Chapter 44 - The Flu
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"Jeesh! That woman is so harsh and rude and all bad things in the world that I will not be mentioning!" Lina yelled as soon as the snooty woman had left the boutique.
"She wants to be served on hand and foot!" I said rolling my eyes.
"I hate people like that! She thinks she is so high and mighty while she is just a piece of gum stuck on my Prada heel!" Lina hissed.
"Your heels are Louboutins and not Prada." I happily informed her after peeping at the brand.
"Your phone is ringing! It's lover boy!" Lina called and tossed me my phone, "Catch!" She yelled.
I managed to catch it and pulled the green button, allowing me to answer the phone.
"Hey babe," I greeted Brandon.
"Is this Miss Hayes?" A snooty, annoying voice of a female asked.
I sighed, "This is she." I responded.
"Miss Hayes this is Stephanie, Mr. Hawthorne's personal assistant. We're at his penthouse and he is asking for you," Stephanie said.
"Alright, I'm on my way," I said and ended the call.
"Everything alright?" Lina asked.
I nodded, "Yeah. Could you tell Darcy I stepped out and that I will work overtime tomorrow to make up for the missing time?"
"Okay," Lina agreed, nodding her head.
I grabbed all my things and hailed a cab. I gave the driver Brandon's address and we made our way to the building. The lady at the reception allowed me access to his floor when she knew who I was.
I punched the number '2701' in and thankfully the door opened. I saw Stephanie and Brandon in his bedroom.
I stormed inside causing Stephanie to jump with fright.
She gave me a menacing smile, "Your fiancè was requesting you," She said and pointed to an unconscious Brandon with a lipstick stain on the side of his lips that looked quite smudged. I noticed another stain on the collar of his suit.
The bright pink of the stain matched the one Stephanie was wearing.
"Thank you for looking after him, Stephanie. You can go back to your actual job," I snapped.
Stephanie laughed and walked out of the room.
I was not going to fall for her tricks, I knew that she had set him up. Brandon was loyal to me and he would never do something like that and destroy our entire relationship.
I lay a palm against his forehead and felt his temperature. He was boiling hot.
"Brandon!" I said and shook his body hard.
"Ashley?" He croaked looking out of it.
"What's wrong? You're burning up!" I gasped as he coughed.
"I think I may have fainted in the office and somehow got in here." He said weakly as he shivered his eyes looking dead.
"Stephanie brought you here and apparently kissed you," I informed him staring pointedly at the stain on his face.
"What?" Brandon shouted before he dissolved into another coughing fit, "I'm suing her for harassment!" He said and continued to cough. I knew she was trying to make me believe that he had done something with her.
"I'm going to phone the doctor, love," I told him and grabbed his phone. I opened his phone with my fingerprint and dialed his personal doctor.
"Hello is this Brandon Hawthorne's personal doctor?" I asked the dude on the other side of the phone.
"Yes, who are you?" He asked me, sounding very rude.
"I'm Ashley Hayes, I'm his fianceè. Listen, I need you to get here as soon as you possibly can because he looks really bad!" I said into the phone, my voice coming out laced with desperation.
"I'll be there right away, Miss Hayes." He said before ending the call.
"He's coming, love, he's coming," I whispered as I stroked his forehead gently and ran my fingers through his silky hair.
The doctor arrived and treated Brandon. He checked him up and gave me some instructions to look after him. Brandon had come down with the flu and it would take him a few days to recover.
"Thank you Dr. Zander!" I said as the doctor left.
"You're welcome, Miss Hayes!" He called over his shoulder and I watched him go into the elevator.
I shut and locked the door and headed to Brandon's room
"You still haven't answered me about Anna," I said
"She's not important!" He grunted.
I sighed, "Brandon, I read those three texts! Why was she demanding that you to come over to her house?" I hissed.
"Why were you invading my privacy? It isn't any of your business Ashley, drop it already!"
"I'm your damned fianceè! I have a right to know who the hell this Anna chic is!" I screamed at him.
"I have a headache and don't feel like dealing with this." He spat as he got out of his bed hurriedly.
I saw him getting dressed in another Armani suit.
"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded, glaring at him, "You promised!"
"Promised what Ashley?"
"At Hunter and Claire's house, you promised that you'd tell me about Anna. You promised!" I said.
"Look, you being nosy and snooping around in my phone isn't welcomed by me. If I don't want to share who Anna is I don't have to!" He hissed.
"Why Brandon? Why? What are you hiding from me?" I said as hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
I hears him sigh as he sat on the bed, "Don't cry." He whispered.
"You're the one that made me cry," I whimpered trying to wipe the tears off.
"Look I'm sorry, I still firmly believe that you shouldn't have touched my phone or gone through my texts." He said.
"As I stated earlier, I'm your fianceè, Brandon! I deserve to know what goes on in your life. Just answer me this... are you cheating on me?" I said and braced myself for any answer that could be thrown my way.
"No. No, Ashley, I'm not cheating on you." He said.
"Okay," I said.
"She's a lady that gets abused by her ex-husband. She's got the cutest little boy who's about three years old. I just help her by buying groceries, paying his school fees, and making sure that she attends her therapy. I also make sure that the police keep her ex-husband restrained, you wouldn't be able to stomach the images of her after he's done beating her up!
"I couldn't allow such cruelty to keep on happening. I met Anna on the streets one night, her stomach was ripped open and blood was flowing out while her small son cried over her body. I drove her to the hospital and obviously cared for Christo, her son. I then couldn't allow her to go back to him, I bought her a small apartment so that she could stay in and also raise her son in peace.
"I often visit her house in order to help her. Although she is young, I obviously don't care about her the way I care for you, for she and I only have a brother-and-sister relationship. Nothing more. Nothing less." Brandon finished with a cough as he began to slip on his shoes.
"Oh Brandon, that's so sweet of you!" I said as he grabbed his suitcase, "Why would you not just tell me that?" I asked.
He shrugged, "I wanted to do it in private."
"But you made me think that you were cheating on me."
"You know that I would never do that to you. I love you." He coughed.
I nodded, "I am sorry that I jumped to conclusions. I should have waited for you to feel comfortable telling me."
Brandon shook his head, "No. I see how it sounds. If I had seen that, I would have thought the worst too. It is both of our faults. I am sorry for not telling you."
"It's fine. Where do you think you ae going, mister?"
"Going to work," He said and coughed.
"Doctor said that you aren't allowed to leave this bed," I informed him.
"I don't care what Zander said. I have work and I'm going." Brandon insisted on tying his tie around his neck as he coughed some more.
"Brandon!" I gasped, "You're staying here. I need to look after you!" I chided him.
"No, I have an important business deal I need to seal. I can't be absent."
"Brandon if you leave this room you and I are over." I threatened.
That made him stop and look at me with his deep blue eyes, "Ashy this deal is really important to me, Okay? I can't sit here and allow Ronald to look after it."
"You're sick Brandon."
"I'm fine, Ashley," He said.
"You can stay or leave," Brandon called back as he left with his suitcase.
I rolled my eyes at his antics and dialed Dr. Zander off my phone. He answered on the first ring.
"Hi, Dr. Zander." I greeted, "It's Ashley and I'm calling in to tell you that Brandon left for work. I tried to keep him here but he refused." I told the doctor.
"It's fine. Brandon always does this anyways. Just make sure to give him his medication and make sure he eats properly." He told me.
"I will. Thank you doc," I said and I heard Dr. Zander chuckle.
"You can call me Zander if you like." Dr. Zander said.
"Alright... Zander." I said, feeling weirded out slightly.
"Are you free? Maybe you can have some lunch with me and we can discuss how to look after Brandon. I am on break now," Zander suggested.
"Of course! I'd love to help out Brandon." I happily said.
"Great. Meet me at the Pearl Cafè in ten minutes," He said.
"See you there, Zander." I said.
"Likewise Ashley." He said and ended the call.
I ran to Brandon's bedroom and checked my hair. I sighed when I realized that my brown roots were growing out. I need to make an appointment with the hairdresser. Although, I was quite happy with the length. The shampoo that Lina had given me had increased the shine in my hair and helped it grow longer and faster. A few weeks ago, my hair had been by my shoulder and now it was happily growing towards my mid-back.
I grabbed some of my lip gloss from the handbag and applied it before I walked out and locked Brandon's apartment. I hailed a cab.
"Can you please take me to the Pearl Cafè?" I asked him and he nodded.
"That will be twenty dollars, please." He said and I handed him a one hundred note.
"Keep the change," I told him.
"Thank you, ma'am." He said and I smiled at him.
The driver dropped me off and I slowly entered the Cafè. Although it wasn't my first time here I really loved the elegancy of this place. The couches and tables were designed like clams, and the whole restaurant had pearls hanging from the ceiling.
The waitresses all had cute aprons, that had a few (fake) pearls on them. They also had pearl jewelry around their necks and their arms. Some waitresses even had clam hair clips, which looked very cute.
The plates and mugs had a few pearls decorating the edges, and in the center written in a gold and cursive font were the words: Pearl Cafè.
"You came," Zander grinned.
I nodded, "I want to help my fianceè. That's why." I told him in case Zander had any other ideas.
"Well great. Let's order shall we?" Zander said and I nodded.
"Of course," I replied.
Hey Guys!
So Brandon isn't that invincible after all... He is still human and normal like us. Although, he's too hot!
(Get it?)
Regarding the thing with Anna, what are your opinions? Is he right in trying to keep this a secret or should he have told her?
Do you think Ashley was a little too clingy in this chapter?
What are your opinions on Dr. Zander?
Don't forget to vote and comment!
Thanks for reading, see you next update!
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