Hey Pretty Stranger

・❥・ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ-22 Unfortunate side effects

"I'm telling you it was just a mild headache and I just fainted, nothing too big sweetie," Emily said softly as she placed a hand on the side of her son's cheeks, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

Max was sitting near her bed, doing nothing but ask again and again if she's alright or not for the past one whole hour.

"Yeah that's why the doctor told you to take bed rest for at least a month, didn't he?" Leah couldn't help but say, rolling her eyes at her mother's negligence towards her own health.

She gave a tight lipped smile, turning her face towards the corner where Leah stood in a ribbed knit cropped jumper with her hands in the pockets of her high waist straight leg denim jeans.

"Leah, honey, you don't always have to talk in that sarcastic language. Learn to speak in simple english too, can you?"

There was a silent pause across the large elizabethan styled luxurious room with a king size bed in the middle and cozy armchairs and victorian paintings on the wall. It had a cool, elegant atmosphere around it which was quite familiar and unwillingly pleasant to Max, who had seen this room since he was little but never visited it often, mostly since it was also used by his father along with his mother. The whole mansion had been renovated since, but just this one room still had that old architecture which screamed 'royal' from every single corner.

Max placed a hand on Emilie's forehead, "Mom you shouldn't overwork yourselves. What if the servants weren't around you that time? You know it could have been dangerous." He frowned when he thought about what could have happened had they not called Leah immediately.

Emily gently removed his hand and holded it in hers as she smiled, "I know you're worried but I just can't sit around relaxing at home when your dad works so hard for us right?"

Max's mood sulkened at the reason she gave him. She had been saying the same thing for over ten years now; and despite Max's continuous disapprovals over it, Emily does not discontinue to agree with this reason.

"Come on Mom," he muttered as he looked away, annoyed knowing that he cannot win from her.

"Hey look at me," Emily put a hand on his face to turn him towards her, "It's okay. I'm fine. Just go home and sleep, Max. Do you even know what time is it?"

Max looked at his mother's face, paler than usual and tired but still soft and radiant as ever. Her eyes were like two calm lakes with a never-ending serenity in them.

"I'll stay here a bit more," he said confidently.

She made a face at him when he refused to relax and go. But then she got an idea. "You wanna stay here? Why not, then I'll have your room prepared for you. It's been so desolate lately. It's great to finally have you back home," she sighed dramatically and Max knew she's doing it on purpose.

"Jeez mom, fine. You win. I'm going to my apartment," he stood up and after a small kiss on her forehead, he turned to the door grabbing his jacket in the way.

But his legs slowed down and stopped when he found his father standing near the threshold. He came in, still in his usual work clothes suit and tie, and glanced at Emily, sitting on the bed with the earnest features.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

Max couldn't help but scorn at his father's dereliction of duty as he glowered angrily at him. "Why are you asking her if she's okay or not? It does not concern you anyways," he said in a satirical way to him, "You didn't even consider coming home to your sick wife immediately. It's been two hours since she's suffering. And what do you do? Tell the maids to take care of her instead of yourself while you're at an important business meeting?"