CHAPTER FOUR
1892 Words
“What?” Anna was shocked, which was the normal reaction.
“Please marry me” He repeated, still on his knees.
“Please, stand up, Mr. Ryan” He finally stood up.
“I don't understand, why are you suddenly asking me to marry you? This is the second time I'm seeing you”
“Please, let me explain, have a seat” When they both got comfortable, he continued.
“First, let me introduce myself. I am Ryan Miller, the owner of Cadel's BevCo. I am 30 years old. I have a daughter from my dead wife, Cathy.
I have not been with another woman since my wife died because I want to be sure before I introduce another woman to Adele. That day was actually the first time Adele is seeing an older lady apart from her nanny and the maids in the house. I think she got attached to you, that being the reason she called you her mom. I hope you don't take offense to that”
“No, it’s nothing, Mr. Miller”
“Now, she's refusing to eat or go to school if she doesn't see you”
“Oh, I can come see her whenever she likes. It's not a problem”
“I know. The problem is she wants me to marry you”
“What? That's ridiculous”
“I know” He sighed “She's threatening to hurt herself if I don't marry you”
“What?”
“I know. So you see that I'm in a dilemma”
“That's hard. I'm sorry I can't help you, Mr. Miller. I'm just 19 and yet to finish high school. Marriage is the last thing on my mind right now”
“I thought about all that, too, but I still want to try. I understand though, thank you for your time”
“You're welcome, Mr. Miller. My offer still stands. I can come see her whenever she wants”
“Thank you, Anna. In case you change your mind, here's my business card”
She collected it and followed him out of the office.
Ryan couldn't bear to face Adele without Anna, again. He went back to his office to get more work done. To forget about it, Anna, Adele, Leonard.
Anna was in class physically but her mind was somewhere else. It was on Ryan and Adele. How come Adele mistaken her for her dead mother. Maybe they looked alike. She shivered at the thought of looking like a dead person. She made up her mind to visit an internet cafe later.
“Hey, bestie” Amelia's voice interrupted her. “I missed you all morning. Tuesdays are the worst, ugh, to think that we don't have a single class together”
“I know right”
“Why are you so lost in thought?”
“Nothing. I'm fine”
“I'm so sorry about Bella. I swear, I was going to come back for you but I had to treat myself too, I was pretty rough handled, you know?“ Amelia whined.
“I'm sorry I dragged you into my mess”
“No, it's fine, I'm glad you didn't go through alone”
“Thank you”
“By the way, you look fine, were you able to escape?” Amelia looked at her, suspiciously.
“I…was…” Thankfully, the bell that indicated the end of lunch rang. She didn't want to talk about Ryan to Amelia, for some reason.
“Bummer, I have a class now, you'll tell me everything later”
“Sure thing, babe” She was just thankful that she was safe.
“Look who the cat dragged in” She didn't turn to confirm if it was Bella or not before she dashed for her next class.
When school closed for the day, she didn't wait a minute longer than necessary. She was avoiding Bella and Amelia. She just wanted to get home to her Grandmother and sleep.
“I'm home, Grandma” Anna hollered, while removing her shoes. Her grandma forbade shoes in the house.
“Grandmaaa? Are we playing deaf again?” Her grandma was rude like that, whenever she didn't feel like talking, she'd simply pretend to be deaf.
“Why is the stove on?” Anna muttered to herself, a bad feeling started spreading in the pits of her stomach.
She hurried into the kitchen to find her grandmother sprawled on the kitchen floor. She was barely breathing. Thank God her grandmother insisted she keep the house line active. She quickly dialed 911.
Minutes later, they were on their way to the general hospital. The paramedics quickly declared it an heart attack. Upon arrival, she was wheeled in immediately for care while she was directed to register her into the system.
After what seemed like hours of waiting, she was called in to see the doctor.
“Good afternoon, Miss…?”
“Anna, sir. Good afternoon, Doctor”
“You're the immediate and only family for Mrs. Hugh, correct?”
“Yes, Doctor”
“And you're over 18?”
“Yes” Anna handed him her identity card to confirm this
“Good, then I shall go straight to the point”
“Yes, please”
“Your grandmother is in need of an immediate surgery”
“How soon are we talking about?”
“Soon as in she should have done this surgery the first time she got checked for heart problems”
Not that she didn't want to do it then, they simply couldn't afford it. It seems like there was no running from it, anymore.
“How much is it, Doctor?”
“3 million dollars, Miss”
She gasped.
“You have to pay at least 70% of the fee before we can commence the surgery”
“Seventy percent?”
“Yes, miss”
“And the surgery has to be done right away?” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Yes” Where was she supposed to find that huge amount of money? They could barely afford to heat their home.
“You can see her now. She's out of the woods for now”
“Thank you, Doctor”
“No problem, Miss Bliss”
“Grandma” Anna sobbed before throwing her arms around the woman, being careful not to squeeze her too much
“Sunshine” The older woman croaked. That was her nickname. It suits her. She was a ray of sunshine. “Don't cry, I'm fine”
“But you're not”
“Don't stress yourself by trying to look for money for surgery. I'm old enough as it is”
“Grandma, don't say that” Anna yelled “You want to leave me alone in this world?”
“You still have your mother, child”
“I don't have a mother. Only you in this world, grandma and I'm not going to let anyone take you from me” She declared fiercely before marching off.
“Sunshine” Her grandmother tried to stop her but she wasn't loud enough.
Back at the Miller's, Adele was still refusing to do anything. She refused to go to school. She refused to eat or drink.
“Adele, baby, I'm sorry, okay?”
“You didn't do anything, daddy” She responded, weakly.
“Why are you punishing me then?”
“No reason”
“It has been two days now, I promise I'll get married within the next week”
“To Anna?”
“No baby, Anna has refused to marry me. I understand why though, she's still too young”
“Ok, daddy” she said, nodding her head as if she understood
“Does that mean you'll eat now?”
“No”
“Your teachers miss you, do you not miss them?“
“I do”
“Will you go to school tomorrow then?”
“Only if my mommy is here to dress me up”
“Adele, what do you want me to do? She won't marry me. Did someone bully you in school because of your mother?”
“No”
“Why are you suddenly hung up on Anna, then?”
“Nothing”
“Baby, I'm out of options. Anna won't marry me. You won't eat. You won't talk to me. You won't go to school. Do you want to send me to an early grave?” She didn't say anything
“Good night, baby”
Ryan contemplated calling Leonard. He felt like venting. The past three days have been hell for him but he was a grown man and he could handle it. It was even harder when Cathy died. He had to grief privately while trying to be strong for Adele.
He also didn't want his investors to think he was going to run down the company… Leonard was there for him. Consoled him and made him look like he was fine, to the general public. He dialed Leo's number.
Anna was running out of ideas to get money. She didn't want to call Amelia. Amelia would lend her the money if it was up to her but there's no way she had that kind of money. She'd have to ask her snobby parents. Her parents weren't big fans of hers. They didn't approve of the friendship between their precious daughter and the scholarship student.
She'd give up if her last plan didn't work.
“Customer service, Reagan's Bank. How can I help you?”
“Good afternoon. My name is Anna Bliss and I'd like to make some inquiries about Loaning and the interests rate on your loans”
“First off, you have to have an account with us, do you have an account with us, ma'am?”
It's Miss and yes, my grandmother does”
“Perfect. How much are you looking to loan?”
“About 3 million dollars”
“In the case that your loan request is approved, you'd need two trusted guarantors to stand for you. You'd also need a mortgage-free house deed or more than 15% shares of a company”
“Oh” Anna was crying again. There was no way she could get those.
“Are you there, Miss?”
“Yes”
“The loan interest rate depends on how you want to pay it back. Weekly, monthly or on a three month basis?”
Anna dropped the call and sobbed. Now, there was no one she could really turn to. Her grandmother was going to die and she'd be all alone in the world. She cried for herself and her grandmother. She didn't deserve this. She wanted to go to college, get a job and take care of her. Now, she was going to die.
At least, she should stay with her until the end. She picked up her hoodie that she sat on. Something fell from it, it turned out to be the business card that Ryan gave her.
Ryan. She could marry him in exchange for her grandmother's surgery fee. Oh, God, she hoped he didn't change his mind yet. She quickly punched his number into the hospital's telephone booth.
“Hello” it was indeed his private number
“Please save my grandmother”
- Writer
