This is not the right time to be thinking about any other person, but Emily found herself staring at André. "This is the combination of the guy I met in Club 77 and Drake. I only see this kind of person in movies or the books I fantasize about," she said to herself.
"Are you alright?" André asked, kicking her out of her thoughts.
"Y-es, ye-s" she stammered and adjusted her dress. "Erhmm, thanks – I need to go now," she pointed toward the hospital.
André looked down and finally stared at her. She could feel his eyes deep in her soul. "What a minute," he said with a smile on his face.
Emily got confused, but she stayed still. Shortly, André came bearing a package in his hands. He unboxed it, revealing what was inside – White sneakers.
Emily was a lover of sneakers, but she had not seen this one before. "Your heels – I think you need to change them. You can wear this," he brought out the sneakers and placed them at her feet. "It will fit in perfectly," he balanced himself on his knees, gesturing to Emily to bring her leg.
She stared at André as he helped her wear the footwear. "Not only is he handsome and fit, but he is also caring too?"
"Done," he stood upright. "Now, you can run a country race," he joked and Emily smiled, but it was short-lived as she started panicking.
"Sorry, I have to go right now," she said.
"Alright," he smiled. "Take care," Emily didn't wait to reply, she picked up her heels and ran off. But, André couldn't stop smiling.
Emily didn't stop until she was inside the hospital. She stopped at the counter occupied by four nurses. "How may we help you?" The petite nurse asked.
"My mother was brought here a few minutes ago," Emily responded.
"The redheaded woman," the nurse flipped through the pages of her book. "Charlotte Foreman,"
"Yes, yes, that's her," she nodded.
"Room 439. The second floor," the nurse directed her.
"Thank you," she appreciated and ran off. "Sorry," she avoided a collision with a patient and entered the elevator.
She met several people in it. She pressed the second button and the elevator shuts. Only indistinct voices filled the packed elevator, but a sweet voice was there to ruin the silence.
"Sorry, where did you get those?" She pointed at Emily's sneakers.
"Erhmm, someone gave it to me. Any problem?" Emily asked.
"No, there isn't. Adidas only produced just three of these in the whole world. I'm just surprised I could see them here," Emily found herself nodding her head.
"Didn't know about that. Someone gave it to me," Emily reminded her again.
"That person must love you deeply to give you something so rare,"
Emily hearing love in a sentence triggered her memory of the handsome face of André. Emily stared at the lady who was talking to her. "Can a stranger fall in love with you?"
It took her a while to answer the question, but she eventually had an answer. "A stranger can fall in love with you,"
"How?"
It took another few seconds before she could reply. "Because you're beautiful," the elevator stopped.
"Thank you," Emily walked out of the elevator and didn't turn back.
She didn't run this time. She carefully watched out for each door. "400, 402, 406, 408," she noticed it was all even numbers, so she looked to the left. 409, 411, 413," she skipped the rest until it got to her godmother's door. She sighed and opened up.
Her godmother was on oxygen. "Emily," she heard a deep voice beside her. She turned to look at the man calling her.
"Hello, Mr Trevor" she waited until he was close, "What happened to my mother?" She asked with her eyes getting watery.
"The doctor said it was stress. She will be fine in due time," he announced and she nodded her head.
"Thank you," she walked in slowly and sat down beside her mother. She held her hands and massaged them gently.
___________________________________________
Charlotte Foreman; To everyone, she is Emily's mother. But, that isn't true. When Emily was five, her parents got into a fatal accident in a lonely, deserted area and they both died. Emily found her way to Charlotte who lived in an isolated area.
She was without a child and not only was she childless. She had lost all hope in life after her only child was taken away from her. With no family member to take care of her, she opted in for suicide. At the time of death, Emily gently opened the door.
Up till now, she believes Emily is her lifesaver. No jobs to take care of herself and Emily opted in for harlotry. She was a beautiful woman with seductive skills as she would say.
Soon she was given the job as a striper at 'Feed Ur Eyes'. She excelled and in a short time, she was sought after by many men. Her fame rose and attracted enemies from her gender, but men loved her more. She didn't care about others because she had a mouth to feed.
Emily kept her going in life and she gave her anything she needed except for teaching her what she does for a living. When Emily clocked 18, she kept pressuring her to teach her how to dance, but Charlotte declined every single time.
Emily got vexed one day and ran away from home, but she came back after two hours because she had nowhere to go.
Charlotte always boasts as her mother and Emily loved it because Charlotte was a beautiful woman and everyone loved her as time went on.
___________________________________________
Time flies and Emily could not swallow the thought of losing Charlotte. She whimpered, staring at Charlotte. "Everything will be alright," Trevor patted her back and she cried even more.
"I can't live if she dies," she cried hard.
"She won't die. She will live to see you become the woman she has always wanted you to be,"
Trevor wasn't the one that should be comforting her for she hated Trevor a lot, but Charlotte's condition overshadowed all hatred with fear.