"How can this happen? How on earth can this happen?" Toria asked no one in particular as she paced to and fro.
She turned to Maxwell. "Eh? I thought you were to have a talk with him before you let him go anywhere near her."
"Which I did," Maxwell said simply in a calm tone.
Toria scoffed as she looked at him sitting there, all cool and collected. "How can you even sit there so calmly like that? He just accused you of something."
"I would suggest you do the same," Maxwell said, without raising his head from the phone in his hand.
"How can you even ask me to be calm right now? That is my sister locked in there with a psycho! I didn't even touch him, you know?"
"I saw that. And they are not locked together. Andrea is with them. Whatever he wants to try will have to wait until Andrea leaves. He is not going to get the chance."
"It seems to me like he already had plenty of chances to do enough damage. He accused you of being a wife snatcher."
"Just as he accused you of... what was the shameful thing he was talking about?" he asked as he finally raised his head to look at her.
"How was I supposed to know? Nothing happened between us. What is wrong with everyone?"
"See? The more reason for you to calm down. At the moment, we are at a disadvantage. Your sister believes him. We are the bad guys here."
"Which is crazy, right? Why would Reyona believe him over me?" Toria said in a forlorn tone as she looked in the direction of the room where her sister was.
"She is not well and this is a man she has loved for ten years altogether. I think I can see how," Maxwell said as he looked back at the moving images on his phone.
"Not helping. I am still her sister," Toria said.
"She never forgets that. That bastard just had confused her for the moment."
Toria sighed as she came to sit beside him. "What do we do now?" she asked dejectedly.
"We wait for Andrea to be done," Maxwell said simply.
Toria looked at him and wondered what he had up his sleeves. Then she sighed again as she tried to calm down as he suggested.
Her body achieved that feat while her right feet tapped madly on the shaggy rug in the living room.
Meanwhile…
"Would you say she is getting better now, doctor?" Thomas asked Andrea as the latter removed the stethoscope from her ears and straightened.
She looked at his shiny smile and distrusted him immediately. Yet without any hint of emotion in her tone, she said, "Yes, I would say she is better than she was."
"Oh, good, good," Thomas said excitedly. "So, does that mean that she can be moved now?"
"I don't understand the question, sir," Andrea simply said.
"I mean, if you agree that she is fine, that means you can have her discharged from here or something, right?"
Andrea looked at him, then deliberately looked back at the splints still on Reyona's legs. "No, when I said she was better, sir, I did not mean she was fine enough to be moved. If you will excuse me...."
"The thing is, those people out there do not like me." Thomas raised his voice so loudly that Reyona, who was dozing off already, woke up again.
"I told you not to bother yourself with that, Tommy. Whatever caused the disagreement will be sorted out, okay?"
Andrea's eyes jerked toward Thomas with a slight censure in them.
"Yes, yes, babe. I heard you," Thomas said dismissively.
Then he gestured to Andrea that they should move farther away from the bed.
Once they were away from Reyona's direct line of vision, he faced Andrea and asked again. "So, can we move her?"
"No. She needs her rest now, please. I think you should leave," Andrea said with a slight annoyance in her tone.
"I have the right to stay here. I am her husband and..."
"That is not..."
Thomas quickly grabbed Andrea's arm to stop her from talking.
"Let go of my hand, sir."
"What is going on?"
"Nothing, babe. Just rest," he said with an inward roll of his eyes.
He unhanded Andrea and said in a low tone. "Look, I know that bastard out there is the one paying you and maybe you are even doing other favours for him too. So, hate me all you like but you can't deny the fact that you guys need me. My dear wife wants to see me, not any of you sour-faced creeps. Be careful how you get yourself into this matter. As far as you are concerned, we are happily married. Is that taken?"
As much as Andrea would have loved to walk out without another word, Maxwell had charged her with the wellbeing of this vulnerable woman.
"Do everything you can to make her comfortable and well again," was what the president had told her.
Too bad that the woman had chosen the worst focus of comfort.
Since agitating the patient was not part of the plan, Andrea simply nodded and said, "Taken. She still can't be moved yet, sir. It would affect her recovery."
Not entirely true but if there was any way at all that she could thwart whatever plans this man has, she was more than ready to do it.
Thomas looked at her suspiciously and then rubbed his hands over his hair. "For how long?"
"I can't predict that."
"Just give me a time, damn it! How long before we can move her?"
"At least a couple of months," Andrea said deliberately.
"What? No way would he let me stay...." He stopped whatever he was going to say and looked at Andrea's passive face. "You are dismissed, doctor."
"Thank you," Andrea said sarcastically.
The sarcasm flew right over Thomas's head as he said, "By the way, make sure they know that you want me to stay with her all the time. Staying away from her could affect her recovery, you know."
"Of course," Andrea said. "Anything else?"
"She does not want to see anyone else for now. Their presence would only affect her recovery. She wants the cook to send some food in. Enough food for two people."
"Copied. Any…"
"Just get out of here," he said rudely as he turned away from her.
Andrea left the room with a conviction that that man would end up causing more trouble than good.
"Favours. Did he just..."
"So?"
She looked up at the sound of Maxwell's one-word question.
"I think he just insinuated that I am sleeping with you." Andrea said thoughtfully. Then she inclined her head and said, "I am kind of flattered."
Maxwell's look made her sober up. "I think you will have your hands full with that one," she said.
"I know. I am asking if you have accepted that you are mistaken in thinking that he would be good for her recovery."
"No, I am not mistaken about that, sir. He just happens to be an asshole that she wants to see."
"So, you still think I should allow him to stay under this roof for a minute longer?"
"He wants to take her away."
"I know"
Andrea wondered how he knew but then she didn't bother to ask; he only shared what he wanted to share anyway.
So, she asked the question that mattered to her: "Will you let him take her away?"
"Not even in his dreams," Maxwell said. Then, "He wants food, right?"
How…? "Yes, he does. Food for two"
Maxwell nodded.
Then he said, "Get all the resources you can pull on this. And before you pull your I-am-capable mantra on me, know that I do not doubt your prowess but I want you to use any means at all that you could think of to get that woman well. Any means at all. Any research that you have to do will be taken care of. Put as many people as you want on this, Andrea. If you can pull this off...."
"I understand, sir. I would do my very best."
"Thank you. I will handle Lanoth."
"I do not doubt that, sir," Andrea said. "I will take my leave now."
Maxwell nodded.
He moved to an array of buttons of different colours on what looked like a switchboard on the wall. He pressed the yellow button.
"The kitchen," said a voice over the tiny, speaker-like object above the buttons.
"Our guest wants to eat. Be generous"
"Yes, sir"