Chapter 16: His Help

“What! How could it be possible? Please check out again,” I requested the receptionist. She told me the bill had been paid and dad’s surgery had already taken place. How could it be possible? Mom didn’t tell me she had a relative who could pay the bills.

“Your bill has already been paid, ma'am,” she informed me after checking out again.

“Can you please tell me who has paid the bill?”

“Sure.”

“What happened?” The doctor asked from behind me.

I turned around to face him. “Here I arranged money for surgery and she is informing me my bill has already been paid. How could it be possible?”

“Sorry, ma’am, we didn’t recognize you before. If we had known that you are related to Mr. Robinson, our hospital would never have asked for fees.”

“What!” I blurted and my brows raised together in surprise.

“Mr. Robinson donates his 50% income to cancer and heart patients in our hospital. If you told us you’re related to them, we would never have asked you for a fee. That’s too bad, Mr. Robinson has come here himself to pay your father’s bill. Why didn’t you tell us earlier? You didn’t even mention your surname in the papers?”

I cleared my throat, embarrassed. “I don’t want to take advantage of my husband’s name. I’m capable of doing things on my own.”

“That’s a good thing, but still you should have told us. It might have put your father in danger.” He sighed. “Well we’ve performed your father’s surgery and now he’s out of danger.”

“Thank you, doctor. Can I meet him?” I asked quickly.

“Of course, you can but only after an hour.”

“Thank you again,” I said and hurried to my father’s room. I was allowed to meet him after an hour, but mom was still there. I was eager to see her smiling face. Oh, God! That day was the happiest day of my life. My father was out of danger.

The doctor had informed me Henry had paid all the bills but I couldn’t believe it. It was overwhelming me and lots of questions were occurring in my head. How did he find out about my father? Why did he help me? He was mad at me last night. Was he still there? He was puzzled. He had a good side, but he didn’t want anyone to see that side of him. Henry Robinson was a good monster. But still, I couldn’t stomach the fact that he helped me.

When I approached the hallway, my jaw dropped when I spotted Henry sitting beside my mother and his hand was holding hers and he looked relaxed, not angry. Actually, he looked like a prince when he didn’t have a dark scowl on his face.

“Mom,” I called to her, and two pairs of eyes set on me.

“Alice.” Mom smiled once she noticed me. Reaching out to her, I pulled her into a hug. “Your father is alright,” she mumbled on my shoulder. “He is out of danger, honey.”

“I know,” I said quietly and pulled myself back, looking into her joyful eyes. “I told you he is a fighter.” She nodded and wiped her tears away.

“You don’t know how happy I am, Alice. I thought…” She bit into her lower lip to stop herself.

“Mom, he is okay. Please stop crying.” I wiped a tear from her left cheek with my thumb. “We’ll meet him after an hour.”

“Your husband is here.” She sniffed and gestured to Henry.

I glanced at him. He was still sitting in the same spot. Now his expression darkened with anger and his hands clenched into fists. Heat crept into my cheeks when he stared at my eyes, and then my lips, like last night’s scene playing in his head. I knew it was playing. He was mad at me. I cheated on him.

“Excuse me, I have an urgent meeting with one of my clients. I’d better be going,” he said coldly and stood up and walked past me without sparing me a glance.

“Mom, I’ll be right back,” I said and followed my husband. Before I could reach out to him, he stepped into the elevator and rode down. I took another elevator and hurried down. “Henry!” I called him out when he walked out.

“Henry,” I called him again, but he was so fast that he had already approached the exit gate. He walked like a professional model even from behind he looked so beautiful. His broad shoulder was prominent and noticeable, stretching his suit fabric. Every nurse was glancing at him as he was eye-catching.

“H-Henry please stop.” I quickly approached him and blocked his way. He frowned and stared down at me. “Thank you.”

“I don’t need your damn thanks,” he hissed.

“If you don’t need my thanks, then why did you help me?”

“I have not helped you. I have helped those poor parents who could not pay their bills. Poor them, they didn’t even know what their daughter is doing behind their back, having sex with a random guy.” He scoffed, and his jaw clenched harder. “I wanted to kill you for doing this to me.”

“I didn’t…” I whispered as tears gathered in my eyes.

“You did Alice! I saw you with my own eyes. How could you manage to lie? You should be ashamed of yourself!” he gritted out, his face flushed with anger. “You betrayed me.”

I met his gaze and saw hurt. Was he hurt? I was confused. Our eyes locked for a few seconds, but I broke away. I didn’t have enough courage to look into his eyes. I was ashamed of everything for what I had done yesterday. It made me feel low.

Without a word he spun around and walked off, leaving me in pain.

*****

Mom and dad both were talking and looking happy together. I went into the room with a plastered smile on my face, though my heart was aching painfully. It was aching for the person who gave me nothing but hate.

“Ah, Alice,” dad said, his voice was husky and weak. He looked thin and fragile like a skeleton, but his eyes immediately filled with light when he saw me entering the room.

“Dad,” I mumbled and approached him and gave him a soft hug. I wanted to hug him tightly, but his body was still weak. “I miss you, Dad.” I broke into tears. He didn’t know how much I missed him and how scared I was for him.

“Don’t cry, darling, I am alright.” He patted my back gently.

“Dad! How can you be so irresponsible? You must have not taken your medicine on time. That’s why you ended up here,” I scolded him, glaring at him hard.

“I…” he cleared his throat, looking guilty to some extent. “I’m sorry, darling. I promise you I’ll never repeat this and never forget to take medicines on time.”

I took hold of his hands, squeezing them softly. “I want to request you one more thing.”

“Yes, of course, darling.”

“I want you to resign from your work.”

“What am I supposed to do if I resign from my work?”

“You’ll do nothing, just take care of yourself and mom. I’ll find a better job and transfer my salary to you.”

Dad broke into a laugh like I was joking. “No, Alice, it bore me by sitting around and doing nothing. It’ll make me useless, sweetie.”

“You don’t know how much we suffered when you had a heart attack. When I could not arrange money, I thought I would lose you forever. You don’t know how mom has managed these twenty-four hours. We don’t want to lose you again, Dad. You can do anything planting and gardening, but not working in that shitty company.”

“Alice please…”

“I won’t listen to your pleas…! You have sacrificed many things for my happiness. But what have I done for my parents? I did nothing. I want to take care of you. My bastard husband never let me visit you once.”

“Shut up Alice. Don’t talk about Henry like that. He is your husband,” Mom chided.

“Yes, he is my husband, but the worst husband of this planet.” I rolled my eyes.

“What are you talking about? Don’t forget because of him your dad is alive,” she lashed out.

“He didn’t pay the bills, Mom. His dad donates half of his income to this hospital every year. Possibly the doctor had cut down our bills from that charitable amount.”

“Are you crazy, Alice? He didn’t use the charitable money. Yes, you are right when the doctor found out that we are relatives of Robinson, they began surgery for free but Henry came on time and refused. He paid bills himself. I saw a disappointment on his face when he found, you didn’t use his name in the papers.”

I had not mentioned my surname in the paper. I had used my previous name.

She grabbed my forearm and forced me to look at her. “Alice, I’m very disappointed in you. Why wasn’t your name mentioned in the papers? For god’s sake, he is your husband.”

“I forgot it,” I said simply, and her eyes widened.

“Are you serious?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Mom, I’m thankful that he paid our bills. But it doesn’t mean he is a soft-hearted and kind man.” I cupped her face. “You’re innocent. You just see the goodness of people. You never saw the dark side of them.”

“You're twenty-three and I’m forty-eight. I have more experience than you, Alice. What I saw in him you would never notice.” She came closer to me and caressed my hair. “You're seeing what he lets you see. He’s not disclosing the real Henry, hiding underneath him. I saw his different side who cares, loves, and adores people.” She took my hand in hers. “Sweetie, you have to work on it. He’s not what you think. But he is what you can’t see. One day you both prove to be a lovable couple like me and your dad.”

I didn’t understand what I should say in her words. I just nodded. How could I explain it to her? We couldn’t be together. We couldn’t become a lovable couple because Henry loved Ava. He had nothing to give me except hatred.

“Alice, what are you thinking?” Mom interrupted.

“Nothing.” I brushed away his thoughts and looked at her. “What were you talking about?”

“I want to invite Henry to dinner and I need your help.”

“What! Are you crazy, Mom? He won’t come.” Mom was expecting more. How could she think he would attend dinner at our house? He didn’t even glance at me once. And she was expecting this.

“Alice, listen to me. I just want to thank him. In a hurry, I couldn’t get a chance to thank him properly. Convince him for the sake of your mom.” She made her innocent face.

God!

“Ok…” I sighed, but she still looked at me like a puppy. “Ok, Mom, I'll do it,” I explained and she quickly hugged me. I loved her smile. I loved my family. I was very happy that day. I felt complete. I was nothing without my parents and my small world.