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"I love you okay? Promise me you wont give the nurses a hard time"
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Yesterday was a lesson and I don't plan to make the mistake of leaving the hospital again today without saying bye to Keila. Sure, it makes me stay till after dawn so I don't have to wake her from sleep. It definitely eats into my free time today but I don't plan to waste any chance I have to be with my daughter.
"Hey mommy", she greets the moment she wakes from her sleep. I was worried she'd sleep in till noon since she was stressed out yesterday. "Hey sweetie. How do you feel?" "Kinda tired, but better since you're here", she says, giving me the cheesiest smile ever. "You little cornball", I tease, tickling her as much as is considered safe. That earns me some of her adorable giggles. "Keila?" "Yeah?" "Mommy has to go out today. Been waiting for you to wake up so I can say bye. I didn't want to leave like yesterday" "Oh, okay", she agrees, even as her expression gets gloomy. "I love you okay? Promise me you wont give the nurses a hard time" "Okay, 'll try not to", she says, a mischievous smile on her lips. I don't try to counter her, knowing her smiles are fewer and farther these days makes me treasure all of them, even the cheeky ones. I place a kiss on her forehead and stand, heading towards the door. "Bye mommy", she says. "Bye sweetie" ************** "So, what are you going to do?", my boyfriend, Louis asks for the umpteenth time this week. "I don't know what you want me to say Louis. I already told you, I lost my job and I'm trying to get a new one" "Well obviously that isn't going so well, it’s been days already. She has just a few weeks left" I whip around to face him. "You've been away for the past three months, of which I had to take care of my daughter and our home all alone. Now you've been back for all of one week and you're already trying to criticize every single thing I do. Since you have a job and you're sure you can do so much better then please cough up thirty grand, but if you can't, then just shut up and let me continue trying to actually help my kid". I don't wait to hear his response as I walk away to the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of water to ease the constant headaches I've been having for the past few weeks. Just as I drop the now empty glass on the counter, I feel Louis come up behind me. He circles his arm around my waist and kisses my shoulder. "Hey baby, you know I didn't mean it that way, l'm also worried about her as much as you are and I guess that's why I overreacted. I'll help out as much as I can okay? | promise" I turn around to face him, highly doubtful that he has any plans to actually help out. He's never really helped out financially before, I don't think he's going to start now. "I need to get to the hospital", I say, walking around him to go to the bedroom. "Do you need me to come with you?", he asks. "No, it's fine. It won't take time" Louis isn't Keila's father, he has never acted as one and I don't expect him to start now. Since he got back, he's gone to see Keila a few times and those were just because he felt obligated to. I don't want that from him. Keila needs support not pity. My phone rings in my pocket and I pick it up to see that its Katie. "Hey Kate", I greet as I answer the call. "Hi babe. So I'll be in town tonight “Really? How's your mom now?", I ask. She went to lowa in the first place to care for her mom. If she's coming back, then that should mean her mom is healthy now. "Oh, she's great. She was discharged a while ago. Now I need you to pick me up from the airport once l arrive. We’ve got a lot to catch up on, and I also want to see my little cutie bear. How is she?" "Well, you know..fighting through", I answer, my voice catching on the last word. "Oh sweetie, is she any better?" "Nope. She hardly speaks anymore Kate. I'm running out of time" "All will be well, okay? We'll talk about it once I see you. We have so much to talk about but I got to go now, my dad needs me. Bye babe, see you tonight "Bye", I reply, sniffling as I pick up my bag and leave for the hospital. The entire journey, I spend my strength trying to hold back tears. When I finally park my old corolla at the hospital curb, I see Emily's obnoxious cousin stepping out of his sleek black car. I don't want to bump into him on the way so I lock up quickly and quickly make my way up to the seventh floor where Keila is. Jade steps out of her room just as I'm about to go in. "Hey mama bear, how are you?", she asks with a cheerful smile. "I'm great. How's Keila doing today?" "Well, see for yourself. She looks better today" I nod as I go in. Keila looks tiny lying on her bed with all those machines surrounding her. She doesn't notice me come in till I stand right beside her. "Hey baby", I say. "Hey mommy, I missed you to day" I smile. "Me too baby. How was your day today" Her little cherub face lights up as she goes into her daily routine of telling me how her day went. Her speech is slower then usual. She's putting in more effort into every single activity these days and it breaks my heart watching my girl slip away a little more everyday. I stay and listen to her till she falls asleep. I'm thirsty so I walk out of her room, shutting the door quietly behind me to make sure I don't wake her up. I sigh, tired, and then I look up to see Emily coming down the hallway towards me. She's not alone though. Her obnoxious cousin is marching right along beside her.Related chapters
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I'm tempted to run in the opposite direction if it wouldn't be so obvious. Emily stops right In front of me."Hey", she greets and I nod in response."Hi. What are you doing here?". Her cousins walks away just as I finish my question.Emily sighs, smiling apologetically. I smile back, hating that she always has to apologize on his behalf when he's the obnoxious prick he's always been."I had to sort out a few things here. How are you?""Great. How have you been you know, coping?""I mean, how else do you cope when you lose a person?", she asks with a sad smile."I'm sorry", I reply shamefully."It's fine. I'm done with my business here. Do you want to go for a walk? You look like you need it" I nod, because she's right, I do need it.For the next hour, Emily and I walk around the hospital premises. Not too far, so l can still get to Keila in time. We talk about her, her son before he died and her life after she lost him. She tells me how it's been difficult accepting that his death wa
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Emily walks past Luther and comes to stand in front of me. I on the other hand can't take my eyes away from Luther and his persistent glare."Hi", she says. "Welcome"I finally pull away from Luther's gaze to face her."What is he doing here?", I ask, aiming for a whisper, but end up talking loud enough for Luther's ears."About that. I forgot to mention that he's the one you'd be working for""What?", Luther and I exclaim at the same time."You can't be fucking serious. Her?", Luther queries, looking disgusted."What is that supposed to mean?", l ask, affronted. I don't want to work for him either but he's looking at me like a stain beneath his shoe."Emily, this isn't what you told me", he says to Emily, pointedly ignoring me and my question."No, what I told you was that I had someone that would be great for the job you wanted. Here she is""No", he says simply, walking away without a second glance. I immediately turn to Emily."Em-", I start but she cuts me off."Listen, I'm sorry
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Luther doesn’t look impressed. He runs his grey eyes over my form for a few seconds, not saying anything. The look in his eyes convey his disgust. He’s never liked me, even made his dislike for me obvious. Before now, he honestly had no reason for that but right now, I hate that I gave him a reason to actually dislike me. I hate that I’m proving his point and feeding his stupid ego.I expect him to scold me, or even fire me at the spot. Surprisingly, all he does is to grumble out a firm “you’re late”, then he walks away, not giving me any more attention.I hurry towards him, his strides are long so it takes me a few seconds to catch up and then when I do, it’s hard to keep up with his steps. He must notice my struggle because he stops walking and turns to face me.“What are you doing?”, he asks, seemingly unhappy about my skittering around him.“I, uh, nothing”He runs that uncomfortable gaze over me again, making me self conscious, then he turns around to face me completely.“Listen,
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Keila looks frailer, but at the same time, she looks happy to see me, and that’s enough.“Hey mommy, aunt Katie got me a lollipop and new toys”, she reports happily. I frown. Unlike other kids, Keila has strict restrictions on her diet so no matter how much she craves the snacks, sweets and outdoor games other kids play, it’s imperative that she’s only permitted to them once in a blue moon.I’m happy she got to have a lollipop after so long, but I’m also angry at Katie for giving it to her. Sure, she was being thoughtful and only wanted to make my daughter happy, but I’m still really worried.“What did you say to her?”, I ask, instilling manners even at the height of worry. She smiles, her little teeth on display.“I said, Thankyou aunt Katie, I hope you break the rules for me again next time”. Her response is accompanied by a cheeky smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. I laugh, unable to scold her and just generally happy that she still maintains this side of her.“Okay, okay,
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“Less salt”, Luther instructs from behind me.“It’s less than a pinch already”, I complain.“Reduce it”. He’s not budging so I obey and reduce it as he instructed.It’s been a week since the last breakfast I made him and we’re currently in the kitchen and I’m preparing his breakfast after I took the first meal to him and he told me to toss it away, then dragged me here to supervise me as I make a new plate. The past twenty minutes has been hell with him breathing down my neck and criticizing my every move.“The pot is too hot”“Reduce the fire”“Wrong spatula”“Not enough butter”These are a few of the many things he’s corrected. Some were honestly unnecessary and simply petty if you ask me, but yes, let’s indulge the embodiment of pettiness that is Luther Chapman.We’re on the sauce now and I’m quite surprised that we managed to get here. I somehow expected that we’d be here till night with him micromanaging my actions.I pick up the pepper and I’m about to sprinkle some in when his
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I take Luther’s breakfast to his office and watch as he takes the first bite.“You approve?”, I ask immediately he swallows.“Yes”, he says. “I obviously have to, I basically made it”Asshole. I don’t comment though, I need to be on his good side to ask for what I want. “So, uh, I wanted to ask you about something”“What is that?”, he grumbles out as he keeps eating. Not really bothering to look at me. “I was wondering if I could be paid in advance?”That pauses him in his eating and he looks up at me, pensive.“May I ask why?”“I need to pay off some bills”“The bills can wait”“They really can’t”, I say and he ignores me.I sigh. “It’s an emergency”“What do you need the money for?”“Like I said, bills”“Not good enough”, he says gruffly, going back to his food.I try to come up with a way to convince him without letting it slip that I have a daughter stashed in the hospital somewhere.“I might need to get an urgent hysterectomy and I need the money for the procedure”He freezes for
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“Less salt”, Luther instructs from behind me.“It’s less than a pinch already”, I complain.“Reduce it”. He’s not budging so I obey and reduce it as he instructed.It’s been a week since the last breakfast I made him and we’re currently in the kitchen and I’m preparing his breakfast after I took the first meal to him and he told me to toss it away, then dragged me here to supervise me as I make a new plate. The past twenty minutes has been hell with him breathing down my neck and criticizing my every move.“The pot is too hot”“Reduce the fire”“Wrong spatula”“Not enough butter”These are a few of the many things he’s corrected. Some were honestly unnecessary and simply petty if you ask me, but yes, let’s indulge the embodiment of pettiness that is Luther Chapman.We’re on the sauce now and I’m quite surprised that we managed to get here. I somehow expected that we’d be here till night with him micromanaging my actions.I pick up the pepper and I’m about to sprinkle some in when his
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I haven’t seen Luther since breakfast. He’s been in his office since. I video called Keila immediately I left his office earlier. She looked very happy to see my new room and kept asking me when she can visit, I couldn’t break her little heart by telling her they don’t know I have a daughter and so I can’t bring her over, so instead, I told her she can come when she gets better enough to be discharged. She agreed. Hopefully, by then I would have earned enough for her surgery and would be out of here. I wasn’t going to tell her that though, the goal was to protect her precious heart from breaking.We talked for a while before I let her go so she can take a nap. I took my own nap too almost immediately we ended the call.When I woke up, I went to continue about my duties. I’m required to do Luther’s laundry and also clean his room. He’s anal about the positions of items in his room and how regularly it should be cleaned so I’m expected to make his expectations.He’s still working so thi
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The next day, I’m looking through Luther’s diet and restriction list in awe. There are so many things he’s not required to eat and then there are more foreign foods here than normal. I wonder if he has allergies.I get to work immediately, not willing to piss him off so early in the morning. The dish is fairly easy to prepare, the recipe simple. The only difficulty is working with strange ingredients but I somehow figure it out. Thankfully, I get it done nicely and finish up in time. Salad already showed me where Luther eats. In the mornings, he stays in the dining room for breakfast and sometimes if Emily is around, they have breakfast together. During lunch, he takes his food in his office. Dinner is mostly in his office too, with a few times that he chooses to eat in the dining if he finishes work early.When I get to the dining room, I see Luther already seated and reading a newspaper.That’s very ancient of him.I set the food down in front of him with a subtle smile. Luther take
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Keila looks frailer, but at the same time, she looks happy to see me, and that’s enough.“Hey mommy, aunt Katie got me a lollipop and new toys”, she reports happily. I frown. Unlike other kids, Keila has strict restrictions on her diet so no matter how much she craves the snacks, sweets and outdoor games other kids play, it’s imperative that she’s only permitted to them once in a blue moon.I’m happy she got to have a lollipop after so long, but I’m also angry at Katie for giving it to her. Sure, she was being thoughtful and only wanted to make my daughter happy, but I’m still really worried.“What did you say to her?”, I ask, instilling manners even at the height of worry. She smiles, her little teeth on display.“I said, Thankyou aunt Katie, I hope you break the rules for me again next time”. Her response is accompanied by a cheeky smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. I laugh, unable to scold her and just generally happy that she still maintains this side of her.“Okay, okay,
Redemption’s Sweet Surprise “Good, I’ll like to have breakfast now”
Luther doesn’t look impressed. He runs his grey eyes over my form for a few seconds, not saying anything. The look in his eyes convey his disgust. He’s never liked me, even made his dislike for me obvious. Before now, he honestly had no reason for that but right now, I hate that I gave him a reason to actually dislike me. I hate that I’m proving his point and feeding his stupid ego.I expect him to scold me, or even fire me at the spot. Surprisingly, all he does is to grumble out a firm “you’re late”, then he walks away, not giving me any more attention.I hurry towards him, his strides are long so it takes me a few seconds to catch up and then when I do, it’s hard to keep up with his steps. He must notice my struggle because he stops walking and turns to face me.“What are you doing?”, he asks, seemingly unhappy about my skittering around him.“I, uh, nothing”He runs that uncomfortable gaze over me again, making me self conscious, then he turns around to face me completely.“Listen,
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Emily walks past Luther and comes to stand in front of me. I on the other hand can't take my eyes away from Luther and his persistent glare."Hi", she says. "Welcome"I finally pull away from Luther's gaze to face her."What is he doing here?", I ask, aiming for a whisper, but end up talking loud enough for Luther's ears."About that. I forgot to mention that he's the one you'd be working for""What?", Luther and I exclaim at the same time."You can't be fucking serious. Her?", Luther queries, looking disgusted."What is that supposed to mean?", l ask, affronted. I don't want to work for him either but he's looking at me like a stain beneath his shoe."Emily, this isn't what you told me", he says to Emily, pointedly ignoring me and my question."No, what I told you was that I had someone that would be great for the job you wanted. Here she is""No", he says simply, walking away without a second glance. I immediately turn to Emily."Em-", I start but she cuts me off."Listen, I'm sorry
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I'm tempted to run in the opposite direction if it wouldn't be so obvious. Emily stops right In front of me."Hey", she greets and I nod in response."Hi. What are you doing here?". Her cousins walks away just as I finish my question.Emily sighs, smiling apologetically. I smile back, hating that she always has to apologize on his behalf when he's the obnoxious prick he's always been."I had to sort out a few things here. How are you?""Great. How have you been you know, coping?""I mean, how else do you cope when you lose a person?", she asks with a sad smile."I'm sorry", I reply shamefully."It's fine. I'm done with my business here. Do you want to go for a walk? You look like you need it" I nod, because she's right, I do need it.For the next hour, Emily and I walk around the hospital premises. Not too far, so l can still get to Keila in time. We talk about her, her son before he died and her life after she lost him. She tells me how it's been difficult accepting that his death wa
