A Pearl In The Oyster ☑️

2. La décision - The Decision

As soon as I knocked on the door, and heart a faint 'Come in', I stepped inside a faded brown door. The room was quite familiar to me, and the scent of disinfectants was now a habitual occurrence in my life.

Right in front of me, was a desk - worn out wood with papers scattered all over, a computer on the right, and en elderly man sitting behind it. Glasses on his nose, he looked every bit the same person I'd seen when I first met him six years ago. The only difference was his rapidly thinning dark hair.

"Dr. Laurent. How have you been?" I greeted him, and he finally looked up from his computer.

He didn't smile at me like he usually did. Instead, he sighed heavily. The lines around his mouth were still, not moving an inch from their position. My returning smile dropped, seeing that expression on his face. Cold ice creeped back into my veins, stilling the hot running blood in them.

Something was wrong with mama.

I carefully sat down in the rustic brown metal chair, every muscle in my body screaming at me in danger. In that moment, I wanted to stop time, to freeze the second hand running through the cold planes of the clock. I just wanted to stall that bad news as much as I could.

Was it that hard for me to attain happiness, even if it were for just a moment?

"Liz dear, glad you came today. I was going to call you anyway," he said, his tone betraying the words that were coming next.

"My mama... is something wrong with her?" I couldn't even recognize my own voice. I couldn't believe I could sound this terrified.

"I- yes. I feel like it's better for me to just be upfront with you. We've been fighting for her together since a long time now, so there's no need to beat around the bush."

Of course, there wasn't. Still, words put harshly under the unforgiving light of the truth were much harder to believe.

"As you know, your mama was in remission just until last week, and things were finally looking upward. But, the tests we took two weeks ago have arrived. It looks like she has gone way lower than before. The tumor in her stomach is resurfacing, and spreading at an alarming rate. At this rate, I feel like- no. At this rate, I know I won't be able to handle it anymore. I'm aware of your financial condition, but as a doctor, I can't be over confident and play with her life. You should move her to a good hospital in Paris, as soon as you can."

Numb. That's what I felt. Yes, I just heard that my mama could die if she didn't get special attention. I also heard about all the complications in detail, but nothing was settling inside my brain. It was like a certain buzzing one heard, when there's a connection problem between two phones.

It was a childhood defense mechanism. To shut my inner self from pain, from tragedy. Even though my world might be falling apart, it didn't exactly affect me as greatly as it should have. Sometimes, I was grateful that I was like that, but other times, I felt like beating myself up. Like today.

I wanted to feel something so bad. To tremble in fear. To feel tears falling down my cheeks. To clutch my chest as the pain tortured it. But, it didn't happen. I didn't feel sad, or devastated. It was just another day for me, just another bad news.

'If you listen and agree to my terms, I promise you that I can take care of everything. Your mother's hospital expenses, the debt you have on your shoulders, and I will even offer you a job at Panache.'

The words replayed in my head for the millionth time since he had spoken them, and I finally started to see his offer in a different light. As cunning and crafty it was, that offer seemed like the only light in my life.

But then, I thought about the condition he'd kept, and it brought me more despair that I'd ever felt. 'You have to marry my son, André, for a year. And discipline him in a way that he forgets what being spoiled is. That's all you have to do.'

Just like I'd heard of Florian, I'd heard of him too. It was kind of impossible, because he was just that kind of man. Ridiculously famous, unreasonably wealthy, and a player bad boy. At least that's what all these tabloids called him. I called him beauf.

(Rude and vulgar man.)

I wasn't sure if I was in the condition to make demands or choose, but what I knew was that old man was very manipulative and quite convincing as well. He had carefully done his research, and hit me at all my weak spots. He left me with no other escape, totally mobilizing me with one thing he had in abundance - money.

I sighed deeply, before opening the door to my mama's room. There she was, her frail form barely taking up any space on the medium sized bed. Staring outside through the window, she didn't notice me entering.

"Salut mama, comment ça va?" I greeted her, and saw how her dull face got brighter.

(Hi, mom. How are you?)

She smiled at me, like she always did. No matter what, she always smiled at me. Never showing her difficulties, never highlighting her pain. Always showing that she was fine. It was impossible for someone to always be happy, but she made it seem like the most natural thing in the world.

"Mon bébé, viens ici!" She quickly enveloped me in her bony arms, giving me a big hug.

(My baby, come here!)

Even though her body was cold, I felt warm and safe and protected in them. It had always been like that - one hug from her, and I would forget everything. When I was in her arms, nothing could get to me. Nobody could hurt me. She was my only solace, my only joy in life.

"Tu vas bien? Comment est le travail?" She kept asking me questions about myself, never once curious about herself.

(Are you okay? How is work?)

"Mama, tout va bien. I'm okay." I tried to reassure her, but she must have noticed the worry in my eyes.

(Mom, everything is fine.)

How she could see such things was beyond me, but I couldn't hide myself from her no matter how hard I tried. Maybe it was because she was the only one in my life who paid so much attention to me.

The more I looked into her pale blue eyes, the more despair I felt. The urgency of the situation was just now hitting me. Hard. I was just now realizing, that it wouldn't be good if she wasn't in my life.

And I would do everything to keep her by my side. Anything.

"Mama, j'ai quelque chose à vous dire. J'ai un nouveau job. Mon job de rêve."

(Mom, I have something to tell you. I got a new job. My dream job.)

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