Chapter 3 - Apologies

• Sophia POV
• I wake up again with the sound of my alarm beeping. I get up and take my medication, wash my face, prepare myself a cup of coffee and something to have for breakfast before work. I do everything I need to do before leaving my apartment and going to the hospital. I turn off my cell phone, as per Doctor's orders, so that I wouldn't know what’s going on around me. It’s something I always do when my shifts end so that I can relax and not be overwhelmed with thoughts of work when I’m not working.
• I greet the people that I pass on my way to the locker room to put on my uniform. I clock in and go to reception to collect my tablet. I find that I am, unexpectedly, still assigned to the 42nd floor, but as a consultant and not in the capacity as head nurse. 'Is this his way of apologizing?' I think to myself. If so, it’s not going to work. Not with me.
• I ignore my assignment to the 42nd Floor and fall into my regular work routine, passing by the trauma ward, chatting to my colleagues and even attending to a few of the cases that came in. When I notice that it’s lunch time, I head down to the cafeteria, grab myself some lunch and, without delay, find a place to sit down to eat.
• I take out my cell phone, switch it on and start replying to messages from my friends. It appears the Houroux Family has made quite a fuss about me not wanting to work with them anymore. I reply to everyone as calmly as possible by just telling them that I am not for sale. I know I'm not a doctor, but I could have been. I just don’t want to be one and that's why the doctors at this hospital had so much respect for my opinions.
• When lunch is over, I switch my cell phone off again and place it back in my pocket. I go back to making my rounds in the emergency room. I didn't need anyone to tell me that one of Hyperion's guards was here to see me. I turn around to see the same guard of yesterday standing with his hands buried deep into the pockets of combat pants. He’s smirking at me and gives me a slight nod. I know what that means so I go up to talk to him.
• “Did you get hit a lot?” I ask with a half smile forming at the corner of my lips.
• "A little... Hyperion isn’t usually one of the calmest people."
• I see the look in his eyes indicating that he doesn’t regret what happened. He even looks proud, which I find quite strange.
• “My name is Alexander. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sophia Turner," he says.
• “You and your Greek names.” I tease him and roll my eyes as I follow him to the elevator.
• “See? another Greek name, Sophia.”
• I give a low chuckle and get onto the elevator with him. I watch him press the button for Floor 42.
• “Where I come from, people like Greeks and Greek gods.”
• “Well, if they didn't like the Greeks or the Greek Gods and Goddesses, it would be weird to name you after them. You are my son/daughter and I will give you a Greek name just because I dislike them so much!”
• “You are funny Sophia.” He laughs out loud.
• “I can be, but only to those who are nice to me.”
• "I'm glad you think I'm cool so I won't be the target of your wrath."
• “Only if you don’t try to attack me again.”
• The elevator pings and the door opens. We exit the elevator and I follow Alexander down the hallway to one of the unoccupied rooms where, as usual, there are two guards stationed in the hallway just outside the door. The room was converted into a small office and Hyperion is sitting on the other side of a simple wooden table with his laptop open in front of him.
• “Seems I'm not quite as irreplaceable as you said I was.” I say with a smirk. I don’t even have to raise my head to look at the expression on Hyperion's face to know that my words alone proved that I have the upper hand.
• "You are arrogant." He says as he stands up from his chair. Perhaps he thinks that I will be intimidated by his size.
• "No more arrogant than you are." I comment while holding my tablet in both hands in a relaxed position in front of me.
• "Well, your suggestion worked. Besides, you have the same blood type as my son, but I noticed that your name is not on the donor list." Hyperion says.
• He rounds the table to lean against it, facing me.
• “The donations are voluntary. Not compulsory." I comment. My eyes never leave his and, for a moment, I could swear that I saw them change color.Turning a few shades darker.
• “Are you, by any chance, prepared to help save my son’s life?” His voice is a little louder now, slightly emotional and emits the anger he feels.
• "I thought no one was irreplaceable."
• "He is my son!" His yell makes the windows shudder in their frames as he exudes a powerful aura that would make even the strongest bow down. If I was still my old self, I would tuck my tail and run away crying. But now? Now I am a different person. My lack of response to his aura caught him completely off guard. I take three steps towards him to stand face to face with him.
• "He could be God himself, but that still doesn't give you the right to threaten and intimidate others into giving you what you want. Unless you really believe that your son's life could be bought.” My voice is controlled and my tone remains calm.
• “Threatening whoever you are trying to get to help you, won't make them co-operate any faster. Fear is a despicable feeling and trying to instill it in others for the sake of reaching your own goals is even worse.”
• My eyes don't waiver from his.
• "There will never be enough money or threats ,in this world, nor any other world, for that matter, to help keep your son alive."
• I take the three steps back again, returning to where I stood before.
• “Here, we treat and fight for lives for the sake and benefit of the life of the patient. We do it regardless of their social status, how much money they have or any other reason. I've seen doctors, in this hospital, save the life of the worst criminals who were on death row, whilst losing innocent children on the same operating table."
• There are now so many emotions flashing across Hyperion's face. Anger, confusion, pride, sadness, hope, vulnerability, to name but a few.
• “As I told Alexander, loyalty, dignity and life can’t be bought. I am, by no means, under any obligation to do something I don't want to do. When people like you come along, we have the right to choose whether we want to help or not. I didn't mind coming to work here. I didn't even mind working the overtime, even though I despise people like you. If you want to blame someone for me not wanting to work here and help you, then you have no one else to blame but yourself.”
• Once I’m done saying what I wanted to say, I wait for his response. The seconds that tick by feel like hours and they are extremely awkward. Finally I hear Hyperion let out a defeated sigh as he falls to his knees.
• “Please forgive me. I…” Hyperion utters quietly. I smirk to myself and goto him where he is kneeling on the floor. At least he has the decency to admit that he is wrong and I know, for someone in his position and with his power, that must be very bad and humiliating.
• "Apology accepted, but you have to understand that no one can guarantee that your son will survive this. We can however guarantee that every single person working on his case, is doing their utmost best to ensure that he does.” My tone of voice is warmer and more welcoming now.
• "Thank you," he says softly. He then stands up off the floor, gives a slight nod in my direction , and leaves the office to go to Perseus' room.
• “You really are impressive, you know?” I hear Alexander's voice behind me and I smile.
• "I know. So I've heard," I reply as he starts laughing.
• “And so humble too.” He adds.
• “Humble is my second name. Didn't you know? Sophia Humble Turner.” Alexander can’t help but laugh louder at my antics.
• Alexander really seems like a nice guy. He is, at least, a little less serious than the rest of the guards.
• When I entered Perseus' room, the first thing that hit me was the smell in the room. It was the same smell as yesterday but today it seems to be a little stronger. I look around and see Doctor Miriam with a concerned look on her face. The information from the panels isn't good and I can see how nervous it makes her.
• I go to the bedside table and put on a pair of gloves. I walk over to help Doctor Miriam.
• "The kidneys and liver aren’t able to filter the toxins from the system and there isn’t enough blood to do hemodialysis yet." She advises me.
• Doctor Miriam and I start turning Perseus over so that we can remove the bandages from around his waist and abdomen to change them.
• "We can't even put him on the transplant list" She utters. "It will just cause him the loss of an organ and won’t benefit him in any way. Doctor Miriam was very worried.
• “In addition to everything else, we also discovered that he seems to be allergic to silver.”
• The news just keeps getting worse. When we finish changing the dressings and bandages, I go back to the tablet to analyze the information in the database. I mainly concentrated on the data received from the blood bank.
• “We have 65 liters of blood from the Bombay team.” I whispered. “I can donate about 500 ml, but we still need to do a complete cycle.”
• “No…no, no, no…” Miriam says, thinking that I’m planning to do something stupid.
• “From what I see, there are several people who can donate more than 200 ml of blood without problem or with very low side-effects.”
• I start doing the math in my head.
• "We will have 71 liters. With that amount, we will be able to do a complete session.”
• I hear Miriam breathe a sigh of relief.
• “You can discuss this with Hyperion. He will gladly pay for the people to come in and donate.” I told her.
• I leave the room and head for the elevator to go to the blood bank for a donation session. Something strange happens as I suddenly feel tired and a part of me doesn’t want to leave Perseus’s room. I shake my head, pushing the feeling away.
• "Are you alright?"
• I turn my head and see Alexander looking at me with a worried expression on his face.
• “I’m good. I’ll stay.” I smile and press the elevator button.
• “Is he that bad?”
• “I am not allowed to speak of it to others.” I told him.
• I press the button for the donation floor again and see that Alexander is still with me.
• "Shouldn’t you be on Floor 42 guarding the Houroux Family?" I ask him.
• “I was assigned to stay with you…”
• I turn back to him. I’m angry. But, before I can say anything, he puts his hands in the air in mock surrender, and says: “No, no, It's not what you're thinking, I swear… It's truthful just to make sure that you're safe. The news that you are in charge of the Houroux Family's care, traveled very fast and you may now also become a target to those who attacked us at the restaurant. “
• "Hmmm… I'm not completely convinced but, okay." I do feel a little calmer after his explanation.
• “I swear on… My family, Houroux, means everything to me.” I arch my left eyebrow. He was about to say something else, but decided to change direction.
• “Judging by what you are saying, it even looks like they are mobsters,” I smirk, it’s better not to press.
• “Aren’t all billionaires like that?”
• "Yes, I suppose you’re right."
• We enter the lab and notice that several people are already there, donating blood. I go to one of the chairs and sit down. It isn’t long before Joshua walks towards me.
• “Hey! Finally! I was beginning to miss you!" He says as he leans down to kiss me.
• I smile and return his kiss. We've been dating for a few months now but, for obvious reasons, we don’t show each other much affection when we’re at work. It is however, the first time, since we've been together, that I feel strange when I kiss him. It feels... I can't explain it... It just feels wrong, somehow.
• “My shift ends in 4 hours.” I hear him say and I smirk.
• “I go until dawn. I have to follow the requests of our special guests.” I say with some irony and sigh, watching him start to fix my arm to insert the needle.
• “Too bad, but I’m sure we have some room to meet.”
• Why is what he said making me feel queasy? Am I getting sick?
• “Sleep at home then, it will be easier.”
• I force the words from my mouth. It’s been a few days since we haven’t been able to have some alone time together. Besides, if I was getting sick it would be better to have a general practitioner close by, wouldn't it?
• Alexander also seems a little uncomfortable with the current conversation.
• "Excellent!" Joshua exclaimed.
• I feel his light caress on my hand and smile as I close my eyes. In a way, being with Joshua is comforting, even though that funny feeling was still bothering me.
• "I'll come back later to check up on you, okay?" Joshua says before leaving us.
• I just nod my head.
• “I’m going to take advantage of this situation and take a little nap." I told Alexander and closed my eyes.
• I woke up to Joshua's touch. He’s gently rocking me from side to side.
• “Hey. Welcome back to the land of the living.” He says softly.
• I look up at him blinking several times.
• “Hmm?”
• I'm still feeling a little dizzy. I apparently slept very soundly.
• “Come on, So.”
• I feel Joshua's soft caress on my cheek, but instead of it feeling warm and welcoming, I become overwhelmingly anxious, which causes me to slap his hand away.
• “Ouch!” Joshua reprimands me with a hurt expression on his face. I didn't even feel inclined to apologize to him for my actions or even feel any remorse over what I've done. Nor did I feel any affection towards him anymore.
• "I'm sorry." I, once again, have to force the words out. "I think the blood loss of the donation tired me more than I thought it would and triggered my anxiety."
• Well, at least there is some truth in that statement.
• "All good. I understand. Do you feel well enough to go back to work?” I see him take out his stethoscope to check my vitals and I just let him. “Everything looks fine, but you better eat something before you return to work full force.”
• "Thanks." I smile and touch my lips to his just to test if the reaction only happens when the contact is more intimate. It doesn’t fail. I feel my stomach turn.
• I see his smile as he walks away, but my expression is one of confusion. Not that I expected to marry him, but Joshua is definitely one of my favorite people and also one of my longest relationships.
• “What are you so worried about?” I snap out of my thoughts and looked to the side to see Alexander standing next to me. His expression is virtually impossible to read, but I can clearly see the unmistakable pent-up anger and concern in his eyes.
• “Uhm ... ” As I was previously told, if I didn't want to answer a question, I just needed to stay quiet. I slowly rise from the donation chair, straighten my clothes and reach for my tablet on the little side table.