Astrea just sighed and stood up. As she was about to go back, she saw a big group approaching her. It was composed of females surrounding a tall man... As if sensing her stare, he raised his sight to her. He suddenly widened his silver-white eyes, excused himself and moved in her direction. She suddenly felt a pressure coming from behind him. Jealous women sure are fearsome. If look could kill, she would have died a thousand time. Meanwhile, the man arrived in front of her. She could now clearly see his face. No wonder everyone stuck close to him, he was a very attractive man. He towered everyone with a height of around 1,90m, his calming smile mesmerized every being. He began to introduce himself.
"Good afternoon miss, I am Janus Elpidius, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Oh, hello. I am Astrea Elysium."
Not saying anymore, the two of them just stand to look at each other. As it was beginning to get awkward, Astrea was beginning to move away :
"If there is nothing, I will be going."
"Ah! Please wait" he caught her arm and immediately released it. "Sorry, it was impolite. I would like to talk to you in private if possible."
"I'm sorry but I'm busy. Goodbye." After saying this Astrea promptly returned to her mother's room.
Janus stayed frozen on the spot and the group from before encircled him once again and began to act coquettish. While they were at it, some were trying to lower his opinion of Astrea.
"Hmph! Just ignore her Mr.Elpidius. She is a very cold woman looking down on everyone. Just because she has a pretty face she thinks she is above everyone. Let me tell you, just a few hours ago I heard she lost her job after playing around with her superior. Acting so high and mighty when she is actually this dirty. Tut."
"Yes. She must also have bad eyes if she doesn't even recognize you. Mr. Elpidius, one of the richest businessmen on the planet, the owner of many companies in the show business, finance, and real estate. How dare she show you so much disrespect to you. She is not a good woman, I'm telling you."
Seeing all these females trying to flatter him, Janus felt disgusted. He couldn't hold back anymore and finally said :
"You see, I prefer women who don't know about me and act genuinely than some who want to take advantage of my position. Well then ladies, I need to go."
He took the same direction as Astrea and looked through the different rooms.
On the way, he found the doctor who talked to Astrea having a discussion with another doctor.
"Sigh, this new treatment sure is expensive. Even with my salary, it would take many decades to be able to afford it."
"Indeed. I told the patient's daughter from room 516 about it but I don't think she can gather the money."
"Oh her. She is a really diligent girl. Coming to see her mother every week and paying for her hospital fee. If it was my son, I think he would just run away from the responsibilities. How sad, her mother is inflicted with the black vines curses. This event eight years ago sure did a lot of casualty around here."
"Yeah..."
The two doctors then changed the topic as it was not polite to talk about a patient personal affair but unfortunately, it fell on the ear of someone not really honest.
"... Hammond."
"I am here" A man appeared from nowhere and bowed to him.
"Look for the origin of the new treatment and its price. Also, I want information about Astrea Elysium and her family."
"I obey your command" As soon as he said that, he disappeared in the shadow. Then Janus proceeded to room 516.
Nearing the room, he noticed Astrea looking expressionless. As he was about to talk, he heard a scream of pain. He turned his head toward the door and understood the woman inside must be suffering from the black vines illness. It originated from the cataclysm from eight years ago when mysterious monsters attacked every living being in their sight. Those who survived their attack are infected with a black substance flowing through their vein hence the black vine name. There is no way to get it out and when the patient is emotionally unstable, it would act up and provoke intense pain that could even kill. If she is hurting, then Astrea must have told her something that destabilized her.
As he was pondering, the scream ceased and the nurses got out of the room. They recommended her to go away and let her mother sleep. She nodded and went the opposite direction of Janus. He descended the floor to join the parking lot. Next to his car was Hammond, waiting with the car's door open. Janus got in the back seat and they drove away.
*****
When Astrea was out of the hospital, she saw Aine on her phone dialing a number. She called out to her. Afterward, they took a cab together and went to a restaurant. Inside a private room, a group of girls waved at them. They joined the table and talked about their life. When it came to Astrea, at the part of her being fired, everyone reacted as if someone killed one of their family members:
"THE PIG!! Why did this stupid company keep someone as useless as this guy? If it weren't for you to clean his mess, he would have long been fired!"
"Yeah! But now that you aren't there to help him, he will have to do it himself. But from what I heard, he is incompetent so it won't be long before he regrets. HAHAHA!!!"
Everyone drank a lot so they are all a bit delirious. Even Astrea, who had a high tolerance, was a bit tipsy. She got relaxed and inadvertently let out the piece of new for her mother treatment :
"Heeh, there is a cure for this curse. How great!! There is hope for your mother to be healthy then!"
"Yes, but it's so expensive and I don't think a bank would lend me this much. I could go become an actress but I don't have enough time... I seriously have no idea of what I can do to make this much money unless I..."
The girls understood her intention and didn't let her finish.
"Don't! It's not worth it. What if you get hurt! Your mother would regret it so much. It could even lead to her death knowing this!" said Aine. Another girl who looked to be the leader then followed her up.
"Yeah! Don't do it. It may be cruel but it's better if you let her finish her time in the hospital. I think she would agree with this decision."
"We could always try crowdfunding but there is so much patient suffering from it..."
Everyone racked their brain but no one could find an appropriate solution. Astrea seeing this felt happy in her heart to have friends to care for her but her stoic face didn't show any sign of emotion. She couldn't let them hurt their head for her own affair and tried to calm them:
"Ah, I'm sorry to worry you with my problems. You don't need to keep on finding a way, I will take care of it."
"No way! You finally confide with us and now you want to reject our help! Don't even think about it!"
"We finally found a way to repay you when you saved us eight years ago. As if we will let this occasion go!"
She only managed to get them more determined. She could only shake her head and let them do whatever they wanted. But it didn't last long as they only drank more and more until late at night. Fortunately, tomorrow is Sunday. It was 11:00 pm when they finally stopped drinking. Astrea who was still clear headed with another woman called cabs to bring home their friends. She was the last one left to go back when a luxurious black hovering car stopped before her. The rear window lowered and a familiar face appeared. Janus greeted her.
"Good evening, Mrs.Elysium. You are outside quite late at night. Would you like me to take you home."
"I will have to decline my parents always told me not to follow strangers. Well then goodbye."
"Are you sure you want to refuse? I may have the solution to your mother's condition."
"!?" Surprised she asked him. "How did you know? Did you research my history? You rich people sure have a lot of money to look for something so trivial."
"Oh? So you knew who I was. Yet you still acted as if I was nobody. You are quite mean." said Janus full of sadness.
"I don't have the patience to play with you. Please state your business and let's be done with it."
"Okay then, please enter the car. Let's talk in private." He opened the car's door, smiled sweetly at her and invited her to sit next to him. As she took a step toward him, she felt her instinct telling her dangers would keep coming to her if she developed a link with this man. However, the desire to save her mother overcame it and she stepped into the car. The car started and was gone who knows where.