Chapter 14
The atmosphere had immediately returned back to how it once was the moment Ivory left.
Gadreel was back to Evangeline’s side in seconds, rubbing soothing circles on her back with hopes of her heart not being affected.
On the other side of Evangeline, Lionel and Samantha grumbled curses under their breaths, insulting the situation that had just happened and behind them, the on lookers also seemed to have their own fair share of say towards what had happened.
Hearing from both directions, Gadreel suddenly felt a bit irritated. The movement of his hand. against Evangeline’s back stopped and he turned to the whispering crowd, fixing them with a brief glare that had each and every one of them shutting up.
Evangeline, ever the observant, did not fail to notice this.
She frowned, but just as she was about to ask why Gadreel seemed irritated by their whispers, the door to the ward opened and in came Peter Mendez, the physician in charge of her case.
“Doctor Mendez,” Lionel was the first to approach him, hoping he was bearing good news about the arrival of Arnett.
However, the look on his face seemed far from that of someone who bore good news.
Gadreel, noticing this, stepped forward and asked. “Is something the matter, Doctor Mendez?”
Under his gaze and intimidating Aura, Peter Mendez couldn’t help but panic more than he already had been, internally.
Was something wrong? Of course something was wrong!
But, how was he meant to tell them, no, correction, how was he meant to tell Gadreel Ødegaar, that Arnett, the doctor who he has paid a hefty amount to secure, had suddenly rejected the case of his Lover!
That was a sure route to the hospital being closed!
“Doctor Mendez,” Gadreel called out and his voice had a pressuring edge to it.
Peter felt beads of sweat run down his back and desperately tried to find a way out of this situation without staining his hands or getting the hospital in trouble.
At the very last minute, a solution came to mind.
“Please be calm, Mr. Ødegaar,” He began. “But, just got a call and was informed that Arnett has rejected the surgery.”
Gadreel’s express felt all at once, while Samantha, Lionel and Evangeline all stared with wide
eyes.
“What did you just say?” Gadreel questioned. “And how is this possible? Is your hospital to incompetent-”
Although a death sentence, Peter rushed to interrupt Gadreel. “It isn’t the hospital’s fault!”
Curiosity, as well as confusion flashed across Gadreel’s expression and Peter was quick to explain, putting the plan he brought up into motion.
“It’s all Arnett’s fault. Originally, the needed equipment have arrived and assistant had even been sent, but she suddenly demanded double the fees of what she initially wanted to collect and when I tried to reason with her, she took offense and rejected the case!”
Gadreel frowned. “She did what?”
He didn’t expect this Arnett to be this type of a woman. When Veronica had spoken highly of her and the record of her being Elias Wrenford’s last disciple, Gadreel had thought better of
her.
But now, it seems like he was wrong. Much like the other hungry scumbag out there all she seems to care about is money, and not a single remorse towards the life of a human.
Gadreel’s eyes darkened and his jaw clenched tightly in anger and disgust.
How despicable!
“Oh my God,” Samantha, realizing the gravity of the situation, placed the back of her palm over her head in an overdramatic motion. “This can’t be happening. There… there has to be some other way.
“Can’t you do it, Doctor Mendez?” Lionel asked. “The equipment have arrived, correct?”
“Yes, but,” Peter paused and looked for yet another way out. Although he could perform the surgery, it was an extremely difficult one and the chances of it succeeding were low, thus, he didn’t want to end up with a failed operation on his hands.
“She’s requesting double the price?” Luckily, Gadreel brought him down from the pedal stool, saving him form digging a deeper grave.
Peter nodded. “Indeed.”
Gadreel was silent for a while before saying. “Contact her this very moment.
Controlling his expression, Peter said. “Unfortunately, I can’t do that. Arnett isn’t an easy person to contact and when one does happen to reach her, she isn’t the easiest to deal with.”
The lie once again brought a frown to Gadreel’s face as he realized he indeed shouldn’t have thought big about Arnett. Perhaps, she doesn’t even have the skills to perform the surgery.
He scoffed internally. So all she could simply do is provide lip service. How utterly disappointing.
Char
Peter, feeling like he need to be more convincing, shook his head in worry and concern as he went on to add. “An outcome like this isn’t favorable. If we happen to miss the opportune window for Ms. Remington’s surgery, then we’ll have no choice but to wait several more months and that…that can be dangerous.”
“Then, does this mean our Eva isn’t going to get the surgery. Is this the end for her?” Samantha, ever the dramatic one, asked.
She walked over to Peter and took his hand. “Please doctor, there has to be something you can
do.”
“Well,” Peter began, looking over in Evangeline’s direction. His eyes racked over her body, taking in her delicate features and imagining them in way only he wanted, as he licked his lip.
However, when her eyes met his, his cheek immediately began to warm and he adverted his gaze, hoping that no one noticed the way he had looked at her.
Especially Gadreel, the man was already scary enough as is, he didn’t want to end up getting on his bad side all because of lust he felt for a certain woman, his wornan.
However, despite his prayer, Samantha did not fail to notice what he had done. She glanced from the doctor, then back at her daughter, noticing the way Peter behaved, before like a single bell being rung, a realization dawned on her and with that realization, came a solution.
And while Lionel panicked, Samantha smiled deviously to herself.
She knew exactly how to solve this problem.
After Avery left the hospital, she was still in great pain. She knew that Lucien definitely didn’t do it on purpose. She was just hurt by everyone’s reaction to her, even though it wasn’t the first time she had experienced their humiliation.
But she knew her duty as a doctor, and she would let Lucian arrange a second chance.
Suddenly, her phone rang, Assuming it was still Lucien calling, perhaps he had forgotten to say something, Ivory answered it without glancing at the caller ID.
“Did you forget something, Lucy?”
“Is that the way you address your father now?”
Ivory nearly stepped on her breaks at the unfamiliar voice. She snapped her head in the direction of her phone and frowned when she realized it wasn’t Lucien calling back, but in fact, her father.
“Father,” The title felt foreign, like it wasn’t meant to be used for him, but Ivory was never one to disrespect the man who brought her into the world. “Do you need something.”
Chapter 4
Lionel was silent for a bit. Ivory nearly thought he had called accidentally and was about to suggest hanging up, when he spoke.
“My behavior back at the hospital was a bit… unacceptable. I would like to apologize for it.”
Surprised, Ivory was.
She blinked for a few seconds, speechless, before she could ask
“Pardon?”
“I would like us to meet up and discuss. I want to apologize for my behavior earlier.” Lionel repeated.
He apologizing, although a surprise, was a good thing. What wasn’t, was meeting up with him. For some reason, a gut feeling like most called it, Ivory doubted that was the right thing to do. “I don’t think meeting up would be-” She tried to turn it down, but her father interrupted at that very moment.
“Please Ivy.” He pleaded. “I know I’ve been harsh on you for some time, and I’d like to apologize. It’s the right thing to do…the type of thing that….Elaine, your mother would expect. from me.”
Ivory’s facial expression momentarily softened at the mention of her mother name. But she was quick to get a hold of herself.
“So, would you please not make your mother disappointed in me? Would you please meet up so that we can talk?” Her father continued. “Please, grant your mother peace, let her see that we’re getting along fine.”
Ivory clenched her jaw and was silent for a minute. She knew her father was right, her mother wouldn’t have liked the way things turned out and would have indeed wanted them to talk things through.
If she has been alive, she would have been disappointed at the situation and unfortunately for
her
present situation, Ivory still remained her mother’s child and didn’t want to disappoint her, even after death.
Sighing, she reluctantly gave in. “Fine. When do you want to meet.
“Let’s meet tomorrow.” Her father sounded relieved. “I’ll send you the location. Thank you so much Ivory, thank you.” And after saying that, he ended the call, leaving Ivory to poke the inside of her cheek with her tongue as one nagging thought kept making its presence known.
This wasn’t a good idea; the thought warned, but the bigger side of her, the one that was still a mama’s girl, choose to discard that warning.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
