Page 18

A flash of light burst through and turned into small, excruciating laser dots behind her closed eyelids. Lena whimpered as the dull agony in her head became greater with each passing second. It was worse than any hangover she had ever had.
She slowly opened her eyes and groaned again at the agony that was so bad it made her eyes water.
Then she felt something prickling her left arm. Something was being put into her body. Her eyes shot to the left.
A nurse who was the same age as she smiled and said, “Morning!” “The nurse said with a smile.
Lena struggled through the discomfort and raised the corners of her lips in the same way. “What…  What time is it? …  What happened to me? “
“It’s seven in the morning,” the nurse said as she turned to the bedside table and started checking some tablets. “You were out cold for an entire night after we put you to sleep. You were brought in because you were bleeding from your nose and not reacting to anyone or anything. I can only tell you this: the doctor will be here in an hour, and he will be able to tell you more.
Lena nodded without thinking. She was bleeding through her nose again! It was interesting that she couldn’t recall the red event this time.
As the nurse departed, Lena checked her temperature and blood pressure. Then she saw Damien and Lola, who were both sleeping on the couch and looked very uncomfortable. Even in sleep, their brows were furrowed, and their features were screwed up in intense worry.
She was in the hospital!
Lena sighed. She felt like she was a burden to this great couple, and it was making her feel bad. She was weary of hurting and letting them suffer because of her, but it looked like it was her fate.
Lena turned her head weakly and looked at the spotless white ceiling above. She could clearly picture how they were both probably awake by her bedside all night. The nurse might have given her some kind of drug earlier because the pain in her head was getting better quickly.
“You are awake.”
She heard Damien’s tired voice and then Lola’s scared shriek as she hilariously woke up from Damien’s thoughtless, unintentional nudge as he sprang from the couch.
Lena groaned. It was time to face the music.
But Damien and Lola’s musical scolding and freak-out session had to stop since it had just started. The doctor walked into the room with the nurse from earlier and a junior doctor behind him.
The doctor smiled and said good things to her, then inquired how she was feeling. After that, he got serious. Damien and Lola both imitated the look, and everyone knew it was time for the truth to come out.
Finally, the doctor spoke out. “Lena, you have a malignant tumor in your brain. It’s a high-grade Astrocytoma.”
You could only hear quiet gasping in the pin drop.
But Lena was troubled that she didn’t care about the news of this coming tragedy when she should have. She merely shifted her face and looked out the open window, losing herself in the fragrance of pines and the chilly wind that blew on her face.
Kellen was having trouble focusing on his task.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the sorrow and visceral anger he had seen in Lena’s eyes.
She admitted it was true, and he hated to admit it even to himself that he had cheated on her, too. It was a mistake he made while inebriated, but it was what it was.
He was still married to Lena for crying out loud!
He was so angry that he shattered the pen in half between his fingers. He was angry with everyone in his life, including himself.
But then, all of a sudden, he started to feel something else inside him. It wasn’t hatred for Lena or frustration with himself and his situation. It was much worse than that, worse than anything he had ever felt before. It was as if something very wrong was happening somewhere, something horrible. It was as if a storm was coming, and its destruction would be much worse than when Lena broke his heart. His heart was pulling at him so hard that he felt like he was losing his breath, but he didn’t know how.
He had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Queency’s head slid through the slightly open door of his office. She called him three times, but Kellen was too busy with his troubling thoughts to hear her.
“Mr.  Hey, Hart! Sir.”
He looked up only when his name was practically yelled. The shattered parts of the pen cut his fingers, and he could feel the blood running down, but he had to look at it.
“I told you not to bother me for the next hour,” he said seriously from behind the desk.
Queency jumped back from the door. “I just wanted to let you know that two of our clients have canceled their appointments for today.” Oh, your hand is bleeding. Do I need to carry first aid? “
Kellen said, “No need for it.”
“Who are they?” He asked for the clients’ names, feeling angry. The firm was already going bankrupt, and in this case, people not taking work seriously was not okay. “Don’t they know it’s the weekend tomorrow? They’ll have to wait a whole day to get another appointment?” You stated that all of today’s meetings are important, right? “
“Sir, Mr. Ken just got into a car accident, and Mr. Damien is in the hospital with his business partner.”
As soon as she completed the words, Kellen felt his body tense in attention.
Damien’s partner in business.
That meant Lena?
He quickly looked up and said, “What happened to Lena?” “
He sprang up to his feet as Queency looked at him with interest.
“I don’t know. Should I get in touch with Mr. Damien and ask? “She asked.
“No,” Kellen screamed. He was pacing back and forth in front of the tinted glass in his office that went from floor to ceiling. “Just tell me the name of the hospital they’re in and let me know right away.”
Queency’s eyebrows went up in wonder at how strange her employer acted when he heard that Damien’s business partner was in the hospital. Still, she nodded and left to do what she had been told.
Kellen, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth in his office, which was making holes in the floor. His face was twisted in a deep scowl of anxiety and terror.
He had just one idea, a basic need: he had to see her.
Now it’s bloody.
Lena sat up in bed in the hospital with a pillow behind her back. She peered out the window, feeling Damien’s unblinking gaze burning her skin.
“It’s not right.”
When Damien abruptly spoke, Lena’s gaze turned toward him. He narrowed his eyes and spoke in a stern manner. Lena furrowed her brow in confusion.
Damien went on, “The way you’re thinking is completely wrong, Lena.”
“So now you can read minds? “Lena kept a blank look, attempting to appear funny.
Damien groaned and shook his head in irritation. “It’s pretty clear since you don’t look scared at all. It’s like you don’t care that you have this deadly disease.” Am I right?”
Lena simply let out a long, trembling sigh. “It’s not like me caring will make it better.”
“Everything will be well, Lena.” Damien’s eyes filled with tears of protest. “Just know that I’m here for you, and even that crazy head Lola I saw crying behind a pillar a while ago. So, you never lose hope, do you? Just keep going. You’ll get through it, darn it! He went over to hug Lena, and she hugged him back right away. She really needed this.
It’s amazing what a simple embrace can accomplish when you feel powerless.
But she didn’t express that a big part of her wanted to sigh in relief for the disaster that was coming. That part of her wanted a break and the chance to finally let go of all her feelings and memories.
She knew that once she was diagnosed with this brain tumor, she would soon be stuck in bed with all the treatments, surgeries, chemotherapies, and medicines the doctor had told her about. Since then, she had been thinking about the possibility that her application to adopt Dave would be turned down because of this.
Dave might have been the start of something new for her. But it was probably already clear that there was no such thing as a new beginning in her fate. All she could have were bits and pieces of love, Kellen, and her lost kid, Dave.
Maybe she was intended to be unhappy in life. Shouldn’t she be grateful that God was finally giving her an opportunity to let it all go, even if it meant dying?
Some people would say that her ideas are ill and suicidal. She, on the other hand, would like to say that they are just letting fate be.