Chapter Thirty-Five: Close
Estelle
"Just eat it," I said, holding a spoon with a soup in front of his face. "Come on, I didn't poison this soup."
"For all I know, you did."
I glared at him, making him gulp and forcing himself to grab the spoon and eat it.
Tsk! If he told me that he preferred to eat without me feeding him, this made the situation much easier.
I have been in his room for more than 10 minutes now. I was just curious about how he was doing because of what happened yesterday. The moment I was about to knock on the door, Hana walked out of it and said that good thing I was there. She has an urgent matter to attend to and if I'm not that busy, I should help Conrad eat because his limbs are still weak.
"She lied," I whispered to myself as I exhaled.
"What?" I heard Conrad ask in a stern voice.
"Nothing. Here. It looks like your limbs are not as weak as Hana thought."
I handed the small bowl to him which he immediately grabbed from me. At that moment, he started eating like there was no tomorrow. The sound of Conrad eating engulfed the both of us until I remembered something. Another reason why I decided to go to his room today.
"Hey, you forgot your change at the vending machine last time," I said and handed him the 76 pesos that I got from my pocket. He just nodded his head and pointed to the table using his lips. Indicating that I should put the money there.
Just the moment the money landed on the top of the cabinet, the door opened and Hana walked through it.
"Sorry, it took me a while!" Hana muttered as soon as she arrived. "How's he doing?"
"He's fine... I guess?" I responded and took back my look to Conrad who was still finishing his soup.
"Come on, don't treat me like a patient," he said and raised his left eyebrow. "Oh right. I am a patient. Haha."
Hana and I just stared at him with a blank face after his dry sarcastic remark.
He should change his humor. Or brain at max.
Conrad handed me the bowl after he finished eating and Hana on the other hand gave him some medicine. I even looked at him twice before getting the bowl in his hand. He just smirked at me when he saw my grumpy face after following his request.
"Ah, I forgot to beg forgiveness from you about yesterday," Hana said as soon as she gave Conrad his medicine. "I was just shocked about what happened yesterday."
"Oh no, no! I understand and I am just really on the way yesterday."
"If only Conrad hadn't created a mess in Room 1407, then I wouldn't be in the Upper Up's room explaining what Conrad has done this time," Hana said and let out a sigh.
"I told you. You should not report every single thing to her. It's not like she can do anything about what's happened already," Conrad said and slammed the glass of water on the desk near him which echoed throughout the whole room. It even made me flinched.
"But she can prevent future happenings," Hana replied as if she was expecting that reaction from Conrad already. She just calmly got the glass on the desk and put it on the small sink just behind us, near the door.
"As if she can," I heard Conrad mumbling.
I was just watching the both of them bicker in front of me because I don't know who are they talking about.
Her? Who's her? Maybe someone is responsible for Conrad here in the hospital? Who knows.
I was about to ask who they were referring to when Hana spoke first before me.
"Oh, isn't around this time that you get to see Dr. Mendez?"
Just like her, I also looked at the clock. It's quarter to four in the afternoon.
"Right! I should go now," I said, stood up, and headed to the door. I better hurry because sometimes Sophie would be furious if she wasn't able to see me in my room. "I'll be back!"
"Better if y-you don't!" Conrad shouted with a cracked voice.
"More reason why I should be here again!" I shouted back before shutting the door and hurriedly skipped to my room.
"Talk about the right timing," I said to myself because just seconds after I entered the room and still caught my breath, Aunt Alberta and Sophie arrived. After some preparations and a small chat with Sophie, we started the session.
"That concludes our session for today," Aunt Alberta said as she closed her notebook, "Want to hear the good news?'
"That I am mentally alright?" I joked but Aunt closed her eyes and stopped herself from smiling while nodding her head as a 'yes'.
"You can be discharged tomorrow or if you want, you can also go home now since these sessions are just additionals to your hospitalization," she said. Sophie just nodded again in agreement with her mother as she was eating chips on my bed.
I can now be discharged? Great. It just means that I am not really in some serious condition.
"You look hesitant," Sophie said as she stared into my eyes. I immediately took my gaze away from her.
"No rush, Estelle. You can get yourself discharged tomorrow or the next day," Aunt assured me and smiled.
"But! But! But!" Sophie intervened, "You're already classes behind and even though I am motivated by the handsome Austin at the café, I am just starting to get lazy covering up your shift. I want to just be that iconic regular customer again who gets a 10% discount on my coffee purchase."
"Sophia!' Aunt Alberta said and gave Sophie a slap on her shoulder.
"Mom, that hurts!"
"You want another one?"
"No, no Mom! I love you, you know that, right?" Sophie said in her soft voice and tried to give her mother a hug but Aunt just kept on pushing her away.
I cannot help but laugh at the two of them. I really enjoyed the company of them both. After these sessions, I can get some comfort and relaxation by casually conversing with them.
After minutes of laughter and teasing, their attention was on me again when Sophie asked my decision about my discharge.
"So, do you plan to do it right now or?" she asked with an eagerness to get my answer. I let out a sigh before I answered them.
"I'll just do it tomorrow," I said.
Sophie is right. I am already behind in my studies and covering my shift is especially tiring for her. Especially since her course is much more demanding.
"Call me, alright? I'll help you pack up," Sophie said and signed a 'call me' on her ear. I gave her a thumbs up.
"I will call your parents about this," Aunt said and stood up. She also started to pack up her things.
"Thank you!" I said and also stood up from my bed and helped her bring back the chair she sat on on its table. "I'll message them about this later, too."
"Alright," she said and looked behind me because Sophie was there, still lying on my bed, eating chips. "Come on, let's go home."
"I. Don't. Want. To," she mouthed. "Ah! My arms!"
"Get off my bed!" I said as I pulled her out. She lazily complied when Aunt gave her a strict look.
I offered to accompany them until the lobby but when we passed Room 1404, someone caught my attention inside that room.
"You know them?" Sophie asked when she noticed that I lagged from behind. She also decided to peek inside the room.
"N-Not really," I said and pushed her back so that we could both walk again.
When we all separated in the lobby and bid our 'goodbyes' that night, I hurriedly went back to that room.
What was that man doing? Tsk!
When I arrived there, I still saw Conrad in the same position where he was sitting in front of the bed where a young girl, around 7 years old, was lying with a confused look on her face as she was watching Conrad's hands handling a small round box.
"It's fixed!" Conrad shouted which startled both me and the young girl. He later handed the thing to the girl and she thanked him after.
I almost rolled my eyes when I saw him smirk as if he was so proud of what he's done.
Since I think that he's just doing something harmless, I decided to just leave but the moment I was about to, someone grabbed my arm from behind. It was Conrad. Our eyes met which made me flinch and grabbed my arm back.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I should be the one asking you that," I said as I rubbed the arm he grabbed using my other hand.
"I was helping her fix the broken music box she owns," he replied and leaned on the door frame, "So, what are you doing here?"
"I just happened to pass by," I boringly answered yet praised him afterward, "You must be very skilled with your hands."
"What do you mean by that?" he asked and I saw you lift his left eyebrow as if she was confused.
"Well, you just fixed her music box."
Silence enveloped the both of us. He stared at me and I just stared at him back, waiting for his answer. When seconds passed he didn't give me any response and just froze, I blinked my eyes fast and looked at him suspiciously.
"Y-You fixed it, right?" I asked with the intention of hearing his response.
"I just said I helped," he said in defense.
"So?"
He stayed silent yet a loud scream of anger from the young girl in the room that almost broke our eardrums gave me the answer that I needed. We both looked at her and she was in a rage as she was holding her music box wherein all the parts were now scattered on her bed, leaving the spring only inside the box.
"How fast can you run?" Conrad whispered to me as he slowly started to walk outside the room.
"I'm not really athletic," I said in response with a hint of panic in my voice as the cry of the young girl grew louder. "But, why am I even here?! I'm leaving!"
I was about to run back to my room before other people saw and dragged me to the mess he created but Conrad grabbed my arm. I may want to console the young girl but I am not good at comforting other people. I can barely even comfort myself.
A thought popped into my mind.
Ah, I can go to Mr. Byron's room and get help!
"What? You're just asking me a while ago if I can run. I can!" I said while looking at him. Yet my gaze was brought back to the young girl who was now holding the pieces of the music box as if he was about to throw them to us.
"Let's go..." I said almost whispering. That young girl is about to throw the pieces on us!
"No!" he shouted and smirked. "I can't run."
"You can't what?! Are you insane? Then let go of my hand!" I shouted back and just refrained from cursing him. I let those things stay in my mind.
"You... You completely broke my music box!" the young girl shouted at the top of her lungs and decided to throw the pieces on us.
When Conrad decided to let go of my hand, it was already late since I also got hit by the pieces the young girl had thrown.
Running away slipped my mind that time and I don't know why. That's the reason why Miss Hana found us in that scene. Gladly, she was able to calm the girl yet the glare she gave us sent chills from my spine.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I was dragged again into this unfortunate scenario by this man called 'Conrad'.
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