Chapter 3

I rushed through the hallways of the hospital that my brother was confined. I could feel the loudness of my heart increasing as the seconds goes by without me being able to see him. Worry and fear were beginning to get the best of me as I frantically searched the room he was admitted.

When I spotted my mom standing outside the room, I rushed towards her and enveloped her in a tight hug. She was crying. “Hush… it’s gonna be okay,” I reassured as I rubbed her back. “Where’s Ace?”

“He’s s-sleeping inside. I’m g-glad you came,” mom said, hiccupping. I wasn’t able to come earlier because I still have work, and so I waited until lunch break to come all the way to the hospital.

I kissed mom’s forehead before I decided to get inside the room. and there, I saw my frail-looking brother sleeping peacefully on the hospital bed with tons of tubes attached on his small body.

A tear fell on my cheeks as I made my way through his side. Just looking at him makes me weak. My sweet brother was in pain, and as much as I want that pain to be transferred to me, I know it’d be impossible. “God…” I shakily whispered.

Ace is only seven, yet he already suffered a lot. Just why is this world so cruel?

The door opened and the doctor soon came in, followed by my mother. The doctor gave us a hard look before saying, “I know you already know his condition, but it is getting worse and worse each day. The cancer in his blood is increasing by seconds you refuse the therapy. If you delayed it further, I am afraid it will result tragically. I must tell you now, but Leukemia is something you can’t ignore.”

“D-Doc, is… is there other way to treat his cancer? Chemotherapy might be too hard on my baby. I-I don’t want him to suffer further…” mom said.

The doctor shook his head. “There is no other way, but unless you find a suitable bone marrow donor, then he may not need chemo in the future. But as of now, he is in a very critical condition. If you delay it further, you know what will happen.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. There is no good if both mom and I panic. At least, one of us is rational enough to think of a way to solve this problem.

“Then let’s do it, doc,” I said. Mom gasped and looked at me in surprise. I gave her a sad smile. “Mom, you heard him. We can’t delay Ace’s treatment no more.”

“But w-we got no money— “

“Ace’s health is important,” I said with a resolute tone. “Don’t worry about money, I got this, okay?”

Mom burst out crying and gave me a hug. The doctor looked at me and gave me a smile. I nodded my head. We ended up talking about the procedures of the therapy and the doctor explained everything we have to know about it, including the expenses of the treatment.

Mom was still reluctant, but I reassured her that money is not a problem. I can just find it; you know?

I don’t know how, but I know I will somehow find a way.

******

Going back to the company, I was somehow relieved that my brother is taken good care now in the hospital. I managed to convince mom not to worry about me and instead, she should focus on taking care of my brother.

“Hi.”

I flinched when I heard a voice. Lifting my gaze from my phone, I was startled to see Mr. De Luca looking at me with a smile on his face.

I blinked as I put down my phone. “Y-Yes, sir?”

“You can cut the formalities, call me Atlas instead,” he said as he sat down on the couch next to me. Once again, I blinked my eyes. “I see you’re looking at your phone very often. Is there any problem?”

I shook my head, blushing. Gosh, I was just caught using my phone in the middle of my work. What would he think of me, then? An incompetent worker at that.

He chuckled, his green eyes smiling as he looked at me with amusement sparkling in those orbs. “You don’t have to worry; I will not tell Killian. You can relax.”

I don’t know how, but the way he chuckled makes me at ease and relieved.

I let out a sigh. “T-Thank you…”

He flashed a smile, only then I noticed the dimples on the corner of his mouth. He looked so charming, especially the way he smiled. “I want to apologize again for what happened yesterday. I didn’t know you are Killian’s new assistant. I thought you were…”

I gave him a soft smile. “It’s okay.”

He gave me a guilty look but nodded his head nonetheless.

“So… why are you in such a rush earlier? I saw you getting a cab earlier at lunch,” he asked, resting his head on his hand while his elbow was resting against the headboard of the couch.

I stared at him for a second. He was giving me this curious look while his gaze was fixated directly on my eyes. It was mesmerizing that I had to look away.

“I-It was… emergency,” I admitted.

“Emergency?”

“Yeah… my brother was rushed in the hospital.”

He cleared his throat. “O-Oh, sorry about that. So, how’s he?”

I smiled, amused the way he straightened his back and apologized when I mentioned about what happened. “He’s fine… for now.”

He nodded his head. “Didn’t want to invade your privacy, but can you share what happened? If that’s okay with you, of course.”

I bit my lips, contemplating whether to tell him or not. For some reason, my tears began to gather in the corners of my eyes upon remembering what happened earlier. There is no doubt that my brother is my weakness, right?

“He has leukemia… and he’s gonna undergo chemotherapy,” I somehow managed to share. “But it’s pretty expensive, you know? So I got to find another work.”

I don’t know I feel kinda comfortable sharing Atlas my personal problems. I didn’t know him at all. He was a stranger, but oddly enough, I just knew he was someone who wouldn’t pity me on this situation. I really hate being pitied. What I need at most is someone who will listen and help sort things out. I don’t need sympathy because it will do nothing.

“I see...” he muttered, staring at me intently. He was about to speak again when Mr. Knight suddenly arrived in his office. He just gave us a quick glance before he sat down on his desk. Atlas mumbled something under his breath. He looked at me apologetically.

I forced a smile and blinked my tears away.

He stood up and went towards Mr. Knight. They were now talking about business and I took that cue to go to the pantry and get them something to drink while discussing something. I chose to serve them an orange juice and some bread.

As I make my way to their direction while holding the tray, I noticed them looking at me with a serious expression on their faces. It made me conscious and uncomfortable. I could feel my cheeks burning as I gently put down the two glasses of juice on the table and two small plates with bread on it. I tried my best to ignore their gazes as I served them a snack.

However, ignoring them was such a hard thing to do. How could I actually pretend that I wasn’t affected by them at all when they two were such a hot men? Even my bitch down there couldn’t deny she was attracted to them.

“Ms. Romanov,” Mr. Knight suddenly said through his no-nonsense voice, making me visibly flinch.

I raised my gaze and met his icy blue eyes. A shiver ran down my spine upon locking gaze with him. “Y-Yes, sir?”

“Mr. De Luca is in search of a personal assistant in his office, and since I don’t really need one to begin with, we decided we can share you during work,” he straightforwardly said.

My jaw almost dropped as I looked at them both. Atlas has a suppressed smile on his face while Mr. Knight seems pretty serious about it. Either way, they both looked absurd.

“W-What do you mean, sir?” I stuttered after recovering from my shock.

Mr. Knight leaned his back on his swivel chair while never breaking his gaze on mine. “That means you to work on him during Tuesday and Thursday, while the rest of the workdays, you spend it on me.”

“And don’t worry, your salary from him won’t be deducted at all, plus you will also be paid while working under me,” Atlas added, making me shift my gaze on him. He flashed a grin. “So?

The offer was pretty tempting. It sounds pretty too good to be true that I started doubting if they were just pulling jokes on me. There is no way they’d pay me that much for a simple job, right? I mean, I am just a personal assistant who makes coffee. What’s so good about me that they are going to be sharing just to have me work under them? It doesn’t make sense at all. Besides, they can just find another assistant if they want to. They can obviously afford it, right?

So, why?

Why are these two handsome and wealthy men trying to share me?