Chapter 8

On Monday morning a frustrated Sophia walked into the section of the St. Peter’s hospital that held the lab. Passing by workers and a few patients she headed to the front desk and slapped her hand on the hardwood. The two ladies sitting behind the high desk barely glanced at her as they chatted about something.

“Excuse me,” she said to get their attention.

They kept talking.

“Excuse me,” she said through gritted teeth. They looked up at her with bored eyes.

“Yes?”

Straining to keep her anger under control she said, “I brought the blood sample of one of my patients last week and I am yet to get the results of his test.”

The one with low-cut curly hair gave her a droll glare before slowly moving to the monitor at the side of the desk. “Name?”

“Sophia Blanc my patient’s name is Freddie.”

The lady took a long time scrolling through the lists of names in the register. Behind the front desk was the closed-off lab, closed to workers from the main hospital area and to patients. Sophia could hear the muffled voices of overworked lab attendants as they performed one test after another.

The receptionist looked up from the monitor at her. “Your test isn’t ready yet.”

Eyebrows shooting up Sophia leaned forward on the desk. “Excuse me? I have waited a week and now I have to wait until my patient is dead before I get the result?!”

“If you need it urgently then speak to the Board.”

Sophia gasped. “What…?!”

Just then the lab door opened and a tired-looking man in a large white lab coat with the St. Peter’s emblem brazed on it came out. Sophia wasted no time in approaching him.

“How long does it take for you to perform one test?” she shot out. She was well aware that she was being rude to the man but for Freddie’s sake, she needed the test result. Maybe her guess about his illness was wrong and if it was, she needed to put his mom’s mind at ease otherwise…

“Miss, I am sorry for the delay. We are trying our best. There is a lot on our hands and we are working overtime to produce results.”

Swallowing down on her anger she said in a pleading tone. “Please a patient of mine could be dying, I just need to confirm my suspicions and begin treatments if need be. Can’t you help me out here?”

“There is a process to these things,” the man said in a slightly pissed-off tone. “Now if you will excuse me, I must return to the lab. There is a lot to do with little manpower.”

He left her there and went in the direction of another room. Clenching her fist in an effort not to scream and hit the smug faces of the front desk ladies she walked away, prepared to lie again to Freddie that all was well.

She has barely started her routine around the hospital when Stella met her in the hall.

“Hey,” she greeted with a small smile.

“Hey, yourself,” Stella replied. “Come with me right now. We are wanted.”

Sophia frowned at Stella’s dramatic tone. “By who?”

“The Board.”

Her brows shot up as she fell into step with Stella who was walking rapidly towards the stairs leading to the executive offices. “Did you say the Board?”

“Yes, the Board, honey. Apparently, they heard of our many complaints concerning the lack of up-to-date equipment and the other many problems we have been complaining about and they need us to tell them in their faces exactly what we’ve been complaining about.”

Great.

By the time they got to the landing where the Meeting Room was located, they were both out of breath. The interior of the room was done in plain white. There was a huge glass window that overlooked the busy roads and streets, the morning light came in through the paneled glass, reflecting on the black leather chairs arranged along a long glass table. On this sat the members of the St. Peter’s Board of directors a of whom sat with grim faces as they listened to the workers give their opinions on areas of improvement. On chairs arranged around the room, several doctors and nurses sat. Rosa who was sitting at a corner with Nate and Mike waved Sophia and Stella over. One of the nurses was talking about the lack of efficiency of the interns working in the Accident and Emergency department.

“Has anyone talked about the lab?” Sophia asked.

“I already did,” Mike responded with a wink.

As one doctor or nurse after another made their complaints the directors listened and at the end of it all, they took a moment to deliberate among themselves like juries in a court. When they were done a representative stood and addressed them.

“We have heard all you have to say and we will like you to know that here at St. Peter’s we strive hard to satisfy not only our patients but our staff. All your complaints would be put into consideration. There is a funds shortage, the hospital does not have enough to fulfill its needs and the needs of its sister hospitals, that is, our other subdivisions. The good news is, we now have sponsors who want to help renovate the closed-up wards and offices, buy equipment and make other improvements where needed.”

There was a murmur of surprise and gratitude among the workers gathered there.

“We just thought to let you all know. In only a short time we will have made amendments to the problems you all have presented.”

The meeting ended and Rosa and Sophia made their way to their office. They had barely settled when a knock sounded at the door and a young intern peeped around the slightly open door. Sophia looked up.

He was carrying a large bouquet of red roses, the biggest arrangement she had ever seen. The guy was almost dwarfed by the flowers. Sophia turned to Rosa who looked at her with a raised brow.

“Did you order flowers?”

Sophia shook her head. “ I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

Rosa was out of her chair in a second, she went around her desk and helped the young guy who smiled gratefully at her. She set it on her table.

“Who are these for?” she asked.

“They just came in for…” he picked a card from the huge arrangement and then turned to Sophia. “Sophia Blanc.”

She wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Rosa’s mouth gaped and her eyes were huge. She plucked the card from the guy's hand to take a closer look.

“Excuse me?” Sophia asked nervously suddenly finding her voice again. “The flowers are for me?”

“Yes, and there’s something else.” The guy lifted the bouquet and produced a large black velvet box with a red ribbon tied around it. “This is for you too.”

Rosa’s mouth practically hit the ground. “Wait wait wait, who are these from?”

The guy shrugged. “They arrived at the front desk and I was asked to bring them to you. I gotta go now.” He turned and left.

Dazed and confused, Sophia stood up from her seat and approached Rosa’s table where her friend was inhaling the sweet scent of the flowers. She was smiling and wagging at brows at Sophia.

“Oooh look who has a secret admirer. Do you think it was Nate who did this?”

She shook her head. “No Nate wouldn’t do this.” But she couldn’t seem to recollect anyone in her life who would send flowers and a box…a box of what?

Rosa was too busy squealing about the flowers to hear her. Then she suddenly stopped. “Oh my God, there is another note.”

“There is?” Sophia asked, too stupefied to think of anything else.

Rosa was already opening the card. “It says, Sophia, have dinner with me tonight. My chauffeur will be at St. Peter’s by 7. Matt Wolffe.”