What Dreams Are made of
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▶Episode_21
She hesitated, not knowing how to evade the question. She didn’t want him to know about her family. “I.. I am..”, she stammered.
He cut her in between, “So, I was right about you. You are here with…” but before he could complete what he was about to say, a loud voice st©pped him.
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“Chrissy!”
Nikloi turned around to see a young girl, dressed in jeans and a shi-t, come rushing towards them. She st©pped just before Chrissy and said something to her, pu-lling her hands towards the entrance. Before Nikloi could un-derstand what she said, both the girls were running away. He thought he heard them say, Mom.
Steven joined him to check if there was any problem. Nikloi gave him some instructions and he went back to speak to the other gentlemen with them.
Nikloi followed the two girls. He could see both of them looked worried. He quic-kened his pace. Soon they reached a bench where an aged lady l@yunconscious. Chrissy stooped low next her and cried, “Mom, what happened? Are you alright?” The other girl was also calling out to her, tears flowing down her face.
Nikloi quic-kly went around and held Mrs. Smith’s her wrist. She was breathing slowly and her pulse was down. He turned back to see Steven returning towards them. He quic-kly explained the situation to Steven, who immediately went out again.
He went back to Mrs. Smith and picked her up in his arms while Chrissy and Alice watched him baffled. As he started to move, Chrissy c@m£ to her s-en-ses and st©pped him, “What are you doing?”
“Your mother has fainted. She nee-ds a doctor’s attention. Come with me”, saying this, he kept moving towards the exit. Chrissy and Alice ran behind him.
Steven was alre-ady outside the gate with their car. He quic-kly opened the door to the back seat and helped place Mrs. Smith on the seat. Alice followed him to sit next to her and Chrissy got inside from the other side. Both the girls were holding their mother and praying for her to be alright. Chrissy was shocked with the sudden turn of events of the day but she knew she had to keep it together for Alice. Alice was still too young and if she saw Chrissy breaking down, she would lose it completely. Chrissy had to be strong for both her mother as well as her sister.
They quic-kly reached the hospital and Mrs. Smith was taken inside a room marked as CASUALTY. Steven spoke to the people there and before they knew there was a doctor attending to Mrs Smith. Chrissy and Alice wanted to be with their mother, to know what had suddenly happened to her but the doctor asked them to wait outside.
Chrissy and Alice reluctantly stepped outside the room but their hearts were still stuck inside next to their mother. It took the doctor several minutes to complete his examination. After a long wait for the girls, he stepped out and told them it didn’t appear anything serious. Mrs. Smith had fainted probably due to the exhaustion. Chrissy told him about their morning trip and he said that should most probably be the reason for this sudden faintness.
Chrissy was highly grateful to the doctor for sharing that piece of the information. She was worried sick thinking that her mother’s neurological disorder had caused this sudden breakdown. They were allowed to see their mother but the doctor suggested to keep her in the hospital for few more hours un-der observation and also to run some tests for reconfirmation. With that the young doctor went away smiling.
Alice quic-kly went inside the room to be with her mother but Chrissy wanted to complete the hospital formalities. It appeared to be a high end hospital and she was not sure how much bills they would run into. While she had saved money for this holiday, her earlier experience with hospitals had told her it didn’t take long for them to exhaust all life savings. She wanted to be sure of where things stood when it c@m£ to money so that there wouldn’t be any unplea-sant surprises.
She turned towards the administration section but was blocked by a broad wall. Raising her face she stared straight into de-ep blue eyes. In all the confusion she had completely forgotten about Nikloi Swaroski. He was standing there, blocking her way.
He looked at her face and said, “You should be with your mother. Where are you going?”
Oh the nerve of the man!
Standing in the middle of the corridor of a hospital also he couldn’t st©p behaving like a rude bully, ordering her to do as he said. She was irritated with him. Stepping back to create space between them, she said in a haggard tone, “We are not in your office, Mr. Swaroski. You can’t order..”
Before she could complete, he cut her, “I know that Ms. Smith. You have made that amply clear but I am telling you to go to your mother. She nee-ds you”.
He added the last p@rt after a slight pause. She was not sure if she detected a softness in his voice but she didn’t want to confirm it. That would make her weak. And she didn’t want to be weak. She had to be strong. For her mother, and her family.
She took a de-ep breath and said, “I know. But I nee-d to check about the hospital formalities. There would be payments…”
“All that has been taken care of. You should think only about your mother right now”.
“But… how..?” she asked confused.
He answered, “Steven is taking care of it. He is doing whatever is required”. Just at the same time, Alice c@m£ out of the room saying her mother was conscious and asking for Chrissy. Chrissy had no choice but to accept what Nikloi Swaroski was telling her to do. She followed Alice inside the room.
Mrs. Smith had woken up and was not sure what had happened to her suddenly. All she remembered was that she had gone to R0m-n Baths with her daughters and was resting when she was tired of walking. She was not used to being out for so long. Sometime while sitting at the bench she had pas-sed out. She hadn’t felt any major discomfort but waking up in a hospital was not plea-sant.
She could see Alice was troubled and she herself was slightly nervous. She was not concerned about her own health but what would happen to her daughter if she would not be around. Her husband’s death had shaken the family and even though she knew she wasn’t able to do much for her them, she didn’t want her girls to be left all alone in this selfish world.
When Chrissy c@m£ in following Alice, suddenly, Mrs Smith felt much better. Her elder daughter had had a calming effect on her always. She was the reason they were still a happy family in spite of all the troubles they had faced in the past. She kept all of them together and going.
Chrissy told her everything was all right and the doctor said she is fine. He just wanted to run some tests to finalize the medication and they should be able to go home soon. The girls sat with their mother while the tests were carried out.
Chrissy had called Betty Granny to inform her about Mrs. Smith and that they should be home as soon as possible. She didn’t want her to worry why they had not yet returned home.
She also wanted to know about how much would be the charges for the hospital. It was quite an expensive place and she had no idea how she was going to pay for their bills if she didn’t know how much money was involved. She tried to speak to Steven but Nikloi ensured she never had a separate moment with him alone.
In fact he had decided to stay back the whole time till they were discharged from the hospital. She was sure he had many important things to attend but he wasn’t willing to listen to her when she told him she can manage on her own. He was his stubborn self, as usual.
Nikloi never went in to meet Mrs Smith as he didn’t want to disturb her but Mrs. Smith had caught a glimpse of him standing outside the room. Alice told her that it was someone from Chrissy’s office and he helped them reach the hospital but Mrs. Smith alre-ady had a feeling that he was more than just some colleague.
When doctor finally c@m£ to say that all the tests were as expected and that they can be discharged now, they were all relieved. Alice was very happy to take their mother back home.
Before leaving, doctor asked Chrissy to step aside and explained her about the medication. He explained that while there was no direct connection between today’s exhaustion and the nerves disorder but he suggested that Mrs. Smith should take things lightly and to be regular with her medicines. Chrissy thanked him but she felt that the doctor wanted to say something more.
He kept standing with her and looking awkwardly at her face every now and then. She was suspicious that he wasn’t sharing the complete information and maybe there was something she should be worried about. Not knowing how to get it out from him, she put a right hand on his left arm and asked, “Is there something you are not telling me? Is my mother not ok really?
He immediately stood straight and said, “Oh no, there is nothing seriously wrong with your mother. She should be ok with her regular treatment”. After a pause he added, “Actually, I hope you don’t mind….. I was thinking…. if you mind sharing your phone number?”
Only then Chrissy realized that he was blu-shing. She noticed he was also quite young and was obviously interested in her. She didn’t know how to react, not having faced such situations very often. But before she could say anything in affirmation or denial, she felt an arm at her back and Nikloi Swaroski standing next to her. He was standing between the two of them and said, “Your mother is waiting for you. Come.”
Chrissy was puzzled with his actions but his expressions told her not to question him. She looked from him to the doctor staring at them with an even more puzzled look. She smiled at him apologetically but decided to leave it at that.
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Going back to her mother, all the ladies went out with Nikloi right behind them. He didn’t let Chrissy look at the hospital receipts saying those things could wait. Chrissy simmered from his high-handedness but knew that she didn’t want to create any scene in front of her mother. She wanted to be away from him as quic-kly as possible and decided the best way was to agree to him paying for the bills now and settling the money later at his office.
With that decision, she hailed for a cab to st©p in front of the hospital. But Nikloi again stepped in saying that he will drop them to their place. She had had enough of his bossiness and tried to refuse but he was alre-ady talking to her mother introducing himself.
Chrissy saw him as different man with her mother and sister. Within minutes they were hanging on to his every word. Well, not surprising, thought Chrissy. He usually had that kind of an effect on women. Except with her, he was especially rude and gruffly.
She didn’t want to accept any favours from him than what was absolutely necessary and thankfully that time was over. So she didn’t want them to go with him but to her utter amazement she saw her mother and Alice alre-ady moving ahead with him. Steven had got the car back and he was helping both of them inside another luxury car. She had not focussed much while coming as she was scared about her mother but now that things were getting normal again she could see it was some high end version.
After seating them, he stood holding the door open, waiting for her to get in. She held her ground for few more seconds but both of them knew she was tra-pped. Not having any other option, but to give in, she sat next to her mother.
Nikloi got in the pas-s£nger in the front and Steven drove them away. It took them less than half an hour to reach Betty Granny’s place. Chrissy found all of them in a surprisingly chatty mood. Her mother was asking Nikloi all about his work, family, etc and Nikloi didn’t mind answering her questions at all. He answered her patiently, even when she asked him if he was married un-der the disguise of asking who all were in is his family.
Chrissy was highly embarras-sed. She tried to st©p her mother by saying that she should rest but Mrs. Smith was in no mood to oblige.
Chrissy looked at Alice for help but was disappointed in her as well. Alice had a clearly smitten look on her face. Chrissy couldn’t blame her. It was his looks that Alice was seeing. She had no idea about the real man behind that good looking face. He had no qualms in crushing her un-der his thoughtless judgment.
Suddenly, Chrissy felt a sharp pang of jealous. He would never be like this with her. She didn’t want to feel self-pity and turned away to face out of the window. If Nikloi stared at her turned face, she didn’t know.
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▶Story_Continues