Decipher | Watty's 2017

LXII. Quandary

"Ms. Jennings, this may be a suitable conversation to have with Luke outside?" he offered, giving me a look that made me agree with his statement.

"Luke," I spoke softly, taking in the look of surprise on his face as he exited the room quickly, stomping his feet as an angry child would.

Luke's POV

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My anger had subsided only a few minutes after leaving Melissa in the room with the doctor; now the only thoughts filling my mind were awful and made me feel powerless and exposed. Therefore, when Michael had approached me about a meeting in the boardroom, I had left the trauma center immediately, asking one of the nurses to inform Melissa where I was and ask her to stay with Riley until Ashton could come get her.

My feet made their way to the room on the opposite end of the colony, rapidly placing one in front of the other as if my life depended on it. When I arrived, I noticed the seats were all taken accept mine. The grave looks covering their faces gave me an incline as to what this meeting was to be about, making my heart hurt a little more than it already had.

"We need to heighten the security on the colony," Bob spoke as I found my seat beside Janice. "By securing the west wing-"

Bob's voice continued to drone on while I leaned over to Janice, hoping to find some insight on what was happening. "What are we talking about? Riley left the colony and we found her, so why do we need maximum security?" I whispered, finding the whole idea a bit trivial.

"Because now he thinks that if an eight year old can get out, what difference would there be to a bot getting into the colony," she replied, keeping her voice the same loudness as mine. "How's Lissa by the way?"

"She's awake," I said softly before listening back to the ideas of my father, watching Janice roll her eyes at me before returning her attention to him as well.

My mind began to wander throughout the meeting, forgetting everything Bob said about the positioning of my men and simply allowing Michael to answer all of the questions as he was second in command. The only thing I could think about was the idea of Melissa being rolled into surgery while I sat in a meeting, unable to comfort her.

As the meeting came to a wrap, everyone growing antsy due to the amount of time we had been needed in emergency operations, I began to grow tired of sitting in the confining chair. Nothing seemed to be alright as my gut told me that I needed to see Melissa, but I also knew that if I left this meeting, I would never hear the end of it from my father, who would most likely threaten my job.

I was the first out when the time came, practically running to mine and Melissa's shared room. The door was locked, leading me to question if Melissa was even inside. When I finally was able to enter the room, my eyes traveled throughout it, not seeing my beautiful girlfriend lying on the bed as I thought she would be. My feet led me towards the bathroom, only to find it halfway open without Melissa inside of it, leaving me in a state of panic as I made my way to the infirmary as I remembered telling a nurse to have her watch Riley and my nerves settling instantly while I made my way over there.

Melissa's POV

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My mouth was dry as cotton while I absorbed the information that the doctor had told me, trying to hide the effect of his words from the young girl beside me currently. Riley had woken up only a few minutes after I had gotten the news, leaving me with no time to process the notion that the doctor had provided for me.

"So how are you and Luke?" the brunette beside me asked, looking at me with innocent hazel eyes, similar to her brother's. "I know that you two are together."