Reyona requested that she should be discharged.
Though polite, the doctor denied her request.
Yes, he understood the urgency of what she had to go do.
Yes, he knew her and he believed that she wouldn't endanger her health in any way.
But the fact remained that she still needed to be taken care of.
They were still awaiting her results too.
Reyona had not wanted to use her personal doctor, who was known to Maxwell, to prevent the situation where the man might be inconvenienced by questioning later.
Though she had Andrea's number too, she had not called her for the same reason.
Andrea was even closer to Maxwell than she was to her.
But as she looked at the courteous yet resolute face of the doctor, she supposed she should have just called a doctor in after all.
After gathering her strength and being sure that she could speak without the breathy quality that kept threading her voice as a result of tiredness, she faced the doctor.
"I have something that I need to go do urgently. No, it can't wait till tomorrow. I need to get it done tonight. I promise to be back as soon as I am done."
The stubborn looked at the stubborn set of her chin and knew he might be in for a long night if her request was not granted.
Still, he hesitated.
"You can have a nurse go with me if you wish. I don't mind any extra charges that would cause. I will be back in two hours."
The doctor looked at the nurse and then back at Reyona.
Then he said "Not more than two hours, ma'am. If you are not back within that time, I will be forced to discharge any power in my ability to ensure that you get the care needed."
Reyona frowned slightly as she wondered what the man meant.
Since the only image that popped into her mind was the one where she was being dragged back to the hospital against her wishes, Reyona smiled at the ridiculous thought and agreed with the doctor.
"Nurse Killian will go with you, ma'am" The doctor nodded at the nurse she had almost punched the other time.
When she mentioned someone going with her, Reyona had not thought that they would take her up on it. She wondered if that was a normal hospital procedure, or if they were merely doing it because they knew who she was.
Either way, what mattered was that she could go now.
She was running out of time.
She managed not to hobble or wince at the pain she felt as she moved to the changing cubicle to put her clothes back on.
She knew the doctor was watching her with hawk's eyes like he was looking for the simplest excuse to get her back in bed.
It would have been fun if she had not had other thoughts on her mind.
"The cab will be here in three minutes, ma'am." the nurse said as he came back in jeans and shirt.
"Thank you" Reyona smiled at him as she looked over at the doctor, who looked like he was regretting his decision already.
"Doctor" Reyona inclined her head at him.
"Two hours, ma'am," the doctor said as he gestured at the nurse and the latter took her to the wheelchair that was outside the private room.
Reyona recognised the same wheelchair that had been used to carry her when she almost lost her footing after entering the hospital lobby.
"No, no. I don't need that." Reyona tried to say even as an involuntary wince showed on her face.
The doctor looked passively at her as he said "Not according to what I can see, ma'am. You need to stay off your feet as much as possible, ma'am. At least until we get your results and know what exactly we are dealing with."
To avoid more delay, Reyona sank into the wheelchair and the doctor followed them as Nurse Killian wheeled her out.
Reyona wished no one would pay extra attention to the woman in the wheelchair or look closely enough to connect her to the CPA CEO. The media would have a field day with that and her efforts to prevent such would have been for nothing after all.
Just before they went out of the lobby, Reyona told Killian to stop.
As he stopped to inquire what was wrong, Reyona stood up from the wheelchair immediately.
The doctor looked at her in disapproval, but she told him firmly "I am not going out there with this. I told you I could walk."
"Now, are you still going with me or not?" she said to Killian and turned to leave before either of them could say anything.
Nurse Killian quickly followed her as she walked out of the hospital and saw the cab man who was just pulling up at that moment.
Reyona gave the cab man her location and sighed as she sagged against the seat.
God, her back was killing her!
"The pain is coming back, isn't it?" Nurse Killian asked beside her.
Reyona looked at the nurse and said firmly "No, it is not."
The nurse smiled and nodded before he turned his head towards the window.
Reyona supposed she was acting like a petulant child at the moment.
If the situation was reversed, she would probably be like that doctor if she saw someone she knew handling such pain this way.
But then she was the one it was happening to, and she just knew she had to get there before him.
When he called to ask her why she was not at home yet, she only told him that she had to work late and would stay at the office that night.
He mentioned that she had not mentioned anything like that earlier and wondered why she had not been picking up her calls too.
Reyona told him she had no idea she would be working late and was busy when he called at first.
Then she told him she had to go.
Instead of disconnecting the call as she hoped, he had only asked her calmly if she was okay.
"Yes, I am fine," she said, even as she got increasingly angry that he was still acting as if he cared.
Then he offered to come accompany her at the office.
She rejected the offer before she told him firmly that she had to go before she bade him goodnight.
Yet, she knew. She just knew that he was going to come after all.
She didn't want him suspecting anything until she was ready to face him with her questions, but since he didn't even have the decency to give her the time she needed, she was going to get it done and over with anyway.
When the cab dropped them at the company, Reyona asked one of the security men to lead him to the lounge.
She gave the instructions that they should provide anything he wanted for him.
The bemused nurse reminded her of the allotted time and Reyona said she would keep to it.
To her security men, she said "When…my husband gets here, send him to my office."
She guessed she might have been wrong in her assumption.
If that was the case, at the most, she would relax a bit in her office and go back to the hospital.
And if she was right, at least he wouldn't caught her by surprise.
Not again.