Veronica-With Andrew now on the mend, he was moved out of the ICU and placed back in his room. Now that he wasn’t at risk for infection and he was steadily improving, things were looking better by the day. He had to stay another week in the ICU after having the ventilator removed, but that was only a small price to pay for everything we have endured thus far.The only downside to being back on the pediatric floor was that I wouldn’t be able to see Lyrek as often. He was avoiding me from what I could tell. When he came to check on Andrew, he kept the visit short and didn’t talk about anything other than Andrew’s recovery.I had wanted to give it more time until I told Andrew that we broke up, but my hand was forced when Lyrek acted as if I wasn’t anything more than a family member of a patient. At least the relationship between Andrew and Lyrek seemed to be okay. I had caught them playing a game together one day after returning from taking a shower at home.As soon as Lyrek realized I
Veronica-“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.” I told Dr. Hendrix when I sat on the sofa across from her.As always, she sat in a chair that looked rather uncomfortable. She had a pen and pad in her hand. Everything about her screamed therapist, from her appearance down to the way she sat in the chair. Even the glasses she wore, low on her nose, looked more for aesthetics rather than because she needed them.“I am glad you called, to be honest. After our last session, I was a little concerned about how you might be dealing with things. Have things improved since the last time you were here?” With the way she spoke, it seemed more formal than comfortable.It did make me a little nervous. Unlike talking to someone I know, like Lily, it felt as if I was being examined under a microscope. Perhaps this was why I wasn’t too keen on coming here to talk about my problems.“In some aspects they have. I was just told that my brother is officially cancer free and will be released from
Veronica-“I already said I wasn’t hungry!” Lyrek’s grandfather roared from his bed.From his outburst, it was clear he didn’t know it was me at the door. Standing just inside his hospital room, I thought about backing out. Trying to talk to him when he was in an obvious sour mood might not be the best approach.I didn’t even know what I was going to say to him. Before I could make up my mind and back out, his gaze shot up and a look of surprise fell over him. Knowing it was too late to back out now, I took another few steps forward.“Hello, Mr. Cole.” I gave a slight bow to him, folding my hands together in front of me.“Come in, come in.” He gestured with a wave of his hand as he set aside the newspaper he had been reading.Feeling nervous, I hesitated briefly before moving further into the room. My mind suddenly went blank as I stood at the foot of his bed. No longer knowing why I wanted to talk to him in the first place, I shifted from one foot to the other.“I have been hoping to
Veronica-When I reached the doors that would lead me outside, I noticed it was raining hard. For only a split second did I hesitate and considered returning upstairs to grab an umbrella. In the end, I chose to not worry about it, because I needed to get to Lyrek to try to save our relationship.“Miss! It is pouring outside!” I heard someone yell out, but I ignored them as I ran out into the rain.As the water from the sky pelted down on me, I shivered slightly from the chill in the air. As fast as my legs could carry me, I ran towards the bar. Very few people were outside roaming around.At least they had enough sense to hold an umbrella, unlike me. The distance from the penthouse to the bar felt like it would never end. At least that was how it seemed until the entrance to the bar was within sight.Just as I was about to come to a stop outside the bar, someone opened the door and I skidded to a stop. To my relief, it was Lyrek that had stepped outside, which meant I hadn’t missed my
Lyrek-By the time we reached the penthouse, Veronica was shivering from head to toe. I practically had to carry her upstairs because she said she wasn’t feeling good. Shutting the front door, I had to let her go so I could take off my wet shoes.She stumbled against the wall. Before she fell to the floor, I quickly caught her and wrapped one of my arms around her waist. Using my free hand, I pressed the back of it against her damp face. Her skin was ice cold.“We need to get you out of these wet clothes.” I told her.My concern for her well-being quickly grew when her head fell back, and she passed out in my arms. I wanted to chastise her for going out in the rain without an umbrella and with the temperatures as low as they were. Then again, I wanted to kick myself for not coming to find her instead.I had planned to talk to her at the hospital earlier, but she took off before I had a chance. I had gone to the bar in hopes of finding her there. Right after she left, I had gone to the
Veronica-“Hello?” The sound of Lyrek’s voice woke me up.Rolling over, I saw he was sitting up holding his phone to his ear. Seeing him next to me in bed filled me with a sense of security. For a moment, I thought maybe I had dreamed of our meeting last night.“I will be there soon. If he wants to try walking to the restroom by himself, let him. Wrap a gait belt around his waist to assist him.” Lyrek paused as he listened to the person he was on the phone with. “Whatever you do, do not let him fall. It isn’t that he can’t walk; he just hasn’t been strong enough to hold himself up. This is a good thing if he manages to walk. As I said, I will head in shortly.”Listening to his one-sided conversation, I wondered if he was talking about Andrew. Sitting up in bed a little, I propped myself on my elbow. His attention came to rest on me as he still held the phone to his ear.“Okay.” He spoke into the phone and then hung up.“What is wrong?” I asked, my voice sounding groggy to my ears.“An
Veronica- It sucked that I was sick. One reason was that I was rarely ever sick, and the second was that I just got back together with Lyrek and instead of enjoying it, I was in a fog. It has been two days since I got sick, and I have barely left the bed.Lyrek has been taking care of me when he was home, then turning around to go back to work to take care of his other patients. I was getting frustrated that it was taking so long to start feeling better. The only good thing out of all of this was that Lyrek hasn’t caught whatever was wrong with me.Now that I was feeling a little better, at least enough to not be asleep, I was bored out of my mind. I had called Lily and asked her if she could bring me something to eat, because I didn’t feel like cooking anything, and it was her day off. I wouldn’t have asked but she said she was going to be going to see Andrew today.I was looking forward to seeing her because I was interested in knowing what has been going on with Andrew. Lyrek fill
Veronica-Waiting another two days after my fever broke, I was ready to get out of the house. The first place I decided to go was to the bar to get some paperwork that Rick wanted me to do before I could start working as a manager. We also needed to look over the schedule, to figure out when I was going to start.We decided on two weeks from now, which would give me enough time to help Andrew adjust and give me a little time to slowly take over for him at the bar. Since I made the bar my first stop, thinking it would take less time, I quickly made my way to the hospital.As I promised Lyrek, I didn’t travel by myself, as I used the driver Lyrek hired for when it was convenient. I had sent Lyrek a text when I left the bar, to let him know I was on my way to the hospital. When I arrived, I found him waiting for me at the entrance.“Are you sure you are feeling better?” He asked when I stopped in front of him.“This is the tenth time you have asked me that in the past twenty-four hours.
Veronica- Ten years later “Hurry up mom and dad! We are going to be late!” My nine-year-old daughter Lexi yelled as she ran ahead to the bar, where we were meeting everyone. It was now Christmas, and we had a tradition to meet at the bar every year. Rick still managed the bar, but he now did so with his husband, whom he met while he was in Europe. This year it was a little different from our usual get-together because this year Lily couldn’t join us. She was in Africa working with Doctors Without Borders. I was really proud of everything she has accomplished these last few years since graduating from medical school. The main person that I was looking forward to seeing was Andrew. He was in college now, studying to be a medical researcher. His life was relatively normal now, having been cancer free for ten years. I never thought he would have made it this far, but I was thankful every day that his illness was a thing of the past. I haven’t seen him since the school year started, b
Veronica-It wasn’t easy, but with the help of Lily, a team of wedding planners, and a lot of money, we managed to get the wedding I have been planning for the last few months up and going. It took us only forty-eight hours. The best part of it all, Lyrek’s grandfather was able to hold on.I had a feeling that the wedding was giving him the desire to live because I could tell by looking at him that he was fighting to stay alive. When I told him my plan it was a light flipped on in him and he now had the will to live. Lyrek tried to argue with me about rushing the wedding.He wanted me to have the wedding of my dreams, but I managed to win him over to my way of thinking after I told him that it wouldn’t be the wedding of my dreams without his grandfather here to celebrate it with us. After all, it had been because of his grandfather that we were together.I thought it over and concluded that even if he would have pursued me, I wouldn’t have been as willing to be with him at the time. I
Veronica-Waking up in Lyrek’s arms was the best thing in the world at this moment. After the last twenty-four hours, I have been more grateful to have him by my side. I wish he would have let me know what he was doing, but I understood why he kept me in the dark.Rolling over in bed to face him, I saw he was still sleeping. Taking a moment to admire his features, I smiled at how relaxed he looked. Moving my gaze to the other side of his body, I noticed Andrew was lying in bed next to him.I must have slept like a rock if I hadn’t noticed Andrew joining us in bed. Reaching over, I gently caressed the side of his face. His features weren’t as relaxed as Lyrek’s, yet he didn’t seem to be nearly as influenced by past events as I expected him to be.“Good morning.” Lyrek’s sleepy voice pulled me from getting too far into my thoughts.Tilting my head back, I looked up to see him smiling at me. “Good morning.” I repeated his words.“Are you hungry?” He asked, his tone soft and low.Instead
Veronica-I was beyond worried right now. As many times as I called Lyrek, it went straight to voicemail. I didn’t know what to do and even the police had to call in the FBI because they were getting nowhere.With nothing better to do, I have been pacing the lobby of the theater, trying to reach Lyrek. My nerves were a wreck. I didn’t think Lyrek would up and abandon me, so I couldn’t help but feel that something was very wrong.The Chief of Police also thought something was wrong and has been trying to track him down. He had one of his officers try calling every hospital in the area, including different police units. I wanted to call his lawyer, but I didn’t have the number.I couldn’t call his grandfather, because he wasn’t doing very well, and I didn’t want him to worry. Pacing back and forth was all I was good at right now. It wasn’t helping anything, aside from helping hold on to the little bit of calmness I had left.Finally, my phone rang, and I quickly looked at the screen. A
Lyrek-With no choice but to wait until their attention was away from Andrew, I kept myself hidden. The minutes were ticking by slower than I wanted. The men guarding Andrew were getting impatient, but I couldn’t move without putting him in danger.Looking across the room, I tried looking for Snake, but I couldn’t spot him. My hand tightened around the hilt of the dagger until my knuckles turned white. One of the men returned to the computer, while the other was pacing.If I was going to get Andrew out of here, I needed to do it soon. The moment I thought about it, there was a loud explosion coming from the other side of the factory. Both men moved in the direction of the explosion.“What the hell was that?” One of them asked.“Sounded like a bomb going off. This is an old factory so it could be just nothing, but I am going to go check it out. Stay here with the kid and keep trying to fix whatever is going on with the computer.” One of the men took off running and the other returned
Lyrek-“Found them.” Snake said a bit later.Pushing away from the table I was leaning against, I moved to stand behind my friend. Looking over his shoulder, I saw a map on one of the computer monitors with a blinking red dot. We weren’t very far from the location.Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed Veronica’s number. Thanks to Snake, he made it so I could use my phone, but it was now a secure line, and it couldn’t be hacked or traced. I had to hand it to him, he really knew what he was doing.“Did you get the money?” She asked the moment she answered the phone.“I need a little more time, but I am getting closer. Have they contacted you again?” I asked my wife while I watched Snake type like a madman on the computer.“They called once since you left and told us that you better have the money soon or they were going to start hurting Andrew.” The fear in her voice was as clear as day and I knew we were running out of time.“I promised you that we will get him back. I am going to do ev
Lyrek-“Where is my son?” Veronica asked the man that was on the phone.“Don’t worry about that right now. What is important is how you are going to come up with five hundred million dollars to get him back. If you don’t want him hurt or worse, I suggest you start calling the banks and get me my money.” The man said.With that amount of money, it was going to be difficult to produce. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get it, but it wasn’t like I had that kind of money laying around. Even if I went to the bank to withdraw it from my personal account and even take it from the foundation funds, it would take a long time.“I don’t have that kind of money!” Veronica was starting to become hysterical, which only fueled my anger.Stepping closer to her, I wrapped my arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. I knew it wasn’t going to do much, but I wanted to remind her that she wasn’t alone. My thoughts were racing with who the caller might be.We thought it was her parents, but the man’s voice wa
Veronica-It didn’t take long for the police officers to show up. Every second of waiting had felt like an eternity. I couldn’t breathe without feeling like I was going to have a panic attack. If it weren’t for Lyrek, I would have broken down the moment he told me.There was a lot of chaos going on currently as everyone in the theater was being questioned. While giving my statement to the police officers, Lyrek and I had to separate so he could also talk to them. I hated that in this situation everyone was a suspect, but I also didn’t care as long as Andrew was found.“Do you know of anyone that would have done this?” The police officer assigned to question me asked.“I was attacked a few months ago because the mugger was wanting money from me. I don’t know if it is related or not, but that is the only thing I can think of.” I admitted, even though I didn’t feel like it was relative to the current situation.“We have already investigated that. Is there anyone else that would have done
Veronica-Three months later“Come on! The movie is about to start!” Andrew yelled as he raced ahead.I couldn’t help but laugh as Lyrek and I followed him into the theater. While I knew he was excited to be able to see the movie he had been waiting for, I didn’t know why he was in such a hurry. It wasn’t like there weren’t going to be any seats, being that Lyrek reserved the entire theater room for us.Over the past few months, things have been a little weird. Not in a bad way, but in a way that was still taking me some time to get used to. When Lyrek did anything for us, he did it in a big way.Every time we went out, he made it obvious that he had money to spend. I wasn’t a huge fan that he was spending money so elaborately, but I couldn’t fault him either. His excuse was that he wanted us to enjoy everything life had to offer.No matter how much money he spent on me or Andrew, I was still not used to having someone take care of me to this degree. On the plus side, it has allowed m