Doctor’s Fee Incident 48

LAURA WOKE up to the loud noise of hammering coming from the window. Paul was attaching metal bars to it.

"Ugh! Paul—"

She watched as Paul continued to install the bars on the two large windows in her room.

"What are you doing, Paul?" Laura touched her sore cheek. "Ugh! You're a monster!"

Paul glanced at her and smirked.

"What are you doing, Paul? Have you lost it?" She slowly sat up and moved toward him. "Let me out of here!"

Paul stopped what he was doing and faced her. Then...

"Ugh!" Laura gasped as Paul grabbed her long, curly hair. "Ugh! Let go of me!" She slapped his arm in an attempt to break free.

But he tightened his grip, nearly snapping her neck. "No one's looking for you, Laura. I already told your family that you ran off with another man. They're angry at you. Hahaha!" He grinned wickedly.

"You monster! Haaa! Let go of me!"

"You’re staying with me until you give birth! After the doctor's child is born, that’ll be ours!" he laughed cruelly.

"You monster! Agh! Let go of me!" Laura struggled, trying to free her hair from his tight grip. "Ugh!"

But then...

SMACK!

SMACK!

Two hard slaps landed on Laura’s face.

THE NEXT MORNING, Clyde arrived at the hospital.

"Ah, Claire, is there no contact number? Just the address?" he asked the nurse.

"There's nothing, Doctor Tuason. The number listed here is no longer reachable. I've tried calling several times," the nurse replied.

Clyde took Laura's medical records. "Just checking, okay? I’ll review a few details."

The nurse nodded. "By the way, Doc, just curious… wasn’t Laura your girlfriend? She was your patient, right?"

Clyde adjusted his glasses. "Ah, we're not together anymore, Claire," he answered softly.

The nurse raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything more.

"I’ll be going now, Claire. Call me if anything comes up, okay?"

"Yes, Doc! Noted!" the nurse smiled.

Clyde hurried out, papers in hand.

IT WAS already dark when Laura woke up. The room was dim.

When she saw she was alone, she quickly sat up.

"Ahh…" She grabbed both of her sore cheeks.

Her lips were swollen from the slaps Paul had given her.

As soon as she stood up, she rushed to the window and looked outside to see if Paul's car was there.

"Ugh! No—he’s gone!"

When she saw that Paul's car was nowhere in sight, she quickly ran to the door.

"Huh? Paul—"

She tried the doorknob, but it was locked.

"You're such a monster!"

She looked around, searching for anything she could use to break the doorknob. She spotted something on the table near the bed.

"Huh? Where’s the phone? He took everything! You monster!" she shouted.

She started to feel hopeless again. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed, resting her head on her bent knees.

Besides being physically exhausted, her body ached from the tight grip Paul had on her earlier. Her eyes were swollen from crying.

"Clyde…"

She whispered his name.

"Sorry… Clyde, sorry… Huu… I was so stupid. Sorry, huu… Help me..."

Finally, she realized that she only felt truly safe when she was with him.

CLYDE STOOD on the rooftop, hands in his pockets with his face serious and distant, as the strong wind blew through his hair.

"Laura..." he muttered to himself.

After a moment...

"Bro!"

"Tej!"

Tejie arrived, holding some papers.

"It turns out Paul is married. His wife is Alorica Nievez, 45, a businesswoman with no children," Tejie said right away.

Clyde had hired a private investigator to dig into Paul's background.

"Location—San Juan City! Sunnywalk Exclusive Subdivision!" Tejie continued. “Big time baby!” 

It turns out that the place where Laura was now was a very secure place, exclusive.

Clyde nodded slowly.

"Doc, why are you still looking for Laura? She left, didn't she?" Tejie asked. “Why—”

Clyde adjusted his glasses again, looking serious. "Tej, something feels off. I can feel it." He glanced at Tejie. "It's like something's telling me that Laura needs me, somethings wrong.”

Tejie raised an eyebrow.

"Tej— I dreamed about Laura the other night," Clyde whispered, staring into the distance. "She was holding a baby, crying… It's weird, Tej... I can't explain it..."

Tejie remained silent. He could tell how serious Clyde was. For days, Clyde hadn’t been able to relax. He would shut himself in his private clinic or spend his time on the rooftop at home.

"So, what’s the plan?" Tejie asked.

"We're going to check out that address," Clyde replied.

Then, suddenly...

"I'm coming too!"

Both of them turned to look at Gwen.

"I want to see my friend too!" Gwen said.

LAURA WAS hitting the locked doorknob with all her strength. She noticed the wooden plunger in the bathroom with a sturdy handle.

"Ugh! Agh!"

After a few tries, the handle broke into two.

"Ugh! You monster, Paul..." she muttered.

She looked around the room. There were some food items, bottled water, and Tetra Paks scattered around. Everything was fine, but there was nothing she could use to escape.

Slowly, she walked toward the two large windows that Paul had secured with metal bars both inside and outside. There was no way out. The room was too high, and if she did manage to escape, she would have trouble getting down, and the neighbor's houses were too distant to hear her crying for help.

A car pulled up outside.

"Huh? Paul—and who’s that?"

She saw an older woman step out of the car, followed by Paul.

Laura froze. Her heart skipped a beat. “Who was that woman?”

As the car door slammed shut, Laura’s eyes widened in shock as she saw Paul turn toward the woman, smiling, and whispering something in her ear.

Then, just as Paul was about to walk inside, he turned and locked eyes with Laura through the window.

Her breath caught in her throat. “Did he see me?”

To be continued…