Beneath The Orange Sunset ✔️

19

~19~

It was half past seven and the two siblings watched the friendly stranger chew up chunks of spicy pasta slops and roast beef across the sitting room.

Outside the house, the early birds chirped away in the morning lights. Mild breeze sipped into the apartment through the open vertical blinds.

Joelene Jacquet returned to the sink where she leaned in after pacing about the small kitchen. Her pretty face was pale with worry, her hair still messy from last night rest. Samuel was hunched over, at the kitchen table thinking about the consequences of the drastic decision he made earlier in the morning.

    "Why did you bring him here?" Joelene whispered aloud throwing her hands in the air. She had no patience to listen to the rest of the story.

    "I had nowhere else to take him," Samuel whispered back. "This was the safest place I could think of."

    "Are you crazy? What about the hospital? What if something happens to him here."

    "He will be fine! Calm down Joey. I've contacted Doctor Henri."

    "What? What is he going to do if he comes here?"

    "Treat him..."

Joelene smirked and paced some more. She folded the sleeves of her purple pyjamas.
    "This is dangerous Samuel," she said.

    "I know. This have gotten out of hand. He was poisoned!"

    "You will do well to take him to the hospital right now."

    "He is in a bad shape. I can't take him to some hospital to see a doctor set up by his mother. I can't do that."

Maxime knew from the whispers the siblings made that they were talking about him. He was rich, blind and almost died, of course that's something to talk about.

He licked his pale lips savoring the lingering spiciness of the meal he just ate. He had been deprived of his favorite meal since the accident.

He had been deprived of a lot of things.

He felt stronger in this few minutes than he had ever felt in over a year.

He slipped the empty white plate onto the tray resting on his lap.

    "Samuel..."

The medical assistant trotted over to his side within seconds. He took the tray off him.

His bodily scent filled Maxime's nose.
    "Can I have water to drink, please?"

    "Sure." Samuel picked up the small sized bottle water which was served with the meal and opened it. He handed it to Maxime.

He inhaled as he watched the pale looking young man gulp down the contents in the bottle. He glanced at his sister in the corner. He recalled her reaction when she had met them at her door this morning. It had been a tussle.

He had arrived at the Lacroix mansion at about five thirty, rang the doorbell for over fifteen minutes before Henrietta appeared. Emile was nowhere in sight and he had to convince Henrietta that it was Emile's orders to bring Maxime to the hospital.

Bringing Maxime to his sister's house was never part of his plan.
He couldn't risk taking the poor boy to the same hospital knowing that Emile could also be working with the doctors there.

With the help of Joelene, Samuel had resuscitated the young man, performed first aid on him and bath him with warm water. He never allowed Joelene to notice how weak he was inside seeing the condition of Maxime.