Chapter: 68: Helpful Friend
Elena
I got out of the office building flagging a cab down.
"Take me to St Avalon Hospital."
The ride to the hospital felt like a long never ending journey. My mind was restless and my breath uneven. I eventually got to my destination, paying the cab driver, I got out of the car and hurried into the hospital.
My heart was racing, as my mind pushed through the din of nurses and beeping machines to reach the front desk. "Excuse me," I said, trying to catch my breath. "I'm looking for my daughter, Lily Kingston. She was brought in earlier after fainting at school." My words rolled out trembling, as I leaned on the counter, gripping the edge so tightly.
The receptionist looked up at me. "Let me check." She typed quickly, her eyes scanning the screen.
"She's in Room 306 on the pediatric floor. You can take the elevator to the third floor and—"
I didn't wait for her to finish. "Thank you," I said over my shoulder, already heading toward the elevators.
The elevator doors slid open, and I hurried inside, repeatedly pressing the button for the third floor as if that would make it move faster. What really was I doing?
I didn't want to think. The ride up was agonizingly slow, but when the doors finally opened, I sprinted down the hall, scanning the room numbers until I found 306.
On getting to the door I hesitated before pushing them open because I was scared of what I could see inside. My brain played all the worst case scenarios putting me at a standstill. I mustered up courage putting my fears aside and opened the door.
Lily lay on the hospital bed. She looked pale but awake, her small body wrapped in a light blue blanket. Her big green eyes flickered toward me, and the moment she saw me, a small, tired smile appeared on her lips.
"Mommy…" Her voice was weak, but it was the best sound I had heard all day.
Relief flooded through me so fast and I rushed to her bedside, brushing her dark brown hair from her face and placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Sweetie, how are you feeling?"
"Mommy I'm fine," she said nuzzling closer to me.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You're not feeling any pain or feeling uncomfortable?"
"No, Mommy I'm fine."
"Do you know you know you scared mommy today?"
She pouted slightly. "I didn't mean to." She looked up at me. "Mommy, are you mad at Lily?"
"Of course not sweetheart." The words flew out my mouth.
Before I could ask anything more, a doctor in a white coat walked in, glancing down at his clipboard. He was a middle-aged man, with sharp eyes that softened as he looked at Lily.
"Ms. Kingston?" he asked, and I straightened, nodding quickly.
"Yes, yes, I'm her mother. What happened to my daughter?" My voice now calm after seeing Lily.
The doctor smiled reassuringly. "It seems like Lily was dehydrated and had low blood sugar, which caused her to faint."His words made my eyes widen in shock.
"Ma'am It's nothing too serious. She's going to be just fine, but she would need rest and proper hydration."
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. The doctor's words were now music to my ears
"We've given her fluids, and she's already looking better," he said looking at Lily.
"Mommy you see, I told you I was fine," Lily said smiling at me.
"I'd recommend letting her rest for the day. Keeping her hydrated, and making sure she eats balanced meals moving forward," the doctor added before leaving.
I nodded quickly, glancing down at Lily, who gave me a sheepish look. "What do you have to say for yourself smart mouth? You didn't eat your lunch again, did you?"
She shook her head. "I wasn't that hungry…"
"My God, Lily." I sighed but smiled, brushing my fingers over her cheek. "You have to take care of yourself, sweetie."
A voice at the door made me turn. "I came as soon as I could."
I looked up to see Ethan with a package standing there, slightly out of breath. I blinked, surprised. "Ethan… What are you doing here?"
He stepped inside, giving Lily a small smile before turning to me. "You ran out of the office so fast… I wanted to make sure you were okay. And well, I figured you could use some support," he said raising the package in his hands.
"Is that food?"
"Yes," he answered with a wide smile. " I thought you'd be hungry so I picked this on my way here."
"Thank you, you didn't have to," I said softly.
Ethan cocked an eyebrow. "How can you even say that? You've helped me a lot so just think of this as repayment," he said handing me the package. "How's she doing?"
"Better," I admitted, glancing at Lily, who was watching us curiously. She tugged at my sleeves, pulling me in for a whisper.
"Mommy who is he?" I chuckled realizing this was her first time meeting Ethan.
"This is Ethan my friend from work."
Turning to Ethan. "Ethan this is Lily, my beautiful daughter," I said even though he already knew that.
Ethan crouched slightly to Lily's level, offering her a warm smile. "Hey there, Lily. It's nice to finally meet you."
Lily stared at him for a moment, her eyes studying him carefully before she spoke. "Nice to meet you too."
"Since I'm meeting you for the first time I got you something."
Lily's eyes lit up at his words.
Ethan brought out an extra pack of chocolate cookies, handing them to Lily. "Your mom told me you love chocolates."
"Thank you, Mr. Ethan," she beamed.
I sighed, unable to fight the small smile tugging at my lips.
Lily opened up the cookies eagerly, but I gently tapped her hand. "Ah, ah, young lady. No cookies till you've eaten real food first."
She pouted but nodded. "Okay…"
As I opened the package and handed Lily her food, I stole a glance at Ethan. He had shown up when I hadn't even thought to ask for help. And I was grateful.
"You didn't tell me how ended up leaving?" I turned to face Ethan.
"Oh yeah, about that. When I was telling the HR department about your departure Damien was there and shortly after the meeting was canceled. He asked everyone to email him the final documents they were working on."
My eyes widened in shock. "And you're just telling me this now?"
I picked up my bag, getting my phone from it. Luckily I had the final documents on it. I taped the screen on to email the documents to Damien when I saw the flood of missed call notifications.