"So Krystal asked us to be on the first floor in twenty minutes. Do you guys want to check the hospital out first or you just want to go—" Leonard’s words caught in his throat as his brain registered the face of the person standing before him. Even though Ethan’s face was halfway covered, Leonard already knew him enough to recognize him anyti and anywhere.
On the other hand, the usually composed Ethan had his face scrunched up in confusion as his gaze travelled from Leonard, to the man behind him, and finally to a woman who looked just like Mignon.
Unlike Leonard, Ethan regained his composure as early as he could and asked, "Who is that behind you, Leonard?"
"Uh?? Wh—Who is that— where...where is the person? Is soone behind ?" Leonard stuttered nervously. His tongue and brain just wouldn’t cooperate with him.
Behind him, Mignon shared confused glances with Alan before returning her eyes to the man in all black clothes, including a cap and facemask. She could not guess who this person was that seed to recognize her imdiately, but could not believe it was her standing in front of him. If Kera had not told her she knew nothing about Esther’s biological father, she would have thought it was this man here.
"There is a woman behind you. I’m asking who is she," Ethan repeated. The nurse who ca with him gave a small bow and scurried away from there to go inform Krystal of her mistake.
As if unaware that there was soone behind him, Leonard turned to look at Mignon and Alan before turning back to reply Ethan.
"Uhm, this two are...a couple. Yeah! The woman is pregnant so she ca for a check-up and her husband accompanied her. That’s who they are," he lied, holding his breath when he finished speaking as he waited for Ethan’s doubting remark.
"Alright. I didn’t intend to co here but the nurse made a mistake."
Leonard was startled when Ethan replied with such politeness in his voice.
"Oh, so are you are leaving now?" he asked.
"There’s nothing else to do here," Ethan deadpanned.
"Oh okay. So I’ll leave now with my patients then," Leonard gave a forced smile, turning to look behind himself as he signaled to Mignon and Alan to follow him.
He had only taken two steps forward when Ethan stopped him.
"Dr Alexander? Are your patients ignorant of their rights?" he asked, taking slow steps to stand behind Leonard.
"What do you an by that question? My patients are highly educated so—"
Ethan cut him off, "But you just breached one of you dical personnels code of conduct, if I’m right. You told what was supposed to be private information of your patients, yet they had no problems or questions with it."
Leonard laughed nervously, finding nothing else to do at that mont.
"Wow, Ethan! You don’t have to worry about that. They are sensible people so they know I can’t let out their information if you aren’t important enough to hear it. It’s alright... really," he explained, heaving a sigh of relief as soon as he finished speaking.
"Really? But last I checked, you were a cardio thoracic surgeon just like Dr Krystal but why are you the one conducting a check-up on a pregnant woman? Did you switch to being a obstetrician or a gynaecologist or what? I just found that confusing so I asked."
At this point, Leonard was almost praying for the ground to open up and swallow him. He never had to tell so many lies in a row ever in his life. It would have been bearable if he was talking to soone less sensible but Ethan DeLoach was the most cunning personality he had even t.
"Now, that’s private information you are asking for, Ethan. And I’m not obliged to tell you that. Thanks for visiting!" Leonard smiled, a forced one which was evident with the pleading look in his eyes. "We’ve wasted so much ti, let’s go," he whispered to Mignon.
Ethan didn’t bother following them but after they were a little distance away from him, he whispered, "Mignon?"
Mignon turned back to stare at him only for a brief second, a polite smile on her face, as she continued trailing after Leonard.
Ethan’s hand balled into fists, his fingers gripping tightly around the phone in his hand. A low vibration shook his fingers, alerting him that his phone was ringing. Slowly, he loosened them and raised the phone to his ears.
"Cole?"
"Yes Sir. It’s about Chairman Anderson."
"What about him?"
"We got news that he slumped earlier this morning. His wife and daughter have been in tears since and have been indirectly hindering his doctors from watching. What do we do?"
"Take over. Invite his wife and daughter to the DeLoach’s mansion, I’m sure the old man would be elated to entertain them," Ethan replied.
"And about the Chairman?"
"Send him abroad. You found his private hospital, right? And do not let anyone, I an anyone, know anything of his whereabouts. Report straight to if anything happens."
"Noted, Sir!"
"Also...Mignon is back, Cole. You should be careful of running into her in the city."
There was a long silence before Cole replied, "I’ll make sure of that. Do I need to run a check on soone or sothing?"
"No, it’s alright. I’ll do it myself. Keeps from going crazy," he replied.
★★★
"The f—"
Mignon clamped her hand over Shikera’s mouth before she could complete her words.
"Be careful, Kera. You are with child, jeez! You shouldn’t use curse words," she scolded.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I got carried away for a mont. But what the h—"
"Keep your mouth zipped, Shikera! At least that would make you more careful."
Shikera sighed, wringing her hands in frustration.
"I’ll be more careful. It’s just that...don’t bother about it. Anyways, I hope you didn’t give any reaction whatsoever when he whispered your na."
"Uhmm...no?"
Shikera heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! If your breath had so much as hitched or your heartbeat spiked for that mont, Ethan’s eyes would have noticed. No matter what," Shikera gushed.
"Really? I uhm...I think I did give a reaction though. Maybe I turned to look at him? I didn’t look at him like I know him though, how could I have known he’s my brother?!" Mignon whispered, beginning to feel like she had made an awfully irreparable mistake by turning to look back at Ethan. She had just noticed that he looked similar to one of the n who were in the glass room back at the restaurant where they t Esther, the previous day.
"What?! You really did that?! Mignon, long story short is that we are caught. He will find you wherever you are. You know what? I’ll leave here and maybe book the next room. I assure you he’s coming today, or in the next few hours. I can’t let him catch !" Shikera blabbered on to herself as she pulled out her backpack and began throwing in her things. She continued, as she pushed her shoes into her bag without caring the least bit, "He will find if I waste any more ti here and what else? Forget it, Mig! You know what? When he arrives, just tell him the truth, excluding anything about of course. Also, you can follow him if you want as I’m sure your family have missed you. And uhm...I can tell Grandma Cooper if you won’t be available to follow back so don’t—"
"Calm down, Shikera! I can’t process all that you’ve been saying. With which brain please? Just calm down and let help you, I’ll book the room downstairs." Mignon made to walk out of the room but was held back by Shikera.
"You want to do what? Book my room for ? So what’s would be my reason for running away? He’s going to catch all the sa! You know what? Just ask a random person to book the room with the na, Leah Cooper, then I’ll stay there. They don’t know that na anyways."
Mignon tilted her head in deep thought, "If I plan to tell him everything about , don’t I have to tell him about the na I used while on the island?"
Shikera shook her head, "He wouldn’t care. As long as he found you already, and knows you have been on the island. I don’t think he would care. I bet he would not even bother to visit there."
"If you say so then. Lem go get the room," Mignon nodded, walking out of the room.
"Oh my god! I can’t keep hiding," Shikera murmured under her breath, collapsing on the bed as soon as the door closed after Mignon.
A ping from her phone caused her to pick it up and see it was a ssage from Esther.
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