Chapter 17: A Grave Situation
Theo frowned.
"What?"
Doctor Nischov spoke with caution.
"What I’m trying to say is, think about it, Theo. From the look of things, you seem to have just married this person, and she does look older than you. You’ll be spending a lot on hospital bills, and you don’t even have insurance. You don’t have that kind of money, Theo. I’m only trying to look out for you. There’s no cure for this in Meteor City."
Theo lowered his gaze, the knuckles of one hand whitening as he clenched it.
Then he lifted his head to the doctor.
"I know you’re only trying to look out for me because of our history, Doctor Nischov, but I do not appreciate you telling me to abandon my wife. I am not going to do that. Whatever it takes to relieve her pain, I don’t care. I’ll do it. And even if the cure isn’t in Meteor City, wherever it is, I’m willing to go."
The doctor drew his head back, studying Theo as though seeing someone new. Then he smiled.
"I see you’ve become so different from that boy I knew. What happened to you, I wonder."
Doctor Nischov clasped his notepad in both hands behind his back.
"If we’re to have any chance of recovery at all, you’ll need to enter the tower. You’re not a Hero yet, are you? But for now, we can induce a coma, to take away the pain and hold her body in a pause state. However, this process is very expensive, Theo. You’d have to pay almost ten thousand dollars every day. I know you can’t afford that."
Theo sighed.
"Please, just make the necessary arrangements. I’ll go and get the money."
Theo bowed respectfully to the doctor and crossed to Thall’s unconscious body. He leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, and this time the heat of her skin was bearable, warm still, but no longer burning the way it had before.
"I’ll take care of Ethea and Sesan just like you would’ve. Trust me."
Theo inhaled deeply and leaned away, while Doctor Nischov watched him with worry.
"Theo..." he called, as Theo was about to leave the room.
Theo turned back to him.
The doctor spoke in a fatherly tone.
"Don’t do anything stupid, boy."
Theo managed a smile.
"Of course, Doctor. I have to take care of my wives. I can’t afford to do anything stupid."
He walked out afterwards, and the doctor was left muttering.
"Wives? What does he mean, wives."
He glanced at the nurse beside him, and the young woman only shrugged. He turned to the patient and instructed.
"Anyways, keep a close eye on her vitals. There’s a high chance he won’t manage to secure the money, so don’t move her to the special ward yet. Also, inject the pain relievers to keep her condition manageable and stop her brain from overloading on the pain."
The nurse nodded and wrote his instructions down on her notepad.
After that, the two of them left.
Theo had only a few bucks left on him, though it was enough for everything he meant to do. First he needed to get back home, and as fast as he could, because Ethea and Sesan were alone, and now that Thall’s illness had turned grave, he needed to be there for them as much as he needed to be there for Thall.
He hailed a taxi straight to his apartment. Jumping from bus to bus would only have eaten the time he didn’t have.
The moment he got home, he took the stairs at a sprint, not even finishing a flight before he vaulted the rail and swung up to the next landing above him. He shouldered through the door onto the rooftop, then stopped, bent double, and dragged in air.
Even though he didn’t feel all that tired, the climb was enough to set his heart hammering, and he didn’t want to turn up in front of Ethea out of breath. So he waited, hands on his knees, until his chest went still and his breathing smoothed out, then straightened his shirt and put his face back in order.
He crossed the yard of ropes and found Sesan sitting on the bench, staring off into the horizon with a bleak look on her face. Theo had to stop for a moment and watch her, letting none of the concern he felt reach his face.
’Does she know? Do they?’
He was slightly thrown, because Sesan’s face gave him nothing. And the moment he stepped into view, she only turned her head, still fixing him with that bleak look.
Theo walked closer and stood beside her, speaking gently.
"Can I... sit?"
The lady stayed silent and only looked at him. She wore a shirt and shorts that stopped mid-thigh, showing her pale skin, and her pale blue hair was pulled back into a bun. Her eyes were almost lost, fixed on something far past him. Then her stomach grumbled while she went on staring, and even that changed nothing in the way she looked at him.
"Ah, right. Breakfast."
Theo hurried into the house, where he found Ethea sitting in her wheelchair, facing the kitchen.
He slowed when he reached her, and smiled.
"You’re up..."
’I guess Sesan must have helped her.’
Theo went to the kitchen. He first summoned the bone-strengthening recipe and read through it to see whether it was something he could prepare. Unfortunately, the ingredients that kind of delicacy called for were ones he didn’t have, so he went through the cabinets instead and worked with whatever he could find.
After a few minutes, Theo had mashed potatoes and ham laid out on the table, and he called the three of them together.
Before they began eating, Ethea glared at him.
"How should we eat with that awful smell."
Only then did Theo realize he had completely forgotten to take his bath, and it was almost 10 a.m. He chuckled lightly, slipped out, and washed up in his room.
By the time he returned they were done eating, though they had left his portion. Sesan sat outside, staring into the skyline of the busy city, while Ethea stayed indoors.
He didn’t approach either of them. He just ate in silence, working through the cold potatoes bite by bite, and with every bite he promised himself the same thing, that Thalleria would survive, no matter what it cost him. After that, he went to the back, to reclaim his reward of $ $300,000,000.