes widened. 

"No, don’t say that this child is yours," she said, touching her stomach.

"I don’t think so. I think he is the father of the child," he said, and started walking away. She walked after him.

"This child is yours. We haven’t had sex. You are the only one I have had sex with." she said walking after him, he halted. 

"It’s okay, I get you. Stop talking about sensitive topics in public, you shameless woman," he said, lifting his upper lip in disgust and shaking his head before walking away. She ran after him.

"Here you go, Peter." Mason said, handing the polythene bag containing the medication he bought to Peter. Peter took it from him and looked inside. 

"So many medications. My boss hates taking medicine. How much did it cost? I will pay you." Peter said, putting his hand into his pocket.

"No! No! need to pay me. You know who Amber is to me?" Mason said, staring at him.

"Who is she to you?" Peter asked bluntly. 

"Um, she is the woman I want to get married to. Forget about it. How is she now?" Mason asked.

"I don’t know. I haven’t been allowed to see her." Peter replied. 

"I will be back tomorrow. I have to go home now. I am exhausted. I hope she gets well soon." Mason said.

I hope she dies. Lily thought, glaring at them.

"Me too," Peter said, looking down with his hand folded across his chest.