“I’m so sorry,” she gasps. “I didn’t see you at all.”
She leans down to help him up, but Robert beats her to it. He pulls the frail man to his feet and helps to steady him. The man’s face is pale and bluish, and his eyes look dull—he’s clearly very ill. He clutches his heart, and his face twists with pain.
His expression reminds Leilani of Andrew’s heart attacks. She looks over the man’s shoulder and sees that he’s coming from the heart color sonography room. He holds his hand over his chest and wheezes for breath.
“Quick, call a doctor,” Leilani shouts. “I think he’s crashing.”
Two doctors rush over with a wheelchair and help the man sit down. They rush him away to an examination room, and Leilani chases after. The doctors shut the door in her face, but she waits outside feeling guilty. If I hadn’t let Waylen kiss me, I never would have hit that poor man, she thinks. Every time I get near Waylen, someone gets hurt.
She hears footsteps and turns to see Waylen come to join her. His face is cold and unreadable, and she turns her back on him. He puts a hand on her shoulder, but she pulls away from his touch.
“Leave me alone,” she says.
Waylen takes his hand away, but she can feel him standing behind her. They wait together in tense silence as the doctors examine the sickly man inside. After a while, Robert runs over.
“Sir, they’re finished with Miss Arlington,” he says. “They’ve put her in a temporary cast.”
“And?” Waylen asks.
“Well, Miss Arlington is asking for you,” Robert says.
“Just go check on your girlfriend, Waylen,” Leilani says. “There’s no reason for you to stay here. Besides, this exam is going to take a while.”
“You sound like you have the experience,” Waylen says with a flirty smirk. “Where did you learn so much about broken hearts?”
Leilani turns to look at him, trying to keep her voice flat, “Don’t pretend you don’t know. We both know that Andrew has heart problems. I’m practically a specialist at this point.”
Waylen frowns, and he turns and walks stiffly down the hall. Leilani heaves a sigh of relief and leans against the wall, waiting for the doctors to finish their examination. After another twenty minutes, a young nurse wheels the man out of the room.
“How are you feeling?” Leilani asks. “Are you okay?”
As soon as she’s asked the question, she feels stupid. He’s obviously not okay. His face is almost bloodless, and his lips and the tips of his fingers are blue. She’s seen Andrew have attacked before, but he’s never looked as bad as this man. She guesses the patient must be in his thirties, but he seems prematurely aged and haggard.
“It’s the heart,” the man says quietly.
Leilani nods and hands him one of her D.O. business cards, “If the accident with the door caused any medical problems, please call me. I’m happy to cover any additional medical expenses. I’m so sorry.”
The patient nods, and the nurse wheels him back toward his room. Leilani walks toward the examination room and knocks on the door.
“Come in,” a voice calls.
Leilani pushes the door open. The doctor is drying his hands on a paper towel, and his face is serious and sad.
“How’s the patient?” Leilani asks.
“I didn’t realize he had such a beautiful lady in his life,” the doctor says.
Leilani blushes and says, “Oh, I don’t know him. I just knocked him over in the hall—accidentally, of course.”
“Oh, well, I’m really not supposed to discuss this kind of thing with you,” the doctor says. “I have to maintain doctor-patient confidentiality.”
“That’s too bad,” Leilani says, turning to leave.
“Wait,” the doctor calls. He looks her up and down, smiles appreciatively, and says, “I guess I could make an exception.”
“I’d appreciate that,” she says.
“Well, he had a heart transplant, but his body is rejecting the new heart,” the doctor says. “When we ran the tests, the heart seemed compatible, but his immune system is attacking it. We have him on all kinds of medications, but I don’t think it’s going to work out.”
“Do you know why his body is rejecting the heart?” she asks.
“It’s hard to say,” the doctor says with a sigh. “Sometimes, these things just happen. In this case, it has to do with the donor. You, see most people’s hearts are on the left side of their chest, but some people have them on the right. It’s a fairly rare medical condition where people’s organs are on the opposite sides of their bodies.
“Anyway, our patient here had a normal heart on the left side of his chest. It turns out the donor’s heart came from a person who had it on their right side. We usually try to avoid situations like that because the risk of rejection increases. Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid it here—this heart was the only possible match we had in our system.”
“Wait, is this a universal thing?” Leilani asks. “I mean with the hearts. Do all doctors try to avoid switching left side hearts for right side hearts.”
“They do,” the doctor says.
“What if someone made a transplant like that, and the body didn’t reject the new heart?” she asks.
“I’d call that a medical miracle,” the doctor says with a big smile.
He puffs his chest out and steps a bit closer to her. Her cologne is overwhelming, and she takes a step back. He seems to get the message, and his face falls slightly.
“How can you tell for sure if a body is rejecting the heart?” she asks.
“There are many ways,” he says, his tone becoming colder and less interested. “For example, if the person suffers from heart attacks every week, that’s a clear sign of rejection.”
“What if it’s less than once a week?” she asks, thinking about Andrew.
“Well, I’d say that’s pretty good,” the doctor says.
“Thanks, you’ve been really helpful,” she says. “If I have any more questions about the heart, do you think I could call you?”
The doctor nods and reaches into his pocket. He hands her a business card, and she folds it in half and drops it into her purse.
“Feel free to call me about anything else, too,” the doctor says with a wink.
Leilani leaves the room and shuts the door behind her. She’s grateful to see that Waylen still hasn’t returned from visiting Rebecca. She sends a text to Rebecca, wishing her a quick recovery, and calls a taxi to take her to the shopping mall nearby.
When she gets home, the living room coffee table is already covered in shopping bags. Each bag has the name of a different luxury brand. She can see La Mer and La Prairie beauty products, Hermes and Chanel bags, and Bulgari and Harry Winston jewelry bags.
“What’s all this?” Leilani asks a passing maid. “Who went shopping?”
“Mr. Clifford asked us to prepare them,” the maid answers. “I don’t know why, though.”
“I see,” Leilani says. “Can you send some people out to my car? I have some shopping bags in the trunk that I’d like you to take up to Jessica’s attic.”
The maid hesitates and says, “Mr. Clifford said none of us were allowed in the attic without his permission.”
“Honey,” Andrew calls as he walks into the room. “What’s this I hear about the attic?”
“Mrs. Clifford wants us to bring some things up to the attic,” the maid explains. “I was just telling her that we can’t disobey your orders.”
“What do you want to give Jessica?” Andrew asks.
“Just some things I bought at the mall,” Leilani answers.
Andrew laughs and says, “Oh, honey, you’re paying her meanness back with kindness. She doesn’t deserve that.”
Leilani smiles sweetly and says, “It just bothers me that she hates me. I want us to get along, and I hope these gifts will help.”
“I’m sure they will,” Andrew says.
“Can you ask the maid to put all this stuff away?” she asks, pointing at the table. “I want to draw in here, but I can’t with all this junk on the table.”
“Nope, we’re gonna need these soon,” Andrew says, pulling her to his side.
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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