CHAPTER 2

  We are in a hurry as the elevator doors ping open, but no matter how in hurry we are, the sanitizing area is agonizingly slow. Once we're done with the sanitizing, we peel off our personal protective gears and rush to the double doors of the board room.

  Opening it, my hurt thumps as I know that the attention of the people inside will be turned to us, and I was right. All heads turn in our direction when I open the door wide enough for me and Georgina. Their strict eyes make me want to turn around and just go back to my office, but Georgina pushes me inside and pulls me on the two vacant seats on the side.

  I've been in the board room a couple of times, and it looks just the same as the last time I was here. There is a big screen in front, and the podium where chairman Richforte stands, broad and all authority, and the elevated high-tech steel circular tables that can accommodate up to one hundred and fifty people.

  Georgina squeezes my hand under the tables as one by one, they give their attention back to chairman Richforte who's also looking at us blankly. I fight the urge to bite my lip as he looks in our direction.

  He looks strict and cold and authoritative.

  Chairman Sean Gabriel Richforte is two years ahead of me and Georgina. Back when we were still in college, half if not all of the girl's population in school dreams to have him, and Georgina and I are one of those girls. I've got a crush on him for a long time now but seems like it will stay that way for he is really aloof and anti-social, by just looking at him now.

  He just stared blankly at us— more like to me, for a little more while until he clears his throat and resumes talking.

  The meeting is about the virus. They don't have a new lead about it, but the World Health Organization decided to give Richforte Medical Team a research mission for the virus and find a cure for it as soon as possible.

  "A research and experimental facility is provided by the current leader of the World Health Organization, doctor Jhero Colleti, and it is their family's property, located in Australia. So, we have to fly there and leave our country. Only selected neurologists with great performance in the hospital would be included, and I will announce the list tomorrow."

  I am a general surgeon and a neurologist, and I know that my performance is quite good because this is also a passion of mine, and there's the fact that I am aiming to take an exam to be a professor. So, there is a possibility that I will be included in the list.

  Georgina on the other hand is a general surgeon, but she has enough knowledge in neurology too. Both of us are aiming to be a professor, so there is also a chance that she will be included in the list.

  He also gives us an insight into the mission and sacrifices we have to make. We will leave the country, and our loved ones here in this situation and fly to Australia for the mission. Once we are there, we will do work all day long and will only stop to eat, get some rest, and clean ourselves, and we will stay there for as long as we accomplish the research mission and once we found the cure for the virus.

  Once he's done, the silent board room fills with murmurs of mixed opinions. Some want to become part of the team for a reason, while some, especially those who already have their own family wish not to be included in the list for they don't want to leave their family, given the situation.

  Chairman Richforte walks to the double doors of the board room, ready to leave. But before he can reach the door, he stops, and without looking, he calls my surname.

  "Doctor Hawl,"

  The chats stop and half of them turn to me, and half turn to chairman Richforte, while Georgina's looking at me, then to the chairman, then to me, then to the chairman, and back to me again, while her eyes are blinking rapidly.

  I shuffle in my seat, "Y-yes, chairman?"

  And it took forever till I hear his answer, "Follow me."

  I wasn't aware that I am not breathing, not until I hear the double doors closed and I let a heavy sigh. My co-doctors attention turned to me, and Georgina squeals in her seat. She urged me to go and reluctantly, I stand up and heads out of the board room.

  The top floor of the hospital is where the offices are located so I just need to walk a bit and turn to a hallway, and I am facing another double door, which is the chairman's office. And one of the rules on the top floor is not to wear any PPG, hence the sanitizing area at the entrance of the floor.

  I knock twice before entering. Inside is spacious, very spacious. There's a shelf on the side, a set of sofa in the middle, and on the far end is a dark mahogany table, and behind is a huge glass wall with its blinds fall. The theme is a mixture of gray and black, and it doesn't look like an office of a doctor, but of a businessman.

  "Chairman—"

  "Stop addressing me Chairman, will you?" he interrupts. "Either Gabriel or Sean will be fine."

  "Uhh..."

  He turns on his heel to look at me. And it began, a staring contest between the two of us, he is standing behind his mahogany table while I am standing at the entrance of this huge room, the silence is deafening. A minute after, he chuckles and turns his gaze away.

  "Why don't you have a seat, first, doctor Hawl?"

  He motions me to sit down on the set of sofa in the middle of the room, which I did, while he gets something on his table and walks towards my direction. Once he's in front of me, he hands me a thick folder.

  Reluctantly, I accept it and check what is inside. It is a hard copy of the mission info and the virus. The exact location of the facility is also provided and its blueprint. It is an underground research and experimental facility, a private property of Colletis in Wolfe Creek Crater, Western Australia.

  "Wolfe Creek Crater? Isn't it one of the most isolated places in Australia?" I asked.

  "It is. And the Colletis managed to buy it and make it one of their private properties. They keep its rocky and a bit wooded landscape, hence the underground facility."

  He hands me an IPad, and again, I accept it.

  "That one is one of my inventions. A portable IPad."

  "Portable IPad?"

  "Yea, here, let me show you."

  He sits beside me and presses the IPad's power button for a while the and three options flash. The option for Power Off Device, Restart Device, and Wrist Watch Mode.

  "Wristwatch mode? What is it?" I ask.

  He smirks, and I have to brace myself for this is one of the rarest moments of my life. My long-time crush cold and my anti-social crush sitting beside me, smirking. I am willing to trade everything I have for this.

  "As I have said, this IPad is one of my inventions. A solar-powered portable IPad. This device is designed to be very handy at all times. It automatically recharges when the battery reaches 20%, and it will only take five minutes for the battery to be fully recharged, less than two minutes if the sun is striking hot, and for summer season, it only takes thirty seconds or so before it is fully charged."

  "Whoa,"

  "Yea, whoa. And here's more, because I called this a portable one, here," he presses the Wrist Watch Mode option, and the IPad transforms into a black wristwatch and it immediately straps into my left wrist. "There."

  My mouth gapes as my eyes twinkle in astonishment and admiration. The wristwatch is black and stylish enough for me and I must say it perfectly fits me. I stare at it, and I notice that there is a button on the side. I press it and two options flash on the small circular screen.

  IPad Mode and Virtual Pad Mode.

  "Try the VPM." he urges.

  "VPM?"

  "Virtual Pad Mode. Try it, you'll be amazed."

  For a moment, he looks like a child who's excited to show something to someone special, anticipating if that someone will like it or not. He looks like a carefree twenty years old boy, when in fact, he's nearing thirty.

  Thinking of that, I secretly bite my lip. Because Georgina and I were one of those girls who's crazy for him way back in college, we did some things that normal school girls crazy for their handsome crushes do. We were his creepy stalkers back then, so I know things about him that most of them do not know.

  Shaking away those crazy college days memories that are starting to resurface, I choose the Virtual Pad Mode and a virtual screen for the IPad floats five inches up to the small circular screen of the wristwatch where the time and location flashes dimly.

  "Now, for that, you need to put your thumb just an inch away above the virtual screen and the fingerprint scanner and DNA tester will do their work," he instructed as the screen says,

  "PLEASE INPUT YOUR IDENTIFICATION PASS."

  Without being told twice, I did as I am told and in just a moment, the screen flashes,

  "IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED!"

  The applications are just like those on normal IPads, only that they have different icon designs. I notice that the wallpaper is like the wallpaper on my phone, a picture of a couple with the Eiffel Tower on its background.

  "I tapped into your phone's system so all the files, contacts, and applications in your phone are also in the system of that IPad. From now on, you'll get rid of your phone and use that one instead. You don't have to worry about phone calls because an earring with a nano-earpiece device is provided, here,"

  He fishes something out from his robe's pocket and shows his palm where an earring with a blue heart-shaped diamond is resting. The earring is just big enough to be seen even when my hair is not tied up.

  "It's now yours," he announces, making me look at him in shock.

  "Mine?"

  "Yes." he nodded. "It's my gift to you for your remarkable performance as a doctor of Richforte Memorial Hospital. I know you barely go home, you spent most of your time in the hospital, in the operating room, in the lab. Note that the surgeries you handle are all successful. Consider that one as your reward, personally given by the chairman, which is me."

  Since the day I come to know Sean Gabriel Richforte, this is the longest time I talk to him, and the gift speech is the longest he said to me so far. My mind tries to digest what he just said. I look at my left wrist where the wristwatch is strapped, this is now mine. This is his gift to me for my remarkable performance in the hospital.

  "Are you monitoring each doctor's performance?" I ask. "I am aware that I am not the only doctor here who has a remarkable performance. Does that mean you personally give a gift to every doctor who have remarkable performance in the hospital?"

  The question made him stop for a reason I don't know, and he blinks a few times before he roams his eyes around like he's searching for something, which makes my brows knit together. Something's up? A minute pass and he sighs like he has given up over something.

  "Okay, the portable IPad is my personal gift to you for your remarkable performance. Don't ask more questions 'cause I don't like it, do you understand?"

  He sounds so commanding that I nodded in agreement without thinking. But I have a concern so I voice it out,

  "But what will I say when they ask me about this one? Especially Georgina, my best friend. She won't let me go until she knows the reason behind this. And one more thing, I don't know much how to use this. Do you have a manual?"

  Sighing, he leans back on the sofa and explains to me that the manual guide is on the IPad's system, and I'll see it on the setting application. He also instructed me not to announce to everyone that I have this portable IPad because he doesn't want them knowing that he have an invention like this.

  I learned that he finished this invention a week ago after he graduated from college and he only has two of this device. One is the one he gave me and the other one is his, mine is connected with him.

  "Does this mean I don't have privacy with my IPad because our devices are connected and you can monitor mine?"

  He shakes his head, "No, not that you don't have privacy. If I can monitor your device, you can monitor mine too. Because our devices are connected, it works vice versa."

  "Oh." was all I can say. "But wait, you said you finished this invention a week ago after you graduated from college. Why didn't you make lots of these devices and sell its patent?"

  "Well, as you know, I did not really plan to be a chairman of our hospital. My dream was to build my own empire. If ever I become one, I want to focus my empire mainly on mechanics, and electronics, and inventing devices that will be a big help to the society."

  "Only if my father did not tell me to take up medicine for the sake of my mother, I am probably one of the successful businessmen now and still expanding my empire. Unfortunately, I have to listen to my father because mom was dying back then, and her last wish is to continue the legacy of our hospital. My brother was already in the military back then, so I have no choice."

  While he's talking, I get the chance to stare at him, and I see a glint of melancholy and hope in the depths of his eyes. Perhaps he's still hoping that maybe someday, he can still be a successful businessman and run his own empire. Another first that I see the emotion in his gray eyes other than its usual cold look. When he's done talking, he turns to face me, and the melancholic smile that is plastered on his lips vanishes, as he clears his throat.

  "Anyway, there's more than the IPad why I called you here," he says and taps something in his wristwatch that is in the Virtual Pad Mode. "Here, see your name? You are included in the list of the doctors who will participate in the mission."

  "The folder I gave you is the hard copy of the info about the mission, the soft copy is attached on file and it is already on your IPad. I want you to read and study it thoroughly."

  I shrugged and said, "Of course, I would study it. Given that I will be participating in this mission."

  He shakes his head, "Not just that, Rosella Marie Hawl. You need to read and study it thoroughly because as I will be leading this mission, I will need an assistant."

  "And I want it to be you."