Mr. CEO You Are Dumped

Episode 33

Mr. CEO - You’re Dumped

Chapter 33 - Losing a Friend 2.

Elizabeth’s P.O.V

I sit quietly with Lillian while we wait for the doctors operating on Rafael and those tending to Richard to emerge from their various wards. Lillian’s declaration prior to my arrival still sounds strange to me and I wonder how Rafael knows something that he feels I don’t about my parents' death.

I tried asking Lillian what happened, but she wouldn’t say more than what she already had. She is traumatized and still in shock after what happened. She lays her head on my thighs and lies across the chair we sit on. All she mumbles under her breath is the name of her fiancé, Richard, before she falls asleep.

A doctor walks out to the lobby where we wait for them, his face full of smiles. He observes Lillian, who still rests on me, and shakes his head in pity.

“How is Richard, doctor?” I ask him with a tender voice to avoid waking Lillian up.

“Richard is doing fine Miss Mondragon, he had a severe bleeding in his brain but we were lucky to stop that before it got worse,” the doctor announces and I feel relieved for a moment until I remember the third person who was with them.

My smile is short-lived. “What about the other guy in the car with them, Rafael?”

The doctor sighs deeply. “Asides being shot twice, the accident badly injured him. He is still unconscious, but he is stable for the time being.”

The doctor takes his leave, and I am left once more with Lillian as I wait for the nurses attending to Richard’s to exit the room. My eyes are heavy with tears and I don’t know why. I try my best not to feel concerned about him, but he is my ex-husband, and we shared a love like none I had felt before.

Dorian appears from out of thin air, and he is not with Luke. His face is the definition of worry as he proceeds to where I sit with Lillian.

“Where’s Luke?” I ask.

“I haven’t seen him,” Dorian answers as he places a hand on my shoulder.

“Where have you been?” I inquire of him, but he doesn’t respond.

“How did you know I was here?” I ask him again and he smiles.

“I watch the news, Elizabeth.” He responds and silence falls over us once more.

Moments after Dorian arrivals, Luke and Amelia walk into the hospital and meet us in the lobby. They are not holding hands or looking at each other, and so I presume they are still not on good terms.

My eyes fall on Amelia and I feel ashamed of myself all at once for how I treated her these past few days. A part of me wants to tell her just how sorry I am, but I become arrogant at once.

She breathes deeply. “How are you doing?”

Her question breaks the long awkward silence among us, and I force a weak smile onto my lips.

“I’ve been through worse,” I respond, and we both chuckle.

“What happened?” Luke asks me and the sight of Lillian sleeping peacefully on my body feels weird to all three of them.

I take my time to inform them about everything Lillian had told me happened to them when I got here.

“Is she dead?” Dorian teases and we all end up laughing at his comment.

Our voices and laughter wakes the queen from her slumber as Lillian finally opens her eyes to the world before her. She still has her head on my thigh and once her eyes fell on Luke, she quickly sits up to stare at me. She doesn’t feel comfortable anymore and I do my best to keep her calm and not run off.

“Has the doctor said anything about Richard?” she asks, and I smile at her.

She sighs with relief and for a moment, I could tell she wanted to hug me but she restrains herself from doing so in front of everyone.

“What about Rafael?” she asks again and Amelia panics at the mention of that name.

“The doctor said he is badly injured and still unconscious, but he’s stable, so that means he has a chance to survive this,” I answer her just before a nurse walks out from Richard’s room to where we are gathered.

“You can go in and see him now,” she announces and walks away.

We all stay put and wait for Lillian to go see him alone, but she didn’t. She stares at the door to his ward for a long while and does absolutely nothing.

“Do you want us to go with you?” Amelia asks her with a soft voice and she nods her head in approval.

I help stand to her feet, and we all proceed to Richard’s ward. He is awake and looking just too strong for someone who was just involved in an accident. His smile is beautiful and at the same time makes one feel pity towards him. Lillian goes up to him and hugs him.

“I’m fine now Lillian, stop crying,” Richard comforts her and her gently sobs continue.

“Thank you for coming, Elizabeth,” Richard mumbles, and I smile.

Luke isn’t interested in the pleasantries but rather wants to know exactly what happened to them and if they have any idea as to who it was that shot Rafael. He sits on the bed and stares at Richard like a cop about to torture the truth out of a criminal.

“What happened?” he asks calmly, which comes as a shock to all of us in the room. Luke looked ready to yell at the top of his lungs just to get an answer from Richard, but I was glad he didn’t.

“Rafael came to Puerto Rico a few days before they date we met up together,” he says to Luke and I cut him short for a moment.

“The both of you met up?” I ask, and they nod their heads in approval at the same time.

“So then, what happened?” Dorian asks.

“He told me he was running from Mafia because they want him dead and right after Luke left on the day we met, we had our first run in with the Mafia, but we escaped,” he announces and Amelia doesn’t look comfortable that the Mafia are in Puerto Rico, considering her past with them.

“How did you guys end up here?” I ask Richard, and he groans in pain.

I recall the doctor saying he had taken a lot of blood to his head and I guess that it why it hurts him this much when he tries to think back to what happened.

“That’s enough, he is still in pains and shouldn’t be discussing this at the moment,” Lillian yells and I scuff.

“Be grateful that the cops aren’t here,” Luke responds in my favor.

It is a custom for the hospital to inform the police about any gunshot casualties on a patient before even attending to them, but I was able to pull the strings and keep the cops away from the incident. I know that is what Rafael would want and I really need him to tell me whatever it is he has to say to me.

Richard squeezes Lillian’s hands gently, and she stays calm for a moment to let him continue with what he is saying.

“The mafia attacked at our house us and that’s where Rafael was shot,” he declares

I only know of one mafia group and they are the ones who kidnapped me. For a moment, I hope it is not then and so I decide to ask Richard the questions I desperately need answers to.

“Did you see the mafia, their faces?”

“No… we didn’t. But there was a guy on a gold mask. Rafael called him the Phoenix. He was the one who shot him,” Rafael declares and I and Amelia gasp.

Luke turns his attention to the both of us. “What is it?”

“That’s the guy who abducted me!” I declare, and there is silence among us for a little while.

“Lillian says Rafael has something to tell Elizabeth about her parents' death. Do you know what it is?” Dorian demands from Richard.

“I don’t know. He only told me to contact Elizabeth so he could confess to her what he knows.” Richard responds.

Dorian seems upset and steps out of the room, Amelia pulls me into an embrace like one I had never gotten from her before and Luke stares at Richard and Lillian, who had just survived the very same accident that took our parents' lives.

It is getting late and Dorian returns to keep me company, but I ask him to go home as I have Amelia with me again and I want some time alone with her so I can finally apologize to her. Luke, on the other hand, insists on staying with us just in case something goes wrong and I don’t argue with him.

I and Amelia walk Dorian out of the hospital and watch him until he gets into a taxi and leaves. The moon is full and the stars shine brightly with it. Amelia turns to walk back inside the hospital and I pull her by the arm. She turns towards me and looks at me expectantly.

I panic and can’t seem to find the right words to say to her. “I thought I saw a spider on your shoulder,” I lie and she frowns.

“Is that your way of apologizing?” she asks, and I frown.

“You are the one who owes me an apology. If it weren’t for you, we would have found out what was in that file back at my uncle’s house on the mountains.” I scuff and Amelia giggles.

“So it is because of that file, huh? You’ve been treating me like a pile of trash recently just because I didn’t let you go through a file that had your family name on it?” She responds to me with another question and I feel sad on hearing her last words.

“You know what? It’s fine. I’m just your nanny and secretary, anyway. Who am I to say that you’re wrong, oh wise queen?” she adds, her voice full of sarcasm.

“Why are you being such a child, Amelia? Just say sorry and this will all end!” I yell and she scuffs.

“Blame it on me. That’s what you always do. Blame everything that doesn’t go your way on others around,” she sighs and takes a step closer to me.

“For your information my darling, I’d rather have the Phoenix and his men find me than to apologize for something I don’t even know anything about because I know your anger at me isn’t just because of that file,” she adds and steps away from me but still stands outside the hospital.

We stand in silence and say nothing to each other until we hear a shout from inside the hospital and doctors yelling at each other. We dash in and find Richard and Lillian standing outside the theatre room with Luke.

“What happened? We heard someone scream,” I mumble and none of them answer me.

“Luke, what’s going on? You’re a doctor, go in there and help them!” I yell at him, but he doesn’t move.

After a long wait in silence, the doctor’s and nurses step out with sad faces and my heart’s skips a beat. Richard, who stands supported by crutches, walks up to the head doctor.

“How is my best friend, doctor? Tell me he’s doing fine?” Richard sobs, but the doctor stays silent for a moment.

“Someone put an acid into the blood bag that was being used to keep your friend alive. I’m afraid we got to him too late to stop it,” the doctor responds as the rest of the nurses who went in with him come out silently.

“What do you mean by that doc?” I ask him and he takes a deep breath before looking us in the eye.

“I am truly sorry, but we did all we could to save him. Unfortunately, our best wasn’t good. We lost your friend,” the doctor responds and a few seconds later, a nurse comes out from the theatre room, pulling Rafael’s dead body.

Richard breaks down in tears, and we are all deeply affected by it. Myself most especially because Rafael died with whatever secret he knew about my parents' death.