The convenient marriage

Chapter 14. A matter of the heart

Looking at his chart intently, Malcom had an inexpressive face at first, but as his eyes moved from the upper part to the lower part of the page, he frowned more and more.

A couple of hours ago he was under the impression that he would have a calm and uneventful weekend. He had been away from the country for a total of four months, with more than half of the time was  meant for attending an international seminar and the rest was meant for travelling.

Spending this time going from place to place trying to make the most out of the trip, he had almost no time for resting. So this weekend was reserved just for staying indoors, and also for catching up with his friends in a quiet environment.

This was his original plan, a plan that was interrupted by the fellow in front of him. Sitting casually on the couch of his office, the mechanical cold man who was one of the most logical driven people he had met in his entire life, had no expression on his cold face, just as usual. But this exact man today, for some reason, ironically also appeared to him to be the most illogical person he had ever seen.

Since this fellow had informed him on the phone that he was on a date with his wife, with whom he had no prior real relationship with, to when he said that he would not come meet him in the afternoon, but still appeared on his doorstep a couple of hours later, to when he started asking him medical questions that had no connection to his profession, up until he was dragged to this particular friend's private hospital in the middle of the weekend, which he had promised himself was meant for resting...

He really could not understand this man today at all, so much so that he himself had started thinking in a gibberish way.

He knew his friend was someone who was a highly intelligent human, in fact his IQ could very well be placed among geniuses, and he was also a person who would never visit a doctor without a valid reason. But looking at all the data in front of him, he still couldn't find the reason that alarmed Zane so much, making them both take a trip to the hospital on a Saturday.

Surely, could something have passed by him unnoticed? Trying to refocus on the chart, he scanned it more thoroughly again, but couldn't find anything wrong. No matter where he looked, all the collected data were in normal ranges.

Recalling the earlier conversation they had in his home, the problem should be that Zane was experiencing on and off irregular heartbeats, the feeling of lack of air, and sudden rises in temperature. Tachycardia could be the symptom of many heart problems that could not be taken lightly, so Zane had wanted to have another heart check-up, even though he had one every year.

Reluctantly, Malcom had no choice, but to come with him and do a series of heart related tests to ensure nothing was truly wrong with Zane. But honestly, Zane was as healthy as ever, he could not find any traces of the symptoms the latter was experiencing.

Sighing, he looked at Zane and reckoned it was better to start once again from the beginning.

'Could you tell me again, what are the exact symptoms you are experiencing?' Malcom asked, still looking at the chart of the very healthy man, whose only real medical condition known to Malcom, was a mild form of ulcer caused by Zane's consistent lack of appetite. But this mild problem was not life threatening at all, and certainly did not have any connection with his heart.

'Malcom, what is wrong with you today? You keep asking me to repeat all of my words.' Zane said with the same cold face, but a hint of impatience could be sensed in his tone. If it happened once or twice that Malcom asked him something, he could attribute it to the blockhead's tiredness, but every question today was repeated at least once.