Chapter 4 Emergency!

Arene's POV

"Don't sleep! Can you hear me? Try to keep yourself awake!"

I heard my voice rising in revolt again, calling out to the stranger without my permission- but I didn't care now. Because somewhere deep down, I was already aware of the reason for this revolt.

'Definitely, it's my stupid sub-conscious that is playing the panic tricks again and triggering my anxiety, but I can't let myself fall weak, not now!'

I was struggling with my inner voice when my baby spoke up from the back seat again.

'I swear, I love him so much, but then where did he learn to speak this much? Like, the amount of words he has forced out of his mouth in four days, I haven't had as much to speak in four years- four years, since he left me alone in this cold cruel world!

Focus! Focus, Arene! Arin is saying something- listen to him.'

Scolding myself, I spoke, "Yes baby, what are you saying? Sorry, mumma is busy driving, or else uncle will be more sick...so can we talk after reaching the doctor uncle in the hospital where mumma works?"

"Mm-hm, yes! But mumma, why ale you saying daddy as uncle? He is not uncle, he is dad, my daddy...you have to call him by his name."

He ordered me, as if I was not his mother but he was my father instead, and I was the naughtiest kid in the world who had disrespected and disobeyed him for the nth time!

'Cute, isn't it?

Oh God, I am so whipped for my son's adorable acts!

Focus Arene, focus! You have to teach him what is right and wrong, you can't let his life be like yours- one where he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong and keeps making mistakes, going down the same path. '

After the intense debate with my inner self, I finally reached a conclusion about what was right for my child.

'Yes, let him be happy right now...I will teach him some other day, when he will finally be able to understand what there is to say about society and its norms and their functions.'

Deciding this, I spoke;

"Arin baby, daddy is wounded right now, you have seen that he got a boo-boo, haven't you? And he needs rest, and what do we do when Arin needs rest?"

"I know! Close oul eyes and lay down on the bed-"

"Yes, good boy! But when there is no bed and mumma also can't lift you in her embrace, what will you do?"

"I will be keep quiet-"

"Yes, you 'be quiet'. Now let mumma focus on driving."

I spoke, realising that I have a more important job of saving someone's life, than correcting my son's grammar. 'Grammar lessons can wait, but life can't.'

I pressed the brakes in front of the hospital building.

I rushed out of the car, trying to find the ward boys and nurses, and a caretaker for Arin in case someone needed my assistance, depending on who was on duty at the time.

I instructed the first staff member I encountered, to bring the guy in my car to the operation theatre, and then told the security guard to fetch Arin as well. I then ran towards the nurse at the reception to make an inquiry about the necessary arrangements.

'And yet again, I was made to realise that the most reliable thing of my life, my luck, has never betrayed me. No matter what, it always stays on it's horrible track! Throughout my entire life-'

Yes, I speak nothing but the truth: the whole way, I had been fearing about who was going to be on duty. And the moment I stepped in, the nurse informed me that she was just about to contact me as the doctor who had been assigned the night duty had asked for a leave due to sudden high fever.

'Wonderful, isn't it? Just peachy, not only did I have to fight my fear the whole ride, now instead of getting an option to get rid of it, I am supposed to jump into the valley full of my worst nightmares!'

I quickly ordered her to inform Doctor Jennette, knowing that she lived nearby.

'Yes, she has a good track record as well as a cheerful and helpful personality; a bit too cheerful perhaps. Sometimes, I really wonder if her mouth doesn't get strained because of that thirty-two centimetres smile that she keeps wearing 24x7!'

But still, she was a ray of hope through the cloudy skies- and at that very moment, the skies parted and the nurse dropped another bomb on me.

And if my own destiny was kind enough to have ordered an airstrike on me, why should the hospital staff stay behind either?

No sooner had the nurse informed me that Doctor Jennette was out of town, the wardboy came rushing in, saying that the blood bank didn't have blood matching that of the patient, and if there was a slight delay, he would be critical.

I was about to think of some alternative, when the caretaker came in front of me, holding my Arin in his arms.

My poor kid had wanted to come there to say something to me, and now he had heard that the unknown dad he had found on the road was about to be critical- a word whose meaning he didn't know for sure.

But as I already told you, there is only one thing which has never betrayed me, and that is my bad luck. Apart from that, everything else has- even my own son, who stared at me with his wispy eyebrows knitted together with concern, and then asked me softly;

"Mumma! Is daddy will be dying soon, does he don't like Alin?"

The misplaced but sincere words were accompanied by budding droplets of tears in his big doe eyes, compelling me for things I wasn't particularly inclined towards, since day one!

"Arin who told you about dying, do you even know what dying is? And who told you that your daddy doesn't like you? Everybody likes you, my baby, come here..."

I extended my arms and pulled him close. Wiping his tears, I heard myself speaking again, "Don't worry baby, mumma won't let anything happen to your daddy."

And after that, I returned him to the hands of the caretaker and found myself sprinting towards the operation theatre.

'I can't let anything happen to this guy: whatever his name is, whatever he does and wherever he belongs to! He has to stay here till I find some alternative to this dad fascination that my baby has acquired from God knows where, and divert his attention away from this D-word!'

But the moment I entered the operation theatre, I found myself questioning my guts again, seeing his unstable vitals!

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