Kendra's POV
Waiting outside the operating room is the most dreadful experience I've ever encountered. Mother is with Nana Elaine sitting beside each other. The look of my mother is not so good. The puffiness in her eyes is so big and also the eye bag so dark. The lack of sleep and constant crying has taken their toll.
All these problems seem to arise at the same time.
When Jia and I returned to the room this afternoon where my father occupies, mother was already inside. When she saw me, she hugged me tightly and starts sobbing. The pain of watching your precious love one suffering, battling the most critical moment in his life is truly unbearable.
"Dr. Black is here a while ago to check on him, and showed us the results of the CT scan," I informed her.
"And?" she looks at me when I didn't answer.
"Tell me Kendra, is it that bad?, When will he wake up?" she keeps on asking.
I turned my head away from her cause I didn't know how to tell her. The tears started running down my cheeks as I am about to crumble. Hastily wiping away my tears, I took my courage to tell her,
"The CT scan shows that father has a brain tumor, it is causing the cerebral edema, and that's the cause of why he is in a coma." I hugged her to tell her, I am here for them. The bitterness I have felt towards them has been slowly melted down. I may not be a good daughter but I love my parents so dearly. If I could absorb all the pain and free them from suffering I would gladly do it.
"He scheduled the operation at 6 pm, and I appoint Dr.Black as the lead surgeon," I told her.
I lead her to the couch and went to pitch a glass of water.
"Here, take this and calm down, everything will be alright." I hand her the water and sit beside her. I can feel her trembling, the information I had told her is a massive shock to her, even I, myself didn't know how to get over it but I have to be strong for her. Now is the time they needed me the most.
Jia sit beside my mother and rubbed her back soothingly.
"Aunt Cassie, you need to calm down, worrying so much is not good for your health, Uncle Lucas is going to be alright, and besides he will not be pleased seeing you like this." Jia rubbed her, my mother burst out even more.
"Mom, you need to settle down, I well ask a physician to give you medicine to calm down." I stand up to call a doctor but my mother grips my wrist. l look at her worriedly. She pulled me to sit beside her again, cupping my face looking at me intently.
"Is there something you wanted to say, mom?" looking at her, I know she is weeping, for my father's situation but there's more to it. I can feel her hesitation whether she's telling me or not.
"Mom, there's more to it, is it not? If you keep leaving me in the dark, how can I help you with whatever it is.," I told her.
She bit her lower lips and tears continue to stream down her face.
"For f**ks seek mom, I am old enough to know everything troubling you," I yelled at her. Her silent action is getting me agitated. 'one, two, three, ........ten,' I counted myself up to ten to help me cool down. Dealing with a hot temper will get us nowhere. I cupped her hands and squeeze them gently, encouraging her to trust me.
"Mom, I want to help you, bear the burden for you, You can rest assured that whatever it is, I will find a way to resolve it. You can tell me everything," rubbing gently the back of her hands.
" The investigation team said that the accident that happened to your father is just a normal traffic accident, the driver of the other vehicle was drunk, and since he was dead there is nothing we can do.
But that's not true, before your father gets in the car, he called me saying that someone has been following him, and for a while, he had a feeling he's being watched." she informed me.
"What would someone wants from my dad ?"I inquire more
ⁿ" Does he have an enemy?"I'm looking at her intently.
"It's been years that the property is under the collateral agreement and for the past years your father has able to provide the interest but not the actual amount and lately there's been a lot of difficulties, also we've received several offers from a multibillion company trying to acquire the land." explained mom.
" To whom dad has a debt?" I further enquire.
"Maybe it's best if I show you all the documents and everything, I can explain how it happened and it happened. But for now, we need to focus on your dad."
"Kenn, come sit with me" Jia approaches me, as I am pacing back and forth. The uneasiness I felt is catching up to me. I felt suffocated. Throwing a glance at my mom, I grabbed Jia's arm and pulled her towards the empty chair in the hallway far from my mother but not too far that I can still see the door of the operating room.
"Jia do you know anything about the debt mom is talking about?" I ask her.
"No, your parents never mentioned it or talked about it, and besides you know that I never keep any secret to you specifically when it's about our family." Jia's response to me.
Jia and I grow up together, my parents raised her as their daughter. She is two months older than me. Jia's mom died giving birth to her. And her dad, Uncle Nick was my father's only sibling. He was found dead in his car when Jia was only 3 years old.
"Why would they hide this from us?" the tears I try to control eventually give out, like a dam that has been damaged due to so much pressure. She hugs me tightly, gently rubbing my back to comfort me.
"We will find a way to settle this okay, I'll ask Bryan what can we do."Bryan is Jia's fiance, he's a lawyer¹
" Can you ask Bryan to come tomorrow when we got the file mom was talking about, I want to solve this problem as soon as possible?"
"Of course, I want to put an end to this problem too, if they have told us about this, we could have done it sooner." Jia's replied.