ATF 1. The long awaited fiancé

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Following the call, Rhys left the two luxurious cars parked in the villa, and instead took the taxi to the hospital. It couldn't be helped, she had yet to familiarize herself with the roads here and it's been so long since she last drove a car, there was just no way that for her resumption of it she would use racing cars!

It was doctor Mckenna who received her. A mid-aged short and plump woman with large dark bags under her eyes screaming lack of sleep. Despite her clear weary state, she was actually exceptionally patient with Rhys while gently placating her about the man's state. He was stable now and the immediate danger has passed, and before letting her meet him, she proceeded to explain the details about the required surgery. At her place, Rhys was pretty sure that she would be irritable and snappy already, no way would she be having a conversation so calmly. Though she was polite, the doctor had a grave face and not even a hint of a smile to be seen. Not that it would have been welcomed considering the gravity of the circumstances that led them to meet. 

In short, what Rhys understood was, there were two majors problems with her man: first and foremost, he had a brain injury, and second, a spinal cord injury both needing immediate surgery. The words were heavy and weighed largely in her mind.

For the second one, the worst-case scenario in case of failure was the possibility of long-term disability but the first one wasn't it directly involving his very life? Barely had the doctor finished her explanations that she handed her the papers for signature; lengthening the time wouldn't be in the patient's favor at all, she reminded.

“May I… may I see him first?”

The doctor's lips twitched, a sign of annoyance, Rhys recognized. Nonetheless, the woman was still polite on the surface,

“Of course, if you would follow me," And Rhys tailed the woman until they stood in front of a window with drawn-up curtains, letting them see the lying man inside the room. 

"Is he going to wake up anytime soon?" asked Rhys with a hint of hope in her voice. Wouldn't it be easy then to toss the question about the surgeries to him? Whether to have it or not he was the best judge, right?

"We rather he doesn't" replied Dr Mckenna, dousing off her hopes, "He’s in an artificially induced coma for now, for there were no other ways to reduce the brain swellings,” briefly explained the doctor, “Make up your mind soon, please", she said, opening the door for Rhys and closing behind her. 

Rhys stood there, a little disoriented, in a small room with beeping sounds from machines and the male version of sleeping beauty.

Sighing, she went closer and took in the sight of the sleeping man. Quite handsome if she could say so though there were some wounds on his face due to the car accident he had some hours ago. With heavy feet, she sat on the chair next to him, her voice shaking lightly,

“Hi there... You must know me, right. You have to." She laughed a little bit, feeling silly "I'm the person who's going to decide whether you have your spinal cord surgery or not... They said that brain surgery is a must, but considering the toll the drugs would put on your body, they rather delayed the spinal cord's one... but said delaying could complicate things later... and will maybe, even led you to be unable to walk for life... but hey, at the very least you'd be alive right?... Life is the most important thing to secure right?... Right?... Say, would you rather face both surgeries at the same time? To maximize the chance to keep both your life and your feet? Though in my opinion, it sounds way more dangerous..." She started babbling to ease her nervousness but that didn't help much. She traced the contours of his face with her fingers, touching his eyebrows, his nose, his lips, " Say, how should I answer? Would you risk your life for your legs?”

Though she did ask so, she did have an idea about the kind of choice he would make: he would take the surgery no matter the cost. That’s the kind of person he was.

Truthfully said, Axel wasn’t a good person. He was an antagonist after all. The annoying kind too, who were full of themselves. He was a narrow-minded man who relished in the pleasure of knowing he took from the protagonist, his beloved woman, Rhys Miles.

This was a business-oriented book, thus Rhys hadn’t read it. Her friend had gushed about the details; she, this economic idiot was bored within the first five pages and instead asked her friend to summarize it since the woman wouldn’t shut up about the story. It started by introducing the world’s economy and the leading enterprises citing Novans Organization, explaining that its founder, Cullen Novans, didn’t start as a rich multi-billionaire but a pauper nobody. He comes from a poor family of a single mother. It went on to present the numerous setbacks in his life and all the tragedies he faced before raising to the top and being who he was now.

Rhys was one of those tragedies. She was his girlfriend at university and a couple of months after he started working. They went out together for three years, almost four before she cheated on him. The very next day after he proposed to her too! Since she didn’t read, the present Rhys couldn’t really understand the minds of the concerned people, but surely, the old Rhys must have loved this Novans guy right? You couldn’t just stay with a guy so long without any feelings. Just that in the end, her true love had been money. Thus, she couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life with Novans whom she deemed unable to rise up the fame and reach billions.

If only it had stopped there, that would be good, but not only did the girl cheat, but she also had to cheat on Novans with his enemy: the annoying rich second generation Axel Vance.

Now here she was, picking up other people's messes. All the things that shouldn’t have been done, had already been done. All the insults, mockeries, and her flaunting at her ex… she suddenly got a headache. Why was this pot so black!

The present situation was the moment when the protagonist started dealing with them. Hint: started, it was supposed to worsen with time! Under Cullen’s behind-the-scenes manipulations, Axel's companies went bankrupt. He tried to salvage things as much as he could, but what exactly could he really do when the author finally decided he was long overdue? He instead lost some brain cells, trusted the wrong people, got cheated of the money he was counting on to remake himself. The man later drank himself until wasted and tumbling on the road, he was mowed by a car.

Her character's ending? From the very moment 'she' heard about the bankruptcy, Rhys didn’t even stay. At this point, she was wiser than Axel and while the previous refused to believe that the one who was after his companies was that pauper man he looked down on, Rhys had always believed that it was him. She didn’t stay to confirm it though, lest he dealt with her next. So, the news of Axel’s accident didn’t even reach her before she fled outside the country with his remaining money, which was one of the causes of his disability –lack of funds for the numerous surgeries he had to undergo. Insurances refused to fund the operations.

She sighed softly. A little mockingly at her own self, so much for the lazy life she was hoping for! Now that she thought about it, those useless shares she had were from her fiancé's companies, eh. 

No wonder that upon waking up, everything was packed, not only the clothes but so were the jewels. She just thought that 'she' was a compulsive person who liked orders, but in reality, the woman was ready to flee! The cleaning lady and the cook were still coming every day, besides the order in which were her suitcases, there was just no other indication. Was 'Rhys' planning to just disappear without so much as a word to the people working for her?

Was the protagonist so scary?

Ah, she was starting to have a headache.

Since she didn’t leave, what should she do next? In any case, this guy was still her fiancé. Looking at the ring on her finger, her headache turned into a heartache. Look at the troubles you threw my way!

At any rate, the guy may be a bad fellow, but he was quite generous towards his woman, giving her everything she asked for. After all, most of the money in her bank cards must certainly come from this daddy right here. And so should the villa and two-sport cars, not forgetting the ridiculous amount of brand clothes, shoes, and those insane pieces of jewelry.

She couldn’t let him go disable in good conscience when she may be able to change his fate now, could she?

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