"Ms. Harrington, what's wrong?"
I couldn't even think to respond to Riddian's question as I hurriedly grabbed the phone I had dropped onto the mat beneath us and slammed it back to my ear.
"Jake? What did you just say?"
"Katherine- I am- if- but- please!"
"What! What are you saying? I-"
I quickly moved the phone from my ears, my heart racing in my chest as my thoughts created a muck in my head. Putting it on speaker, I could finally hear Jake calling my name as Riddian created space between us.
"Just tell me what happened!" I snapped, unable to hold my composure as the word 'stroke' ran through my head repetitively.
"I heard that Grayson came to visit and met up with him. He was concerned about you and begged me to tell him where your new place was... and I did. He went there to visit you but he found your father instead and they got into an argument but now your dad is in the hospital-"
"Which one?" My voice didn't even sound like my own now as I moved towards the door, anger, worry and many more emotions running rampage in my head.
"Galwin's General. But Kat, you won't be able to see-"
My finger swiped the call off and then my hands went to my forehead as I tried to calm myself. I turned back to Riddian.
"Riddian-"
"I heard everything, I'm sorry," he interrupted me. For a minute my emotions numbed when I saw the concern on his face. "You have to go, and I understand that, but you won't be able to see your father since it's after visiting hours."
My emotions went out of control again and suddenly I was taking a step away from him.
"I have to see him Riddian."
Noticing my movement and most likely facial expression of anger, though not directed at him, Riddian took another step towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Ms. Harrington, they won't be able to let you in-"
"Well then I'll make them be able to!"
Riddian shuffled on his spot at my outburst, looking away from me and then running a hand through his hair. I so badly wanted to do the same but I had pinned my hair up so that was out of the question. Instead, I squeezed the phone in my hand and shook my head.
"I'm sorry Riddian, it's just that... I don't know what to think right now. I can't believe this is happening. I don't..." I held my chest, hoping not to panic, but I couldn't think and I could hardly breathe. I could barely even see through the tears which began forming in my eyes-
"Ms. Harrington," for a second his grip on my shoulder got just a bit tighter before it loosened tremendously, his eyes closing for a moment as he tried to keep himself together. He spoke to me through an almost closed mouth.
"Just wait a moment."
He didn't say anything else as his face lost any sign of a temper and he pulled out his phone, making a call immediately.
"Mr. Jones, please meet us now," he spoke, then pocketed the phone, gave me a furious once over and hurried back into the party room. I didn't have time to wonder why. I realised I had wasted enough time, so I spun around and hurried out the door and down the walkway towards where Mr. Jones would stop.
By then, tears had fully built up in my eyes and were running down my cheeks, and all I could think was that I couldn't lose him too.
I was ready to full on start sobbing when a car pulled up before my feet and Mr. Jones himself stepped out. He took one look at my face, despite the darkness of the night, save for the lit lampposts across the lawns of the club, and hurried around the car to open the passenger's door for me.
I looked back towards the front door of the building from which I had just come, looking for any signs of a familiar expensive dark suit, but there was none. I pushed my thoughts away and hurried into the vehicle, Mr. Jones remaining outside and waiting for Riddian.
I was just about to tell him not to bother when I glimpsed our boss finally exiting the building, my purse in his hand as he motioned for Mr. Jones to take his place as driver.
"Here," he handed the purse to me as soon as he fell onto the seat beside me and closed his door, Mr. Jones doing the same to the driver's door, "Mr. Jones-"
"Galwin's Hospital please," I said for him.
"And quickly," Riddian ended.
:*:*:*:*:*:*:
As we pulled off the highway and onto the road which led directly to the hospital, I couldn't help how worried and upset I felt. My emotions surely must have been reflecting on my face since Riddian, who had been staring at me silently for the entire ride, suddenly took my hand in his and squeezed it. I looked back at him, surprised, before looking at the back of Mr. Jones' head which was trained in the right direction.
He faced the road and the car was dark. He didn't notice.
A small sob escaped me into the silence at Riddian's small, yet large, gesture of comfort. I had to turn away and try to distract myself with the cars which were flying by. Then the hospital appeared before us and sirens blaring from incoming ambulances brought both relief and stress to my heart. The edge had me loosening my hold on Riddian's hand.
I could feel Riddian still staring at me for a moment.
"Through the ambulance's gate," he murmured to Mr. Jones, and next the feel of his eyes on me, waiting to see if I'd require his comfort anymore, was gone.
Within the second of which Mr. Jones stopped the car next to the large double doors of the emergency entrance, I had already left it, but realising the doors were closed, I hesitated to take another step.
Riddian exited the vehicle after me and pulled out his phone, joining me and leading me up to the door.
"Jahvon," I looked up at him to see he was on the phone, "we're here."
He hung up, and a couple minutes after, the door opened to reveal a security guard.
"Remora?" he asked, looking between the two of us. I looked to Riddian who nodded at the guard. "This way," he ushered us in and pointed us towards the main hallway.
When we entered, among the few nurses, doctors and patients moving through the hall, one of the doctors, a male who seemed to be in his early thirties with round glasses I wasn't sure was prescribed and a walk almost as rigid as Riddian's, made his way towards us.
"Katherine, this is Dr. Jahvon Walker," Riddian introduced us as soon as we were before the doctor himself. I quickly swiped a hand under my eyes to wipe away my drying tears and reached the other out to the doctor.
"Hi, nice to meet you. Your dad's going to be just fine," the doctor smiled.
Before I could reply, Riddian was asking for my dad's room number.
I looked over to see him looking at the doctor's and I's hands which were still connected in the hand shake. I released the doctor's own, though this was not the time for his jealousy. Thankfully, once Dr. Walker relayed the information, he left us, and Riddian's attitude changed.
"I'll wait outside while you go see him," he said, choosing to leave too. I nodded and watched him go, then quickly headed towards the elevator.
With shaky fingers I chose my desired floor, and thankfully, I was the only one inside the elevator. I used the short moment alone to gather myself, not wanting dad to see me like this if he was even conscious.
When the elevator finally stopped on my floor, I made my path through more doctors and nurses, to finally reach the smaller hall which held my dad's shared recovery room. I quickly said a prayer and entered.
When the door closed behind me, I sighed deeply. I didn't know how long I stood at the door for, staring at the curtains which created privacy for the one out of eight beds my dad was laying on in the hospital room, but it must have been quite a while.
That was all I could do though... stare, because I was afraid that if I took any more steps closer and went behind those curtains, my worst fear would be realised and I would find worst that a sick dad laying on the bed.
I couldn't lose him too.
I knew that more than anything.
My mom's leaving was painful, but I moved past it with dad's help. My brother leaving was even worst, but I got through it with dad's help. Now dad wanted to leave too?
No. No way on earth was he going to leave. God wasn't going to take him and I knew this, so I took a deep breath, said a small prayer and walked over to the curtains hesitantly until I was standing beside it.
"Dad?" I whispered as I pulled away one curtain and slipped inside before pulling it back. Tears flowed down my cheeks some more when I looked down on the bed and saw my dad indeed, laying there, connected to all sorts of tubes and eyes closed.
Horrible thoughts entered my mind but the cloudiness of the simple face mask on him calmed me a little as I realised that he was only sleeping.
I quickly fell into the chair beside the bed, grabbing his hand as the tears continued flowing.
"I'm here dad, I'm here. Shh, it's okay. Dad I'm here." And that was all I could repeat as I cried silently by his side, praying that he would get better quickly and thinking about how I had just spoken to him a couple hours earlier in more than good health.
:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:
I don't know how long I was by his side for, but I know that it was long enough for my tear ducts to have run dry and I even started crying without tears at that point. A nurse came to check up on him and also to tell me that my time with him had expired. I couldn't complain about that last part since I wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place, but after attacking her with more than fifteen questions, I was able to breath a bit more freely, realising that dad really would be okay.
"You sure you don't want to get something to eat?" The nurse asked again as I sat back down beside dad, waiting on her to finish her checks and confirm for the last time that he was fine, before I left. She was referring to how she'd heard my stomach grumble as soon as she came and had told me to get myself fed after I left.
"Well-" I stopped myself and sighed. Dad would put me in the hospital if he woke up and saw me like this after all the times he has told me that I need to be a strong woman, being the offspring of a strong man like himself. I almost laughed imagining him showing his nonexistent muscles and growing pot belly to me.
I turned back to the nurse.
"Actually, yes," I said, getting up from my seat and smiling weakly at her. "Just take care of him for me please," I pleaded, turning back for another look at my dad.
"Of course, that's my job," she smiled and then went to fix his sheets and whatnot. I sighed again and unwillingly left the curtain bordered section so that I was now back in full view of the recovery room. I headed towards the door.
I felt so tired I might have fallen asleep walking there. All the crying and worrying had taken a toll on me. I only wanted to go to sleep now, especially to prepare myself for work the next day.
Work... I wasn't exactly sure how I'd even be able to concentrate there but, I still had a job to do so I'd... I'd make it happen.
When I got back to the ground floor, Dr. Walker was nowhere in sight for me to thank him for allowing me to see my dad. Concluding I'd have to see him tomorrow then, I exited the building from the emergency entrance again to find Riddian waiting by the car with Mr. Jones, as he had said he would.
They were both leaned against the vehicle and it was one of those rare moments where Mr. Jones said a few more words than 'yes, sir' or 'yes, ma'am'. As soon as they heard the door close behind me though, they both looked my way.
Riddian, who had his hands in his pants pockets, pushed himself off the vehicle itself and met me between the building and car.
"He's okay, right?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed as he awaited my answer.
I smiled tiredly and took a step forward, right into his personal bubble. Then I allowed my arms to wrap around his waist and laid my head on his chest as I hugged him, my eyes closing.
He stiffened.
"Yeah, he is. It was a minor stroke. They just need to keep him here for a couple more days," I responded, listening to the quick pick up in his heart beat. Shortly after, his body relaxed, and his arms slowly came up to wrap around me.
"Thank you... for helping me to see him," I whispered. He didn't respond, only lowered his head so that his chin lightly rested atop my own, and it was silent for a while.
"Let's get you home?"
His voice was soft. I wanted to fall asleep right there and then, but instead, I sighed and made a move to release him... except for some reason my arms did the opposite and I tightened my hold on him.
This was obviously a sign. I'd allow him to let me go first.
He didn't... and for a good while we stood there in that fashion. It was only when I shifted a bit and my eyes caught our car that a certain someone's absence made me unconsciously loosen my hold on Riddian.
"Where-?"
I did a full turn, giving Riddian no choice but to let me go too, but he was looking around as well, noticing the same thing I had.
"...Mr. Jones?" he called, confused.
"Here sir!"
I jumped at the rapid response. The window to the front of the car rolled down to show Mr. Jones inside, not even looking at us.
When on earth did he move?
Riddian shook his head, a small smile on his face at the embarrassed Mr. Jones before he took my hand and we both went into the vehicle.
"As I said, let's get you home," he repeated, but he wasn't going to get much protest from me since his smile had naturally shuffled up my senses, that too for a good portion of the drive home.
But of course things couldn't end like this. A sucky night like this couldn't end with a good night hug from Riddian and one of his rare smiles followed by me getting home, taking a shower and getting some well needed sleep. Instead, when we finally reached my front yard's gate, there was a car on my front pavement...
...and it didn't look familiar.