18th Birthday

3 - "Debts for an Unknown Sickness"

Inside the deluxe room, the family gathered as Margaret regained consciousness. Fredrick, worried sick about his wife, asked, “Are you alright dear?”

“Mama…” sighed Evon. Margaret made a huge smile on her face and told them, “I’m fine, everyone.”

Evon sobered a little. Her mother noticed and then asked, “Evon, honey, why are you crying?”

“I thought…something…bad…”, stuttered Evon. Margaret landed a pat on her daughter’s head and assured, “Now now…stop crying~ See? I’m alright now.”

“But…”, doubted Evon. Her mother shook her hair and persuaded, “You still have your debut to prepare for, dear.”

“She’ll be fine Evon.” Fredrick embraced his daughter and whispered to her not to worry. Ian saw them from outside and smiled.

“That crybaby…”, smirked Ian.

A few hours later, Margaret was discharged from the hospital. She’s back to being energetic as she always was. Ian had the chance to go home and have some rest. Evon took care of things for her debut while her father closely monitored her mother’s health at their house.

“Dear, here’s some sweet kiwis.” offered her husband. Margaret smiled with delight, opened her mouth ate the kiwis, and said, “Why thank you honey~”

Evon arrived home from a boutique where she bought a white daisy-embroidered gown.

“Look at this, ma!” she happily told and showed the gown her mother. Margaret took hold of the gown, was amazed of its fine texture, and praised it, “It’s gorgeous and splendid, dear!”

Evon hugged her mom and kissed her forehead. Meanwhile at his home, Ian researched about Margaret’s sickness on the internet. He scrolled down a few pages on a website he found and read, “When a person experiences a severe heart failure, a heart transplant is necessary for the person in order to be saved.”

He searched through a lot of different web resources to know the qualifications of a heart donor. A few clicks later, he found a website and read the following lines, “The primary qualification of a heart donor must be a person who is brain dead.”

(This is a difficult qualification), he thought.

“And the heart must go through several screening processes to ensure its capability when donated.” He continued reading and searching for other sources. His dad, who just came home from work, quietly sneaked up in his room and startled him.

“Bwaah!”

Ian fell from his seat, and then his dad laugh boisterously.

“Geez dad…what was that for?”

Dr. Williams took a look at his monitor and calm downed from laughing. He smiled a bit and asked, “You do really care for Evon’s mom, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” he answered. Then, the doctor pondered on a thought and told his son, “You know…I’m starting to wonder if it’s Evon you’re in love with or her mom.”

(Aren’t you an idiot for wondering that dad?), he thought. However, Ian coughed out and asked his dad, “Can’t a living person be a heart donor dad?”

The doctor looked at Ian’s eyes and saw how serious they were and mockingly asked back, “Isn’t that good as murder son?”

“What if a person wants to donate his heart even if he’s still alive?” he added. The doctor immediately answered, “The thought itself is against the rule of surgery.”

“Ohh…” he nodded. The doctor wondered why his son asked these questions, and then came up with a dangerous thought, “Wait a sec… Why are you asking me all this things? Don’t tell me you are willing to go that far?”