No no no no no no no no no no no no. This can't be happening. Not today. I'm not ready. She can't just.. She can't leave me. What if... What if I don't make it in time? What if she.. She...
"Hey, Ria!" Thomas exclaimed, shaking my shoulders, abruptly interrupting my woolgathering. My eyes refocused on him, his chocolate brown eyes staring right back at me. He raised the hand that was on my right shoulder and wiped a stray tear off of my cheek.
"She's going to be okay." He reassured me. "Your grandma is definitely not going down without a fight, so you shouldn't be acting like you've already lost her." He placed a hand on my chin and tilted my head upwards ever so slightly. "Now woman up and show me that killer smile of yours."
I was in a really bad state of mind, but could you blame my frown for turning upside down? Thomas had a way with words and I was very grateful for him being with me at that time. I don't think I could've asked for a better companion for this trip to the hospital.
He had noticed that something was wrong as soon as I ended the call with my dad back at the café. He asked me what had happened. I couldn't even form a proper sentence at the time, only muttering words like 'hospital' and 'grandma'. The next thing I knew, Ronaldo was driving us to Georgetown General Hospital.
We came to a halt in front of the building and Thomas jumped out of the car. He jogged over to my side, opening the door for me and helping me get out. I took his hand and didn't let go as we walked through the main entrance.
It was like the reality of it all hit me as soon as I saw the floor covered with white tiles, the people walking around in different coloured scrubs and inhaled the smell of disinfectant. I began to hyperventilate, looking around and assuming the worst.
"Ellen Evans." Thomas told the receptionist, his thumb drawing circles on the back of my hand.
As my eyes were rapidly traveling from face to face around me, they happened to land on a familiar one. Not even paying attention to the rest of my surroundings, I ran towards him, Thomas' hand still in contact with mine. "Where is she?" I blurted out, sounding as if I had just ran a marathon.
"She's stable now." My dad replied, releasing a sigh of relief. "She's okay."
In the split of a second, I wrapped my arms around his torso and buried my face in his chest in an attempt to cover the few tears that had escaped from my eyes. "Thank God."
"Would you like to go see her?" He asked me as I let go of him. I nodded without hesitation and followed him.
After leading me to her room, my dad told me that he needed to talk with her doctor and that he'd be back in a couple of minutes. He looked a bit strange as he gripped my shoulder supportively before walking down the corridor.
What was with that face he was pulling?
"I don't think your dad likes me much, Ria."
I totally forgot about Thomas for a second! And the fact that my hand somehow managed to find its way back into his after hugging my dad. No wonder he looked shocked. I didn't even introduce them.
"I'll have to fix that later." I sighed.
"I'll be right here when you're done." He said, standing on one side of the door.
"You're not coming in with me?" I asked, shocked.
"Do you want me to come in with you?" He asked back, quite shocked himself.
"Of course I do." I told him. " Grams likes you." The smirk on his face was increasing in size at every word that left my mouth. "Lord knows why she does." I scoffed, deciding to end the conversation there and opening the door in front of me.
I felt a bang in my chest when I saw my always energetic and bubbly grandma lying on a hospital bed, covered in multiple white sheets. The youth and sparkle in her eyes gone, just like that. Her head tilted towards the direction of the door as we entered, immediately breaking into a small smile.
"Mars Bar," she called, "oh and Tom. What a pleasant surprise." My eyes began to water at the sound of that nickname.
"I thought I'd never be called that again." I sniffled as I threw myself onto her, ignoring the beeps and blops of the machine next to her bed. "Oh shut up you." I said as I kicked it in the side, making it stop and continued to hug my grandmother.
"Your father scared you, didn't he?" She asked. "He was just overreacting sweetie, I'm fine."
"He said you were unconscious when he called." I told her, sitting down on the chair beside her bed. "How is that overreacting? What happened?"
She took my hand and placed it in between her own, stroking the back of it. "I was at the grocery store, getting me some juicy mangoes. You know how much I love it when they're in season." I nodded understandingly, chuckling at the memories of her always fighting with my dad over him not knowing how to pick juicy mangoes. "Well, one minute I was minding my own business, checking the mangoes. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor."
I frowned at her explanation that wasn't really that helpful. She began waving her index finger in the air, as if she had just remembered something. "And there was this boy." She began. "Oh Marianne, those eyes were like chunks of the sky itself. Beautiful, beautiful eyes they were. He was saying things, I couldn't make them out. His lips were moving but no words were coming out. I must've passed out afterwards because I happened to wake up right here."
"Well, we're glad you're alright." Thomas finally spoke up, giving my grandma an award winning smile. I can't blame Grams for staring at him because to be fair, I was too.
We were both drawn from the magnetic force that was Thomas' smile by the entry of my dad and a doctor wearing a white lab coat. The doctor readjusted the glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose as he looked at the clipboard he had in his hand.
"Ms Evans." He called in an intimidatingly authoritative voice."We've hooked you up on some IV glucose. Your charts show that there are no other complications we should be worried about. I just want you to stay the night so that we can monitor your case, just to stay on the safe side."
"I understand. Thank you Doctor." Came her reply. He responded to her with a nod before his gaze traveled to me.
"May I have a word with you, Miss?"
I looked left and right and pointed at myself in confusion. "Me?"
No, the beeping machine behind you, dumbass.
"Yes Miss, you." He responded before heading out of the room. I looked at my grandma who shrugged, obviously as clueless as I was. I got up from the chair and made my way to the door with Thomas right behind me.
"Dad, Thomas. Thomas, Dad." I awkwardly introduced the two, not stopping as we walked past my dad on our way out.
"Erm, what's up Doc?" I asked. "Looney tunes pun not intended, I swear." The doctor let out a chuckle before skimming through the papers on his clipboard.
"Great conversation starter Ria." Thomas whispered in my ear, his warm breath giving me goosebumps. "I should probably start taking notes."
The doctor cleared his throat, making Thomas stand up straight, my cheeks were probably flushed but meh, who's keeping check?
"As you obviously know, your grandmother is a diabetic. She takes insulin shots daily to regulate her high blood glucose levels." I nodded in understanding. "Well, what happened today was that she accidentally overdosed on insulin. Insulin enhances body mechanisms that utilize glucose, removing its excess from the bloodstream. If you were to take a bigger dose than prescribed, it wouldn't just stop at the normal blood glucose level but would shoot right passed that, removing almost all of the glucose present, leading to hypoglycemia."
So many fancy words.
"Why I'm explaining this to you is that I need you to understand that diabetes is a serious condition that shouldn't be taken lightly." He said, his eyes somehow seeming a lot more sharper than before.
"Of course." I squeaked. Yes, squeaked. It was an accident. I didn't need to turn around to know that Thomas was probably smirking. The doctor was very intimidating, okay?
"That's why I recommend you take a blood test right now. Diabetes is a hereditary disease that you are very prone to, seeing that both your paternal grandparents are and were diagnosed with it."
I understood where he was coming from. He had my best interest in mind and I really respected that.
Man he must be hella smart if he got into med school and became a doctor. Lucky him.
"Your father just got his results back and his glucose levels were within the normal range. With your consent, I'd like to make sure that yours are too."
"Well, you have my consent." I replied, grinning. He nodded and motioned for us to follow him and so we did.
Did I mention that I hate needles?
***
After what seemed like hours of whining, a nurse managed to withdraw enough blood from me to begin running the tests. When she told us that we could leave, I was out of there faster than Usain Bolt.
"Man, you're such a sissy, who would've thought?" Thomas mocked as he handed me another juice box.
"What was that? You think I'm a warrior for willingly let people stab me? Thanks." I sarcastically replied, chugging down my now second drink.
Mmmm, orange.
He scoffed. "Yeah, stab you with baby needles. How courageous of you." I rolled my eyes. I thought I did pretty well. You know, for someone who had a phobia of injections as a kid.
We rounded the corner of the corridor my grandma's room was on. As we got closer to it, we saw someone leaving her room. The person was definitely not my dad nor the doctor, which made me even more curious. We reached the door just in time as the person turned around to face us.
"Mark?"
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A/N:
I was planning on posting this after my exam but meh, see what I do for you? See how much I love you? Just pray for me, it's in 3 hours!!
Grams is fine people, okay? Chill!! 😂
Dedicated to maishamtr ♡
(COMMENT FOR A DEDICATION)
Do you guys remember Mark?!! Wanted to bring him back somehow, so here he is.
Mark Antorrini: played by Nicholas Veinoglou.
Feel free to comment, vote, follow, whatever :')
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