Rheostat

7.Mushroom Stew

After Stephen excused me, Ezra stopped me on the way to my room.

"Get ready. I'm taking you out." He informed.

"Where?" I inquired.

"I'm taking you to the hospital for a check-up."

"Oh."

Complying with his wish, I quickly got ready and went downstairs to find him in the living room.

He was playing a video game with Noah and Eveline. "You cheated, brat!"

Eveline came to Noah's rescue, "You just suck at it, Ezra."

"Whose side are you on?" Ezra asked, betrayed.

Eveline smirked raising her hand as if to take a pledge, "I'm on the side of truth."

I couldn't help but snicker hearing that, "That's rich coming from you."

The three of them turned their attention to me, seemingly shocked at my comment.

"What do you mean by that?" Eveline asked, angry I would accuse her of lying.

"Why are you getting so riled up? Could it be you have a guilty conscience?" I shot back spitefully.

"I don't know what you are talking about." The tears in her eyes said otherwise.

I felt almost guilty for making her cry in the first conversation we had in nine years.

Thankfully, Ezra decided to intervene, "Let's go, we are getting late."

I nodded and followed him outside. "Are you angry at me? For arguing with her."

Ezra looked at me for a moment, lost in thought, "No, I actually was glad."

I looked at him, confused. It's not my first fight with Eveline and in the past, it would always make them angry. It was one of the reasons I was sent away.

"I saw a glimpse of my sister, who I believed I had already lost." He explained.

What did he mean by that? Does he want to say I was being fake now?

Whatever, I no longer cared about their opinion of me. All I wanted was to survive living here till I become an adult.

Ezra soon parked the car in front of a hospital. "Is it owned by Stephen?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I was just guessing." It was a lie. Stephen was quite famous, and Wikipedia had loads of information on him. I didn't want to accept the fact that I had been secretly keeping tabs on him. Though I would hardly call some Google-acquired information keeping up with his life.

Before I could get out of the car, I saw Ezra already get down and rush to my side to open the door for me. Even though it was a small thing, I found the gesture extremely sweet.

"Do you work here?" I asked once I saw him take out an ID from his pocket and hang it around his neck.

"Yes. I'm a cardiologist." He smiled at my curiosity about his professional life.

"Cool. I always wanted to be a doctor, too." I reminisced.

Using his staff ID, he took the private elevator. "You don't want to be anymore?"

I shrugged in response. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be anymore.

Ezra seemed sad at my response. "You used to follow me around every time I brought my biology projects home."

"They were fun," I used to admire Ezra a lot. Even more than Stephen.

One time we went to the park together. Only the kids were playing in that area. A boy, a little older than me at that time, fell into the lake.