He’s captivated by her seemingly careless gesture. She’s always been beautiful, but in the past she was like a lifeless marionettes. Now, she seems like a new woman: energetic and lively. She waves her hands in front of his face and he resists the urge to hold them.
“Have you finished the drug?” he asks, “I think I prescribed you enough for three months.”
Charles leads her to his office. Her heels click rhythmically, and her steps echo through the quiet hall.
“I’m not asking for that,” Leilani knows Charles is talking about the antidote he’s been giving her to suppress the toxin in her body. She plays with her hair, tucking it behind her ears before continuing, “I want the morning-after pill.”
Abruptly, Charles stops walking and clenches his fist in the pocket of his white coat.
“I thought I’d check on Nanny while I’m here, too,” Leilani adds.
From the moment Leilani was born, her nanny had practically raised her. The two were inseparable and the woman followed Leilani everywhere. She even moved to the Bamford house after Leilani married Waylen. Two years ago, she’d had an accident and she’d been comatose ever since.
Leilani met Charles on the day of the accident. He was the doctor assigned to take care of Nanny, and he quickly became her only true friend, a gentleman she could confide in and trust. Due to the Bamford’s strict rules, Leilani hadn’t seen her nanny since they brought her to the hospital. She had to trust Dr. Meyer special care after that. If she wanted to know about her nanny’s health, she had to ask the nurse who came to the Bamford’s house every month.
Charles sighs, “Now I understand why Waylen has forbidden all pharmacies from selling morning-after pills for the next 48 hours.”
He pauses. “You don’t want children?” he asks tentatively.
“It’s impossible,” Leilani says, “I have to leave Waylen. How can I do that if I have his children?”
“So is Waylen’s pregnancy announcement real?”
Leilani shakes her head, “It can’t be. Last night was an accident. We made love, but we were both drugged.”
“There are so many weird things going on at the Bamford’s house,” Charles thinks, “First Leilani was poisoned. Then her nanny fell from a third floor window while hanging clothes to dry. Last month, someone pushed Leilani into the sea, and now she and Waylen have both been drugged. It can’t be accidental, but it’s impossible to guess who’s behind it all. No wonder she wants out. Who would want to spend another second in such a weird and threatening place?”
“Do you think the person who drugged you is the same as the one who poisoned you?” he asks her.
Suddenly, the sound of her high heels clacking on the marble floor stops. Leilani has considered this theory. The person who poisoned her wanted to kill her, but why would they want Waylen to have s.e.x with her? It doesn’t make sense. Now she wonders if they were hoping that Waylen would blame her for drugging him, making him hate her even more. But why?
She shakes her head to show she doesn’t know how to respond, “I don’t know. They hide in the shadows and behave stealthily. I have no idea who they are, but I think it’s me they’re after.”
“Could it be Waylen?”
Leilani almost chokes at Charles’ question, and she stumbles forward. Charles reaches his arms out in time to catch her around the waist. A camera hidden in a dark corner of the hallway captures the scene. Leilani leans against Charles as she tries to regain her balance.
“Could it be Waylen,” she wonders, “Is he trying to kill her so he can marry the girl of his dreams?”
She shakes her head again. It still doesn’t make sense. If he wanted to get rid of her why would he ruin her divorce announcement with his pregnancy plan? If he’s behind it all, his plans must be far more twisted and complicated than she can imagine. Maybe he thinks she’s out of her mind from the poison, a risk to his family’s reputation? The pregnancy could be a cover-up, an attempt to keep her from talking freely to the press.
She giggles nervously. Her imagination is running wild; her suspicions are starting to sound like the plot of some TV drama.
“Though, Waylen would make the perfect double agent,” she thought wryly, “He could easily succeed as an actor. He’s so good at lying and pretending.”
“What’s wrong?” Charles asks, “You look terrible. Did you take your medicine?” His big palm covers her forehead, and the camera clicks faintly in the background.
“It’s impossible to get the morning-after pill here, isn’t it?” she asks sadly.
“No.”
Charles puts his hand in his pocket, trying to control the romantic feelings rising in his chest. She’s a patient, he reminds himself. He’s never allowed himself to have feelings for a patient. But since meeting her two years ago, he’s been unable to fight the tenderness he feels for her. He wants to draw out the moment and create suspense, but her anxious look cuts him to the core.
“You don’t have to get them from the pharmacies,” he assures her, “I can make them for you.”
Leilani is relieved. She should’ve trusted that he’d find a solution; not even Waylen can stop a genius doctor like him. She follows him into his office which is old-fashioned like a study. Unlike more common offices, his is filled with beautiful paintings and sculptures.
Charles walks to the desk and fiddles with a pen holder. The bookcase behind his desk slides open, revealing a hidden door. The door opens into a secret laboratory.
“You remind me of a crazy cartoon doctor,” she laughs, “I imagine you making all kinds of experiments in here.”
She pictures him working, fiddling dedicatedly with his tools and instruments. This must be where he makes the antidote she takes.
“So does that make you my guinea pig?” he jokes.
“I suppose so,” she says, suddenly serious, “My life is in your hands, and you’ve already saved me.”
The poison in her system is unlike any other. She suspects that he might be the only doctor smart enough to detect it and invent a way to treat it. It’s painful for her to imagine what she’d be like now if it wasn’t for him and his treatment.
She watches him with wonder as he works. This man, though only twenty-eight years old, is one of the brightest stars of the medical world. Though he’s been offered many awards, he’s turned them all down, preferring to prove himself through his hard work and dedication.
Many wealthy families have tried to recruit him to work for them privately, but he’s too proud to accept. His family has been in the medical profession for generations, and his surname is synonymous with progress and innovation. Besides, his family has always been independently wealthy, and Charles refuses to subjugate himself to one of the more influential families.
His face is solemn as he handles test tubes and medical pipettes. He has long hands and prominent knuckles, and he moves with the utmost care and precision as he measures and pours liquids and powders. He examines the tubes carefully to ensure that his measurements are correct and then mixes them.
“Handsome is too shallow a word for such an attentive, careful, and good man,” Leilani thinks.
The pill solidifies and Charles picks it up with a pair of tweezers. Leilani opens her palm and looks at the tiny white tablet. Suddenly, she has an idea.
“Is there a kind of medicine that can prevent me from getting pregnant?” she asks.
Charles frowns tightly. He pretends to be busy arranging the tweezers and tubes on the table to disguise his discomfort.
“You want to avoid getting pregnant at all?” he asks.
Leilani nods.
“There’s no such medicine,” he says severely.
He’s lying. He could easily make some for her if he wanted to.
“Why do you ask?” he wonders.
Leilani takes a glass of water from Charles. She pops the tablet into her mouth and takes a long sip.
“I don’t want to get pregnant with his child,” she says, ‘I don’t even want him to touch me, but I don’t know if I can prevent that.”
Charles presses his lips together to remain silent. He wishes he could help her but he’s up against Waylen Bamford, a man who has enough power to influence the entire city and even the country. Charles doesn’t have the kind of power to fight someone like that.
“So you plan to scare him away instead? You want to make it so he can’t bear to touch you?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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