"How long will you be in New York dad?" Callie asked, took a sip of her wine and rested the glass on the table.
The entire family sat around the large dining table for one last family dinner before Darius embarked on his New York itinerary.
"As long as I need to be. It is not yet clear the severity of the situation, I need all the facts to say for certain how long I'll be." He responded.
"I'll be joining you for the trip dad." Hiram spoke, and a sudden silence followed with his father, mother and sister staring at him with questioning looks.
"What!" Callie was first to break the silence.
"Son," Darius called, "I assure you there's no need for you to tag along. I'll handle the matter, you have no reason to-"
"I know you'll handle it dad. I just think it'll be good for me to be around, get a sense of how things work, someday I'll be head of the firm. Best to start learning the ropes." He explained.
They all knew his mind was made up, best not waste any effort into trying to talk him out of it.
"Alright son," Darius conceded with a slight nod to his son and turned back to his meal.
Dinner went on for another hour, immediately after, Hiram made his way to the bar in Malibu. At the bar's entrance, he bumped into Ammika who seemed to be in a hurry. She looked up and met his eyes, and quickly took a step back.
"Ammika, hey" he started, keeping the distance between them.
"I'm sorry I can't talk right now, I have to go." She replied, tucking back a loose braid strand.
Hiram could easily tell she wasn't well, something was bothering her, it was all over her face. He took a step, closing the gap between them, took her by her arms and asked gently, "What's wrong Ammika?"
She pulled free from him and took another step back. "Why do you keep asking me that?" She spoke curtly. "I'm fine, I have to go." She repeated brushing past him but he held her hand. She turned abruptly, ready to bite his head off but she met a face filled with concern and affection.
"Then at least let me drive you to wherever you need to be," he offered.
"I'll find my way." She answered.
He was a bout to speak, but she beat him to it. "No means no Hiram! Why don't you get that?" She pulled her arm free once again.
"Do we have a problem here miss?" A voice asked from behind Ammika. She turned and found a well built man standing, looking down at her then at Hiram. Ammika didn't reply, and the man asked again, "Is he bothering you?"
"Leave the lady alone." The man said, standing between the two. "I'll walk you out."
Hiram watch in disbelief as she walked out in the company of this stranger. He turned and pressed his way through the crowd and sat on his usual corner stool.
From behind the counter, Klara had watched the whole thing. She pitied him, she knew his heart was in the right place, poor thing just wanted to help. She poured a shot of tequila and placed the glass in front him. "On the house." She said with a warm smile and watched him empty the contents of the glass in on gulp.
"I'm sorry about her," Klara finally spoke. "Please understand that she has a lot going on right now."
He straightened his back and looked into her eyes, then spoke. "What's going on with her, Klara?"
"Hiram," she called regrettably. "I... I can't tell you."
"Can't or won't?"
"She asked me not to say anything to you," she admitted.
Hiram leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter and whispered, "Is she in some kind of trouble?"
Klara sighed, she knew Hiram wasn't going to let her off easily, she decided it was better to just be honest with him and deal with Ammika later.
"It's Teyana." Her manner of speaking suggested that she expected Hiram to know who that was. His blank face confirmed he was clueless, "She is her sister."
"I didn't know Ammika had a sister," he admitted. "What about her?"
Klara poured him another drink and explained everything to him, how Ammika's sister had been battling cancer for years, how she recently got worse and was admitted to a local hospital. She told him of how Ammika had taken extra shifts at the bar to try and keep her sister under medication.
"Jesus Christ!" Hiram exclaimed, "Why hasn't she said anything?"
"I don't know Hiram, that's between you and her. But if I had to take a guess, I'd say it's because she doesn't want you getting involved." Klara explained and excused herself to attend to other customers.
*-*-*
Rob and Artemis sat together at lunch, Hiram joined shortly after and the two couldn't help but noticed he seemed distressed. Rob asked him about it and he brushed it off, insisting they had nothing to worry about.
Halfway through their meals, Artemis reached into her bag and fished out three tickets and waved them in front of them. "Cancel your plans for Friday night boys." There was excitement in her voice as well as in her eyes as she spoke.
"What's that?" Rob inquired.
"I have tickets to Twilight Reverie, it premieres this Friday."
"Sweet!" Rob exclaimed, taking the three tickets from Artemis and studying them.
"Hiram?" Artemis asked looking at him, she noted he didn't seem too thrilled about the tickets.
"I can't on Friday. Dad an I have a couple of things to sort out in New York. We're flying out later today."
His two friends were silent for a while, exchanging looks before Artemis broke the silence. "When will you be back?"
"I'm not sure yet, but as soon as we can. I have school and he has businesses to run here, so we can't stay too long."
"That's okay, I'll find someone to give the ticket. Have a fantastic time in New York." Artemis ended with a smile.
A little over and hour later, Hiram drove down to Malibu and found his way to the hospital Klara had told him Teyana was admitted in. He walked up the few steps at the entrance and made his way to the reception where he found a lady buried in the desktop.
"Hey," he started gently.
"What can I do for you?" The lady replied, her eyes still on the desktop, her fingers working on the keyboard.
"I'm here to see a patient. Teyana Robinson, I am told she is admitted here."
Hiram stood and watched as the receptionist typed in her name. "Yes, she's here. Was admitted a couple of weeks ago."
"Can I see her?"
"Only family can see her considering the condition she is in. And according to the records, only one name was given. Her sister, Ammi-"
"Ammika Robinson." Hiram finished. "She is a friend, I recently found out about Teyana and that's why I'm here."
"There's nothing I can do, hospital rules prohibit me from allowing strangers to see patients." She sounded frustrated by his persistence, for the first time, she looked up and was silent for a few seconds, studying his familiar face. "Oh my God! You're Hiram Michaelson." Her eyes grew wide. "I didn't recognize you." She admitted.
"It's quite alright," he assured her and watched as she moved closer to a filling cabinet, brushed her fingers over some files and pulled out one.
"I still can't let you in but here is her file, if you wanna take a look." She offered with a sweet smile.
Hiram read through the file, a horrified expression growing on his face after each page.
"Poor creature," the receptionist muttered. "It's unfair what she is going through."
"Certainly," Hiram conceded and flipped the last page and read through the bill. It was somewhere in the fifty thousand bracket, he knew quite well that it would be near impossible for Ammika to clear it with whatever salary she got from her shifts at the bar. "Can I clear this?" He inquired, showing the bill to the receptionist.
She gave a nod and started typing on her computer again. "You'll need to fill this," she said and handed him two sheets of paper and a pen.
"Is it possible to keep my name out of the payments? Label the payment as anonymous." He requested giving back the filled forms.
"Yes, it is." She confirmed taking his card. She processed the payment and handed the receipt and card back to Hiram with a grateful smile.
"It's really nice of you to do this. I'm sure Ammika will appreciate it a lot."
Hiram gave a her a smile as he tucked the receipt into his wallet and left the hospital.