7: Unexpected Expectations

I decided to visit the room where my body is confined. I like to find out what happened to my other self. I would like to know how Lolit, Tristan and Casper are coping with this situation.

"You have guts to check on the person who almost killed you!" Tess remarked. "What are you planning to do, because I don't know how I will react when I see him!"
I soundly answered, "I just want to know what happened to him, to find out if he is okay too. We were both rushed here, so it's most likely he also sustained his share of injuries."

Tess is right. Why would I have the guts to even check on that person who bumped me with his vehicle? This is entirely a different scenario, because I'm visiting my original body. I'm just concerned that Tess might make a scene there, based on her reactions. Now that we decided to go, the next step is to find out how to get there.

"Mom, do you know the room number of Mr. Ynchausti?" I carefully asked Tess, anxious of how she will react this time. 
"Actually, no. I just know he's also confined here," she skeptically responded. "And knowing him as a prominent man, it is unlikely that the hospital will disclose his room number due to privacy." 
"Mom, how about calling his eldest son, Tristan? He might tell us where his father is convalescing," I brilliantly uttered. 
"Tristan? Why him and how will we contact him?" Tess inquired back. 
Trying to recall the facts from previous conversations with my sons, I said, "That's because Tristan is my teammate in basketball. I think I can still recall his number. It's 0997-8747826."

With that puzzled look on her face, she tried dialing the number I gave her. Since it's not on her contact list, she saved it on her phone.

While saving Tristan's number, she jabbed, "You know, you never mentioned anything about the older Ynchausti son. I know all of your teammates and their contact details. If I knew about him before, I could have called him that night you were missing." 
To which I wittingly answered, "That's because he's part of Team B. I'm part of the official basketball team of the school, so I never mentioned him. If I did, it's not as frequent as those from my team. I'm sorry about that, Mom." Actually, I don't even know if I'm part of Team A or B, all I know is that we are teammates, and I was able to pull off my explanation.

Then she tried calling the number, and put the call on speaker mode so that I can also hear the conversation.

"Hello?" the voice of a young man answered in the line, probably Tristan. 
"Hello. I'm looking for Tristan," Tess said in a straightforward tone. 
"Yes, I'm Tristan. May I know who's this?" Tristan replied in a curious note. 
"This is Tess, the mother of Alex Loyola!" she stated in an intimidating manner. 
"Oh...Aunt*, aunt, aunt Tess... Aunt Tess! So sorry to hear about what happened to Yola. How may I help you, Auntie?" my son's frightened response. 
"My son would like to visit your dad. May I know the room number?" she said while maintaining that fearsome intonation. 
"Would that be a good idea, Auntie? Yola might not be well yet," Tristan nervously replied. 
"For me, it's never a good idea; but my son insisted. Maybe he's got better intentions," Tess continuously browbeaten my son with her straight tone. 
There was a brief pause after that and then he disclosed the details as calmly as possible, "Papa's confined at the Suite of the 15th Floor. You won't have difficulty finding it because we are the only suite in this floor." 
"Thank you, Tristan. See you in a few minutes," she shot back. She then dropped the call while my son was trying to say something else. 
"My friend was trying to say something, why drop the call, Mom?" I curiously asked her. 
"We now know where he's staying. There's no more reason for me to talk to him," she angrily responded.

I'm surprised that she transformed from her loving and caring aura to this ruthless and angry disposition. This visit is really difficult for her, but I felt she wants to do it because of her unconditional love for her son.

As she helps me prepare to visit that room, her mood suddenly toned down.

She said serenely, "I'm sorry about that frank conversation with Tristan. I can't help vent my anger against him, which is not right. I hope you also understand where I'm coming from. You ready to go?"

I simply nodded my head and we went out of the room, heading to the suite. I was wearing my broken glasses, patient gown and holding my IV fluid stand. I feel like the Grim Reaper while walking with my stand, for it resembles a scythe as I approach the suite upstairs.

Tess talked to the nurses outside saying that we are gonna have a leisurely walk, which the doctor recommended during their discussion days before I woke up. That was a smooth way for us to leave our room, without them wondering where we are going. And we headed to the elevator, instead of the outdoor space within the floor.

While inside the elevator, Tess gave a clever remark, "Son, I'm wondering on what may be wrong with your memory. You can neither remember me nor who you are, yet you remember intricate details about Ynchausti's son, Tristan." 
"Call him Chas, Mom," I quipped. 
"That's what I'm talking about! You don't know your name, but you remember his nickname, that he's part of Team B, even his mobile number. I can't even remember my number unless I glance a bit at my calling card," she retorted. "Do you even remember your mobile number?"

With an empty look on my face, I nodded sideways. That was a very awkward situation for me, knowing so little about my new self, hence the need to know more about him.

"That's the point, my son!" she fearfully responded. Then she hugged me tight with that worrying look. "I hope you get back to your senses soon. But in the meanwhile, I will help you remember and retrace your steps. I'll always be here by your side, my son."

After that discussion, we reached the 15th floor of the hospital. It's very spacious compared to my ward. There's this wide reception area to entertain the patient's guests and well-wishers. I remember this floor- the Exclusive Suite for high-profile patients who wanted utmost privacy while recovering. I recall visiting my clients here when they are hospitalized for various reasons.

As we walk through the reception area, I see lots of flowers beautifully bundled in bouquets, given by my friends and clients in the industry. It was heart-warming to see the care and support pouring out from them. At one corner, I see one of my staff chatting with a hospital crew and overheard their conversation.

"What a day! Crowd controlling the press and nosy personnel is very exhausting! My boss never gets tired of being in a mess!" my whining staff grumbled. 
"I'm glad the press got tired of their vigil at the lobby downstairs. We don't want our hospital to be a media circus," remarked the hospital crew my grouchy staff was talking to.

Then came Cindy, who might have heard the conversation, as she went straight to my cranky staff and confronted him.

"Do you have a problem, Mister? We hired you because we know you can do the job well, and you're now whining for a few sleepless days of maintaining the privacy of your boss?!" Cindy chastised him. "If you can't stand this environment, I suggest you leave!"

Then she grabbed him by the arm and tried to talk to him in private, "But I'm warning you, it would be dangerous to leave the firm with someone like you on the loose. You know what I mean!"

In cold sweat, the staff was shell-shocked.

"I think you just need a break. Starting tomorrow, I'm giving you a week off and send you to a private resort to help you unwind and reflect on your thoughts," Cindy ordered the staff. "But remember, all eyes are on you. You know how we deal with loose ends."

That conversation surprised me for two reasons. First, I can hear people clearly even though they are 3 meters away. Second, I never thought Cindy could be that unrelenting just to protect me and the firm.

Then we passed the nurses station, which looked like a hotel front desk, and overheard two nurses who talked about my current situation.

"I'm curious that for the past weeks, Mr. Ynchausti never regained his consciousness. It's like he's in a state of deep sleep, just like Sleeping Beauty," gossiped the fat nurse. 
"I know, sister. I prefer to call him the Sleeping Hot Papa. He's so hot and good-looking even though he got all these tubes in him," responded the scrawny nurse. 
"I'm just wondering that despite having no injuries, he is still in a coma-like state. All his findings indicate that his body functions and vital signs are okay. He just doesn't want to wake up," the plump nurse tried to figure out. 
"I'm guessing that he's trying to take a break from all the stress he's experiencing in the real world. Maybe he's just waiting to get that awakening kiss from his charming princess, and that's me. Hahaha! Can't wait for his wife to leave for a moment so that I can give him that sweet smooch," the other nurse suggested in a giggling way while puckering her lips. 
"With your garlic breath, you can wake anybody with that, even without kissing," the first nurse jabbed back while mockingly covering her nose. "If Sleeping Hot Papa was a vampire, you might have killed him with that toxic kiss."

I'm amazed on how good my hearing is. Too bad, it's a different story regarding my poor eyesight. Then we reached the end of the floor, the suite. Beside that seems to be the sleeping chamber for companions and the dining/conference hall for small meetings.

Tess knocked at the door of the suite and waited for someone to open the door. It's taking a while for someone to open it. When Tess was about to knock on the door again, Tristan slowly opened the door.

"Hi, Auntie... Hello, Yola. Hope you're feeling better now. Please come in," Tristan softly spoke as he opened the door to let us in.

As he opened the door, I get to see a glimpse of 'me and my family.' I saw 'myself' in the middle of the room, which seems to be in coma with all these tubes and apparatus all over my body. Standing by 'my' side was Lolit, as she gently combs 'my' hair with her hands, and Casper sitting at the other side while holding firmly to 'my' hand. 
As soon as they have seen us, Lolit had this startled look at me and Tess, while Casper rose and stood by Lolit's side. Tess then charged towards my surprised wife and approached her.

"Take a good look at what Mr. Ynchausti did to my son! He is heavily bruised and injured from your husband's careless driving!" Tess castigated Lolit. 
"I'm very sorry about that, Ma'am. It's very unfortunate that both of them met this accident. I'm certain that my husband had no intentions of hitting him that evening," Lolit calmly apologized while trying to reach on to the hands of Tess to comfort her. 
"Your words are not enough, Madame Ynchausti!" Tess angrily said as she rebuffed Lolit's gesture by pushing her hands away. "What if my son met a grimmer fate, will your husband be able to bring my son back to life?!" 
"Ma'am, I fully understand where you're coming from. But with all due respect, we hope you may also consider our situation. Just look at my husband now, he's still helpless at his state," Lolit emphatically uttered. 
"What are you trying to imply here? That your husband won't be in that vegetative state if weren't for my boy? We aren't gonna have this conversation if your goddamned husband wasn't a reckless driver!" Tess lambasted. 
"Please, Ma'am. This is not the right time to have this conversation. Please show some mercy and compassion for my husband and us," Lolit pleaded as her eyes began to shed some tears and Casper tried to comfort her. 
"You're right! This is not the time and proper venue for this conversation! We'll just wait for your husband to get back in shape and discuss this further in court. We can't let a Sunday driver like him on our streets!" Tess angrily castigated.

While they were having this heated exchange of words, I slowly walked towards 'myself.' I can't help myself to feel sorry about what happened to 'me.' Despite all these tubes and monitoring devices attached to 'my' body, I can still see how tranquil-looking 'my' face was while lying stiff in bed. I also tried to check on 'my' chest, searching for something important, and there it was- the dog tag. I slowly reached to 'my' dog tag and held it gently with my fingers, feeling the embossed numbers in that neckpiece. I feel secured when I hold on to it, that's why I always have that hanging around my neck.

Unexpectedly, I heard again this sexy and alluring voice, "Do you like my work of art?"

Then I looked towards the direction of that voice, and there was Mercer, standing beside the various monitoring apparatus. With her crimson mask pulled down, she teasingly winked at me and smiled with her tongue out.

"Talk to you again later, sugar." She gave me a flying kiss and left again in a puff of purple smoke.

"I think we wasted too much time here, my son! Let's return to your room," Tess shouted while grabbing my hand and we both left the room.

Before we left the suite, I can see Lolit sitting down and covering her face as she cries helplessly after hearing those harsh words from Tess. Casper tried to comfort his poor mother by embracing her affectionately, seeing him teary-eyed as well.

As we walk to the hall towards the elevator, I can see Tess furious over the situation. That made me reflect that visiting 'my family' was not a good idea after all. It just opened wounds instead of trying to heal them.

While contemplating on what happened, I heard sudden footsteps heading towards our direction. When I looked back, it was Tristan, trying to catch up on us. What does he want this time?

*Aunt- term of respect for an older lady, usually mother or female relative of a friend/acquaintance