Ryo received an emergency call from a hospital about Kaede being involved in an accident at half past 6 PM. He was still in the office going through a few contracts that were due for signing tomorrow. When he received the call he immediately alerted his secretary to get his car ready for him outside.
"There's been an emergency. So, I will leave this with you for now. Wait for further instructions here," Ryo told his secretary on his way out of his office.
"Yes, sir," Secretary Fujiwara replied.
Ryo rushed to the hospital where Kaede was said to be confined at the moment. A staff of the hospital called him about the incident. He was further informed that she was still currently undergoing treatment.
When he reached the hospital, he was then directed to Kaede's bed. She was still confined on one of the beds in the emergency area, he was told by the nurse that she has already been treated and is now currently resting.
He drew the curtain a little and checked how she was doing. Kaede was currently sleeping on the bed. Her left eye was half covered with a bandage.
"Are you the patient's family?" a man wearing a white robe, most like the doctor approached him.
He did not answer in the affirmative and just gave the doctor a nod.
"Ms. Hanazawa was involved in a car accident earlier. The taxi she was riding accidentally collided with a speeding truck at an intersection and Ms. Hanazawa hit her head on the windshield during the collision," the doctor told him. "Fortunately, no one was badly injured but she took the most severe hit. Her left eyebrow was cut after her head collided with the glass and so she needed a few stitches."
Ryo just nodded, still trying to digest the situation and what happened to Kaede.
"We've already run an MRI on her head, just to be sure but the result won't be in until tomorrow morning. Also, we're still going to observe her for concussion, so she will be confined for tonight until we get the results of her tests," the doctor told Ryo reassuringly.
"I understand, thank you, doctor," Ryo said.
"Don't hesitate to approach me or any of the nurses at the station if anything happens," and with that, the doctor went to another patient.
"Excuse me, are you the patient's guardian?" a nurse approached him this time.
Again Ryo just nodded.
"These are all of Ms. Hanazawa's belongings according to the taxi driver," the nurse said and handed Kaede's bag to Ryo.
"Just let us know if there's anything missing so that we can file a report. Also, her phone should be inside the bag, we had to use it to call your number. You were the last person she got in touched with over the phone so we decided to call you," the nurse said. "We're now preparing a private room for her to stay in, we're just waiting for admission to finalize everything."
"Okay, thank you," Ryo said.
"No problem. If you'll excuse me," and the nurse left.
Ryo put Kaede's things on the table beside her bed. She looked awful, a word he did not want to describe her.
Kaede was still sleeping or unconscious, he wasn't quite sure which is which, but it looked to him like she wasn't going to wake up any time soon. And, although they have known each other for years, they were not privy or friends with each other's family at all. What he knows is that Kaede's parents are both retirees living outside the city and that she has a younger sister. Who and where they are right now, he has no idea.
He couldn't afford to lose time, the documents he left at work needed to be signed tomorrow and could not be delayed any further. He looked down at his watch, it said 7:38 PM. He called his secretary and ordered him to deliver the papers that needed signing to him at the hospital. With Kaede's condition, he couldn't afford to leave her side.
Secretary Fujiwara took a taxi over to the hospital in order to deliver the papers that Ryo was asking. It was a forty-minute drive from their office to this hospital.
"How is she, sir?" Secretary Fujiwara couldn't help being a busybody.
"She's out of harm's way now but they still need to watch over her for the night," Ryo answered absentmindedly as he was going through the papers to make sure that they were complete.
"Thank goodness," Secretary Fujiwara said.
But, when Secretary Fujiwara got nearer and caught a glimpse of the woman lying on the hospital bed, he was shocked that it was not his boss's wife. He could not help himself from saying it out loud.
"Huh, it's not the missus?"
"What about my wife?" Ryo asked because he heard him.
Secretary Fujiwara covered his mouth with his hand by reflex, like what someone does when they curse or say something they shouldn't.
"Uhm, it's just that, I thought it was the missus who got into an accident," Secretary Fujiwara hesitated.
"Thank God it was not her, or I wouldn't know what to do," Ryo said furiously. He did not want to get angry but he couldn't help himself, he has suddenly grown very protective of Sachi. 'This must be the power of love,' he foolishly told himself, but it put a smile to his face.
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to---," Secretary Fujiwara was cut off by his boss.
"This woman is a friend and my senior back in college," Ryo explained. "Anyway, you're dismissed. Good work and thank you for today," Ryo said brushing off his secretary's apologies.
"No worries, sir. I'll take my leave," Secretary Fujiwara said and with that, he left.
When Secretary Fujiwara was right outside the hospital waiting for his taxi, his thoughts couldn't help go back to the woman lying on the hospital bed.
"Is my boss having an affair?" he asked himself. "No, no, he wouldn't do that." Although he doesn't see or hear very much of Mrs. Sugimoto from his boss, or see them interact that much, he knew his boss's tight schedule at work and it did not leave much time for Mr. Sugimoto to fool around outside of the marital bed.
"But, if that wasn't the missus, then where is she at right now?" the hair at the back of Secretary Fujiwara's neck suddenly stood up. He suddenly remembered something that he can't quite put his finger on. "Wait, what date is it today again?" he asked himself and got his phone out of his pocket. He opened the calendar app, it said June 3rd. He then tried to remember if anything significant was being celebrated on this day but he could not remember any special holiday or occasion. The next thing he checked was his planner hidden inside his inside pocket. He looked the date up and it said:
"Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto's wedding anniversary. Mega Hotel. 8 PM <3."
"Oh, so today is Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto's wedding anniversary at the Mega Hotel at 8," he repeated with a satisfied smile on his face and noticed that he even put a heart at the end of the note.
When the realization finally hit him, the blood on his head started to drain down to his feet. He suddenly felt weak in fear. "How did I miss this?" he asked himself in horror. "I am officially dead." He looked at the time on his watch, it said 8:10 PM. "Yikes, it's already past the time. What to do? What should I do?" panic was setting in now.
For the last two years, it was his job to make sure that Ryo was free for tonight because he has already made a ten-year reservation at that hotel's restaurant to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife.
For this year, because his boss moved everything that should have been done a few weeks ago to last week and this week, it messed up the whole schedule.
At that moment, Secretary Fujiwara began running towards the hospital like his life depended on it.
Inside the hospital, Kaede was being prepared to be transferred to a private room.
Secretary Fujiwara meekly approached his boss. He immediately knelt down in front of him.
"What are you doing?" Ryo was taken aback by his actions.
The nurse, doctor and other attendants were now looking at them.
"Sir, I'm so sorry, but I just remembered that today is your wedding anniversary," his secretary said crying manly tears in front of him. "Please don't fire me."
"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" Ryo asked furiously. He knew this was a hospital but his patience could only take so much.
Then his secretary throw him a sorry look mixed with the 'Aren't-you-suppose-to-remember-such-things?' look.
Ryo sighed and looked down at his watch, it said 8: 14 PM. The hotel was on the other side of the city, he calculated that if he hurries it might take him forty-five minutes to an hour to reach the hotel. But, who knows if Sachi will still be there. He tried calling her but her phone was unattended.
"I'll deal with you tomorrow, in the meantime, please stay with Ms. Hanazawa until tomorrow morning and report her status to me when you get to work in the morning," Ryo said curtly and left.
"Yes, sir!" Secretary Fujiwara said and watched his boss run out of the hospital.
"Sorry, I did not mean to overhear, but this woman is not his wife and he forgot that his wedding anniversary was today?" the nurse asked Secretary Fujiwara who was still wiping his tears.
Secretary Fujiwara just nodded and followed the hospital personnel pushing Ms. Hanazawa's stretcher.
"Yikes," he heard the nurse say.
***