Chapter 002: The Hard Decision

Lyra literally jumped out of the taxi the moment the driver she hailed earlier parked in front of the hospital gate.

She flung his payment at him in a rush, waving and blurting the word “sorry” at the same time as she was running.

The driver himself looked momentarily flustered by her craziness but later shook his head indulgently before driving off.

On getting to the second floor of the building where her husband’s ward was.

Lyra pushed at the door forcefully and ran in, making the cleaner and the two nurses she met there flinch slightly at the sight of her.

Felix was lying on the bed with his nose strapped up in an oxygen mask while being connected to some sort of machine. Lyra stopped to stare at her husband with a weepy expression, whispering,

“Felix. Oh Felix,”

“Calm down, madam.” One of the nurses said.

The doctor walked in through the opened door the next moment.

“Doc,” Lyra immediately turned to him with her reddened eyes and held out hands. He stopped too to stare at her with a tightened face shaking his head pitifully.

“Madam, you have to get the balance ASAP. His time is running out. We need to commence an extremely vital operative session on him as soon as possible. If not, he might not make it.”

“Oh my God,” Lyra muttered with her hands now hanging vaguely.

Her last few moments with her boss at the event center flashed before her eyes again.

“How on earth will I going to cough out five hundred thousand dollars? How?”

She reasoned desperately, feeling like her head was spinning.

All the money she had initially saved to establish herself after her fashion school has been exhausted into this same treatment yet no headway.

And now just a few minutes ago her boss had told her to forget her already meager salary. So how was she going to do this?

The doctor examined her face for some time. His expression was apologetic and determined at the same time. As though he felt sorry for her, she also needed her to do what was to be done.

Finally, he turned around to excuse himself while the nurses tagged along, closing the door after them and leaving only Lyra in the ward.

Lyra stood transfixed in one spot, struggling not to cry. Then, slowly, she walked over to Felix’s bed at the corner and stooped until her buttocks rested on the vacant space.

“This can’t be the end.” She muttered, biting her lips and finally letting the tears run down her cheeks.

Then, in that state, her mind started to travel back into the years before. When Felix and herself first met.

Their first encounter had been at the fashion college, and they had both gotten admission at the same time.

Their story was an unreal sensational love-at-first-sight story. He had not needed to say much, and she had not needed to think much.

Lyra was still in her reflective state when the door suddenly opened with a creak, breaking into her thoughts.

She threw a startled glance at the door only to see her best friend Aria walking into the ward, bearing a food flask in one of her hands.

Once Aria was close to the bed, she stopped to shoot a glance at Felix, her face breaking into a sober squash.

“Oh dear.” She whispered, proceeding to join Lyra on the bed and throwing her free arm around her. Lyra started to cry again.

“It’s all alright.” Aria cooed, rubbing her on the back.

“It’s a battle, I’m scared too, but we will fight this. Together, we will come out stronger.” She comforted Lyra.

Lyra sniffed intermittently and finally nodded to acknowledge her friend’s words before whispering;

“Thank you, Lyra. Felix and I…we can’t thank you enough.”

“Hey, Shhhhh.” Aria hushed, keeping her hand on the other’s back. They hugged, and both remained in each other’s embrace for some seconds.

After a while, they finally disengaged. Then Lyra got up slowly and straightened her rumpled skirt weakly.

“Please keep watch over him for me. The doctor said we’re running out of time. I need to go pay his family another visit. I don’t have a choice.”

“We will overcome this.” Aria nodded, fighting tears herself.

Lyra looked away.

“I’ll be back.” She mumbled once more before turning to leave.

Lyra hailed another taxi outside the hospital.

“Anderson Street.” She said before jumping into the taxi and zooming off into the distance.

On arrival at the estate, she banged on the gate forcefully to draw the attention of those inside. The gatekeeper came out looking disturbed as if she was unfamiliar to him even though he very well knew who she was.

“Please let me in.” I need to see Grandma urgently. I beg you.”

“Lady, we don’t receive visitors at this time.”

Lyra looked at her watch again.

“But it’s not even 10 pm yet,” She pointed out tearfully.

“Madam, I value my job. Kindly go away.”

He maintained.

“A life is at stake, young man. Could you, just in God’s name, open the gate!” She raised her voice without meaning to.

While they were still debating, the bright light from an approaching land cruiser shone on Lyra’s face and faded again. The car stopped, and the driver of the car immediately rushed out to open the back door, letting out the chubby, expensively dressed figure of Felix’s grandma. Her ears and neck glittered with diamond rings and laces.

“What are you doing here?” She bellowed at the same time as she wobbled towards the gate from inside.

Lyra opened her mouth to explain what happened, but the woman barely let her finish before she interrupted by asking;

“Is that all? Since Felix decided you’re his best choice for a wife, then he can go ahead and die for all I care.”

She barked then for a moment, she stopped again to wrinkle her face in disbelief.

“But wait, you’ve really got some nerve there, young woman. I wonder how you were even expecting this family to part with such an amount just because of that ungrateful bastard! Was it a sin to raise him and try to bring him out of poverty? Instead, he chose to marry a nobody like you even when he had an offer to get married to a Minister’s daughter. Such a bloody waste of resources. Look, you better leave my property right now, or I will release my dogs to finish you off.”

Lyra stepped back from the gate, shaking like a leaf, her eyes were red, and her heart sank in sorrow.

“There was almost no way out for Felix now. He had abandoned everything just to be with her. He sacrificed everything for his inheritance on the altar of love. I won’t let him die.” She thought in resolve. She shook her head bitterly again as she disappeared back into the cover of night thinking of the next step to take.

When she returned to the hospital a few minutes later, she stopped in the front corridor to think. Then her mind instantly brought up the last conversation she eavesdropped on before she ran off to the hospital.

“ Yes, Dante’s Cooper’s conversation.”

Lyra bent her head to one side, remembering the amount he had mentioned and the requirements attached. She met all of them.

“ I am just 21 years of age,” she mumbled

“And also extremely desperate for money. But was it possible for Dante to marry me even if he found out I was legally married to Felix? Maybe I should discuss this with Aria? But Aria was too strict in her thinking. She would never allow me to do such. What in God’s name could I do now to save Felix?” She reasoned, searching her thoughts once more for a solution.