CHARLOTTE'S POV
I paced the hallway of the outside the emergency ward, the tip of my forefinger in my mouth. I didn't know how I did not notice that something was wrong, that my dad was sick or something. He never told me, not even once. To be fair, even I hadn't contacted him the entire time I was married. Jameson watched me pace from where he was seated, worry in his eyes.
"Charlotte", he eventually said. "Sit down".
I have him a disbelieving look.
"You haven't had a good sleep for almost two days". It was a lot more than that. "Do you want to be rushed into the emergency ward too?"
I rolled my eyes and kept walking.
"Is he okay?"
I spun around. What was Tatiana doing here? Her eyes were wide with fear, and she looked like she'd run her hands through her hair multiple times. I did not feel pity for her, it was most likely because of her antics dad was in there. I wanted to ask her why she was there, but dad was her dad too. "How did you know?" I asked instead.
"I'm a friend to some of the workers here. One of them called me as soon as they say you rush him in".
Right. Tati was supposed to be in college pursuing a lab tech degree. It made sense that she'll know some of them.
"How is he?" She said again with a little force. I shot her a look and did not reply. She had a right to be there, but I was under no obligation to tell her anything, or even speak to her.
"The doctor has not spoken to us yet" Jameson replied. I gave him a sour look and resumed my pacing.
"New boyfriend? She said. I sensed mockery in her tone.
"Don't". I said, facing her again. "Don't even try to pull that act now. You've done enough. Don't".
Her face fell, and she looked away. "It just happened" she mumbled.
It could not have happened without her consent. I stared at her for a second and resumed my pacing. I did not have the heart to focus on anything more than my father. Jameson had changed a lot, he only looked vaguely familiar to people who used to know him. It made sense that Tatiana did not remember him.
Voices rose at the end of the hallway, out of our sight. They appeared to be in an argument, but I could not hear the contents of their argument. The voices moved closer and one of them started to sound familiar. I hadn't spoken to her since our final year in college, when I'd decided to me. She had been one of those who objected to it, and vehemently. I'd never really understood why. She seemed to like him at the start. The voices came closer and their owners became visible. I instinctively turned around. But she'd already seen me.
"Charlotte?"
"Hi Jenn".
"Oh my God". She rushed forward and enveloped me in a hug. "It's been what, five years?"
Yeah, five years. I'd been married to Brandon for five years.
"It's so good to see you" she withdrew. "You look...not okay. What happened?" She turned to Tatiana. "Hi Tati". Tatiana waved impishly. I had a feeling she felt a little like I felt.
Jenn shook me a little. "Girl, this is you. Where's Brandon?"
I looked away, ashamed. "Okay" she said slowly releasing me. She seemed to realize we were in a hospital. She turned around and her eyes fell on Jameson. She stared at him with narrowed eyes. "You look familiar".
Jameson waved. "Hi Jenn". She raised a brow.
I gestured with a hand. "Remember Jameson Lounge?"
Her eyes finally lit with recognition. "What is he doing here?" She asked.
Jameson cleared his throat. "I deserved that".
"Oh". Tatiana said softly, finally remembering too.
Jenn's companion cleared her throat. Jenn spun towards me. "Is Brandon in there?" she asked.
"No. My dad".
"I'm so sorry" She said. I could see that she meant it. I nodded. "Can I get your contact? So we could catch up sometime, after all of this is over?"
We exchanged contacts. "My cousin gave birth" she said. "You know how we are. We all have to be there for her. Her silly husband is halfway across the world". She smiled a little. Jenn was half Indian. I understood.
"All right b. I'll give you a call". She hugged me tight. "Something's wrong. I can feel it" she whispered in my ears. "I hope you can still talk to me". She let go of me. "Tati, Jameson," she nodded at both of them, before hurrying past me, her companion following after her. My eyes burned. I really hoped I could talk to her too.
"Mrs Schnapp?" The doctor said behind me. I spun and ran up to him. I heard Tatiana and Jameson come up behind me. "Yes, that's me doctor. Is my father all right?"
"He's in stable condition" the doctor, a Hispanic man with silver hair assured me. "However, we'll have to keep him for a while, so that we can run some tests and monitor him. It appears he has been through a lot of stress recently, and it's worsened his heart condition."
"Heart condition?" I repeated, lost.
"How bad is it, doctor? He won't be needing a transplant yet, would he?"
"I cannot say for sure, but I don't think so. As I've said before, we'll run appropriate tests and monitor him. We'll inform you of the latest developments" he nodded at us and walked away.
I stumbled back a few feet, shocked. Jameson steadied me and led me to a seat. "Dad has a heart condition?" I asked.
"Since two years after you left home". Tatiana replied. "He slumped at the office. Since then he'd been working from home except on emergencies, and he's been taking medications to support his health. He's also been advised to stay away from strenous conditions or situations".
"He'll be fine", Jameson murmured, trying to reassure me. I was numb. How much had I missed, really? My dad had a sickness that could potentially kill him, and I was only hearing about it three years later? How much had I given, sacrificed really to be with Brandon? And could I really blame him? Wasn't it my fault, not reaching out to my family all these years? I turned into Jameson, blocking out the reprimanding voices in my head.
BRANDON'S POV
I slammed into Ava one last time, and she collapsed on the table, shaking. "Hurry up and leave". I said to her. "And let the board members know we have a board meeting tonight". She gathered herself up and buttoned her blouse with shaky hands. Her make up was messy, and as she walked away I was tempted to call her back and bend her over the table again. She was an efficient secretary, but this was what she was really useful for. My previous secretary had the medal for optimum efficiency. I'd fired her though, I needed more than an efficient secretary. And she'd had the audacity to refuse me, because she had a fiancé. Pathetic.
I walked to the pile of letters I had on the table, and picked them one by one, sorting them by relevance. Now and then an envelope bathed in perfume surfaced, and I put them in a separate pile. It was one of the things that came in with being rich and famous, women thought they could win you over with perfumed letters. I picked a black envelope lined with gold. It was perfume as well, but it did not smell like it was meant to seduce. It was choking. Intrigued, I opened the envelope. The letter inside wasn't long. It was a simple message;
"You don't think you will get away with what you've done, do you?"
I chuckled. "I think I could, if I wanted to". Who the hell was this? I tried to glean information about the sender from the contents or the envelope itself,but there was no clue. Charlotte wasn't brave enough for this, she was just a docile thing. Or wasn't she? Perhaps she'd gone mad? I stared at the letter for a few seconds then tossed it with the other perfumed letters. I didn't give a fuck about it.
I found three more letters with the same choking scent. I felt a little unnerved at the third one. It simply said "Almost time". I picked out all the three four black envelopes and set them aside, planning to give them to my head of security. I walked to the ceiling to floor glass window, hands in my pockets. It had to be Charlotte. It seemed she was developing some grit. But what could she do, really? I chuckled, remembering how docile she was when she was in my house. My mother still complained whenever she had to peel her oranges herself. I thought she missed Charlotte in her own weird way. Perhaps I could get a maid for her. And then I'd face Charlotte. She really thought she could go up against me.
"Bring it on, baby doll. I'll be waiting".