If I can't have you

Chapter 16

Myrna Schmitt could only sit and gawk at her son. For the possible first time ever in her life she was at a loss for words on what to say. Her son had proposed marriage to a man that he had known for a little over six months and she was totally shellshocked. She was sure that this was not the son that she had raised for over twenty years. She had raised a geeky, kind boy who would stutter endlessly before getting to the point that he had been trying to explain for ten minutes. Here before her lay a man who was seemingly confided in himself as well as his actions which had made her almost feel like pressing her hand to his forehead like she had done when he was little to see if he was running a temperature that was making him spout this nonsense. But this was her son, she knew that. This was the boy that she had raised to be kind and selfless and loving. The kind of man that a person had needed in their life even if it was just for a few seconds to brighten their day.

She was shaken out of her half monologue when there was a knock at the door and a tall blond man entered the room. "Sorry to disturb the two of you but, Levi, Nico's been asking about you ever since we heard what happened and since I can't clear him to come and visit you yet, I told him that I would come and personally check on you myself." At the look of confusion on Myrna's face, the man chuckled to himself and walked further into the room before sticking out a hand in Myrna's direction. "I'm Atticus Lincoln but everyone calls me Link. I'm Nico's boss and the Head of Orthopaedics here." Myrna just smiled politely, unsure of the man that had seemingly dominated the room before taking his hand and giving it a small shake. Letting go of her hand she watched as he not so gently threw himself into a chair with a force that threatened to break the chair before launching into a story for the benefit of Levi. She didn't understand half of what he was saying, taking the assumption of the story he was telling involving some of their mutual colleagues in the hospital but she could tell by the sheer amount of hand gestures that were being used and the smile that was creeping onto Levi's face that it was an entertaining story. He would be alright surely? She surely hoped so. But she didn't know if his happiness lay with Nico Kim and not what had been staring at him in the face all of this time.

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Min-jee giggles as she sunk into a chair opposite her latest boy toy. She had to admit, the boy was a little below her standards but she had been desperate to find a way to get out of the hospital and her family constantly breathing down her neck. So when she had seen this awkward little man come stumbling down the hospital hallway that she vaguely recognised as having gone to school with, she'd known almost immediately what she had to do. He had noticed her almost immediately which had been hardly surprising when she had managed to convince her mother to take them both home so that she could stop smelling like three day old fish and getting some clothes that didn't make her look like an oversized smurf. He'd given her that awkward half wave that he had been known for in the days of primary school and she had played her part well, batting her eyelids and simpering at him.

She looked back on that and felt ashamed of herself. She had really been that desperate to escape her family that she had agreed to go on a date with a guy that she had swore in middle school that she would have died before even contemplating going out with him. But she truly had been desperate. Her family would never have let her just leave the precious little baby of the family so her next best move had been to get someone to get her out of here. Her friends had all been back home in Korea and Italy and it had clearly been the universe sending her a message that she was supposed to be getting out of there when Carl Pickering walked into her life once again.

Of course, her mother had given her that scathing look that she always gives her whenever she does something that even remotely sounds like it might be fun and she should be instead doing something boring. But as she had whispered to her mother, who had always been a mother to insist on her children being well mannered, it would be rude to tell Carl that she would be unable to go on a date with him when he was standing in the doorframe of her brothers hospital room, clutching a bouquet of tulips like his life had depended on that bunch of flowers.

And now, she just had to find a way to get out of this stupid date because she had clearly not thought this part of her plan through properly before beginning to implement it. She decided to try escaping the old fashion way. She made her excuses before heading in the direction of what seemed to be the location of the toilet. As soon as she was out of sight of the table where she and Carl had been sitting she quickly diverted and slipped through the kitchen apologising to the chefs profusely as she did so. Once out of the back door she slipped out of the alleyway and onto the main road. It was not long before she reached her destination and where her brothers would finally feel an ounce of her pain.