18th Birthday

7 - "The Struggle for 10%"

Ian effortlessly waved his hand in front of Dorothy, who was spacing out for quite some time, and called her out, “Hello~ Earth to Miss. Impostor?”

After her reminiscence, she came back to her senses and found Ian staring at her. The refreshing look in his face reminded her of the day she received the pink teddy bear. Later did she only notice that she was already blushing when Ian teased her, “Hey, you’re blushing~”

She shook her face, punched Ian’s right cheek, and called him, “IDIOT!”

Her strength was enough to make him stumble and fall on the grass. Although he felt his cheek burning, he could still see her blushing and said, “You sure are one powerful girl, Miss Impostor.”

Dorothy managed to hold her anger and reasoned out, “If it weren’t for me…”

But before she could even finish what she was saying, tears already have flown from her eyes while she clenched her fists. And then, a fragrant scent caught her attention. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a handkerchief held in front of her. It was Ian’s; offering his hanky to wipe her tears and said, “Hey, cheer up. I don’t want to see a girl crying.”

Dorothy grabbed the handkerchief and turned away from him and scolded him, “Hypocrite! I don’t want to hear that from a guy who just made a girl cry!”

(Geez. They may look the same but are obviously opposite.)

Ian smiled and looked at the sky. Then, Dorothy took a handkerchief inside her pocket and gave it to him and said, “Take this. I don’t want to owe you anything.”

He received the hanky with yet, another refreshing smile while Dorothy was still sober. As time passed by, a scream from inside the house was heard; it was Evon’s voice screaming, “MAMA!”

They were alarmed by such a disturbing scream. Dorothy helped Ian stand up and asked, “Wasn’t that Evon’s voice?”

“Quick! Lets see what happened!” insisted Ian and then they rushed towards the front door and saw Margaret lying on Fredrick’s lap. Evon repeatedly shouted her mom’s name to wake her up, but there was no response, “MAMA! MAMA! WAKE UP!”

She became hysterical at that time. Ian held her back and Dorothy accompanied his brother who was carrying his wife to the car. It was the second collapse that the doctor told them before. Fredrick rushed Margaret to the hospital and then into the emergency room.

Before the emergency room doors closed, they told Dr. Williams to do everything to save her. As the procedure was going on, they stood outside, praying for her to be alright. Inside, the doctor asked his subordinates to check Margaret’s vital signs. He looked at her pitifully and thought, (Man, the second one sure came fast.)

After applying measures for precaution, the doctor managed to stabilize Margaret and placed her inside the Intensive Care Unit. He went out and immediately spoke to Fredrick with regards to the situation. Evon insisted on staying, but Fredrick said, “I’ll tell you everything later, sweetie.”

Ian and Dorothy persuaded her away from the two so that they could seriously talk about the situation.

Evon turned a bit around and struggled to listen to the slightest words as possible. Ian pat on her shoulder and said, “Just let them be for a while. I’m sure we will know everything later.”

As they walked out of the hospital entrance, Dorothy’s phone suddenly rang. She wondered, “Why is my brother calling me all of a sudden?”

It was an incoming call from Fredrick. She answered the call but it seemed like her brother accidentally pressed the call button. However, as she was about to drop the call, she accidentally pressed the loud speaker button. The other two noticed it as well and overhears the conversation between the doctor and Fredrick.

The doctor seemed to cough a bit and said, “Your wife wouldn’t stand a chance if she doesn’t find a compatible heart donor.”

“How much time does she have left, doc?” asked Fredrick. He became silent all of a sudden, but a few seconds later he answered, “If we can’t perform the surgery in a week and a half, her condition will get worse.”

They froze upon hearing the conversation. Dorothy wanted to drop the call, but her hands became numb as well.

Shocked and devastated with what’s going on, Evon calmly took her aunt’s phone and continued listening to her dad’s conversation with Dr. Williams.

“I’ll check on the brain –dead patients and let you know if they are willing to donate their heart” the doctor added. Fredrick exhaled a bit and begged, “I’m counting on you for that, doc. Please… save my wife…”

Dorothy’s phone was already at its limit due to low battery power, so the call immediately ended. Evon started crying. The two tried comforting her but it just made the crying worse.

“Why does this have to happen?” she asked. Seeing how she was crying, Ian couldn’t help himself but cried as well and thought, (Isn’t there something I can do to make her stop? It hurts me to see her crying.)

Dorothy felt his sentiments and thought, (This guy…I know exactly that feeling…)

It took them a while to release the frustrations encircling their heads. Later as things become calm, Ian and Dorothy accompanied Evon back inside the hospital and went to Fredrick to confirm about what they heard. Slowly as the two of them walked, holding each other’s hands, Dorothy at the back slightly bit her lips and sighed, “Could this be the exact feeling when you are hurting because your love is suffering from pain as well?”

Then she felt tears flowing down from her eyes. At that time, she didn’t know what she already felt was called “Jealousy”. However, she decided to discard that feeling upon catching up to them so to not look affected. Back outside the Intensive Care Unit, they saw Dr. Williams ended the conversation with Fredrick.

He wondered why they looked so gloomy but, Evon took the initiative to ask, “Is what the doctor said true? If mama couldn’t find a heart donor…”

Fredrick interrupted his daughter’s question and told her straight to the point, “Yes, dear…”

Evon started crying again. She was crying even louder now. Ian, standing beside her, remembered what his dad told him, (Don’t you ever think about killing yourself for the heart donation.)

(I know that… But I really want to help them…) Ian thought. Fredrick then embraced his daughter and said, “I’ll do everything to save your mother, okay?”

“Papa…”

Evon somehow managed to stop crying and started to pray solemnly for her mother’s recovery. Ian snuck out from the scene to see his father. Dorothy saw him leaving but decided not to stop him and thought, (What’s he up to?)

And so, Ian walked until he reached his father’s office. He knocked before opening the door, and then saw his father working with some papers on his desk.

“Ian? What brings you here?” the doctor asked. He was exhausted from all the stress, went straight to the point and said, “Dad… Tell me the truth.”

The doctor looked serious and answered, “Her chances of living are at most… 10%…”