DYLAN'S POV
I slowly pushed the door open. I was holding some flowers in my hands. I peeped in and saw a bed neatly made, with no sign of anyone having spent the night in it. I was shocked and thought I was lost, so I checked the room number again, and realised that I was at the right place.
"Where is Anisha? She was in this room?" I asked a nurse who was passing by.
"Oh, good morning Doctor de Milo. How are you feeling now?"
"I am well. Where is Anisha?"
"Anisha was transferred yesterday. She was taken to the ordinary ward."
"Who gave that instruction?"
"I don't know doc…..but I honestly thought it was you. When we were given the instruction, they said it came from you."
"Who gave you the instruction," I asked in shock.
"I…I don't know, sir. I…."
"What do you mean you don't know? You just said you were given an instruction, and now you're saying you don't know from who? Which ward is she in now?"
"Let me check", she hurried to the table in the room and pressed a few buttons on the laptop. "She was taken down to third floor, room seven."
Without responding I went straight to the ward, only to find the bed neatly made, with no sign of Anisha. One of the nurses attended to me and explained that Anisha had been discharged.
"Who discharged her?"
"Umm, I'm not too sure but it must have been an order from the seniors."
"Which seniors are you talking about?" I was becoming more confused by the puzzle building up in my mind.
"The seniors, I think an instruction came from the offices. Maybe the finance or human resources office, I am not too sure." She looked scared.
"Since when do we discharge patients based on orders from those seniors?"
"Sorry about that…"
"Where did she go? Is there an address on her discharge records?"
She checked the laptop again and then she shook her head. "No sir, there is nothing."
"There is no address or anything?" I asked, not expecting a different answer, but rather out of desperation.
"Nothing. Even when she came in, we didn't record anything since she was passed out. We have no phone number, no address, nothing."
"I will find out who did this," I spoke as I marched out of the room, heading to see Liam.
When I was informed that Liam had also been discharged and taken into a foster home by a couple, I went straight to see the matron. She explained to me how painful it was to take the child away, how Anisha cried a lot for the child, and the child also cried for her. I felt a stab in my heart.
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" I asked.
"We thought you were home resting, so we didn't want to disturb you," she explained.
"Are you then telling me that you don't even know where she went to?"
"I'm sorry but we have no idea," she shook her head.
I walked out feeling that there must have been someone trying to mess up with me. I could not figure out who that person was.
"Oh wait", the matron called out. "They made an arrangement, the Woodruffs and Anisha. Every Sunday she is allowed to visit Liam for the whole day. This means on Sunday she will be at the Woodruffs. You may give the Woodruffs a call and plan to meet Anisha there!", she handed over to me a card with the Woodruff's numbers.
"Oh thank you very much", I smiled as I started to see light at the end of the tunnel. I walked out still holding the flowers in my hands. The sister called out after me, "it seems this girl Anisha is very important to you…..sorry to poke my nose into your business, but, I am just commenting."
"She is more than important. She is life itself to me." I responded, smiled, and walked off.
SHIMMER'S POV
The table was well set, with all the nice and best dishes. As the whole family was taking seats, eight housekeepers and chefs stood around the table, just to make sure that everything was in place. I had personally invited Carl and Iris to join us at the dinner table; for they felt like family to me.
Keith Junior was seated there, not showing any emotion. He had always been a very emotionless person. I had known him since the day he was born, for his parents and us had always been business partners. I could have counted the number of times I saw him smiling. A workaholic he was, and at one time he almost had a fall out with his parents after the totally refused to join in the family's hotel business. He had his own vision, and that was film industry. Although he was still at a young age, he already owned a film producing company, two movie houses in Southrain and one movie house in Yellowleaf. He was doing very well, a very strict person who was a serious perfectionist. At one point Ciera had told me that Keith Junior had sent back his logo design to the designer seventeen times before accepting it. It was the logo for his film producing company, K JNR PRODUCTIONS. When that thought crossed my mind, I almost burst out laughing.
His parents, Keith and Honour Octavia, were also at the dinner table, as well as Pete. People were talking a lot about how wonderful it was that Dylan was back home, and there was a lot of laughing and joking around.
Just before the dessert was served, Ciera stood up and slowly chimed her glass for attention. Everyone stared at her.
"Thank you. KJ and I have some news. One day before my brother Dylan was kidnapped, KJ and I had gone out to have dinner at a restaurant. While we were there, KJ proposed to me…and I said yes!"
"Wow! Congratulations" I was beyond myself with joy.
"Where is the ring?" Arianna called out.
"Oh this is good! I love this piece of news" Honour smiled happily.
"Oh so we're having another wedging? Soon after Pete's, we will have yours," came Roderick's comment.
"When is the wedding?" everyone started to talk.
Ciera waited for the buzzing to go down, and she continued, "initially, we felt it was inappropriate to announce the news just before the hospital hand over, so our plan was to wait for the handover, and then make our announcement. But then…."
"The kidnapping happened!" Arianna cut in, and everyone laughed.
We all waited for the laughter to die down, then Keith Junior stood up to talk as well;
"She said yes," he cleared his throat. "But I have the ring with me. I asked for it back, because I felt I needed to ask her again, in front of witnesses. So", he went down on his knees, "Ciera de Milo, if I get to spend the rest of my life with you, then I, Keith Junior Octavia, will become the most fulfilled man under the sun. I have known you for years, and I have loved you more each day. I have listened to you, and have had both good and bad times with you. You are the best lady I have ever met, and I want you by my side. Many people who know me will know that I am a perfectionist. I believe in perfection. I want things done to perfection; and some say I am difficult to work with. Anyway, on the first day I saw you, Ciera, I saw perfection. I could not see anything that I may need to add, subtract, or change, about you, both inside and out. You are more than perfect, you are even too perfect for the perfectionist in me. Ciera, you are the perfect example of a life partner, and in you I see everything that I need in a woman, and more! Ciera de Milo, make me the happiest man on earth, by saying yes. Will you marry me, Ciera?"
"Of course I will!" Ciera said and she quickly hugged him. She showed off the big diamond in her finger, and they kissed and continued to hug each other.
"Umm, love will make us see the other side of people! Who knew that KJ could utter such romantic words?" Arianna said, and everyone laughed out loud.
"Love will make you do strange things!" Pete responded.
Everyone started to congratulate Ciera on her engagement. I was over the moon. Ciera, my own Ciera, was finally getting married. And to add to my joy, she was getting married to the Octavias' first son! What more could I have asked for? A de Milo marrying an Octavia! I mean, could anyone have asked for anything more? That was the ideal; the thing that everyone would have expected.
I smiled in my heart and told myself, "now we're talking!"