There was apprehension in the conference room as the department heads delivered their reports. The monthly figures were off the charts due to the summer events, however, the man at the head of the table appeared dissatisfied. They were sweating in their shoes at the end of the presentation, awaiting the boss's remarks. Everyone in the room was dead silent and discreetly glanced at the stony face man as he flipped the pen between his knuckles.
"Great work, keep it up," Ethan announced and walked out of the room. His brain was accustomed to working like a computer processing unit, multitasking, calculating, and creating vision boards. Although this was happening he listened intently to every report, but ever so often that woman's face pop into view and threw off his thinking.
The elevator stopped on the twenty-fifth floor and he headed to his office with his assistant behind. He went straight to the restroom and splashed the cold water onto his face, to erase the distraction assuming he was tired.
Upon sitting at the desk, his assistant said, "Mr. Li, you have a conference call with the foundation committee in twenty minutes, lunch with Mr. Talbot, an inspection at the construction site after your lunch meeting, and dinner with Miss Keri at nineteen hundred hours."
Ethan pulled out a cigarette from his desk drawer and lit it, "Bruce, did I arrange that dinner with her?"
"No sir, it was Mrs. Li."
"Whose assistant are you?" Ethan asked taking a long pull on the cigarette bud and blowing the smoke through his nostril.
"Yours, sir," Bruce blurted, picked up his phone, and punched in some number, "I will cancel the dinner..."
"Nevermind."
"Sir?" Bruce's brows knitted and thought he had imagined that response.
"She's a busybody. She will never quit until I go."
The conference call went on longer than they anticipated and crept into the lunch hours. Two cups of coffee and numerous document approvals later, Ethan got up and headed out with Bruce to his lunch appointment.
Instead of heading to the underground parking lot, they went straight to the entrance of the company where the driver was waiting, as requested because they were behind schedule.
"Screech!"
"Bang!"
Ethan's face was buried in his phone when he heard the impact of the vehicles, Bruce and two bodyguards had already surrounded him. He immediately thought he was being targeted but when he looked up he saw it was just an accident. It was about 20 yards away from their parked car.
People gathered around the scene attending to the victims. There was a vehicle pile-up involving four cars and a motorcycle. There was a traffic jam due to this incident giving that it was a one-way street.
"What a disaster!" Bruce glanced at his watch, "Sir, let's use the back entrance."
Ethan frowned as he looked at the mess but the tooting of car horns and the swearing of their drivers irritated him more. He nodded, walked back to the building but then halted at the entrance, and Bruce who was busy on his phone bumped into his back.
Ethan made a one-eighty degree turn, pushed Bruce aside, and stared in the direction of the accident. He froze on the spot and murmured, "Bruce, it's the car?"
Bruce's eyes followed in the direction his boss was gazing, but he didnt find anything unusual other than the accident. Thus, he studied the cars in detail and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as they focused on one of the license plates. The next moment he felt Ethan dash ahead of him with the speed of a formula one car.
Ethan sprinted to the car like he was afraid it would disappear, while in the back of his mind he knew it couldn't because it was involved in the collision. He strode through the group of eyewitnesses with the only intention of finding out the owner of the vehicle.
As he approached the center of the scene he noticed the dislocated headlight, the indentation on the bumper, and scratches on the car. Although there was a speed limit on this street, there was still a significant amount of damages to the vehicle. Before he reached the driver's side of the car he heard crying in the back seat.
Ethan clutched on the door handle and tried opening the door but it was locked. He rushed to the other doors but it was the same and he began to hit on the drivers'' window but he only heard the sound of the baby crying.
Bruce handed him a big boulder after he saw him searching the ground, "Here, sir."
Ethan took off his suit jacket and wrapped the boulder. With two hits he smashed the window of the shotgun seat and quickly went around the car. When he opened the door, his eyes clashed with enormous misty green eyes.
The baby stopped crying for a brief second, then started bawling more and Ethan quickly unbuckled him. He examined him thoroughly then held him in his arms and started to gently sway, but when he glanced at the driver's seat he saw Alyssa and his heart trembled.
Alyssa's head was on the staring wheel, hair disheveled, blood on her hairline, and tears on her face but her eyes were closed. He moved around, opened her door.
"Mama...Mama," Lucas whispered, voice hoarse.
Ethan looked at him, then at Alyssa, and mused, 'Huh? Mama?'
The siren could be heard close by and he handed Lucas to Bruce. Then he placed his fingers on her neck to feel her pulse. She is just conscious and he refrained from moving her.
The paramedic rushed over, attended to her, and lay her on the stretcher.
Lucas started fussing and crying after hearing the loud sound from the ambulance and then he saw his mother disappearing in the van. Ethan instantly gathered and hugged him. He and Lucas then hopped into the ambulance with Alyssa.
"Sir, your meeting..." Bruce blurted before the door closed.
"Gather the stuff from her car and follow us to the hospital. We'll talk there."
En route to the hospital, the EMT attended to Alyssa while Ethan tried to coax Lucas. His shirt stuck to his chest, saturated with Lucas's snot and tears. He wiped Lucas's face with his handkerchief but his tears kept flowing, his cheeks cherry red, and his eyes were puffy but never left the woman on the stretcher. Ethan hugged him right-hand looked at Alyssa's pale face.
"There are two dog tags, which one is your wife's? The paramedic asked.
Ethan was too stunned to correct him, but the next second the paramedic handed him the tags. 'O-Pos, ******, Chen Callum, Penicillin Allergy.' He flipped the other one over, 'AB Neg, *****, Chen Alyssa, PTSD.' He subconsciously pointed to the latter one and the paramedic nodded.
"Dad! Dad! Don't leave me again..." Alyssa mumbled.
Ethan looked at the paramedic while swaying Lucas. Alyssa was talking but her eyes flinched even though they were closed and her body squirmed. Ethan's stomach churned, painfully upon seeing her reaction and he had the impulse to embrace and protect her.
As Lucas played with the dog tags, the abbreviation on Alyssa's tag, 'PTSD' kept echoing in Ethan's ears. He couldn't believe the dominant woman he met a few nights ago would have this kind of shadow following her.
Human beings have no control over birth, illnesses, and death. But, all of these have one thing in common, 'suffering.' These are processes everyone has to go through, some shorter or longer than others and some hellish than others.
Ethan stared at her face and he saw the tears trickle down to her hair. "What's wrong with her?"
"She's having a dream... She has a concussion but she should have been awakened since at the scene. We won't know if there are any damages until the doctor's examination and..."
"Ahh...No don't leave me." Alyssa's scream interrupted the paramedic.
Lucas jolted in Ethan's arms and pulled on his shirt. The next minute Ethan saw Alyssa sat up, eyes wide open, flooded with tears. She had undone the straps, restraining her to the stretcher so swiftly they didn't realize until it was too late. She stared straight at him, trembling like a delicate leaf, hanging by its fragile stalk on a windy day.
"Dad! Don't leave me. Please...please...please don't leave me," Alyssa panted, pulling on Ethan's pants leg but her eyes never left his face, "I can no longer live if you leave me. I need you. Please...please..."
Ethan stared back at her but saw from the corner of his eyes that the Paramedic got up to urge her to lay back down and he signaled him to leave her. He shifted over to the stretcher and beside her, arms wrapped around her. Although he knew she was in a dissociative trance, he ignored all logics after he heard, 'I need you.'
"I'm right here, I won't leave you," he whispered in her ears.