Chapter 1 Dying offer
Megan Intl. Hospital: Los Angeles, California.
In one of the most renowned hospitals in the city, seated in the waiting room with her head facing the cleaned floors of the hospital was Olivia.
No one noticed what was going through her mind. Everyone was busy with their affairs. Yet Olivia sat there shedding silent tears. Her world had crumbled right before her eyes and she was completely helpless.
Who could she turn to?
Her eyes had swollen and it was becoming hard to keep the tiled lines of the hospital floor in a focused symmetry.
Why was life hitting her so hard?
Today was supposed to be the day her life would change. She was finally going to join the modeling agency of her dreams, but instead, this day had turned out to be the worst.
This was not supposed to happen. Her mother never laid any complaints about her health. Where did such a terrible illness come from?
Was she being punished? She thought to herself.
She had suffered so much and now that things were starting to look bright, this happens…
“Miss Olivia Michael!” A man called, pulling her out of her thoughts. Dressed in a white and blue uniform with a stethoscope around his neck he approached her. He was the doctor in charge of her mother.
Immediately her swollen eyes fell on him, Olivia jumped off the chair as her heart fluttered in anticipation of some kind of good news, “Y-Yes, sir!“
The doctor smiled at her and started coming toward her. But Olivia was faster. She closed up the distance between them in seconds
“Sir, how is my mother?“ She asked before the doctor could come up with a word.
“Miss, your mother is fine but we-” the man paused and Olivia's hope of good news dwindled. The doctor had seen the look of nervousness on Olivia's face and he had rephrased his next words carefully for fear of having her pass out from anxiety.
“Miss Olivia,” he called again, this time with less urgency. He needed to treat this case as subtly as he could. “I'm afraid your mother's heart is damaged and she'll need a heart transplant as soon as possible or she might not make it.”
Olivia's eyes widened at the doctor's words.
Her mother's heart was damaged and she was just finding out? Didn't things like this take time to get worst? When did her mother ever complain of heart pain?
And then Olivia realized it. All the times her mother acted like everything was fine... was fake. She was hiding it.
Her legs were shivering and her red cherry-like lips trembling in fear. Why? Why was this happening to her now?
Nevertheless, she tuned out the chaos in her head and asked the doctor, “Doc-doctor, what do we have to do now?”
The doctor could see the pain in her eyes, this was one of the hardest parts of his job but it had to be done, “We will need to get a new heart and due to its scarcity it is quite expensive to get one. It will cost around two million dollars. If we act fast we can easily get one in time."
Olivia's head went blank, it felt like her whole world was crumbling before her all over again. Was this even real?
Two million dollars?!
“B-but sir, I don't have that amount of money. I only have-”
“Miss Olivia!“ The doctor cut her short before she could complete her statement. He had done the worst part which was to inform her of her mother's condition. Now it was left for her to do the right thing.
“We are very sorry but without the money, we can't save your mother,” the doctor said sternly and left.
Olivia could not sit back in her chair, two million dollars was way too much for her to cover. Where on earth would she get that kind of money from?
“S-sir!” she tried to call the man, but before she could reach him he had left the waiting room and disappeared Into another hall that was off-limit for non-staff.
Tears fell uncontrollably down her cheeks. Who could help her in this critical situation? She asked herself, but couldn't come up with an answer, she crumbled to the floor and wept like a baby not minding the place she was at.
Then a name popped up in her head.
'Uncle Thomas!'
Yes! he would have to help her with some money if she told him what happened. She pulled out her phone from her inner pocket and dialed his number
After minutes of waiting anxiously, Uncle Thomas finally picked up the phone.
“Hello Olivia?“ He said in a stern tone, not sounding happy to pick up her call. He knew she was calling to ask him for something and he hated it already.
“Hello, Uncle Thomas! Mother's dying and she needs some money to get a heart transplant!” Olivia explained in a rush without giving herself space to breathe.
“What? A heart transplant? And how much is this money?“ Uncle Thomas asked and Olivia noticed the slight change in his coldness which gave her the courage to say the amount out loud.
“I-It two million dollars,” Olivia trembling lips replied.
“That's a lot of money Olivia!" The man exclaimed. "You know things are very hard, my wife and I are striving and my four kids just got into college this year and I need to provide for them too. I'm sorry Olivia, but I can't help you with this.”
With those empty words, he ended the call and a part of Olivia's heart broke off. She was devastated, “Uncle Thomas!“ Olivia shouted but he was long gone.
"NO!" Olivia wailed.
What would she do now? Without the money, her mother would die.
The realization brought fear crawling into her heart. "No," She mumbled as she got up from the floor. She wiped her tears and started walking out of the hospital. People gave her pitiful looks, but she didn't care. She needed help and she would find it... Somehow.
If asking for money from her relative didn't work, maybe a loan would be the answer to her problems, she just had to try because she was already running out of options.
She would do anything in her power even if it meant selling her body to earn this money, she would do it without any hesitation.
