Chapter 12 Chapter 12

He came out and showed some appreciation to the guard. He walked into the hospital to meet his friend and take the news about his mother's situation.

He called his friend when he was at the passageway as he did not find his friend where others were seated when he walked in.

Duke looked around the hospital like a child searching for his mother in the crowd. Henry's phone was switched off probably because of the low battery as he had been in the hospital all night.

Duke walked across the hall going to the other side to seat down while waiting for his friend to return from where he was.

Eva had also arrived at the hospital premises and she came down from the taxi, paid the cab driver, and rushed into the hospital.

She was so worried as to how her friend was going to be feeling at that particular moment knowing fully well that she wasn't feeling too well.

Eva headed to the reception desk and asked for Mrs. Marvin and the nurse looked through the patient's names on her desktop and directed me to take the corridor straight and she was going to see ward 5.

Eva hurriedly left for the description that the nurse had given to her.

Bethany was sitting down on a chair that was leaned to the wall and the long corridor continued till the end of the building.

Saint Thomas hospital was a big hospital that was known for its clean records and hospitality towards everyone that walked in there.

The hospital existed for year's and its founders were roman catholic priests who together built the hospital for the poor and the needy to have free medications and treatment.

The hospital was an embodiment of charity organizations and rich men who became partners and donated money for the building and equipment of the hospital.

"Betty", Eva spoke softly as she placed her hand on her friend's shoulder sitting down by her.

Bethany with a sad look put up her head and on seeing her friend, she started crying bitterly.

Bryan was just sitting there at the corner of the bench as though he had lost his voice.

" You are not alone my dear, I am here with you", she mumbled with a smile.

Bethany was in deep pain as to how her mother must be feeling and how she was going to raise the money for her surgery.

"How are we going to be able to pay for my mother's surgery Eva, where will I get that kind of money from", She asked weeping as though her mom had already given up the ghost.

She was feeling bad for her mother and just the thought of seeing her suffering, killed her a thousand times.

"You have to calm down Betty at least for the sake of your mother and junior brother", Eva consoling her friend said words to her.

Eva was afraid that her friend might suffer something severe as she had not fully recovered from the shock she too had from the hotel incident.

She was about to ask whether Betty had taken her drugs that morning but she didn't want it to seem like she was not compassionate about what was going through at that moment.

" How is your mother's state now Betty?", she asked aiding her friend's head on her shoulder and wiping off the tears on her eyes.

"She is still in the ICU on oxygen", Bryan seized the utterances from his sister's mouth as he had discovered that all she did was whimper and the phrases could not find their way out.

Eva sighed like someone who was giving up on life and she held Bryans's hands and said that everything was going to be okay.

Eva and Bethany were friends but Eva being the older one, has always played the role of a protective sister to her friend.

" Have you both have had something to eat?", Eva asked Bryan with so much concern.

Bryan breathe in hard and replied,

"Nothing since morning as we found mom fighting for her life in her room in the dawning, so we rushed her to the hospital at once", he further explained.

Eva, searching her bag to get her purse and to give Bryan some money to go get something for him and his sister to eat, decided to stay with Bethany.

But Bethany said she needed to have the hospital for a while as she had to run around to seek help from her other friends and neighbors.

Her mother had to undergo surgery this time around as her heart condition has been getting worst these past few weeks.

"You will stay here and call to inform me if there are any changes on the mother's case, and also let me know at once as soon as you sight doctor Travis in the hospital. am I understood?", she asked her brother as she left him struct instructions to follow.

Bryan nodded in understanding as he did not have the intention of disobeying his sister, not this time.

" I will get you something to eat and I will also pass by the house to get some clothes and a cover for mom when coming back", she uttered to her brother not knowing how to go about the predicament but she had to maintain her calm.

She turned to Eva and with an assurance to her mother, she touched his cheeks like she always did and left with Eva.

Henry was back from the privy probably to ease himself and wash off his face as he had spent the night at the hospital.

Duke upon seeing him stood up from his seat and walked in his direction.

Henry who had bit yet seen his friend returned to the position that he was occupying while waiting for the nurses in charge of his mother to come back to tell him the new development in her case.

Duke on approaching his friend spoke softly,

"Good morning bro", he murmured placing his hand on his friend's right shoulder.

Henry who was happy to see his friend again stood up and embraced him with warmness in his heart.

" You are here Duke, I am glad to see you", he said in a pleased mood.

Duke noted that he had arrived at the hospital but could not find him at the reception so he tried dialing his line but his phone was not connecting.

He thought that he had left the hospital but then he looked outside wondering where Henry was, and he saw his car at the parking lodge.

Henry narrated that he had gone to meet with the doctor that was in charge of his Mother's issue and he was told that a city scan was going to be made that morning to see if she had other cracked bones or mutilated tissues and most importantly blood clot in her brain.

"And how is she now, have the scan been carried out already?", Duke asked as he sat in the other chair that was vacant near his friend.

Henry nodded in confirmation. From the doctor's office, he went into the bathroom to clean up.

Duke was glad to know that there was some improvement.

He remembered that he had bought some fruits and energy drinks for both Henry and his mother so he excused himself and went into his car to bring them.

Bethany and Eva were don't reaching the reception room and Bethany was not careful in looking in directions as she was worried about asking her friend how she was to raise the money for the operation.

" I have lost my job and I have no idea of how long it will take before I can get another job that will be as good as the one at the hotel?", she grumbled.

Eva could feel her pain and she had a means of always making money outside the hotel because she had 2 siblings to take care of as well and paying for their tuition fees and other expenses.

But she could not propose it to her friend and she could only afford to help her with just what she had as she too had lost her work just as Bethany.

"Hey Eva, are you still listening to me?. You seem to be lost in thoughts more than me who is faced with a serious problem", Bethany asked her friend wondering why she had all of a sudden gone quiet.

Eva explained to her friend that she would have loved to help more if she could but then they just had to keep the faith.

She remembered that Sir Duke had promised to fit them in some other jobs at his different companies, but the actual problem then was how soon was that going to be?.

Eva understood perfectly well what her friends were going through as she had been in a similar situation years back when her mother had an accident but couldn't survive it as there was no money to carry out an operation to save her life.

As they both walked out of the hospital premises, Bethany remembered that he could call her childhood friend to ask for help.

She took out her phone from her pocket and while she concentrated to dial the number, Duke was also coming into the hospital from outside.

Before Eva could tell Bethany to look at where she is stepping her legs, Duke and her collided with so much force and they fell on the ground in front of everyone.

The whole hospital was in total amazement at what had just happened. Eva opened her eyes and mouth at the same time when she noticed that the man that had fallen with her friend was none other than the boss himself.

Getting a grip of herself and taking a deep gust, she went down to help Duke but she did not pay attention to the person that was also going down to hold Duke's hand, and their heads bumped into each other.

The saga was just so much just in some couple of minutes and the staff rushed there to help them get on their feet.

Bethany getting back on her feet had not yet realized that it was Duke that she clashed with as she was still trying to regain her stamina.

Eva ran to her friend to check if she had nothing broken and to find out if she was okay, Bethany that had been wiping up herself took up her head to tell her friend that she was fine, but her eyes fell on Duke.

The atmosphere became more tensed when Duke too noticed that the girl he had saved was the person that he had called with.

" You?", they both asked in surprise as the next thing that followed was an unexpected questioning from Bethany.

"What are you doing here, what do you want from me, are you stalking me?", Bethany spoke so quickly that she did not have the time to think properly of what she was uttering out of her mouth.

Eva tried to close her friends out from saying such nonsense things while apologizing to their boss on behalf of her friend.

" Bethany, he is our boss, why will you talk to him in that manner, besides you both bumped on each other because you were not looking at where you were going so why say he is stalking you?", Eva corrected her friend.

Bethany was aware that her friend was a straightforward person who says things as they appeared without any beating about the bush.

With a gaze of shame, Bethany bowed down her head and apologized to Duke as she recognized her mistake but because their first encounter wasn't the best, she still had that unforgiving look on her face all because he is a rich guy.

Duke looked at her and said,

"How are you Ms., I can see that you are sound and fine from the last time that I saw you", he spoke softly looking at her straight in the face.

Bethany's tongue-tied, could not speak anymore and her head seemed to have been attracted to something on the ground as she couldn't lift it up.

Henry who had been looking at the whole scenario asked Duke if he knew Bethany from someplace because there seemed to be a silly tension between the two of them.

Duke sighing as a child that had committed a sin and had hidden it from his parents, turned to his friend and responded,

" Yes, I know her. As a matter of fact, this beautiful young lady you see here, is the same person I rescued during the hotel incident and she did not have the courtesy to say thank you after she recovered", he explained with a shaky voice and painful eyes.

Henry, on hearing this, forgot about his own problems and approached Bethany with shaky lips and grinding teeth as he wondered how ungrateful such a beautiful lady could be.

As he was talking to her, he was able to recognize her as they had an ugly encounter in the morning when Bethany was stunned on his leg and almost hit the ground.

"Hey, I think I have seen you today here at the hospital", Henry said while collecting on how polite and apologetic Bethany had been when she hurt him in the morning.

Bethany looked at him and recognized him too and with a deep sigh she looked down again,

"I am sorry for not appreciating your efforts and for not being grateful", Bethany said with a pale voice as tears fell down from her eyes like a running spout.

Duke could not believe his ears as he heard her apologies. He turned and looked at his friend and also at Eva.

Bethany mustered the courage to look at him in the face and straight in the eyes, without blinking she added,

" I was told that you were the person who paid for my hospital bill and for that I say thank you and be rest assured that I will refund the money as soon as I find a job". She whimpered as she later turned to her friend and said that they should leave.

Eva stood there immobile as Duke and Henry as the men wonder what kind of person Bethany was.

Duke was wondering what she was still doing at the hospital, and he decided to ask Eva if there was still a problem.

Eva did not hesitate to narrate the whole story to Duke and wearing a sad face, she said that her friend's mother needed a heart transplant ad her heart has deteriorated.

Duke and Henry who have been listening to her keenly, we're sad about the situation and did not know what to say to Eva except to extend their sincere sympathy.

"How is she coping with the news?", Duke asked Eva showing some extra concern to the matter.

Eva taking a deep breath as though she had been in labor for hours without any sign of the baby coming out, she responded,

" Bethany has always been the one taking care of her mother and kid brother since her dad password away", she narrated with a disheartening spirit.

She has been doing linear jobs all over just to put her act together and to also provide for her mother's therapy while hoping to have enough money to pay for her mother's surgery.

Eva was aware that if her friend finds out that she was doing all that, she will get mad at her, but she was of the opinion that when you ask for help it will be given.

Henry looked at Eva with so much admiration for looking after her friend and this made him to ask for her name and which she gave.

Duke told Henry that both Eva and Bethany were his staff at the hotel and before he could finish his statement, Eva had set in saying that she was jobless and needed a job.

Henry told her to pass by his office the next day with her file telling his secretary that he sent her there.

"It will just be a temporal job till your boss here finally sorts out what to do about the previous jobs", Henry talked to Eva searching for his commentary card in his wallet.

Eva with a broad smile on her lips said thank you and further asked if she could make a request,

Henry accepted and asked her to go on with her request.

She requested for her friend to be part of the offer as she was in desperate need of money to pay for her mother's heart transplant.

Henry equally accepted to telling Eva to tell her friend too to submit tomorrow.

Eva was filled with joy and she could not stop thanking Henry and Duke for being so kind.

Duke drew in a breath and with a straight face he asked Eva in what ward Bethany's mother was in

"She is in ward 5 and she is on oxygen. Bethany's younger brother is just in front of the ward and he is sitting on a bench in the corridor", Eva explained remembering that she too had met Duke there at the hospital and asked him what he was doing there as well.

Henry responded saying that his mother was involved in an accident yesterday and so she was in that hospital.

Eva sympathizes with Henry and wished his mother a quick recovery.

A nurse came to the reception informing Henry that his mother's scan was out and that the doctor was waiting to have a word with him in his office.

Henry excused himself to go meet the doctor and Duke told him that he had to go to work and that he would like to be informed about everything that will be happening at the hospital.