*MILENA*
After I cleaned up, I was tired, but a good tired. Today was the best day we have had in ages. Dad was in top form. Spouting stuff and Arturo’s Dad could join in on all of it. What Dad or I did not, Hank knew. It was great teamwork, and the laughs were great. I felt comfortable, not at all embarrassed as I screamed at the screen, as those in the room were doing the same thing. I don't think we have ever had a day like this one. I look forward to next week when we can do it all over again.
They kept me busy with food and drinks, and I didn't think of tomorrow until the promotion started. Then it was a good feeling when Hank complimented me on my achievements, making my Dad puff up in pride. The compliments meant a lot, coming from a fellow doctor, who would have understood what was involved to have reached this far.
The morning came, and it was showing signs of being a good day. I woke up in a good mood and not the least bit nervous, yet. A quick s
*ARTURO*It was hard to leave the hospital. I wanted to stay and give comfort to Milena. It must be hard for her. This is her baby, so to speak.This is either the beginning of something great, or a failure, and it will be back to the drawing board, but if it fails it will cost a life, and as doctors. That is not good, we may often look as if we are unfeeling and hard as stone, but we are far from that. We have to separate ourselves from the pain, so the family does not see how it really affects us.Milena has a kind heart and if this fails, it could cause more than one lost life.Dinner was back to being lonely again, and the last thing I wanted was to be alone at the moment. The operation went well, but so many complications can still arise. I ate my leftovers from yesterday. I was glad that Milena had bagged up some for me, Dad, and me. I did not feel like going out. Part of that was because I feared Rissa might still lurk around and would corner me ag
*MILENA*Mr. Green was doing well enough for me to go home to sleep, and thoughtful Arturo, it was nice not to have to think about food, with Arturooffering to buy me dinner on the way home. I was hungrier than I realized and when my stomach was satisfied, I was ready for bed.Arturo walked me to my door and did not push to enter, or to keep me company. I must have looked bad for him to leave me at the door so easily.I did not even bother changing and taking a shower, I just fell face-first on the bed and was out for the count in seconds.Sunlight streaming through the window woke me. A quick look at the clock and I was rushing to take a shower, it was already eight o'clock. I was running a little late for work. I had never been this late before. I had slept like the dead. Not moving from the place, I fell all night.Drool was on the pillow and my mouth felt like it had eaten the pillow.Soon I walked out the door, not bothering wit
*ARTURO*Work was work. Sometimes, it is hard to put on a happy, friendly face, and today was one of those days. I had non-stop surgery, and then follow-ups. It was the follow-ups that got me down. I was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.Today I was lucky, I managed to finish at the same time as Lena. She is my breath of fresh air. Seeing her seemed to lighten my mood and put a smile on my face, making the day seem less tiresome.We were having dinner and her nightmare of a sister walked in. Her voice to me was like keys scratching down my expensive car, it hurt my ears and left me seething at the damage it caused.This woman has no shame. I am going to see about personal security for Lena and myself, just to keep her away, they need to be discreet, no need to have Lena worry about how uncomfortable I am feeling about her sister.Also, a private detective, to follow her around. I need some good dirt on her, so I can get a restraining order.“Are you two dating?”
*MILENA*After we left Rissa behind, all I could think about, was how she was going to get her claws into my life again, and if she could hurt me at all, she wouldn't let her cash cow out of her clutches if she could help it.Arturo managed well under that pressure, he handled the whole interaction better than I did.The night was a lot of tossing and turning. In the end, I headed to the pool and tried to do laps till I got tired, but after I had exhausted my body, and fell back into bed, my mind refused to shut off. I am usually good at blocking things out, but for some reason, she had managed to get under my skin.So I did the only thing I could do. I got up and headed off to work. I ate at the all-night food hall, carried an extra coffee with me, and entered my lab. The compound was ready for me to work on. I molded it into the shapes I wanted and created a nice new heart. I had a monkey to put this heart in, to see how well it would work. The poor monkey was in bad shape, and I wa
*ARTURO*I was sitting at home wondering what to do with myself. Lena was spending this evening with her Dad, and I was half listening for the elevator, hoping to hear her return and find out if we were having the sports day' at my parent's place.I was eager for Milena to meet my parents and three sisters. I think she will get along with them, even though my sisters are not into sports like her. That would not stop them from wanting to get to know her better.Being bored, and not that late, I drove over to my parent's home, to see how things were.Mum was having some issues with a woman who had been beaten up, and getting the woman to get treatment. Dad had said he would look at her, but the woman refused a man to see her. I wanted to see what Mum thought of me asking Lena to take a look at her. That is if Milena got involved. I know she has a kind heart, but seeing battered and bruised women can be difficult. You want to go out there and give the person who hurt them a taste of thei
*MILENA*Simon and Saun were at the restaurant I had stopped at to buy takeaway dinner for Dad and me. They were chatting and laughing happily. While I waited for the food to be prepared, I headed over to them.“Hey guys, how is your night going so far tonight? It is good to see you out and about.”I said with conviction. Seeing them here together, made me feel so good inside, that they were no longer hiding who they were. I do not know how many know they are together, and I really did not care, they were a cute couple, and I was going to enjoy watching their love bloom.“Hi Lena, want to join us?”Saun offered with a cute smile, he was genuinely happy to see me, and I could see Simon was a little shocked he had offered me to join them, but he was not unhappy about the offer, just surprised a little.“Nah, I am here to get some takeaway, having dinner with my Dad, I just had to come over and say hi.”I smiled at them.“Can we catch up tomorrow? I have some new ideas for promoting the hea
***************Marissa,Mona, and four other women met at a restaurant. These women were called the married group.That is what they came up with when they thought about naming their little group. They thought it was a fitting name, and they have collectively been married so many times. The group used to be just the older ladies, and Rissa was the only daughter who had been included in the group. The rest are all older women, and Rissa felt special to have been included in this group, until today.“Rissa, you are the cause of our group starting to fall apart. What do you have to say for yourself?”one of the angry women growled out at her. They were blaming her for losing Milena a lucrative income for them, and for Mona losing Rio too.If she had not been greedy, they could have reaped the rewards for years to come. Now they are going to have to stop for a while, and hope to wait for the heat to die down. They did not know how much damage being caught like that was going to cause, plus
*ARTURO*I took Alma with me shopping for food for the sports day tomorrow.Mother is at home cooking up a storm, and we are getting cheeses and cold cuts. You would think we were getting ready for a party, instead of a day of sports. I hope the rest of my family is not going to try and get in our faces while we are trying to enjoy the sports.Dad had not put a lock on the door of the den door. Should he put a lock there? This is our day of relaxing and forgetting the stresses of the world out there. The women go shopping and have a club night out. This is our day, and if they are going to make it into a party, Milena and Rio will not wish to come here ever again. I have high hopes for tomorrow, and I am already worried about how the rest of the family is going to mess this up.In the gourmet shop, where we could get a nice supply of assorted cheeses, olives, and other goodies, I saw Milena. She was with Saun and Simon. They were laughing over something that Milena was purchasing. I w
*ARTURO*“Can we do both Rissa and Mum's funeral simultaneously? I do not want to go through it twice. Plus, I have an operation booked for a few days; we need to avoid clashing with that.”Lena showed almost no remorse or hurt; it was as if she was now immune to it all, and that worried me.Rio looked at me with the same surprised look, but we needed to figure out how to proceed.“I will call the hospital and see when I can collect her body and notify the funeral service of the added change.”“Want to come home for coffee?”Lena asked Rio.“No, I need to head home, shower, and change. I have a busy day tomorrow.”Rio hugged Lena and shook my hand; I got to pay the bill this time.Lena was too far gone in her thoughts to even think of the bill; score one for me.**********The following two days were a blur. Dad said that Lena might have selective amnesia, not wanting to have that pa
*ARTURO*Being woken up with that news shook me a little; I had to be there for my girl instantly while my head was still foggy. I can honestly say I was awake when I heard those words over the phone and pulled Lena to me. She was shaking, and though her voice was clear, her heart was beating faster, and she was fighting tears. Once she hung up the phone, she cried for a little while. I asked why the tears, and she said because, in her heart, she had lost a mother and sister; even if they were terrible and caused much pain and sorrow, deep down, they were still her family.We headed to the kitchen for breakfast. All ideas of relaxing at home were gone. She will want to go to work and keep her mind busy. We had intended to have a late start; I had no surgery, and her work in the lab was still cooking.I did my rounds at the hospital and released more patients before heading to Lena’s lab. She was checking on the monkey and Mr Green's stats. I loved that she
*JACKO*Being called out to the Sun Valley Sanitarium with my team was not a pretty sight. We could not arrest the woman who did the stabbing as she was already there for life, being classed as a danger to society and never to be released. The two women were never meant to have been put in that wing with that dangerous woman. I am kicking myself for not checking on the woman when I got the news of the first beatings, but I had so much on my plate. I got the call on my way there to check on them that they had been stabbed. I was nervous calling Rio and relieved when his phone went to the message bank. I hung up on Lena, and she promised to tell Rio. I feel bad for interrupting his joy of his first grandson and the honor of being named after him. I will have to catch up later and have a congratulatory drink.Lena seemed to take it well, but then she most likely had a lot to handle lately, and this would be just another blimp on her already rocky road of life.Our team is
“Is that why your Dad is not here? He was at the hospital holding mini Rio?”Felicia giggled,Paula and Alma arrived in time for all the news to be repeated.The den was different without Dad there. It had been a while since I celebrated the game with others, which had not included my Dad being there. I genuinely hope he gets to spend more time with Diego and his little growing family; the three of us used to be closer and somewhere along the line. Mona chased him away. I am sad that I had not noticed her doing it. I was too busy at the time, getting my doctor's degree, and missed out on seeing my brother at a critical time in his life. I hope he knew I supported him with his life choices.“Lena, the lass, is out of hospital and back home. She has her family with her to support her, and the courts have put the man in jail. She can get a divorce from him. Now he is in jail. It has made it easier. I believe she will sell the house and move in with her sis
*RIO*“Come see our son.”Judy beckoned them in.Diego was the first to go to bed, while the rest were held back and watched. He kissed Judy on the lips and then kissed the newborn's butt, and we all chuckled.Lena then offered to let him cut the cord; she turned the baby over so we could see the little boy. Diego took the scissors and cut the cord, and we all cheered as Diego gathered the little one in his arms and kissed his head. I took a small blanket over to him to wrap the baby in and waited for him to.When the baby was wrapped,Diego wanted to give Judy his attention, so he handed the baby off to me. I was shocked he did not give the child to Nate, but then Nate was a mess and may not have been up to holding the little one.“Here, Granddad, take Rio for a while, will you?”I looked at him with shock, but his face was full of love and pride; there was no sign that he was joking about the name, and he broke into a broad smile as I took the little bundle in my arms and almost wept a
*JACKO*The court hearing was underway. It was a Saturday, not a typical day for a court hearing, but it was the only time we could get it heard. The judge slotted the day in for us, as we promised it would only take the day. The courtrooms were booked out for months, and we no longer wish this case to be drawn out. The courtroom was closed, and no public, including the media, was allowed in. We tried to keep out who was going to others; it looked low-key. If someone wanted to push, they could dig further and find out, but it's been so good so far. When I arrived, I had yet to investigate.I sat in the audience watching as our prosecutor tore strips off the first few men from the Gutter Boys gang to pieces, and the four of them went to jail. The first three guys tried were the ones that hit Lena’s car and were also the ones that fired the tranquilizer darts at Scott's team. They had a good lawyer, but our case was airtight, and they were sentenced with parole, but they still had five
*MILENA*Arturo made watching the fireworks a whole new enjoyment. The thrusts into me were almost timed to the explosions going on outside, though I am unsure if he even noticed what was going beyond the window. The largest red flower bloomed in the sky as I skyrocketed over the threshold, and if Arturo had not held on for dear life, I would have collapsed because of the intensity of the climax.After a cleanup, we headed over to Louisa’s. I insisted we knock and wait, which I noticed Arturo only does at work. I had told him it was a courtesy to knock first, but he just shrugged and walked in anyway.Before he learns to knock, he should walk in on something he does not want to see. Louisa did not seem too surprised. He walked in without knocking, and I wondered if it was a family thing, and if so, I had no chance of changing his ways since I never locked my door in the beginning. I must have thought it was an open invitation. If I wanted him to knock, I would have closed the door. Be
*ARTURO*After arguing with Milena about her bodyguards for what felt like the one-hundredth time, she caved and agreed she would not leave the Condo without them. I would not have peace of mind at work if I had to worry about whether Lena was still at home and was okay. Scott promised better security this time round and had secretly put a bug on Lena, I think, on her phone, but I am not sure, and he won't tell me, but he said if she leaves the Condo without the security, he would know she was on the move and get the men to her. I wouldn't say I liked it, but it was the best we could come up with.Tonight, we were having dinner with my sister. She contacted me an hour ago to ensure we were still coming. She did not want to start cooking, and we did not turn up. Luckily, I had finished in the theater and could answer the phone. It is hit-and-miss to catch me when at work.For a change, instead of walking home, I took our car service. I saw the bodyguards parked across the road as we ap
*MILENA*Today, I decided to stay home, sorting out my things and generally cleaning up the Condo. We were going to go next door for dinner, and I thought about making a sweet to take with me.Arturo said it was unnecessary, but it is what I like to do, and he was wise enough not to argue with me. The place did not need much cleaning. We both seem to clean up after ourselves, leaving just the floors and washing to be done. The sliding door to the balcony was wide open, allowing a fresh breeze to blow through the place. It was nice to be able to open the place up and let nature clear the air inside, not that it was bad or anything; it was a nice refreshing feeling it gave me when I felt the wind in my face. We can often get a strong breeze up here, and having the door open was not good. Today is a good day.I had the television on, listening to the sports commentary about this weekend's games, and there was nothing of great interest yet. The television was more background noise. I had