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"Twenty thousand dollars?!" An imaginary angel on her shoulder held her back from socking the doctor in his face.
Mr. Archarya's eyes started to well up as his daughter, Rajani, squeezed his hand softly.
"Yes, unfortunately. I'm guessing you don't have the funds for it?" the doctor replied.
"You don't say," Rajani hissed as her fists started to shake. Her father held onto her shaking fists but he couldn't stop her from staring at the doctor in front of her with a burning passion to see him get attacked by three hungry tigers.
The doctor was surprised the young woman scowling at him didn't immediately claw at his face like a leopard. He knew that if her beautiful, doll-like face melted, a demon with the intention of murder would be revealed.
The doctor grimly smiled at the young woman, shabbily attempting to fix the obvious hostility shown on her face that, in his opinion, would look much better with a happy smile.
"Well, I'm sorry about that. I genuinely wish there was something I could do."
Rajani sucked her teeth. "Well, there must be something you can do!"
Yea, you can eat this dick up! she thought.
"I'm so sorry, Ms. Archarya, but I'm sadly telling the real truth. There is nothing I can do."
Rajani closed her eyes and inhaled such a large amount of oxygen, the doctor was close to believing that she would suck up all the air in the room like an evil vacuum cleaner. She counted to four in her head and exhaled, almost starting a small tornado. Rajani then relaxed her shoulders and looked at the fearfully smiling doctor pleadingly.
"Doctor, can't you pay for my dad's chemo? Just out of the kindness of your heart?"
The doctor rolled his eyes inside his head and almost laughed at Ms. Archarya.
As if you've been so kind to me, he thought, though he appreciated the fact that Ms. Archarya was calmer.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Archarya, but I have other things to worry about. I have children I have to feed, a house I have to pay for every month, a car I have to spend money on, phone service, insurance, property taxes, gas bills, ELECTRICITY." The doctor sounded more and more exasperated with every expense he listed as he realized how expensive it was to be alive. He still kept his grim smile, however, hoping and praying it would lighten up the mood he had immediately darkened with just a few words.
"I know, but you're a white doctor," Rajani protested as she looked deeply into the doctor's eyes. "Surely your pockets and purses must be fat with cash."
"Rajani!"
She turned around to see her father looking rather annoyed at her. "That is terribly inappropriate," he whispered before he turned to the doctor and gave him a bittersweet smile.
Rajani turned back to the doctor. "Sorry about that," she said, not being sorry at all.
"Err, it's fine," the doctor replied as he scratched his bald head.
Rajani sighed. There has to be something I can do to make this doctor help me, she thought. Um, I have a nice body... right? I think there's something I can do.
"There's really nothing you can do? Or is there something you want me to do?" Rajani said in a sultry voice. She cringed and mentally beheaded herself with a blunt knife. Her father glared at her in disgust as she winked at the doctor.
Gosh, have she no shame? Her father's right there! the doctor thought. This is so embarrassing for her. I'm probably more than three decades older than her.
"Erm, Ms. and Mr. Rajani," the doctor muttered through clenched teeth, "it was great to meet you but, hate to say, I really have to get going, so I'll print out your bill and give it to you in a few minutes. If you want to do chemo, you'll go ahead and pay it for me. Thank you both so much."
Rajani's coy smile became a sullen frown as she watched the doctor quickly walk out of the room. She was elegiac and especially embarrassed when she realized that her attempt to seduce the doctor had failed. Rajani was keenly aware of the disgust her father had for her, which made her even more gloomy.
She turned to her father and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," before burying her face in her lap and silently crying an Atlantic Ocean of tears.
There was a small silence until Mr. Archarya spoke up.
"It's okay, I understand that you did it to get my cancer treatment. I don't think I will live for very long, Rajani, but it's okay."
Rajani looked at her father with red, glassy eyes and a large frown across her face.
"Dad, don't say that, I am going to get the money to save you. Don't worry."
"How?" Mr. Archarya replied quietly.
A tear from Rajani's eye fell onto her father's gurney as she realized that earning twenty thousand dollars was way easier said than done.
"I don't know, Dad, but I will save you somehow. There is no way you won't get your chemo!"
Mr. Archarya gave his daughter a bittersweet smile, knowing that he wasn't going to be alive by the time his daughter raised twenty thousand dollars.
He knew that his daughter had a hard time keeping jobs because of being notorious for her short temper. When she first arrived at her previous jobs, she was smiley and happy. She would treat her bosses kindly and her positive, sweet spirit would match her perfect smile. Everyone would love having such a nice person around... until one small thing went wrong.
It may be a small mistake like someone bumping into her or a misunderstanding, but Rajani didn't care what it was. She would shout and yell at every tiny thing, and when people tried to reason and empathize with her, she would take advantage of their patience by yelling even more, which made her very unliked in her workplace.
No one could humble or even try to demean her overly confident spirit. When her previous bosses had enough of her continuous angry tantrums and fiery fits, they threatened Rajani with termination. Unfortunately, her reaction wouldn't be as sweet as her face, and she would bombard her bosses with insults and slurs until they couldn't take her loud, infuriated voice anymore and eventually fired her. This routine would go on over and over again until Rajani decided to stop looking for jobs.
Mr. Archarya always worried for his daughter's future concerning finances because if she couldn't keep a job for more than a month, how was she going to earn money to live a comfortable life, especially after he died?
He started to cry even more when he thought about how Rajani would manage after he died, and she wiped his tears.
"Dad, don't cry. I'm going to earn enough money for you."
Mr. Archarya sighed. "No, it's not me, Rajani. I'm worried about you."