June 17^th, 7:00 am. Marlene slowly wakes up and notices Abel was not in bed with her and slowly looks around and sees his belongings were gone as well.

“He must’ve gone home. Even though I wish he didn’t.” She says to herself.

As Marlene gets up from her bed, she looks to her dresser and sees a note. She takes the note which read:

Dear Marlene,

I had something I needed to do, so I’ll be busy, but I will be free around 2pm. You can contact me by then, or if you like, I could come back to your room tonight at 8:00 pm. Your choice.

Abel.

After reading it, she blushes at the note and puts it down. She goes to her closet to grab her work clothes and goes into the bathroom to get dressed. 30 minutes later, she was dressed in her uniform and her hair was in a bun. She goes downstairs to put on her shoes, gets her bag and her jacket, and starts walking out the door. She gets into her car and drives out of the driveway onto the road to work.

.   .   .   .   .

8:00 am. Abel was at home sitting in his office looking over his work that resulted as a success the day prior. As he looks over his work, he starts thinking about Marlene.

‘You should’ve made love with her last night.’ His inner self speaks.

“She wasn’t really ready for that.” Abel retorts. “It would be best for her to naturally give into it. It’s best to not rush. Do you understand that?”

‘Yes, I understand. But what I can’t understand is why we are looking at this plan again? It’s been approved.’

“I know that. But it’s something about it that is bothering me.”

‘Like what? Has something been altered within it?’

“That is my hunch, but I just hope I’m wrong.”

‘Since when have you ever been wrong with your work?’

Abel was thinking hard as he saw the results, but then something catches his attention, it was an ingredient that he did not add.

“What… is… this?” He asks to himself.

His phone begins to ring. He picks up the phone and answers it.

“Speak.” Abel responds.

“Hi, Mr. Wilson. This is Jacoby Harris.” A man replies over the phone. “I was one of the scientists helping administer your serums.”

“Yes, I remember you. What is the reason you’re calling me?”

“Something bad has happened.”

“What?”

“Subjects 1 and 3 did not survive the serum’s effects. It was around 6:30 this morning. They suffered the same way as Subject 2 did.”

Abel silently growls angrily at this news.

“What about 4 and 5?” He asks.

“Subject 4’s illness is still dropping, but the percentage was cut short from 15% to 10% stabilized. Subject 5 is still okay.” Jacoby replies.

“Good, but this wasn’t supposed to happen. I think someone tampered with the serum when I wasn’t looking.”

“Someone that we know?”

“Yes, but someone that is personal to me. I’ll take care of it. Keep me updated on the two subjects.”

“Understood.”

Abel hangs up the phone and begins to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He gets up and walks back and forth in his office. Without a moment’s notice, he picks up a glass and it breaks in his hand.

‘Ooh, I can’t wait for what’s about to happen when she comes in…’ His inner voice speaks excitedly.

.   .   .   .   .

At 9:00 am. Marlene was in Adam’s hospital room along with Eve, getting him ready for the operation room. Adam was in a wheelchair with an I.V. hooked to him and his pacemaker. He was feeling nervous, Marlene saw this.

“What’s wrong, Adam?” Marlene asks.

“I’m scared.” He replies weakly. “I’m scared to have the surgery.”

Marlene goes to face the boy and kneels to his level.

“I believe you’ll make it through the surgery. I believe in you, little man.” Marlene assures him.

Adam smiles at Marlene, making him feel hopeful. Marlow walks into the room with a few other doctors and nurses.

“Alright, Adam.” Marlow speaks. “Today is the day you’ll have a new heart. Marlene, if you would, wheel him into the other room. We’ll be in there soon.”

As Marlow, the doctors, and the nurses leave, Eve stares at Marlene and pulls on her uniform, getting her attention.

“What is it, Eve?” Marlene asks.

“Will Adam really make it?” Eve asks with concern.

“You don’t see him making it?”

“I could never read his mind. He has a barrier I can’t go through.”

Marlene was surprised Eve could not read Adam’s mind, especially since they are twins.

“Really?” She asks.

“Don’t worry, Eve…” Adam says to Eve. “I’ll make it. I know I will. Just trust in me like Nurse Rosa does.”

“Okay. I will, Adam.” Eve replies, then looks to Marlene. “Remember what I said days ago about your boyfriend? Something bad about him? You might know today.”

“…Okay.” She responds uneasily. “Well, your brother and I will see you later.”

Marlene then wheels Adam out of the room to the hallway. She now feels worried of what Eve said and wonders of what Eve was talking about.

“Don’t worry, Nurse Rosa.” Adam assures, catching Marlene’s attention. “It might not be too bad to the point where you have to extremely worry. Just face it head on, okay?”

Marlene smiles at Adam’s advice.

“Thanks, little man.” She praises.

.   .   .   .   .

9:30 am. Abel called Autumn, Vance, and Erika at 8:00 am for a meeting at his house. Vance came over at 8:30 and Autumn arrived at 9:00, but Erika did not arrive yet. Abel already informed Autumn and Vance about what happened at the facility which made them stunned. They were all waiting in Abel’s living room for Erika to arrive. They hear her car pull up in his driveway and turn off. Abel could hear her heels walk on the concrete outside and close to the door. Since she had a key to his house, she unlocks the door and instantly sees them when she turned the corner.

“Good morning, everyone.” She greets. “I didn’t expect you two to be here. I was actually doing something when you called me, Abel.”

She then takes off her jacket and sits on one of the couches crossing her legs. “So, what is this meeting for?” Erika asks.

Abel was sitting on his couch with his hands together. Anger filling in his eyes as they glowed. He slowly looks over to Erika.

“Erika…” He speaks with compressed anger. “Did you receive a call around 8:00 this morning?”

“No, Abel. Why?” Erika asks with concern.

“Well, I did this morning. It was one of the scientists that did the experiment with our serum… And he told me… that two of the subjects died this morning.”

Erika was shocked to hear this news.

“What?” She asks.

Abel nods his head still staring at her upsettingly.

“The other two are still alive,” He continues. “But the potency of the serum waned on one of them. This is something that has never happened before. Every result was the same. The half would combust, or the other half would survive and feel better for days to come with no incident. These two combusted this morning and they were given the serum two days ago.”

“Well, something must’ve come up that we didn’t see.” Erika comments.

Abel’s face turns sterner when she made that comment.

“Sure, Erika. It must have been that.” He responds sarcastically.

Vance and Autumn knew where Abel was going, and they prepared themselves.

“But then,” He resumes. “Something caught my eye when I saw the results this morning. Before the scientist called me, I saw something that I did not add at all, and it is the culprit that ruined the serum.”

Erika starts to feel uneasy.

“Erika… you and I were the only ones who worked on this serum, along with the company of Autumn and Vance. They are skilled at what they do, but they would not tamper with our experiments. I have respect for them just as they have respect for me. Which leads me to ask this, Erika… Why did you ruin the serum and WHY did you add this ingredient without my knowledge knowing what it would do?!”

Erika was quiet for a few seconds and was not fazed by Abel’s anger. She decides to play it off.

“I don’t think it was ruined because of what I put in it. I think—”

“You’re playing with me now. I can sense that.” He interrupts. “You know not to fuck with me, Erika.”

“Abel, no. You know I wouldn’t do—”

“Give me back my key.”

“Oh, come on Abel. You don’t trust—”

“I absolutely do not trust you anymore. Give back my key!”

“You really don’t want me to come back—”

“Autumn.”

Autumn gets up and walks toward Erika to take her key to Abel’s house. Erika tries to push Autumn away, but Autumn takes the key off Erika’s keychain and throws it to Abel who catches the key and puts it in his pocket.

“Now, get out of my house.” He demanded her.

Erika gets up and storms out of the house angrily. She gets into her car and drives away while Abel calms down and looks to Autumn and Vance.

“I thank you both for coming here.” He praises. “If you two didn’t, you know I would’ve done much worse.”

“Not a problem.” Autumn replies. “So, what are you going to do with the spare key?”

“I’m giving it to someone else.” He replies.

“Who?” Vance asks.

“The girl you’ve been thinking about?” Autumn answers.

“Yes. Her.” Abel replies.

“Her? Who’s her?” Vance asks.

Abel looks at Vance with a perplexed face, so Autumn decides to tell Vance.

“Well, Vance,” She speaks. “Abel met a woman I’d say… a week and half ago?”

Abel nods.

“Okay. And he’s been talking to her for some time and… loves her… which is a first.”

Vance was shocked to hear this and looks at Abel.

“Really?! What’s this chick’s name?!” He asks in a confident voice.

Abel chuckles at Vance’s reaction.

“Marlene Rosa.” He replies.

“Is she much better than Erika?”

Abel smiles.

“Oh, yes.”

.   .   .   .   .

1:00 pm. Marlene was holding a sleeping Eve in her arms, sitting in a chair outside the operation room on the hospital’s first floor. She was waiting with Eve for hours during Adam’s surgery. Marlow gets out of the operation room; Marlene sits up straight.

“So, what happened? Is he alright?” She asks.

“Yes, he pulled through.” Marlow replies. “They’re cleaning him up now and are going to bring him back to his room soon.”

“Oh, thank God. I’ll call their guardian.”

Marlene sets Eve down on a chair and finds the closest phone in the hospital and calls Ms. Frasier’s number. It keeps ringing and she did not receive an answer. Marlene decides to leave a message.

“Hello, Ms. Frasier.” She starts. “This is Nurse Rosa. I’m calling to inform you that Adam’s surgery was a success and he’ll be back in his room soon. If you have any questions, please call back at this number. You have a good day.”

As Marlene hangs up the phone, Eve begins to wake up and looks in Marlene’s direction, catching her attention.

“Oh! You’re awake. Are you alright?” Marlene asks.

Eve did not answer and stares into the distance.

“Eve? Are you alright?” She asks now concerned.

“Something bad is happening to someone.” Eve replies worriedly.

“Who?”

“Home. Abel. You’ll know everything today.”

Marlene felt confused at what Eve was talking about. But before she could say anything, her phone rings, making her answer it immediately.

“Hello?” Marlene answers.

“Hey, Marlene. It’s Nikita.” She replies in a frantic tone. “Sorry to call you while you’re at work, but we got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Marlene askes with concern.

“Marcus got out early! He took a taxi here, liquored up, and he’s fucking up stuff! He messed up my room, your room, the living room, and he’s got a knife! Only K.C., Dina, Ilena, and I are at the house. We need you to get back over here!”

“Did you call the police?!”

Marlene then hears crashing on the other end of the phone hearing K.C. yelling, Marcus yelling, and Dina screaming.

“I’m going to call them now… Fuck! Put the gun down, Marcus!”

The call disconnects and Marlene feels frantic; Eve sees this. Marlene walks up to Marlow as the doctors and nurses come out with a sedated Adam on a gurney.

“Marlow, I have a family emergency. I need to go back to the house.” She explains frantically.

“Okay.” He replies. “Take the rest of the day off. I’ll get Zeina to watch over Eve. Did you call Ms. Frasier?”

“Yes, I sent her a message. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Marlene starts to run to the elevator around the corner to reach concourse.

.   .   .   .   .

1:30 pm. Abel was in his office re-correcting the errors Erika put in the serum’s concoction and sent it to Jacoby. Autumn walks in.

“Hey, Abel.” She speaks. “We’re going to leave out. Did you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll see you two later.” Abel replies.

Autumn walks out the room and out the front door with Vance. Abel makes himself a drink and sits in his chair, looking up at his ceiling and thinking to himself.

‘What are you thinking about? The compatible one, or the annoying one?’ His inner voice asks.

“I’m just hoping the grant still comes in for this and hoping this mishap didn’t ruin the chances.” He replies. “I can’t believe she sabotaged the serum’s strength and tried to play dumb.”

‘Tried to play dumb? She is. Who knows why she added that ingredient into the serum. Perhaps to impress you and to show you that she can mix ingredients as well, which failed.’  

“We had an arrangement. I am the brains of the product, I make the meeting dates; they give the location, I show the proof and results of my work. She makes the arrangements on lodging, promotes the work I made, and gives it a title. I create, she promotes. All for the business.”

‘But how was it possible that she was good in that aspect, but not good at keeping her legs closed?’

“Silver spoon, spoiled, willing to do anything to get to where she wants to be. Beautiful outside, but not inside. No dignified morals. It disgusts me. I mean I’ve seen it in her, but her promoting was what I needed.”

‘So, you used her for that.’

“Well, I didn’t use her for her body at least. That sickens me the most.”

‘She used you for that aspect.’

Abel growls at the thought that Erika did care more about his body than the business, making him feel disgusted.

“That’s how it felt, but this partnership will be over soon.” He speaks.

Abel looks out his window and sees Marlene’s house from afar, seeing a car in the driveway.

‘Is that the compatible one’s car?’ Inner voice asks.

“I’m sure it is.” Abel replies.

He then sees a figure get out the car wearing a nurse uniform running to the front door.

‘Is that her?’ Inner voice asks.

“Yes, it is.” Abel replies.

‘You have anything else to do?’

“No.”

‘Let’s walk over there and have a chat with her.’

“I have no objection to that.”

Abel gets up from his chair and walks out of his office into his first-floor bathroom to look at himself in the mirror to see if anything on him was out of place. Seeing everything in order, he takes his keys from his office and leaves out the front door. He presses the button on a remote on his keychain to lock up his house and starts walking.