Hide & Seek

CHAPTER 2

Twenty minutes had passed, 'he will be here soon—ten minutes left.' Mila thinks to herself.

Another ten minutes pass.

Mila looked at the elevator, hoping her father would step out any minute.

But nothing happened.

When a sudden impatience struck her, Mila took long strides toward one of the nurses, grabbed her by the arm, and shouted, "—My father will get here, God knows when. Now. You will tell me about my mom, or I swear to God I'll walk straight through that door myself, and you can try to stop me. You have no right to do this. That is my mother!"

"Okay, Miss. Calm down." The nurse answered.

Mila laughed nervously. "Everyone keeps asking me to calm down. Step into my shoes, just this day. Try being Mila Knightley. This very moment, and we'll see if you'd handle this situation any differently." Mila fixed her eyes on the nurses. "—I'm going in."

"Hey? Miss! It's not allowed. You don't have permission yet." The nurse said, blocking the door with her back against it.

"Move." Mila tried to push her way through and open it.

"Miss Knightley!" The nurse raised her voice. "Your father will be here any minute, right?"

Mila stopped pushing her way through, overwhelmed with emotions. "He's not here yet. What if he doesn't show up? You mean that I'm supposed to sit here and wait anyway?"

"We're all doing our best. You'll have to wait for your father. He will get here." The nurse looked at her, reassuring.

Mila turned around, then sank back down the chair with a deep sigh as her impatience turned into anger with her father.

Another ten minutes pass.

Mila has been waiting for forty-five minutes.

Suddenly, the elevator doors separated, and a tall man wearing a classical fitted black and white suit stepped out.

His hair is brown, wavy, and perfectly styled. He has a soft V-shaped face with defined stubbles.

Small eyes pierced through their sockets. They looked in search of someone and as soon as they stopped to find Mila. He rushed up to her.

Mila flew up the chair, drilling an angry look at him. "Could you be any slower? Being punctual for colleagues is easy. But when it comes to Mom and me—"

"Mila," He interrupts her. "I'm not going to start arguing with you right now. Not here. Not now. What's going on?"

"If you had been here earlier then, we would have known by now."

His small hazels gazed into Mila's brown with a look that said. He already had it.

He looked over his shoulder and spotted the nurse Mila just had a fuss with, "Hi, I'm Thorne Knightley. My daughter and I would like to see my wife. Cynthia Knightley, please."

"One second. I'll go get the Doctor." She answered with a look at Mila.

A short moment later, the Doctor walked up to Thorne and Mila. "Hi, I'm Doctor. Jason Grant."

This time, Mila noticed his strong British accent.

"Hi, Thorne Knightley. My daughter, Mila." Thorne placed an arm around Mila.

"Yes. We met earlier." Dr. Grant glanced at Mila with a small smile.

"How is my wife? Can we see her?"

Dr. Grant hesitates a second.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Knightley. There's no good way of giving this news." He looked between worried Thorne and Mila.