Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-four

I still reminisced on all that had happened, I mean, witnessing the soft, vulnerable side of Brandon, and somehow, I wished I had never seen it at all. I know my heart wanted to see him as an entitled, brutish monster, but this soft part of him that shows how much he needs his mom more than anything else just melts every wall in my heart I had built against him. I couldn’t help the fact that I also felt vulnerable, like I am entitled to him, to make him feel better when he’s hurt. It’s not the Brandon-like kind of entitlement, it’s the motherly kind of entitlement.

Lucavo stood at a corner in the room with a less expressive look on his face as he watched the doctor check on Brandon. He seemed to be adjusting the catheter of the drip and had been working tirelessly until so late at night, around 1:00AM, just to ensure that Brandon was safe, and of course, he was safe.

All along, I couldn’t blink my eyes to sleep. I was really scared for him. I didn’t want him to die, and I couldn’t just explain why I cared so much about him. Lucavo and Brandon’s personal doctor had begged me severally to go to bed while they handled everything, but all they said didn’t reach the ears of this Galena Fields, ‘cause she was really determined to stay till the end, until the over-bossy, entitled Brandon was back.

“Why are you not cleaning or bandaging the wound on his chest at all?” I asked almost irritably and the doctor paused and turned to face me with his head bowed in an odd way, as if fearing the details of what he was about to say, or he was forbidden to speak. I cocked my head at him slightly waiting for an answer, but none came. I turned to face Lucavo but he quickly looked away from me.

“What is going on here?” I demanded angrily, “Do you want him to die?” I asked with fury evident in my voice.

“I dare not wish him that, ma’am. I am forbidden.” He said quickly, but he immediately looked like he regretted it.

“Forbidden…? what do you mean forbidden?” I asked feeling totally confused, but they all bowed their heads to the ground, avoiding my eyes and refusing to speak.

“Somebody answer me!” I demanded angrily, but not even a pint of an answer came, and I looked from Lucavo to the doctor and back to Lucavo with a defiant look.

“Lucavo!” I called angrily, but he answered “Yes ma’am” like a frightened child. What exactly were they hiding from me?

I stood up from the bed angrily, glaring at them both before walking towards the tray of medications.

“What are you doing?” the doctor asked.

“Since you won’t do it, I will.” I said defiantly and picked up the tray that had cotton wool, scissors and various sizes of bandage.

“Please don’t do this, I might lose my licence!” he pleaded desperately, but I totally ignored him and carried the tray.

“Your licence huh? I guess you don’t know your job, so I'll just help you do it. And be sure that if he dies, you also lose your licence!”

“His chest is out of bounds to me and anyone else! Fuck!” he cursed exasperatedly.

“Out of bounds to you, not me. Now excuse me.”

“Brandon is gonna kill me please, don’t do this.” he begged, still blocking my way, then he turned to Lucavo, “help me talk to her, please!”

“Talk to me or not, I’m doing the job you all refused to do. Try to stop me.” I threatened defiantly.

“Miss Lena - I mean, Ma’am, I don’t think Mr. West would like that, and the doctor has his reasons. You don’t want to get into trouble, trust me.” He said with a straight face but still avoiding my eyes.

“So you’re in this too? Huh?” I asked with a sly smile on my face.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to stop you. I can’t put my job on the line Miss…” he was saying but I interrupted him angrily.

“Seriously? Your job is more important to you than his life? You disgust me Lucavo!” I said as a ping of tears roused the back of my eyes.

“ And you too,” I said turning to the doctor, “what were you becoming a doctor for? To let people just die when you can save them? You’re so pathetic… you’ll lose your licence and so what!?” I screamed angrily and the tears found their way to my face, streaming down relentlessly. The doctor and Lucavo looked away from me defeated with their heads bowed.

“You both disgust me.” I said again with pain in my voice.

I pushed the doctor aside and started walking over to the bedside where Brandon was laid but got blocked by Lucavo.

“What did this loser want?” I asked in my heart.

“Ma’am, I know you think poorly of me now, but trust me, I love and care for Mr. West more than you know, but there are some rules we can’t just go against when they are signed.” He looked truly apologetic, and a tear escaped his left eye, but he quickly wiped it off.

“I want him safe and well, I want him regaining his strength, I always want to work for him of course…but, you know…” his voice trailed off, he seemed very emotional.


“What was up with these men?” I asked subconsciously in my heart.

“One question for you Lucavo,” I said, maintaining a defiant look, “If Brandon dies, and you claim to love him so much but didn’t do the necessary things to save him, how would you feel?”

“The rules…”

“Save your rules for your children Lucavo. If you love Brandon as you say, and always want to work for him, prove it now.” I said, peering at him defiantly waiting for an answer. He raised his head unsteadily and looked at me with his eyes getting bolder - I was liking the vibes.

“Fine.” he said coarsely, “I give my head on a slate. Save him if you can, but leave the doctor out of this.” I gave him a small, almost invisible smile and walked to the bedside. The doctor kept pacing exasperatedly around the room, I think he had a lot on his mind.

“Stop!” he said finally, stopping me, what did he want now? “he would still suspect I gave you everything you used, and I’ll still be involved in this. So I’ll pretend I wasn’t here at all and left this room a long time before you tried to help.” he said quickly and I could feel that he was really nervous and uneasy. Brandon was truly a terror, even on his sick-bed.

I liked the idea. “You are right. You should leave, all of you. I’m in this alone. He gave me no rules, only you.”

The doctor nodded and quickly left with his briefcase, but Lucavo stood still, not stirring from his spot.

“Lucavo?”

“I’ll be here. Everyone dies once anyway. Even if I don’t die today, I’d still die another day.” He said grimly with no expression on his face. I felt touched by his words.

“Please, I’d like to be alone. Trust me. It would be all good.” I said softly as my eyebrows furrowed pleadingly.

“He might hurt you.” he said simply with an almost stern expression.

“If he tries to, I’ll holler your name. Just wait outside.” I said with a small smile, and he hesitantly walked away, outside the room.

I sighed, wondering what all of this was about. Why his chest was out of bounds. Coincidentally, the injury was directly where he had the other scar… and somehow, my mind flashed back to when I tried touching it and he grabbed me roughly at first before relaxing and saying; “it’s you…”. What was this scar to him anyway?

Well, no time to think of that. I have to focus on cleaning his wounds first, as it was the primary cause of his high fever.

I dropped the tray on the bed beside him. I was scared, shaking too, but I wasn’t just gonna give up without trying. I wasn’t scared that he would hurt me, I was scared that I might hurt him more since I only learnt how to bandage a wound a very long time ago.

I gulped fearfully as I watched him sleep, and I gently flipped the stray strands on his face.

“Monsters… everywhere…” I heard him whisper in his sleep and I rolled my eyes questioningly but he said nothing else.
Was he having nightmares?

“Save me…!” He whispered louder this time and I didn’t know when I started crying again. He hadn’t opened his eyes ever since he passed out, and now, he was seeing monsters in his dreams. How sadder can it get?

“Will you let me save you, Brandon?” I asked softly as the tears left my eyes more.

He fell silent, totally silent like he had drifted back to sleep, and just when I was about to get up to start cleaning his wounds, his lips curved up to form a word, and the word soon fell out, surprising me, melting me, breaking me, getting me more emotional. It was sweet to hear him say it;

“Yes.”