Chapter 38: Chapter Eighteen-2

“Don’t.” I give him a glare. “Don’t even talk. And don’t you dare ever show yourself in front of me again. I wish I never met you.” Maybe it was a bit over the line but my brain was clouded by anger and stress. Now, Lee looks angry. “Well it was your fucking fault! You’re the one who even caused us to meet. I wish you were never in my life!” He is really angry. He even swore. Maybe I hit a cord. I went too far, but he did too. More tears flood down my face. As angry as I am, words still hurt. Especially coming from Lee. And he knows it because his eyes soften. “Ivory, I didn’t mean—” “Ivory!” Mark calls. Behind Lee, he’s in an expensive looking suit. He’s still in his work clothes. Mark’s head turns to Lee and I and he looks confused. I take this opportunity to push past Lee and run into Mark’s arms. I sob endlessly into his shoulder, ruining the fabric, but he still wraps his arms around my waist. I cry and cry. Mark rubs circles in my back, trying to calm me down. Maybe I wouldn’t be crying so much if it weren’t for Lee being here. I would’ve shed a few tears before Mark and I talked but Lee’s words were in my mind as well as my mother’s life at risk. “Shh,” Mark says softly. “It’s okay, Ivory.” He pulls me back and he smells like mint. His thumbs wipe away my tears. “You’re okay. It’s fine.” He puts an arm around my shoulder and walks me back to the plastic chairs where Lee is standing with a blank expression—a complete poker face. I hope I’m giving him hell. He deserves it. Lee realizes he’s staring at me so he snaps out of it and coughs, bringing a fist to his lips. He whispers, “I’ll go get something to eat.” After he leaves, I take a deep breath. “Why is Lee here?” Mark asks through gritted teeth. I could tell him that Lee was being a total bastard by invading my privacy and stalking me. I could tell Mark that he was treating me like a five-year-old who couldn’t handle herself but I resort to, “I don’t know.” Mark doesn’t ask me or push me further. He just rubs my shoulder up and down until my breathing is slow and even. “How long has it been?” “Almost three hours.” “Sorry I got here late. It was hard getting out in the middle of a meeting,” Mark says, his eyes hoping I forgive him. “It’s fine. As long as you’re here,” I say. In fact, I’d be fine if he came ten hours late—as long as he came sooner or later. I give him a small smile and rest my head on his shoulder. “Do you think she’ll be okay?” He pushes his lips together. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” So he’s not sure either. Mark takes my left hand into his right. He holds it tight like he’s going to lose me even though it’s my mother who’s about to lose her life. “Thanks for being here for me,” I say, squeezing his hand back. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Mark mumbles something to himself but I don’t catch on. “What?” He looks down at me. “Nothing.” Mark grins a little. “You look tired. Get some rest. Sleep on my shoulder. I’ll be here the entire time and I’ll wake you if anything happens, okay?” “I shouldn’t sleep. What if my mom wants to see me? I’ll be dozing off,” I protest, biting my lip. “I promise to wake you up if anything new is happening. Rest assured, okay?” Mark says. “You don’t want to be out of energy when they let you see her.” “If she makes it,” I whisper, tears threatening to spill. Mark shakes his head. “Don’t worry so much. I’m sure it’s fine.” He pushes my head back into his shoulder. “Now, rest, okay? For me?” “Fine,” I say, snuggling up to him even though I actually feel like the stress will kill me if I don’t relax for a while. Mark is my rock. I’d be so overstressed and wound up without him. I mumble a thank you to him before I drift off. *                  *                 *                *             *             *                * Hours later, Mark shrugs me awake. I slowly open my crusted eyes. I rub them as I sit up straight, my eyes adjusting to the fluorescent lights of the hospital. Lee is sitting across on a plastic chair, his eyes focused on me before trailing down to my hand, which is still linked with Mark’s. I pull my sweaty hand out of Mark’s, feeling sorry that he had to hold it for so long. I think I even drooled on his shoulder. Real classy, I think. “You awake, Ivory?” Mark asks, a small smile on his face. He doesn’t smirk much unlike the guy sitting across from me. I don’t even want to think of his name. I nod. “What’s happening?” Mark nods over to the doctor next to me dressed in a white lab coat, a blue mask under his chin. How did I not notice him standing there? He’s holding a clipboard, going through papers on it. “Is my mother okay, doctor?” I ask frantically as I stand up. The doctor is the same height as me and his lab-coat has Chung sewn on his arm. He’s frowning. It’s bad news. I know it is. Why isn’t he talking? Did my mother…pass away? I rub away tears. It’s embarrassing to be crying in front of the doctor like this, but I can’t help it. My mother’s dead or something. Doctor Chung scratches his chin before speaking. “Your mother is fine—well, she’s alive.” I tug onto the hope. “Thankfully, her important organs weren’t injured. But, bones were ruined. Her leg bones and her arm bone were fractured—some even broken—but they will heal. Her ribs are broken as well. We stitched up all her cuts. She’s fine—” “Thank you so much, Doctor Chung!” I exclaim, tears of joys replacing my tears of sadness. Mom is fine. She made it. She’s alive. He gives me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Ivory, but I wasn’t finished.” What else is there to say? She’s alive! “Your mother is fine physically.” “What do you mean?” I ask. “What I mean is that your mother is still lost in her mental state,” Doctor Chung says. “She hasn’t regained consciousness. We don’t know if she will. She took a big blow to the head that might of caused internal bleeding. We have fixed everything we can but we can’t tell if she will awaken.” My world goes spiraling down in just two seconds. I take a seat down where Mark rubs my back. Mom is in a coma. “What does this mean? Will she ever wake up?” I ask. “Does this mean her brain’s dead but her body isn’t?” Doctor Chung puts a hand on my shoulder. “We don’t know, Ivory. We will keep your mother in the hospital and run more tests to learn anything else we can, but as of right now, we don’t know when she will awaken. It’s kind of an inward battle with herself. She’s on her own.” I rest my head on Mark’s shoulder. I go numb. I think Doctor Chung tells me some side effects and how I can’t see her until tomorrow if I want a better chance of Mom waking up. I press my knees up to my chest and rock back and forth in my chair. Doctor Chung eventually leaves and it’s only Mark, Lee, and me. My mind blocks out everything. I can’t hear what Mark’s saying when his lips move. I can’t see Lee getting up to pat my shoulder. After several attempts, they stop too. At some point I fall asleep again, my body refusing everything.