Joyce Knightly March 14th,20XX

Aaron could only awkwardly stand to the side as I solemnly talked to the girl who was only a year or two younger than me. She looked pale and worn out when compared to the picture we had seen, but the surrounding white walls and sheets of the hospital did nothing to help the image.

The heart monitor beeped steadily in the background of their conversation and tried its best to maintain Aaron’s attention away from the serious discussion. I knew he was likely trying to use its rhythmic interruptions as a way to disengage himself from the current scenario. He’d never liked being involved in things like this and had even asked me if he could stay in the car, but I didn’t think I could do this on my own.

“Hello Kristen. How are you holding up?”

I tried my best to keep a soft voice and repeatedly reminded myself that although I was angry, the young woman in front of me was as much of a victim as my younger sister was. My mind temporarily flashed back to the snivelling old man that was being held in the hotel’s security department.

The memory of having a man close to the same age as my mother trying to cling to my clothes was repulsive, but thankfully, Aaron had gotten between us and had harshly pushed him away. Aaron had been careful not to give the old man any chance at counter suing us for physical harm, but he hadn’t been kind either.

Aaron was a kind man, but I liked that he didn’t let it impede doing what was necessary. I let my mind drift to how much I appreciated Aaron before resuming focus on the young woman that had yet to give me a response.

She looked flustered as we two strangers stood in front of her, but she tried her best to sit up properly from her hospital bed. I quickly stopped her attempts, verbally at first, but I had to glare her down when she tried a second time. I didn’t want her to stress herself out. This was just one of many stops I had to make today, but it was a necessary one.

“Ah. Mrs.- Ms. Knightly. I’m doing fine thank you… but can I ask why-”

She trailed off as she didn’t know how to ask why we were here without sounding rude. Aaron picked up on her awkwardness and gently nudged me to get to explaining.

“I’m Cherry’s elder sister and this is my partner, we’re here together because we heard about the tough situation your company and your group members fell into. I hate to be so brusque when you’re in such a delicate position but I need an answer from you before I can do anything else. Were you willingly involved in a relationship with your company’s head?”

The young woman hesitated to give an answer and instinctively began to stall. I didn’t know if it was because she saw us as ‘authority’ figures or because she was still disoriented from spending so much time at the hospital, but I felt bad for suddenly putting her on the spot like this. I was sure Aaron especially hated the awkwardness, but he wasn’t allowed to leave me here alone.

“Uh, what? Well, first I didn’t know that Cherry’s older sister would be the head of Squire. Well, I’m not sure why I didn’t put it together, Knightly, knightly. It’s not even as if she changed her last name. Lord. Sorry, this is a lot to take in. Are you here to help the girls?”

The subtle way she distanced herself from her teammates, that were at most a year or two younger than she was, showed how much pressure she’d faced as the group’s leader. It was saddening to realize, but it wasn’t the answer I’d wanted.

“Kristen. We don’t have much time. Your company’s CEO is on the line for some pretty serious repercussions, and I intend on using all the resources available to me to ensure he doesn’t see sunlight for a very long time if I find out that you were forced in any way to… engage with him. So, I will ask again, did you feel pressured in any way to engage with your company’s CEO”

I had been too harsh, and I knew it by how she shrank into herself and her face shut down, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I was running out of time, and if not for Cherry’s insistence that I should offer a helping hand to her, I would have preferred leaving this to the lawyers to deal with.

Kristen settled down and furtively looked around before responding in a quiet voice.

“I- I wouldn’t say I was forced but I couldn’t really say I felt like I had much of an option either. I don’t want to press any charges against him or anything! But I won’t be troublesome if you wanted to lock him away… he’s not a great person. He didn’t even look at me twice after until he found out I was pregnant.”

She didn’t particularly sound like she hated him, but it was clear that she wasn’t all that comfortable being around him either. While it wasn’t great, at least I had no reason to suspect that he’d treated her terribly while they had been together.

Well, that was mainly what I needed to know. I nodded and slowly rose from the visitor’s chair.

“I’ll make sure you get enough financial reparations to do… whatever you wish to do with the child.”

While I didn’t think she’d want an abortion, it was still early enough to consider one. I had no relation to her so I couldn’t and wouldn’t comment on what she should do with her body or her future, but I wanted her to know that it was an option. She was still so young, and choosing to keep the child essentially meant completely giving up on her dream to become a performer. It was unfortunate, but that was just the sad reality of the world we currently lived in.

Kristen looked shocked as she hadn’t expected me to suddenly talk about money. She sat silent and stunned for a few moments before quickly leaping to her moral defence.

“Ah! No, I don’t need any of his money!”

I tried to keep the pitying expression off my face and used my hand to motion her to calm down, but maybe because I was someone she could otherwise look up to, as an older but successful woman, she seemed determined to make sure I didn’t think she wasn’t a good person.

But seeing as she seemed repulsed by my earlier suggestion of not keeping the child, I doubled down in convincing her to take the financial help.

“From what I can see, you intend to keep the child, and that’s perfectly fine. But you need to realize that children are expensive, and that you don’t want to fight poverty on top of all the other struggles you’ll need to face as a single parent. I’m going to make sure you get all the money you need from that guy’s pockets, but you can also reach me through Cherry if you find yourself needing any help.”

Kristen looked deflated as she struggled to respond to the dreadfully realistic picture of her future that my lecture had given to her. I could tell the idea of getting money from the CEO bothered her since it would look like that was what she had been after the whole time, but there wasn’t much else she could do in her situation. Even if she had a lot of savings put away, it would be silly to turn down any extra she could get.

“Thank you, Ms. Knightly.”

I nodded in response and spun on my heel to leave the room. I noticed Aaron silently make his way to the front desk and pay forward any hospitalization fees she had, but I pretended not to see it. While I’d intended to do the same, I didn’t particularly care enough to fight Aaron over who got to play good Samaritan today.