WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS

FIVE

You know that moment when you realize that your life is not in your hands, but you can't do anything about it but dance to the rhythm played for you? Samantha realized that a week after her conversation with her father.

He had suddenly fainted at work and was airlifted to the nearest hospital. There was a carnival in the area, and Samantha felt traffic would be too slow, and she didn't want to risk his life. When they got to the hospital, the doctor had said the one word, she hadn't expected to hear- the mighty Mr Frederick Jones had suffered a heart attack!

His doctor, A bubbly black American, Dr Marian Foster sternly warned Samantha not to stress her patient or do anything to make her patient worse because any slight restlessness could cause more damage.

Hearing this new information and seeing her father hooked up to machines with tubes running in and out of his body scared her shitless. She was a strong woman, emotionally and physically, but suddenly the floor had shifted under her feet.

Her father wasn't just blood, he was her only living relative. She didn't have cousins or uncles. Her father and her mother were both orphans. That was how they connected in the first place. The fear that anything could happen to her only blood relative made her more terrified than she thought possible.

Frederick looked unlike himself. He looked weak and helpless lying on the bed unresponsive. It was terrifying. His skin was pale and his ragged breathing echoing across the room was too unbearable to hear and for the next three days, he was unconscious.

At the company, Samantha worked and tried her best not to act like her life wasn't breaking all around her. Composed and strong was the image she portrayed in the daytime at work because if she also broke down, everything her father worked hard on would go down the drain.

At night, she visited the hospital and sat by his bed. Praying to any God that was listening to give her more time with him. She didn't look composed and strong at night, rather she looked broken. Any slight blow of the wind could send her flying and falling on her knees.

The idea of being all alone engulfed her to the point that she found it hard to breathe.

[|]

"Hi, Samantha" Doctor Foster smiled gently at the young woman seated opposite her in the consultation room.

"Doctor Foster" Samantha tried to force a smile back but gave up when she realized she was only making a funny face.

"I think you should also get checked in. The past few days must have been hell"

Samantha shakes her head and waves her hands quickly. "Not at all. I am fine" she sighs in relief. "My dad is awake. That is all that matters"

A look face across the doctor's face but it disappears as soon as it had appeared, making Samantha think she had imagined it.

"Why did you want to see me?" Samantha asks, staring at the doctor intensively. "If it is about my health. I can assure you that I am totally fine"

"I was thinking about your health too but I called you in because of your father," Foster says gently.

"My fath-" Samantha shakes her head as if she were trying to shake away some thoughts. "I don't understand. He is awake and healthy, isn't he?"

Foster gently holds Samantha's hands across the table. Her eyes were almost pitiful as she stared at the younger woman. "Your father is-'

Samantha pushes away. She was standing now. Her eyes fired at Foster as if daring her to say something negative. "He is fine! Right?"