His Third Wife

Chapter 2

I followed the instructions as I was told by my manager. I approached the VIP wing without a fuss at all. When I reached the reception area. I told them that I was there to deliver food to room 6b.

"What's your name?", the old woman asked. "It's Zaria Ma'am", I said while pointing a finger at my name tag. When she saw it, she smiled and nodded her head while pointing to her left. "Thank you", i said then approached the room she pointed at.

I found a woman struggling to get out of the hospital bed. I followed my instincts, placed the food on the table, and rushed towards her. I almost touched her when I saw a sanitiser bottle next to the bed. I took it and applied the sanitiser to my hands. When I turned to offer her my help, I found her studying me. Her eyes fell on my name tag and she relaxed instantly.

"Ma'am do you need help getting up?", I asked and she nodded. It was like she was in pain. I helped her get into a sitting position. She released a breath and then pointed to the door behind me. I pulled her off the bed and held her hands until we reached it.

It was the bathroom.

"A shower, p-please", she struggled but I understood. It was not my first rodeo after all. My Mum got sick and hospitalised once and i had to help Dad take care of her.

I positioned her on a supporting pipe that was attached to the wall, no doubt put there for patients who needed to hold on to something as they walked.

When she looked stable, I opened the shower and fixed the water to warm then helped her remove the hospital gown. I was surprised to see that she didn't resist.

I took the shower gel and squeezed it on the sponge and handed it to her. As she slowly cleaned herself. I looked around the room and saw folded towels. I took one and waited for her to finish. When she did I covered her and helped her back to the room where we found three men helping themselves to the food I brought.

They stood up the moment they noticed us and worry covered their faces. "Your Highness, are you alright?", one of them asked. "Yes Lin. Please eat", she said then we continued to approach the bed. I pulled the curtain around us so we could have privacy and looked for a change of clothes. I found a clean set of hospital gowns and helped her get dressed.

"Why is the curtain closed?", a familiar voice asked. "She's getting dressed Sir", the other replied. "I was just talking to her nurse. She's at the reception, so who's with her now?", the familiar voice asked again. "It's the woman from the restaurant, Your Majesty", someone replied again. We heard footsteps approaching the curtain and stopped when the shoes were visible at the bottom of the curtains.

"Mother? Are you decent?", he asked. "Yes", the woman said while pressing the remote to get the bed elevated. The curtain was opened. It was the Asian guy! No wonder they requested for me.

"Hello, Zaria. Thank you for helping my mother and bringing the food", he said with a warm smile. "It's no trouble at all", i said looking away from him and hearing a giggle. When I turned to his mother, she was all smiles.

"I have to get back to work. Get well soon Ma'am", i said then squeezed her hand lightly. "I'll walk you out", he said. "No! It's ok. You don't need to. Besides, Your Mother needs to eat the food will get cold", I said then walked out of the room fast before he could change his mind.

What just happened? Why did I help the woman instead of calling the nurse? The better question is, why would she let a stranger help her? I had so many questions that I ended up walking past the restaurant until one of my co-workers called me, making me turn to see I was about to cross the street in the other direction.

"Zaria, is everything ok? You looked lost", he asked. "Yeah Reggie, something weird just happened at the hospital that's all", I said then went back to work.

One of the waitresses got sick in the middle of the shift and I had to work overtime to cover for her. I hated late shifts. They made me miss game night and forced me to take an Uber home.

I hated spending money unnecessarily.

"I'm sorry Zaria. I had no other choice", my manager said when we were closing up making me nod and sign out. I called an Uber and bounced.

As expected, I found Dad waiting for me in the living room. "Hey kiddo, how was work?", he asked while standing up and switching off the TV. "Tiring, you?", I asked while pulling a stool next to the kitchen counter. "I lost a client again", he said looking devastated.

He owned a dry cleaning company and had three motels that he had a contract with along with a few individuals. But most of his money came from the contractual customers.

"I'm sorry Dad for everything. I should have listened to you", I said and a tear fell from my eyes. He rushed to me and hugged me. "There's nothing to be sorry for kiddo. He fooled us all. He'll get what's coming for him", he said making me hold on tighter.

When I calmed down, he pulled away, kissed my forehead, and went to bed. I closed up and took a shower.

When my face hit the pillow I was a goner.

Two Days Later

I love having a day off. I get to sleep for as long as I wanted and watch cooking shows on my phone while snuggling in the sheets.

My happy place.

It was all sunshines and rainbows until my phone rang. It was Reggie. He never calls me. "Hello", "Your prince charming came and asked for you. He sure looked pissed when the Manager refused to give him your phone number", he said with a laugh. "What? What happened exactly", I asked thinking I heard wrong.

"Women! You remember the Asian dude that everyone was ogling about?", he asked. "Yes Reggie, I'm not blonde. What did he say to Theresa?", I asked losing my patience. "Buzz kill! Anyways, he walked in with his goons and had an older woman with him. They went to Theresa and asked to see you. Something about his mum wanting to thank you for helping her. When she said you were off duty today, he asked for your number because they were leaving the country. Theresa said no. Something about policy and shit. The dude almost lost his nuts but the woman he was with told him to chill and they left. Is that well detailed for you?", he asked but I couldn't answer.

What the hell!