Chapter 4

Invitation

Night was upon them when they arrived at the hospital’s gates. Rex is having lowered shoulders while Amanda was looking at him with anxious pair of eyes.

“Rex…”

“I’m alright.” He turned to her and smiled. “I’m just thinking.”

“Are you really alright? With how I can see your expression, you don’t seem to be in good terms.”

“One and a half month.” Rex said. “According to my calculations, mom and dad’s savings are only good enough for him for the next one and a half month. Thinking about it makes me anxious. What if he still won’t wake up after that time?”

Amanda bit her lower lip and fell into silence.

Then an idea came from her mouth. “I will help with my salary.”

“Don’t be a fool!” Rex’s voice came a little bit hoarse and a slight pain came from his throat. Still, his tone was strong and direct. “We are not your relatives, we don’t share any kind of connection, and you also have other important things to do. This is our problem. I can still manage by that time.”

Feeling kind of offended, Amanda’s brows joined together and she pouted and crossed her arms.

Seeing this and her slowed pace, Rex turned around and spoke in a milder tone. “I’m sorry I yelled. Look, it’s not that I don’t want to receive your help. But it’s just that you’ve already done too much out of your line of work to help me. I just don’t want to feel in debt to you for some reason. And even if you tell me that it wasn’t any kind of debt to be paid, I would still feel the same way.”

“But…”

“Besides, not only you also need to spend your money with your family, it’s still too soon to say that I might really need your help.”

For the first time in a while, Amanda saw a smile on Rex’s sober expressions. This sight also brightened up her mood and she went to his side close enough to almost make anyone think they were in a relationship.

Rex was a bad ass type. He walks while having his hand on his pocket. But since his left arm was still in a cast, his right hand hugged the envelope that contained the papers from the bank. The sight from behind made Amanda blush. His physique had regained some of his original weight and his broad shoulders looked as if it was of a man older than her. And so, she slowly moved her hand as if to anchor it to his arm.

But when they came in the hospital, they saw a limousine parked in front the main building. The two marveled on the silver wheels and the expensive extravagantness of the vehicle and it was here that Head Nurse Martha called out for her then to him.

“Amanda. You’re off now. You can go home. You, go upstairs and eat. We will talk about your mission later.”

The two abided with the orders and Amanda said her goodbye to Rex. Rex waved a hand to her and she felt the missed opportunity when she left the premises.

Rex’s hospital room was in the privileged ones. It was a courtesy from the hospital management. Aside from the discount from their fees and the cargo truck’s company’s support on his hospitalization, the room was also a gift from the hospital as part of his parents’ medical insurance. After all, they worked here for 15 years before being scouted.

When he was preparing to change, he remembered to visit his brother first and so he skipped the meal and went ahead.

There, he heard voices talking in front of the room.

The first voice was Doctor Faust while the other was from a man Rex thought was someone from his personal life.

“And you came here telling me this nonsense? I’m a doctor and I know better than just intuition.”

“It’s not intuition.” The other man’s voice sounded with hardness. “You know it as well as I do. They are the same. Faust, what are you doing? Do you want to commit the same mistakes again?”

Leaning back on the wall to hide his presence, Rex felt the pause to the doctor’s reply.

A few moments later, the stranger’s voice echoed in the seemingly empty hall. “You know better than I do, this kid needed that transplant.”

“I know!” Faust slightly yelled. “But the current standing of his family can‘t do it. This is not the same as what happened 20 years ago! We could only wait until he reacts with the medication.”

But the voice of the man was calm. “While you are waiting, money is being spent. And god knows just how much it costs to keep someone stable. And it‘s not helping him one bit.”

Rex felt the ache in the words he heard. He wasn’t told of this truth and even though he felt furious of the doctor hiding his brother‘s condition from him, there is also something about the current standing of his family.

“We…we already did our best.”

“But you can still do something better.”

Again, another pause came from Faust and curiosity drills Rex to peek through the hall. He sees a tall middle aged man in white suit talking to Doctor Faust and Doctor Faust was having his fist into the wall of his brother’s room. He can’t see the man’s face since his back was turned to him but it was still enough to make the impression that with his expensive suit, he was the owner of the luxurious limousine outside.

“Faust, listen to me. Mistakes can be corrected. Let me help.”

“Help?” Faust’s face was filled with anger. “You want to help? Hah! Even if the world turned upside down, all you guys will think about is money and nothing more. That‘s all you are good at. Heh. I won‘t even be surprised if I learned that you held this hospital in your palms.”

Rex thought for a moment and processed. But no matter how much he think about it, he don’t understand what they were talking about. Still, the fact that they’re talking about his brother had bothered him so much.

“Alright. I admit that we are a body that makes and manipulates money but I’m serious. I really mean it. If you don’t do the right thing this time, you will commit the same mistakes twice.”

Mistakes? What mistakes? What about Baron?

“It won’t happen.” Faust’s hard tone pushed Rex to peek on them again. This time, he saw an outline of a man hiding flattened into the wall.

And just as he was about to peek deeper, the man spoke with a firm voice.

“It will happen.” It was cold and solid. Rex saw the change on Doctor Faust’s expression and he knew that those words bade some truth in them. “I saw the papers, his condition, the numbers, and the situation. This is just a repeat of the same mistake you did with her.”

“Don’t push that on me! Why did you even come here?” Faust changed the subject with a weak abrupt question. He collapsed on the floor with his back on Baron’s room. “Why are you here, Augustus?” His last words came weakly.

“I only came to see an old friend but when I saw you and this kid, I can’t help but to be concerned.”

“We’re not friends. And I know this is just business to you. I know it.”

“I may be a businessman with splendid plans in the future, but hear me when I say, what I’m telling you now wasn’t for you…but for this kid.” Then at that moment, he kneeled down on the collapsed doctor. “Faust, do not commit the same mistakes. It is not for you to decide.”

As he spoke, he left the frozen Faust and went ahead. Then, from the corners of the hall, two big brutes came like ghosts and escorted him.

But that was out of his concern now. What he was concerned about is the content of their conversation. They were definitely talking about Baron and some kind of condition.

Faust knew something was up and yet he held it a secret to him.

Clenching his fist, he turned around and rushed towards the entrance of the building. Even though he was still unable to run, even though his right leg was feeling a kind of tingling pain, he ignored it all and did what was warned of him to never do.

He ran.

There, he saw the three men about to board the limousine and yelled for them.

“Wait!”

The three men turned to see him. His two guards immediately tried to protect their principal but the man called Augustus pulled their arms and let the rushing kid spoke.

“Wait….please…” Augustus let the kid catch his breath and studied his complexion.

“I do get the feeling that you were listening to us earlier.”

Hearing those words, the two guards’ brows twitched and one of them even raised a brow to the kid.

“The patient you were talking about is my brother.”

“Ah.” Augustus studied Rex’s state and spent a few moments to stare at his casts. “How…sad.”

Short, concise, true, plastic…Rex felt all of these on that short reaction from the man. He meant it but in a way that it sounded a bit awkward, leaning to the direction of an unrealistic reaction.

“What are you talking about? About my brother’s condition?”

The man tilted his head and shook it sideward. “I don’t know, kid, I’m not a doctor.” And the man turned his back to him to board the limousine. The two guards bade him a last glance in silence and the engine started to roar. But then, the window opened and Rex saw a small shining golden card on that small opening.

Rex picked up the card from the hand and read it.

[Call Me.]

A number was displayed below the words.

That was all.

***

As the limousine drove off the hospital grounds, Augustus was staring at the face of the kid who said he heard them speaking in the hallway. That in itself pricked his interest.

“And not one of you noticed him?” He asked the two.

Marty was feeling a trembling from his knees as he answered. “Yes. I was the one guarding your back but I never noticed his presence.”

“He couldn’t be from the front side. I was there.” Rude seconded.

“True.” Augustus smiled. “I myself is guilty that he sneaked up on us like that. He’s incredibly light on his feet.”

Seeing that smile, Marty and Rude swallowed. They knew they have a fault. When people like that are able to escape their detection, it means that their security is lacking. And with that fact, the principal could have been killed. Security lapse, there was no other kind of explanation to this.

And so to confirm their suspicions, a glint in The Boss’s eyes told them that a punishment is on its way.

***

Rex went inside and headed straight into his bed. Feeling tired, he laid his back there without changing and looked at the golden card on his hand. The light reflected from the ceiling revealed its expensive make and he wondered just how much it cost for this one single card.

“Surely, it’s not given to any ordinary person.”

He remembered who he was. Businessman. Money maker. A big time person who can manipulate money and know his brother’s very sensitive condition.

Standing up, he went straight to the door only to see it open and Doctor Faust’s face greeted him.