Dylan

Just one look into her beautiful eyes, and I had forgotten just how disgustingly low the vixen standing before me could go—She was having an affair with my father and pretending with me like it wasn’t going on under my very nose for crying out loud!

To think I had failed to recall my vow to stay away from her… to avoid doing anything that will intensify my feelings for her. 

Just one word from her mouth had me apologising like some love struck fool…

And I rarely apologised to anyone to begin with.

The small smile I had on my face after we came to a truce gradually faded as I shook my head to clear my senses from its love-struck daze. “I’ll take my leave now that all that’s behind us.” I finished quickly and turned on my heel to exit her office, inwardly damning myself at the fact that I hadn’t been able to get the anger and bitterness out of my tone.

A second thought had me stopping in my tracks though.

Why didn’t I want her knowing that I knew her dirty little secret?

Why did I still want her to think she could pull off the good girl, sweet girl charade?

Didn’t we want to know what made her do it?

Before I could realise, I was asking, “Tell me something Brielle, why him of all people?”

The confused smile on her pretty face unnerved me even more.  “Wait, I don’t understand, why who?”

This woman was such an actress. 

“DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!” I shouted out of frustration.

Ignoring her defensive backlash, I took a deep breath and willed myself to calm down. “Tell me why Brielle… why out of so many men, you didn’t find any one to have an affair with, but my father.”

I will never forget the horror-stricken look on her face.

The look of horror quickly morphed into that of confusion. “Wait, so lemme get this straight… you think I’m having an affair with your dad?”

“I don’t think Brielle… I know. I physically saw you guys check into a room at The Windsor Court Hotel two weeks ago, and according to the investigator I hired, you both went there last week and this weekend too so spare me the bullshit.”

She didn’t say anything.

She just stood there nodding her head, like something seemed clear all of a sudden. The disappointment shone bright in her eyes.

“You know what, Dylan? Meet me at the Windsor Court at 1 pm. You can catch me in the act all by yourself, rather than hiring investigators and jumping into conclusions.” She ordered, shooting me a glare that had me questioning whether I had been right to begin with.

I had been, right? I knew what I saw for fuck sake.

“I’m not stupid Brielle, what are you going to do huh? Fabricate some new lies and spoon feed me with them?” I asked sarcastically.

“You know, it’s my dad that I can’t help but blame. I mean once a cheater, always a cheater right?” I closed the distance between us. “It’s just so disappointing to know that he got you to go along with it, and just for some position too-” My head snapped sharply to the right at the painful sting of her slap. She looked like a glorious angel of vengeance even as she shot me a haughty look. “Get the fuck out of my office.” She ordered angrily, sweeping her hair away from her face in frustration.

“I don’t even know why I wanted to prove myself to you. You can think whatever the fuck you want, I do not have to explain myself or my actions to you.”

I nodded and turned to walk out of her office.

“Wait, one last thing. Your dad is always the perfect gentleman, I can only hope you inherited some of his amazing sex traits too, else it’s such a shame.” She murmured tauntingly causing me to smirk. “Well, wouldn’t you like to know, princess?”

I stormed out of her office.

*********

BRIELLE

So Dylan had liked me back in high school too.

Or, at least he had considered me interesting enough to have wanted to talk to me.

I honestly don’t know why the thought of that new piece of information had me smiling like some love-struck teenager, and it was funny how as soon as that thought popped up, it was always followed by the fact that he thought so low of me to think I was having an affair with his father.

And boy, how fast it always made the smile disappear.

So that had explained why he had avoided me after the kiss.

I honestly wondered what kind of evidence he had seen to have had jumped to such atrocious conclusions, and I had been itching to clear the air the moment I had heard him ask me that incredulous question, but I had held back.

Why didn’t he come face me when he had seen us together?

He could have confronted me about it, at least to hear my side of the story, but to stand from afar and jump to such outrageous conclusions was just absurd.

And honestly unforgivable.

I brushed off the many thoughts and sat down to complete my corrective actions proposal. 

Well, being CFO wasn’t always a bag of roses.

******

Lunch break came very quickly.

I saved my almost finished proposal and stood up, getting ready to go meet Shawn for our hotel rendezvous. The elevator door opened before I could punch a button, and out came Shawn, looking very tired, but still wearing a lovely smile on his wrinkly face. “Ready for four hours of never-ending passion?” He asked with a grin, causing me to let out a laugh. “You’re not really helping the rumour mill, Shawn. Stop it.”

Reaching for his hand, I gently dragged him towards my office despite his soft protests. “Brielle… what are we going to your office for again?”

“Just my handbag,” I left him at the door and barged into my office. “I’ll be out in just a second.” I called out as I turned off my laptop, and reached for my handbag. “See?” I muttered while locking up my office. “I told you I won’t be long.” Shawn didn’t answer. I turned to shoot him a look and my heart sank at the sight.

“Shawn, Shawn! Hey, what’s wrong?” I reached for him to hold him steady. The old man was deathly pale and was sweating all of a sudden. I was so confused that I didn’t know what to do. 

I took deep calming breaths even as his body weight nearly crushed me. “Okay, Shawn, easy, easy, I’m going to get you into Sloane’s chair… think you can handle that?”

He nodded tiredly. I slowly dragged him towards my assistant who had called in sick’s desk, but we unfortunately didn’t make it that far. 

Shawn passed out in my arms, dragging me down to the floor with him due to how heavy he was. I looked around helplessly. For a company with a workforce of over three hundred, it sure was very empty today when I needed help the most. I quickly managed to detangle myself and stood up, all of this in an impressive amount of time too. I looked at the door across my office.

Dylan could help!

I run towards his office praying to the stars that he was in there and banged frantically. The split minutes it took for him to open the door seemed like an eternity. “Bri- what’s wrong?” He said immediately after opening the door and taking in my countenance.

“It’s- me- no… your father- passed out. Please help me.” I pulled him out and gestured towards his father lying down there, passed out. He didn’t need to be told twice. He rushed towards the old man and scooped him up. “Did you call 911?”

I burst into tears. “Oh my God, that should have been the first thing I should have done, I can’t believe I’m so stupid.”

“Brielle, Brielle… come down. Everything will be alright. Call them.”

I quickly dialled the number and reported the case, tearfully albeit. They just wouldn’t stop flowing. “Good, good.” Dylan commended. “Now help me get him downstairs.”

**********

The ambulance arrived almost immediately after the elevator made it downstairs. By now, everyone had heard the news and there was a commotion at the parking lot. Shawn was strapped onto a stretcher and wheeled into the ambulance. 

He had woken up a while back, begging to go to the hotel instead of the hospital, but I would have none of it. Dylan had looked at us with disgust but thankfully hadn’t said a word. The old man had slipped back into unconsciousness not long after.

The ambulance whirred out of the parking lot and I rushed towards my car desperately. A hand reached out for me, almost giving me a whiplash. I looked up into the angry eyes of Dylan. “Where are you going?”

I shot him an angry look of my own. “Where else? The hospital of course.”

“You care about him so much that you’ll risk your life? You’re in no condition to drive, Brielle.”

I tried to yank my hand out of his grasp. “I can manage just fine, thank you.”

“I insist-“

“WHY DO YOU CARE, HUH?” I asked in frustration, trying hard to keep the tears away. “Why do you care?” I repeated, weakly pounding my fist against his chest, as if I had no fight left in me.

Maybe, I really didn’t have any.

He was silent for a while. “Honestly Brielle, I don’t know. I really don’t. All I know is, I just care.” We seemed lost in each other’s eyes, and then he tore his eyes away from mine and pulled back, letting me go. “Can I have the keys now?”

I sighed and handed them to him.

******

We got to the hospital and were informed that Shawn had been stabilised and was currently undergoing his dialysis treatment. 

Dylan had been surprised. “Dialysis?” He had asked and the kind doctor had explained to him that his old man had end-stage kidney failure which required dialysis at least three to four times in a week.

We sat side by side in silence for a long time after the doctor had left. I prayed that Shawn would get better, but even as I did, I felt it deep within me that perhaps it was already too late. It was going to take a miracle to heal the lovely old man.

“Brielle?” 

I snapped out of my thoughts and shot Dylan a look. “Yeah?”

“Tell me something. Is the dialysis treatment the reason why you both have been going to the Windsor Court Hotel?”

A lot of thoughts flitted through my head in that moment, I won’t lie. I wanted to tell some elaborate love story, but it just didn’t feel right, and so I just nodded. “Yes, Dylan. That’s why.”

He shook his head in confusion, “Wait, I don’t understand? Why didn’t he just tell me about it?”

Flashback

“My kidneys are no good anymore Brielle.” The man I regarded as my second father confessed as we made our way to God-knows where. I stopped in my tracks and regarded him critically. The old man was serious. “What are we doing here at the Windsor Court hotel then, Shawn? Shouldn’t we be going to a hospital instead?”

He smiled and dragged me along. “That’s why we’re here.”

“Wait- I don’t understand. Does your family know?”

“You’re the only one I’m telling, Brielle.”

“I still don’t understand Shawn.”

He stopped. “Brielle, I have done a lot of things I’m not proud of,”

His face contorted in distress. “I have caused my family so much pain, torn us apart with my bad decisions. You see, a long time ago… I cheated Brielle, cheated on my wife. She took me back after I came to and apologised, bless her soul that lovely woman, but my children never forgave me, and I’m pretty sure she’ll also never forget the pain I had caused her.”

“And so you’re not going to tell them? Shawn, just how long do you think you can keep this a secret?”

“For as long as I can, Brielle. You’re the only one I can tell at the moment, Child.”

I stood there, silently mulling the idea over. “So what exactly are we doing here, Shawn?”

He reached for my hand, “Come on, walk with me.”

“One thing you don’t know about me, Brielle, is that I hate hospitals. I have a complete phobia of them, especially when I have to go there on issues pertaining to my own health.”

I smiled. “Wow, I didn’t know that.”

We got to one of the rooms on the floor and I watched him open the door and barge in. I followed right after him.

The room was huge.

 It had everything you’d see in a typical hospital room, stocked with even more equipment I couldn’t identify, and yet it didn’t look like a hospital room at all. Everything had been arranged in such a way that the room gave off a manly master bedroom vibe instead, and even smelled like one too. Hell, the transformation was so incredible that I stood there for a moment, lost for words. “Wow.”

“I know, right?” Shawn affirmed, shooting me a grin. He turned to look across the room.  “Good morning, doc. Nurse Cynthia. I must say, you guys have really outdone yourselves. It’s like I’m in one of my rooms.”

I turned towards the two women in the room, dressed in casual outfits, like they weren’t doctor and nurse. It was really amazing. They seemed to have Shawn’s best interests at heart.

“That was the reaction we were going for, Mr. Thomas.”

“You really achieved that, guys. Allow me to introduce you to Brielle Renaud. Brielle, Doctor Sarah Collins and Nurse Cynthia Morgan.”

I shook hands with each of them, “Nice meeting you all.”

“Nice meeting you, Brielle.” She turned to Shawn. “Okay Shawn, ready when you are.” The two women exited the room, leaving the two of us all alone.

I turned to Shawn and wrapped my hands around him in a hug. “Everything is going to be fine, Shawn.”

He smiled at me sadly. “Actually, it isn’t going to be, child. I have but a few years to live, at most, ten. And that is if I’m constantly undergoing dialysis treatment.”

I couldn’t believe it. Shawn was dying, it was just crazy.

“We really can’t hide this for long, Shawn. Especially with the fact that we’re going to be constantly visiting a hotel. I mean, what will people think?”

“I doubt a lot of people will think that much of it, but even if they do, what is wrong with having an affair with me?”

I burst into laughter at his statement and the cocky look on his face. 

“Now, Shawn, I personally don’t see anything wrong with that, I mean look at you… such a catch.” We both chuckled heartily.

“Alright, go get changed. I’ll be here waiting.”

He smiled warmly at me. “Thank you for being here, child.”

End of flashback

*******

Dylan

I had royally screwed up, hadn’t I?

Brielle had briefly explained why my father hadn’t told me about his ailment, and I- I didn’t know what to think… what to say.

The man was unwell, and I had been so hell-bent on my quest for revenge, that I had been too blind to notice. I felt like a piece of shit, and my behaviour towards Brielle hadn’t even been put in the equation.

I opened my mouth to say something… apologise maybe, but the door opened and the doctor came out.

“Doc, how is he? Can we go and see him now?” Brielle asked in a rush.

The doctor wasn’t smiling.

Bad sign.

“Well, you can go in now, but I’m afraid there’s bad news.” He said.

“What is it? Please tell us.” I pressed on, holding Brielle against me to control her shaking.

“We managed to get everything under control, but I’m afraid his life expectancy has drastically reduced.”

“How much time does he have left?” Brielle asked. She discreetly wiped a stray tear away.

“He has but a few months, one year tops, I’m afraid.”

I didn’t hear anything else after that.