Chapter 57

JERRY
I stayed in front of Carla's waiting for one of them to arrive. None of them is picking my calls. I waited for a long time till I saw Joyce coming. I stepped in front of her, she moved back a bit startled.
"Oh my! Jerry you startled me." She said, looking a bit nervous again.
"I'm sorry. You are not picking my calls, neither is Carla." I apologized still worried.
She scratched the back of her neck, making me suspicious of her.
"Where is Carla?"
"Umm... At this point, I should probably tell you the truth. Only if you promise you'll follow what I say." She demanded.
I have her a nod, "l will do what you say. Just tell me where Carla is." I begged her.
She sighed, "Carla is admitted at the hospital. She has been diagnosed with a hole in the heart for a long time now. She kept this from everyone including me. I recently found out abs I was so mad at her. She's about to have surgery, hopefully things will work out for her."
I held the door for support, how can this be happening to her? And she never bothered to tell anyone about it that she kept it to herself for so long. That's not even fair. Now I feel worse for making her sad, she must have been going through a lot trying to conceal all that pain I caused.
"Jerry, I told you she's going to be fine. You don't have to be like this, you already look so pale." Joyce exclaimed looking worriedly at me.
"I'm fine. I need to see her. Where is she admitted?" I inquired.
She shakes her head, "I'm sorry but I can't give you that information yet. You have to wait for me, I'm going to get her something to eat then we'll go together. Jayden is also at the hospital."
My brows furrowed in a deep frown at the thought of Jayden, how I hate hearing his name. He always had to follow Carla like a lost puppy, I mean he's literally everywhere. I can't get rid of him.
"Okay. I'll wait for you." I told her, we got in together. I waited patiently for her to finish cooking while contemplating on what to do. Carla won't give me a chance to be with her. She keeps running back into the arms of Jayden, now I contributed to making her ck condition worse. That makes me feel so guilty. I should talk to her about it, she needs to know the truth. If she finds out later, she may hate me forever.
I can receive temporary hate when I talk to her, but she won't hate me forever. It's going to be temporary. She was done withing a short period of time, she came to the living room without the food in her hand. She gave me an awkward smile, that made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Umm... So I was wondering if you'd like to eat with me? I'm quite bored eating alone without my friend, I promise you my food tastes good." She requested from me.
I thought for a while, she would feel very bad if I rejected her food. I gave her my usual smile, I learnt to smile always no matter what the situation may be.
"Great! I'll get the table set up." She ran back into the kitchen.
She served the food, I didn't eat much because the whole time my mind was with Carla. I have mixed feelings about going there, I'm kinda nervous this time around. As much as I want her to recover, I don't want to do anything to trigger her illness again.
I drove Joyce and myself to the city hospital where I saw Carla the other day. Why didn't I just think about this place? We left the car, after I parked it and entered the hospital. As we got closer to her ward, my heartbeat raised up. Joyce pushed the door open, Carla was using an player to watch movies I think. Her eyes moved to the door when she heard us come in, they stopped at mine.
"Jerry? Joyce why did you?" She scolded her friend.
Joyce raised her have in mock surrender.
"Don't look at me like that bestie! I warned him but this man is just too stubborn, he insisted on following me here because he wanted to see you."
Carla scoffed at Joyce, then faced me.
"Unmm... Hi. Sorry I bailed on you last night. I actually... "
"Don't stress about it, I know everything that happened. I don't blame you at all. But I do want to talk about something else." I replied her.
She raised her brows with her eyes side open, "Tell me."
"First, I am so sorry you had to go through all of this. If I had known this earlier, I would stop any harm from coming to you. I feel useless for being unable to help you yet I caused you more problems. Please forgive me Carla." It took all the courage left in me to be able to tell her this.
They both looked at me in confusion.
"You already apologized. I told you not to worry about it anymore. Jayden choose to believe what he saw than what I said. It's not your fault, you need to stop apologizing for that." Carla replied.
I smiled at her innocence. She still doesn't understand what I mean, she won't be happy with me if she knew. Nonetheless, I'm going to tell her.
"I am taking about something else Carla. You need to listen to me, I have hurt you. I did it out of desperation, I wanted you to love me at all costs. Now I know love can't be forced, we can't chose who our hearts wants to be with."
"What are you talking about Jerry? Talk to me, is something going on with you that I don't know about or that I'm supposed to know about. " She asked with curiosity evident in her voice.
"Yes Carla. You see that video, the strange disappearance of the credit card Jayden gave to you, that was planned by me. That is to tell you that I am part of those who planned to separate you and Jayden." I explained.
They both gasped, Carla is the one who is more shocked. She held her heart in pain, I rushed to help her but she slapped my hand away. I was expecting that.
"Carla! Please calm down. See what you've caused, are you happy now?" Joyce scolded me.
Carla continued to hold her chest and cough, this got me worried. She's having an attack because of my confession, I should have kept my mouth shut.
"Carla, I am sorry. Please get the doctor Joyce, I don't think she's going to stop." I asked Joyce.
She scoffed at me before running out of the ward, I tried to help Carla but she kept slapping my hands off.
"Carla please let me help you. Don't do this to yourself." I pleaded with her.
Joyce came in with the doctor, he rushed towards Carla with a nurse behind him.
"Miss Carla, try calming down a bit. Please you both need to excuse us." He demanded.
I gently walked out of the ward but not without taking another look at Carla. Sadly my heart also aches seeing her in this state. It hurts a lot to know the person you love is in pain and there's nothing you can do to help her.
"This is all your fault! You shouldn't have told her that! I'm going to kill you if anything happens to my friend. You're evil, I should have never let you see her!" Joyce fumed pushing me. I understand her grief.
"I am sorry Joyce. I should have waited before telling her anything. I apologize for the troubles I caused." I apologize to her.
She scoffed, that's when I saw the tears falling out of her face. This made me feel worse than before, I can't imagine how much she hates me now.
"How is your apology supposed to help in this situation? She's dying Jerry! She's..."
"What did you just say? Who is dying?" Jayden asked from nowhere.
Joyce looked at him terrified, her tears increased this time.
"Jayden, Carla... She..."
"What is wrong with her?" He growled looking at me in a deadly way.
"She's having a heart..."
Jayden did not wait to here the rest, he ran into the ward.
"Jayden you can't..." Joyce's words trailed off when she saw he already went in. Knowing the kind of person Jayden is, no one can stop him from going into that room.
Joyce would not stop crying, I gently moved to her and pulled her into a hug. I expected her to push me away but she didn't.
"I'm sorry Joyce. You have been so good to me. All I did was cause you and Carla pain. I don't deserve your forgiveness, I onli hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me one day. " I said to her.
She stopped crying and looked at me.
"As much as I am mad at you, I don't blame you. Sadly my friend is not in a good condition. You are a good man, you made a mistake plotting against her but you realized your mistakes. That's why I don't have a say as to what you deserve or don't deserve."
"I'm sorry, don't cry." I consoled her.
We waited outside, I am curious about what is going on in the ward but I can't go in there yet. I don't want to have another fight with Jayden. I am already weak and tired of fighting with him, I have more than enough to think about.
The doctor finally walked out, he looks tired but relieved. Then things are okay with Carla, that's all I want to know.
"She's stable now thanks to Mr Romans. She initially refused to respond but she did the moment he came in. He must have a special effect on her." He explained with a smile. Jayden is the reason she calmed down, this only makes it obvious that I can't have her. I tried to make her mine, she declined. I thought I won't get to the point of giving up, now I have.
"One more thing, Miss Carla's state is very fragile now. She needs to stay away from anything that would cause any attack. I would plead with you not to trigger her anxiety." He added before leaving.
"Thank you!" Joyce said to the doctor excited, then she faced me. "Let's go see her."
I shook my head, "No Joyce. You should go see her. I don't think seeing her now would be a good idea. I will be back to check on her when she's much better."
"oh. I think you're right though. I'll go check on her now, excuse me." She waved at me and entered the ward. I stood in front of the ward for a while before going away. I sat down in my car holding my head in pain, I already have a big headache.
"You did the right thing. You shouldn't be selfish, allow the one you love to be happy." My mind told me.
I drove off. I finally decided to go home and check on my mother. She used to be my best friend and someone I could talk to. All that changed the moment my step father fell sick. She has been so busy with him, she hardly has enough time for me.
My car stopped in front of the house, I got out of the car after contemplating for a few minutes. I saw my mom coming towards me to meet me. She rushed into my arms and gave me a tight hug.
"You finally came home my son. I miss you darling." She cried.
It made my heart break, she must have felt lonely since she has no one but the workers with her.
"I miss you too mom and I'm sorry." I said and kissed her hair, "I'm here now, I'm not leaving you anytime soon. I'll be by your side."
She smiled, "Thank you son. Come on, your step father wants to see you." She urged me in.