AROUND THE HEART IN 80 DAYS

Forty Seven

His car was driving only as fast as the roads could allow him. She had no idea if it was what was the Afrezza or because the fear of the present situation but her episode seemed to be coming under control. He wouldn't even spare her a small glance neither did he want to utter a word. For minutes, it was simply the automatic voice from his GPS that filled the car as it gave them directions to Charity Hospital.
She was certain that he was going to take this very bad especially now that it was coupled with the incident of the other night. For the moment, she was grateful that she was even seeing him after so many days.

"Edrei, please, let's talk this out. Let me explain everything."

He steered right to overtake a pickup truck that was going suspiciously slow for some weird reason.

"Edrei, talk to me. Please. We have to discuss some things." She was talking on much garnered strength. He fondly called her 'dear' so many times afore but she wished he would call her that again at this point. Him being mad at her was far more painful than the hammering in her chest. Tears trailed down her face and no matter how hard she tried to scrub at her eyes, there was no stopping a broken dam.

He didn't want to speak still. What was going on in his head, she wondered. Seeing he would not reply to her anytime soon, she painfully bit her lip inward and turned to stare at the window and at the snow that fell in powdered spray from the sky. People walked and talked on the street seemingly so innocent and oblivious of confrontations. How she envied them.

After a heavy stretch of silence, she at last started to recognise the familiar streets leading to the hospital. She started to regret. Had she known, she would have been here earlier and avoided all these. But the truth must always come out one way or the other.

Her body lurched forward when the car came to a stop right in front of the major entrance. She turned quicky to look at him. His lips were pinched and he reached for his phone to end the GPS application.

"I'm sorry. Please don't ignore me, give me a chance to explain."

Finally, he started. "You can tell me now that you just recently got diabetic. That's all I need you to say to me. That you did not step into my house with an underlying illness. That you did not lie to me when I asked you. That you did not spend months in my house while keeping that a secret."

"I had to! Please understand I had to. I desperately needed the opportunity and I could not let it pass me by."

"I advise you get out of my car and get yourself treated before you... faint in front of me."

"Edrei, trust me, I'm OK. Nothing bad is going to happen to me. I'm a little bit stable now. Let's clear the air between us."

"She says to trust her," he scoffed. "You want to talk?"

"Yes, let's talk this out I'm begging you."

"Fine. I'll ask some questions and all I need is yes or no from you."

She nodded eagerly.

"You said just now that you couldn't say the truth about your health because you were scared Rebecca would not allow you to go on with that whole mission of hers."

Jacqueline nodded.

"And Rebecca sent you to my house for a specific mission because as it turns out, the last person who stayed with me was ill and she died," he didn't wait for a response for that. "You came in fully aware of that. We'll leave that aside. Both of us got closer which would have been the best time to tell me about your illness but you didn't even though there's nothing I've hidden from you," he raised up a hand to stop her from making an attempt to retaliate, "we'll leave that aside too. I started taking interest, something that we honestly knew would happen anyway. You pulled away first. Truthfully, it was because you didn't think of me in the same way as I did. Right?"