Unexpected Rendezvous

Complications

*Gallert Alistair Hammond's POV*

Day 2

I was awoken by a tap on my shoulder. My eyes felt heavy and I rubbed them sleepily before adjusting my focus on my surroundings. The room had a cream wallpaper and 6 armchairs - where I sat on one. Separating the armchairs, were 2 small rectangle glass tables. On the right corner of the room, stood magazine and newspaper racks. The small room was illuminated by white neon lights and the smell was very distinct - a smell of alcohols and disinfectants.

Rowena Hart was now sitted across from me and she handed me a paper cup. I took the cup from her hand and gave her a tired smile in return.
"Coffee... to give us a bit of energy," she said sleepily.
It took me a moment to observed her face carefully. She got bags under her eyes and she was not as cheerful as she usually was. We were both exhausted and I didn't even realize that I must have fallen asleep in the private waiting room. How on earth did I end up here anyway?

"Thank you," I replied sleepily, "How did we get into this room anyway?"
"Oh... after the blood donation procedure, I asked the nurse if there is a room for us to rest for a while, and she escorted us here. She said that you need to have a long rest, because you've donated so much blood and that you might feel a little bit dizzy from that," she replied.
"Right. I couldn't remember that at all. Thank you for finding us a place to rest. Did you get any sleep at all?" I asked her with an arched eyebrow.

Rowena was looking down at her cup and she shook her head weakly, "no..." she sighed before continuing, "I couldn't sleep at all. I'm worried about Alex, so I went back and forth to the ICU to check up on him."
I reached for her hand and sighed, " I know... but you need to rest, my dear. Why don't you go back to the manor to rest and freshen up, then you can come back here tomorrow? I'll call Damian to pick you up in the lobby. I'll stay here to look after Alexander. Don't worry..."
Rowena seemed hesitant at first, but I knew she was exhausted, so in the end, she agreed.

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The rest of the morning passed uneventfully and Lucius came by the hospital to bring me some documents that I needed to sign and to make sure that I got everything I needed. He even brought me fresh clothes and shoes.

"Sir... I've been getting phone calls from the newspaper and television stations all morning. Looks like the word is out and we can't contained it anymore," Lucius said to me.
"What word?" I asked in annoyance.
"Master Alexander's accident, sir. Apparently Mr. McGetigan enclosed the information that it was Master Alexander's car that had crashed yesterday. The media would like to confirm this story to you," he sighed.
"A complication caused by an unresponsible person. Can you ask Philip to handle the press-conference? I hired him to deal exactly with this kind of matters," I said through gritted teeth.

Philip was the head of public and media relations for Hammond World Bank and he had been working for me as long as I could remember. He was quite good at his job. He was a brilliant man, someone who was energetic, someone who had creative ideas, someone who always knew what to say towards the public. Philip Preston became an employee when he was 23 years old, he was now 45 years old. I could say with confidence that he was one of the best employee I had ever hired.

"I did make a call to Mr. Preston regarding this matter, but he insisted that you should be there to make a stronger statement," Lucius answered.
"Fine. Tell him to prepare the briefing documents and ask him to do the conference here, in 4 hours. I'm not leaving my son," I said before walking out, leaving Lucius behind.