Chapter 5 Indebtedness

I looked around and saw the tube of drips hanging on the left side of the bed next to my head. Its tube was connected to my left arm. If I have been sleeping for days, this liquid must have been my food for the whole time. Looking at the pack of colorless liquid that drops slower than a second in between the next drops, a thought suddenly flashed in my mind. 

This thought traveled from my brain down to that specific part of my anatomy. I felt like a marionette with a string being pulled away to make me move. I sprang up, but the pain in my left side made me pause. I couldn’t even lift a finger due to the extreme pain I felt at my sudden move. 

“Do you need a hand?” 

I heard a man’s voice speak softly as he walked closer to my bed, opposite where the lady was leaning asleep as she sat on a chair. In my pained face, I stared at the man. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties. He had pepper and salt colored hair. I could tell the man was a gym rat somehow. He has a fierce-looking face, and I find it hard to believe he was the same man speaking so calmly and cautiously at the moment.

“She had been watching over you for two nights straight. I guess her body is collecting all the sleep she had been lacking,” the man said, looking at the lady, who was now softly snoring. 

“I’d like to use the bathroom,” I answered with the same small voice as the man had to avoid waking up the sleeping beauty. 

“You have a catheter on you, but since you are awake, you won’t need it anymore. I believe you can remove it on your own, but as a medical practitioner, I can also help you if you find it challenging to do.”

“No, sir, thank you. I… I have never done this before, but I am confident I can manage,” I answered politely. 

“The toilet is that way. Marco, right?” he said, pointing at a door by the corner. 

“Yes, sir. Marco Alfonso.” 

I extended my hand for a formal handshake and verbally expressed my gratitude. 

“Thank you so much for saving my life. Please let me know how I can repay you,” I spoke with utmost sincerity. 

“Let’s take about it when you’re done,” the man said, pointing his chin in the toilet’s direction. His face showed an indescribable expression or emotion. I was not really sure of what. But I nodded in response. I looked around to see if I could find where my clothes. 

“Use the set of patient’s clothes Skye brought home for you. It’s in the rack inside there,” he said without even sparing a glance at me as he squatted on the cabinet next to the bed, and I saw him take a fresh bedsheet and blanket. 

“Thank you,” I murmured. 

I wanted to ask where my clothes and things were, but I did not want to sound arrogant, so I just thought about asking bout them later when we talk. I sautered my way to the door the man pointed I should head to, and standing in front of the mirror, I realized I was wearing a blue set of cotton fabric pajamas. 

“Am I in some sort of a private clinic or something?” I thought when I saw the same set of clothes on the rack, just as the man had told me to change into. “Everything looks fancy and expensive. But the man doesn’t look like a medical practitioner despite what he had said earlier when he offered me assistance to remove the… Ah, right! I should remove it now!” 

I kept murmuring as I did my thing in the bathroom. I saw my bandaged wound. It made me fall into deep thoughts about who could have been so bold enough to install an automatic gun in my office. It only meant one thing. Whoever did it is within my people. 

“But who?”

This question is so challenging because I know I have a lot of enemies. And despite loyalty, my men might still fall into a trap and have no choice but to betray me if they get threatened with harming any of their families and loved ones. 

“Was it on purpose not to kill me with that one shot?” 

This thought also bothered me. I was literally vulnerable. Had whoever placed that gun under my desk wanted me dead, they could have installed the weapon somewhere I would get shot at a fatal point. Or maybe I was just lucky?

I blew a deep breath. I couldn’t move at my usual speed due to the pain in my waist, but I did it anyway. I washed my face and noticed my stubbles had grown over the days, but I was not in my place to feel free doing everything I wished to do, so I left them untouched. I folded the dirty clothes I was wearing earlier and placed them neatly on the side since I did not see any laundry basket anywhere in the room. Then I slowly walked out. 

The moment my eyes roamed. I saw the man covering the lady with a blanket. She was now lying on the patient bed I used to lay down on in the past three days, if I am right. 

“I am afraid to interrupt her sleep, so I just changed the beddings and laid her there. I am sure you don’t want to be on your back for the next few hours, so until then, why don’t we talk and wait?” the man walked away from the bed and headed out the door. 

I did not say anything, but I followed his lead. I saw the man cross the distance from the side of the bed to the door with only a few big strides, but I was taking it more slowly. I was curious about what I was going to see outside the room I was in for the first time. It gave me the motivation to ignore the pain and reach the door with haste. 

“A house?” 

I felt like my feet were nailed to the floor when I arrived at the door. My eyes roamed around. It wasn’t as big as my villa. Simple but homey. From where I was standing, I could see the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I turned to look at another corner. There was a plight of stairs going up. 

“You must be hungry. Come this way,” the man said, popping his head behind a pillar in the dining area. 

I did not know I was hungry until he mentioned it. My stomach reacted with a growl. I ambled and sat on the chair only after the man took his seat at the table. 

“I will have my tea while you have your soup. Solid food is not an option for you to eat just yet, so bear with the taste. My daughter isn’t that bad in the kitchen,” the man said. 

“Thank you, sir,” I curtly nodded, then started to spoon the soup after he had his first sip of the tea.

“I will be honest with you. We are speaking man to man here, so I am going to be frank and straight to the point,” the man started. 

I just nodded and gave him a complying look. I owe this man my life. I am not in any position to be rude, whatever he has to say. 

“My name is Theodor Christoff, and my daughter is Shecaina, but we call her Skye. I want you to remember these names so when the time comes, we ask for your help, and you will know who we are. Are we good?” the man said. 

I was not expecting this kind of conversation at all. The words sounded simple, but I could not avoid feeling there was more to it than what it appeared to be. 

“I will never forget such indebtedness. If you would allow, I would also want to pay every penny you spent for me, but rest assured that doesn’t end there. Please let me know how I could ever express my sincere gratitude,” I answered humbly. 

“There will be a time for that. For now, you have to regain your strength before you leave this place. I have your things in my office, over there,” Theodor said with a hand pointing at a door behind the stairs. “My daughter did not see or touch any of them. But I saw your weapons and personal identifications. I also turned off your mobile phone just to make sure you are not being tracked, or whoever wants you dead might find out where you are and finish not only you.”

“I am so sorry to have brought so much trouble unto your home,” I answered. 

“Who knew my daughter would even get to help an injured man like you?” Theodor chuckled. “I believe fate has a big role in playing this silly joke on us all, so we just have to flow with it, I guess.”