A Christian Romance

Chapter 21 - Something unexpected

The week that preceded his second medical appointment, Adam spent in his cabin, struggling to find inner peace; he even started doing yoga.

He tied his hair in a bun, put on a white shirt, black jeans, and trainers, and walked to his car, inhaling and exhaling to keep his nerves down. He started driving very slowly, and then kept a normal pace. He arrived at the practice a few minutes earlier, very nervous. As he walked into the building, he crossed ways with people who obviously were battling cancer. He looked down, sad for his own life. He shared the elevator with two people: a mother and a daughter. The young girl had no hair left and she was crying, leaning onto her mum for comfort. He was speechless, what could he say? An introvert like him didn't really know what to say even in ordinary occasions!

He finally arrived in the waiting room, ready to know the results of his tests, with a glimmer of hope that the situation wasn't as serious as his family doctor had diagnosed.

A female doctor walked to him and commanded him to follow her to the office.

He sat on a chair, opposite to hers, and she had a complaining tone in her approach:

"I would need to have access to your medical record, Mr. Larking."

"Well, since I'm just asking for a second opinion, you know? I don't wanna put my family doctor's professionalism in question."

"Of course, I understand. But that's a right, you have a right to ask for a second opinion." She was imperative. "Anyway, just let me ask you the following questions, then." The doctor started suspecting something. "Before you were diagnosed with cancer, did you have any symptoms like strong headaches, blurred vision, extreme fatigue, or any other uncommon symptoms to report?"

Adam looked at her with his piercing eyes and replied:

"No, nothing that I can think of right now." He forgot that he had a series of headaches before his diagnosis.

"Alright." She wrote a few notes on a pad and looked back at him, the least intimidated by him. "How was your cancer diagnosed?"

"A check-up."

The doctor looked at him with an inquiring look, and that compelled him to add some more information to make his story plausible:

"I went for a routine check-up and the doctor said that my blood tests were very intriguing that he wanted to investigate those values."

"And what tests have you undergone?"

"Another blood test, and an MRI."

From the answers he gave to her questions, she could tell that something wasn't properly done.

"I think I could guess that..." She tried very hard to hide her indignation. "Anyway, was there a clear and detailed communication about your health situation?"

Adam had a blind trust in his family doctor - Doctor Robert Simmons. He had been the Larking's family doctor for decades. Thus, it was hard for Adam to put Dr. Simmons' procedures to check.

"I trust my doctor. He's been in the family for ages. I don't even question him."

"Well, with all due respect, Mr. Larking," She introduced. "You have no cancer whatsoever."

She laid his lab tests and MRI results on the desk before him and started explaining everything in detail, and what he should see in those results if he actually had cancer.

Adam was perplexed for a moment, his face was pale. His doctor hadn't shown him any of his results.

"Take your time." She announced. "I need to check something, I'll be back."

There was a lot to process. He was so distressed that he couldn't sleep that night. Still, he had a plan on what he should do first, and that was: confronting his family doctor - Doctor Robert Simmons.

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Debora was at home preparing something for dinner, excitedly singing a song. She always sang whenever Joel wasn't around. He had barely heard her sing off the church stage, but on that day after coming from the phone store to get a new smartphone, because he's had many technical problems, he heard her voice from the hall. He opened the door cautiously and kept tiptoeing to the sound of her voice. When he walked to the kitchen, he decided to just observe her while he wasn't noticed. When she moved about the kitchen to get an extra plate for the duck bones and saw him, she screamed at the top of her lungs and raised her arms in fright.

"Joel!" She tried to compose herself right away. "I didn't see you there..." She said in a complaining tone.

He tried not to make a fuss of her singing; he realized how uncomfortable she was.

"Here's a letter for you!" He threw the letter onto the counter and disappeared.

There was a governmental seal on the letter, it was something from Court, for sure, but that didn't prevent her from checking on her friend Joel first, who was in the living room, lying down on the couch, looking at the void with a sad gaze on his face.

"Is everything alright?" She sat at the end of the couch near his smelly feet.

"Yeah!"

"Your feet are smelling." She commented, standing.

He looked at her in a complaining tone and then looked away. He was upset with something, and Debora didn't know why.

"Was it something I said?"

"I can't find inspiration for the photo prize." He disclosed. "The deadline is in two days."

"Maybe I can help you," Debora suggested.

"Well..." He sat up, grabbed his new phone, and showed her a few of the pictures he didn't consider horrible. "Maybe I need to drive around for other photos."

"What kind of photos do you need?" She wasn't an expert, but a good listener and helpful when she put her mind to it.

"Something provocative." He declared. "I know you're not a fan of photos, but Photography is a form of art." He was passionate when he talked about something in his area of expertise.

He reached out for her hand and pulled her down to sit next to him. As she sat down and her leg touched his, she felt something that she had only felt with Adam. She swallowed hard and discreetly moved away from him.

"My smelly feet?" He wondered why she had moved away from him so fast, they had been close like that before and that wasn't a problem.

"What?" She was out of context.

"You moved away from me because of my smelly feet?" He rephrased, looking at her in the eyes.

When her eyes met his, she suddenly felt very shy, as if he could tell everything that she was feeling. Then she looked away.

"Are you alright?" He was intrigued.

"Just show me the pictures." To shake it off, she was a bit rude.

He mumbled an okay and then showed her some of the pictures. There was one photo that caught her eye because it featured one of her favorite colors: clay.

"I love the colors in this one."

First, he scoffed at her, and then gave her a try:

"And what does this picture express?"

"The fight of a man against extreme weather conditions... The drought, I don't know..."

He was surprised that hers seemed to be an idea with potential, so he looked in her eyes, satisfied. Unfortunately, Debora didn't know why Joel was affecting her like that and walked away from him with a feeble excuse.