My story is currently #451 on the Humor list and that's the highest it has ever been! Thank you so much for reading my work and even voting! I'm so grateful. :D
This is a very long and messy chapter. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoy it regardless.
This chapter has not been edited.
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Heartbreak. According to the Oxford dictionary the term heartbreak meant "overwhelming distress". No other meaning to it. Simply "overwhelming distress".
So was what I was feeling at this current moment considered heartbreak? I felt some sort of pain but it wasn't to the point where I wanted to cry my heart out over it. It was the type of pain that made me want to eat a whole entire tub of ice-cream while I crammed a whole entire season of some teen romance drama. Is that what I was doing with my life? Nope. I was in actual fact sorting out the dictionaries in the foreign affairs department in the hospital. Occasionally I would pick out a book and look up what "heartbreak" was in different languages but that didn't make me feel any better. I just felt hurt.
You're probably wondering why I'm feeling this way, correct? Well let me explain.
Honestly, I should have known today was going to be a horrible day as soon as I met that wretched buffalo Lilly Chevrolet. And just to clarify, no that is not her real name. Her birth name was Lilly Smith but after living in France for one year, Lilly returned believing herself to be some sort of French monarchy. She changed her name and began throwing in some random French words into her sentences.
"Oh mon dieu!" she had screeched upon seeing me. From my own little research, apparently those words meant Oh my God. "Azra Lydia Grace, the most graceful of the Grace's," she had giggled.
Now let me go back a couple of years to when Lilly and I used to be really good friends. Unfortunately, I was as big of a klutz back then as I was now. So me being me, I somehow ended up ruining Lilly's thousand dollar dress in front of her crush who then went on to humiliate her until she moved schools. I felt horrible over the incident and apologised as much as I possibly could, but Lilly was not one to forgive and move on. Every chance she got, she would bully me and try to humiliate me. She had also somehow come up with "Azra the graceful" as her favourite insult but it didn't bother me too much. I tended to just ignore her when she spoke.
But today had been different. Today she was flirting with the Devil intern while she was bothering me.
"Oh, mon chérie," she giggled up at River, "me and mon amour Azra have been friends for a long time. We're practically sœurs."
I held back the urge to cringe. Sisters? Really?
"May you please point to the exact area that hurts?" River had asked her. To my complete and utter horror, she pointed to her right silicon breast.
"It's my nipple," she whined. "Would you like me to show you?"
The look on his face was priceless but I was just as horrified that I couldn't even bring myself to laugh at him.
"What type of pain is it?" he asked, composing himself in an instant. "Is it a bruising type of pain or does it feel like it's from under the surface of your breast area?"
"I'll just show you," she pressed on.
"No, no," he coughed, "I'll call a specialist for you because I am not familiar with breast injuries. If it's really painful, I can prescribe some antibiotics so that the pain eases up until our specialist takes you in," he said.
"Oh," she whined, "why are you acting like you have never seen my breasts before, mon chérie?" she giggled.
"I'll take my leave now," I said, as I walked away as fast as I possibly could.
"No wait," River said catching up to me. "I, uh, I have never seen her, you know, I haven't."
I had to admit, the look of exasperation on his face was too cute. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and squeezed his cheek.
"You don't have to explain to me," I said, dropping my hand as if I had touched a boiling hot pan. I couldn't believe I had just done that.
Our conversation had ended when one of the nurses called him to look at a patient. I threw another look at an annoyed Lilly Chevrolet before leaving.
Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of my bad day.
"I have been looking everywhere for you!" Emma groaned, as she had walked up to me a couple of hours after the meeting with Lilly. "Today is the day," she had grinned.
"The day for what?"
"The day for you to hold up your end of the bet."
"Why today?" I whined.
"Because our handsome Prince has returned from where ever he was and is in a very good mood. Why not now?"
"Emma, I'm not ready for that."
"Come on, what's the worst that could happen."
"Wow, congrats for not being afraid of rejection. Unfortunately some of us are," I said as I pointed to myself.
Our conversation had continued on until I was somehow standing right in front of my Prince's office.
"Go on," Emma encouraged. When I didn't comply, she knocked and ran away. And she's supposed to be the mature one out of the two of us.
No one opened the door and the secretary finally realised I was standing outside the door.
"Are you waiting for Doctor Yates?" she asked.
I nodded, waiting for her to tell me that we couldn't see him without booking a meeting or something.
"He's out for a meeting and will be back in a couple of minutes. How about you go and wait inside?"
"I haven't booked a meeting," I had told her.
"He said to let all of his guests in tonight," she smiled as she had held the door open for me.
Very confused over what had just happened, I had walked in and watched as she closed the door behind me.
Not knowing what to do, I had walked up and down until I heard footsteps. In my panicky state, I did the stupidest thing I possibly could, I ran and hid underneath his huge desk. Why I had done that was beyond me but at that moment of panic, it was the first thing that came to my mind.
I couldn't exactly see who had walked in but from the sound of the heeled footsteps, I had assumed it was a lady. She lit up a cigarette as she sat in one of the leather sofas opposite the desk. I had the urge to cough but brutally held it in.
"How many times have I told you not to smoke in here?" a gruff man complained as he too had walked in the room. Fortunately for me, he turned the fan on and opened some windows. I was finally able to breathe again.
"It's just one cigarette, dear," she had told him as she had taken another whiff. After hearing her speak for longer, I came to realise that she was Linda Yates and the man she was conversing with would be her husband Gregory Yates. I looked out a little opening from under the desk to see I was correct.
Gregory Yates sighed as he took a seat besides his wife, "My stupid brother and his wife will be here soon. Make sure they don't smell the smoke on you," he warned.
She laughed as she pulled out an expensive looking perfume from her bag. Her husband simply rolled his eyes as she sprayed herself. Once again, I felt like I would choke from the smell but I held my breath as much as I could. Fortunately, I didn't have to hold it for too long because the door to the room opened letting in some fresh air as well as my gorgeous Prince.
"Dad," he greeted, "did you wait long?"
"Not too long, love," Linda replied, standing up to greet him. To my surprise and Linda's apparent annoyance, he walked past her, ignoring her touch. And then it had occurred to me that she wasn't his real mother. Linda was Gregory Yates' second wife and therefore the step-mother of Nicholas Yates.
He had taken a seat on the seat that was facing everyone and turned to his father, "When will Uncle Joe be here?"
"He should have been here long ago," he replied, looking annoyed.
And as if on cue, in walked the great Joseph Yates and his wife Miranda Yates. Joseph Yates was one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. Every med student looked up to him and aspired to be as skilled at him. Even though I personally didn't want to be a surgeon, seeing Joseph Yates in real life took my breath away. He was simply amazing.
"Is your daughter not coming?" Gregory Yates asked.
"She should be," replied Joseph.
"Well I don't have time to sit around so let us begin," Linda said, more than rudely. I didn't personally know the Yates family but from the evident animosity in their tones and expressions, it was clear they didn't get along well.
I also couldn't help but wonder why the youngest Yates wasn't present but I didn't think too much of it. After hearing their conversation however, it was more than evident why he wasn't present.
They had started speaking but before anything important could have been said, the person I was expecting least to appear had appeared.
"I hope I'm not late," she smiled, stepping up to Joseph and kissing him on the cheek before turning to all the others and greeting them in a similar manner.
"Daniella, darling," Linda smiled, "you're actually just in time. We were about to start discussing company matters."
"Oh goodies," Daniella said as she took a seat beside Miranda, "I made it right in time for some fun."
I could not believe my eyes. The witch Daniella was related to the Yates. Not only was she related, she was the literal child of the greatest surgeon in the country, Joseph Yates. That meant that she was cousins with River Yates and my Prince Nicholas Yates. Then that also meant that she was indeed not River's girlfriend. So why exactly was she acting like she was obsessed with him? The confusion of it all began giving me a headache so I stopped thinking and just listened in while I had continued to not make a single noise.
"As we were saying," Gregory continued, "the board of directors have already started looking out for the more suitable president out of you and River and so far, it seems in our favour."
"I don't think so," Joseph said, shaking his head. "They seem to be pretty evenly divided at the moment. In fact, I believe there are only two members that are indecisive so the results will all depend on them."
Gregory rolled his eyes, "We don't need a majority vote, Joe, we need a unanimous vote. We already have more than half of the votes, the rest shouldn't be too hard."
"Actually," Linda spoke, "there is only one director you need to sway. The board of directors trust and respect him the most. If they hear that he is supporting Nicholas, they'll also support Nicholas."
"You're talking about Michael Grace?"
This had peaked my interest. Was the Michael Grace they were speaking about the same as my father Michael Grace?
"Yes," Linda replied. "He's an honest and upright person and only cares about the future of the hospital."
This made me feel a swell of pride. I didn't even know if the person they were talking about really was my father but that description really fitted him perfectly. Although, I didn't have any idea what my father's relationship was to this hospital or if he even had any relationship at all.
"And what do you suggest?" Gregory asked.
"He has a daughter..." Linda said, trailing off. No one said anything but it seemed they all understood what she meant.
"The fatty?" Nicholas asked. A gasp escaped my lips as soon as those left his mouth. Fortunately no one seemed to have heard me. Why were his words so upsetting? Considering he was perfect in my eyes, I guess I was disappointed. It could have also been due to the fact that my childhood nickname was "fatty", too.
"I saw her a couple of weeks ago," Linda replied, "she's a beautiful girl. Her name is Azra."
Thank you, I thought to myself. But then my eyes widened when I realised they really were talking about me.
"Wait, Azra?" Daniella screeched. "Isn't she dating River?"
All eyes turned to her.
"What?" Gregory asked. "Where did you hear that?"
"I didn't hear. I saw."
Miranda gently nudged her daughter to stop speaking. Judging from the look on Gregory and Linda's faces, it was clear she was worried her daughter was about to be buried alive. They were seriously scary.
"I saw them kiss in his car," she said, shrugging off her mother's hand.
Only silence followed her words. I had a urge to bust out from underneath the desk and call her out on her lie, but then I remembered what exactly I was doing.
"I'll accept the challenge," Nicholas suddenly said after a couple of minutes of silence.
All eyes turned to him.
"I spoke to River the other day and he said he doesn't have a girl friend so he's obviously not taking her seriously. I don't think swaying her would be hard. Then I can meet the family and make a good impression of Michael Grace."
"Are you sure?" Daniella asked, a strange expression on her face. I couldn't exactly pinpoint it but she didn't look very happy about the situation at all. "I think River really likes her. You know how he is, he doesn't even have any friends because he's scared they'll distract him from his goals and that he'll disappoint his parents. But whenever I see him, he's always around that girl."
Nicholas had a very nonchalant expression on his face, "I would rather die than lose to River. I am very sure about this."
Daniella shrugged and leaned back in her seat.
"You better keep your end of the deal," Joseph said, suddenly speaking. "I'm helping you so you better not betray me."
"You have a written contract," was all Nicholas said.
Miranda and Daniella also stood up. They bid their farewells and left, without any other words.
"Are you really going with what he wants?" Gregory asked.
"I have signed on it."
"But we--" Linda couldn't finish what she was saying because Nicholas spoke above her.
"I'll figure out what I'm going to do with them after I get rid of River. My task at the moment is clear and I don't want to think about the rest."
Gregory nodded and stood up as well, pulling his wife to her feet as well.
"We'll take our leave now then. Make sure you meet the girl. I heard she's volunteering at this hospital," he said.
"I'll check into her," Nicholas said, robotically.
Gregory left with Linda following close behind.
"You should stop hanging around that blonde girl," Linda said. "You know she's not suitable."
"Don't worry," Nicholas spoke directly to his step mother for the first time, "I'm just having some fun with her."
"That fun could have the whole hospital collide on your head. Stop messing around," she warned.
With that said, she left as well. Nicholas picked some papers off his desk, making me cower back into the corner, praying he wouldn't see me. Fortunately he didn't. He took the papers, turned off the lights and left his office, locking the doors behind him and leaving me alone in the dark, cold room.
Gaining the interest of Nicholas Yates was my dream since the day I had entered the hospital. However, for some reason I didn't feel happy about this situation at all. It made me feel anger, disappointment and most importantly disgust. My whole perception of him as a Prince like perfect human was shattered and in it's place was a selfish and rude person instead. What hurt me the most however was that if I hadn't been here today, I would have accepted him without a second thought the moment he approached me. I was completely head over heels for him but now all I could feel was disappointment. They say that to know what a person truly is like you should see how they behave with those closest to them because they're the people they're most true towards. But the Nicholas Yates I saw today with his family was simply ugly. I desperately wanted to believe that he was just having a bad day or something but it was clear he wasn't. He was making harsh plans for the future for his own selfish reasons. What was I to do now when I did meet him? Was I supposed to ignore him? Or was I supposed to play along? And most importantly, what was going to happen to River if Nicholas Yates really did win the presidency of the hospital?
I felt heart broken. I didn't even know why I felt so much heart ache but all I wanted to do was crawl underneath my blankets and cry myself to sleep.