I open the room door and look immediately at my dad, his pale skin hasn't changed. His hair is all gone unlike the last time I saw him, his eyes have this glow that they always have when he sees any of us, despite what f*ck-ups we are.
I open the door wider and the little ones run inside all happy, "Grandpa!" Nina finds a way to climb onto the bed and hug her grandfather.
Kat sighs rubbing her forehead, "ay, Nina." She scolds.
Dad let's out a dry laugh, "don't worry about it Kitty Kat." He rasps laying a kiss on the three year old's forehead.
I move to the side to my two other younger siblings, Lucia and Ian. Lucia is the youngest of all five of us, twelve years old.
She doesn't stay with any of us but rather with a foster care family in Georgia, when our mother passed away she was seven years old and I was twenty two years old juggling multiple jobs.
And around eight that's when dad realized he had cancer and he had to go onto chemo, at that moment in time none of us were stable enough to take care of her so we allowed her to stay in foster care until one of us were.
At this point I think it's me, so soon I might be living with her if I'm seen fit.
For the next two hours all of us catch up with dad, and all topics that would ruin our moods avoided.
Lunch time comes and we all day our goodbyes except for me, when everyone is out I close the door behind them and settle down on the seat next to the bed.
"You've becomes a stranger, you know?" He teases, I smile sheepishly.
"Lo siento, work's been keeping me busy." I sigh.
"I see, too busy to see the only man in your life." Here it goes.
I was honestly wondering why he hadn't mentioned that from the moment I walked in, my parents got married at the ripe age of twenty two and twenty five.
And I being twenty six soon to be twenty seven doesn't help, "Ay papà, right now in focused on getting enough money to pay for your chemo and stay and to get Lucia to stay with me. I don't need a man to complicate everything." I explain.
He nods, "I know, but I want to make sure that my baby has a man who will take care of her before I leave this world." He guilt trips, I narrow my eyes at him.
"You aren't leaving this world anytime soon papà, so don't even start." I warn, he lets out a hearty laugh making me smile.
"Bien, bien. Tell me about your new job, tell me it's better than the last one." He frowns slightly. *Okay, okay.*
A strange feeling consumes me at the thought of Mr Grey, "I work for Grey enterprises."
His face lights up, "Xander Grey?" He asks, I nod my head in confirmation.
"Do you know him?" I ask, his face saddens a bit before he shakes his head.
"I'm just happy, it's better than that other company." He mumbles, I eye him suspiciously then nod.
"...so have you been taking your pills lately?" He randomly asks, I scowl deeply.
"I've been feeling alright since seventeen papá, I don't need those. I don't even know why you've been feeding them to me since." He shakes his head all disappointed at me.
"Rosie, you've been taking those since you were a toddler. And if you stop now, you'll leave yourself vulnerable to many sicknesses. You know how weak your immune system is." He states, I see a tinge of worry in his eyes just before he looks away and closes his eyes.
I sigh nodding. "I'll get a new prescription from Dr.Tru." I say.
From then we change topics into anything that fits until visitation hours are over, I leave a kiss on my father's forehead.
"I'll see you soon papà." I whisper.
*~*~*~*
"...and that's it." I look over at my boss who's jaw was set straight, if that pen moving between his fingers wasn't his favourite– don't ask– I'm sure he would've broken it by now.
The intern before us, balances his weight on both his feet, twiddling hid fingers before him.
Mr Grey brings his head to his hand and massages the bridge of his nose before he stands up and leaves silently, we all follow him with our eyes until the door shuts behind him.
I look at all the people around the table, who are looking at me for answers. I sigh shaking my head.
"Monday, three fifteen. You have five minutes to convince him to keep you." I tell Todd, who nods his head vigorously.
He's been working here for two maybe three weeks as an intern and today was his chance to convince my boss to keep him, but like the three other interns he rejected their requests based on their work.
And I being the kind person that I am, convinced my boss to give them all two extra days and five minutes to convince him. Not like it would make a difference though, the fact that we only have three interns says it all.
I pack up our things and follow behind my boss, knocking on his door I wait for his reply which doesn't come. Gently opening the door I peek in, like I expected Xander Grey is passed out on the couch.
I sigh getting in and closing the door behind me, I place our things on the coffee table and begin my routine.
After the third time of this happening, I realised that he always fell asleep with his suit on and that seemed uncomfortable to me.
So I'd just take off his jacket, shoes and tie, then prop up his head and lay a blanket over him depending on the temperature and lock the door behind me.
Then later at the end of the day, when everyone was gone, I would help Nic and Aaron, his driver, get him into the car then they would help him home.
Funnily enough, he would remain asleep throughout it all, and I'd only see him a day or two later.
Honestly shocking, luckily it only happened six times in the last three months. I don't even know if 'luckily' is the right word for it.
I place the blanket over his body and take a second to state at his features, he looks so much like a boy when he's asleep.
All his stress lines gone but the slight pinch of his eyebrows still there, but by the pronounciation of his stress lines today both when he's alseep and awake. I feel like everything is starting to weigh on him, and it can't be good for him.
I take a seat by the armrest of the couch and grab the iPad and check his schedule, today wasn't a busy day and most things I can handle alone but there's one meeting that may require Nic's help.
*~*~*~*