Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 11

The news of her husband's departure was a difficult thing for her to swallow due to the persistent efforts in trying to make sure her spouse doesn't lose sight of the needs of the family and neglect their son whilst in pursuance of the money of her treatment which they had plenty in abundance. It was clear to her that not only is she competing for attention with the her spouse's work activities that will yield money in his company's bank account but Richard as well was contending for some force that was proving to be a milestone in the family's path of seeking closure with the head and breadwinner of the family. She hitched herself further into Richard's embrace and for five minutes, she kept sobbing quietly in the arms of Richard. Richard wrapped his hands around his mother and drew himself further into the bed. Over half of his right leg was crushing the edges of the bed while the other was left hanging in mid air.

"I can't believe he....went without saying even a word....about his trip", "At least, he's fine and not dead yet", Richard said, patting his mom gently on the back. She kept whimpering and fidgeting nervously as Richard rested the whole of his chin on her shoulder. Soon, she became sober and found enough courage to withdraw from his manly grasp. Then she gently wiped tears, panting softly and Richard helped her wipe off the tears on her cheeks from her eyes. "What did he say was his reason for this sudden trip?", "He told me some kind of emergency came up in one of the company's office in Singapore", Richard replied, relaxing his grip on her hands and rested his elbows on the bed. "Emergency?" his mom questioned in perplexity.

"Yes but......He didn't actually tell me in detail", Richard stuttered but his demeanor betrayed him which told her that there was something more than what he just said to her.

"He didn't tell you or you were too furious to listen, which of it, Richard?" she inquired to confirm her suspicions as soon as she sensed a lie in Richard's reply. She didn't doubt for a second that Richard must have exchanged words with his father the very moment her spouse made the revelation of his unexpected departure known to his son and it was apparently written on Richard's face that he was not too happy with his dad's decision to leave him behind to school alone for the rest of the entire summer whilst filling the shoes of his father in taking care of his mother in the hospital the very best he could as their child.

Richard feigned ignorance and evaded her stare. He knew at once that she would reprimand him if she found out that he was, in fact, the cause of the afternoon discord which occurred in the afternoon during daytime.

"Richard, say something or I'll be forced to believe you chose not listen to him....", she said but Richard remained tongue-tied, "You exchanged words with him, didn't you?", "Mom, I can't believe you're defending him", "So, both of you fought before he left, right?" she interrogated further. Richard felt stung with every ounce of guilt as a result of his actions, bearing down on him.

"If you really want to know, Mom, Yes, we did argue because of this but you have to understand.......", "I don't want to hear it", "Mom...", "You really disappoint me, Richard this time around. In fact, you and your dad have really let me down", "But I've the right to get angry. What he said was difficult for me to handle and I couldn't take it", "So, you decided to let it all out on him?", Richard felt frustrated and confused. He had thought his mother would understand his pain but ironically, he was getting reprimanded for his rude attitude towards his father.

"I thought you would take me side on this", "Of course I won't side you on the wrong path. That's not the man I raised you to be", Richard shook his head in disbelief. It was a great surprise to him that his mom was against how he reacted to his dad.

"Believe it or not, I'm on your side if you are upset about him leaving on such quick notice but...to quarrel with him, I'm totally against it", "This is too much. You expect me to fold my hands and look the other way when he...keeps on prioritizing his work over us", "I know he went overboard this time around but that doesn't mean that you'll lose all the respect you have for him", she retorted, folding her hands.

"I can't help but feel bad about his routines. It's eating me deep inside and you know it, Mom", Richard replied, staring at his Mom in the eye. His mother was about to say something when the door flung open unexpectedly. And then the light came on when the intruder switched on the lights. The two of them both stare at the intruder who turned out to be a nurse on patrol duty of checking if the patients were relaxing comfortably in their respective ward.

It wasn't Nurse Lucy like Richard had speculated based on the first thought that came on his mind neither was it the young nurse who met Richard at the doorway of the hospital while helping a patient move with a wheelchair but it was someone different with a more neater complexion than the two nurses Richard met earlier before making his way to see his mother in the cubicle where she had been recently hospitalized.

Richard quickly stood on his feet at the sight of the Nurse and became extremely nervous. He realized at that moment that he had spent a lot of time chattering with his mom that he had lost track of the time and briefly recalled what Nurse Lucy had told him but it was rather too late for him to be saved from being caught.

The Nurse was confused to see him in the ward alone with the patient and almost mistook him for a burglar. Richard's mom was by far extremely shocked to see the nurse and suddenly felt her breath tightened inside her throat. Her lungs suddenly cramped beneath her ribs and she exhaled heavily, drawing breath more harshly than ever. The unexpected appearance of the Nurse had triggered a severe shock which arrested her more fatally than she imagined. Richard flung himself at her before the Nurse could venture further into the room to help out with the situation.

"Mom! What's going on?!" he exclaimed in a frenzy as he clung on to her, desperately trying to help her ease her breathing. The nurse quickly rushed inside and wrenched his hands off from the patient. Then she pushed him aside and performed the necessary procedures in calming down the patient.

For two minutes, Richard stood watching the nurse help his mom regain her regular breathing which had been thrown off balance by the little shock she received a few moments ago. His mother kept wheezing unsteadily in the arms of the nurse who was unrelenting in helping her return her respiration back to normal. It was tough but the Nurse's efforts paid off when the patient's breath started regaining its former rhythm. His mother's lungs started exchanging gasses with the hot air outside steadily when she started responding to the Nurse's treatment.

"Breathe.... Take a easy breath in and exhale slowly", the nurse ordered and Richard's mother kept up with the breathing routine. Slowly but steady, her regular breathing returned back to the way it was before the shock attack and she fainted as the nurse slowly guided her back to sleep. The whole exercise had ended briefly as it came and Richard was left moping and alarmed to see what she went through in front of his very eyes.

After guiding her to relax on the bed, the nurse quickly turned to Richard and pulled him outside the room. Richard watched her closely at the door after switching off the lights and felt hard on himself for his mother's plight. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here in the ward at this hour?" she queried in haste, looking Richard in contempt. Richard was bold enough to hide his fears and quickly change his mood which had taken a toll on him. "She's my mom and I....", "Your mom. And you came to see her when it's already dark?", "Look, I know it's outrageous and this isn't the hour to visit but I needed to let her know something important, that's why I came", Richard replied at the nurse who gave him a quite contemptuous stare. She sighed heavily and refrain herself from yelling at Richard for what happened to the patient a minute ago. Then she exhaled to let out her anger and suppressed her temper. "Look here, Mister, I really don't care to know what was so important that you had to tell at this time but you should leave right now and go back home", she said with her hands akimbo.

"Fine by me...I'm about to leave anyway", Richard checked his pockets for the car keys and found that it was still inside the right pocket where he had left it.

"It's quite late, get going", "I am....", Richard answered and made a move to leave while looking at the door of the ward which was already shut.

"Be careful out there taking a cab home. You can take the bus if you don't feel safe with a taxi", she advised as he was leaving.

"Thanks for your advice but I don't need one because I came with a car", He said, swinging the car keys with his back facing her. Richard left the hospital and drove out of the hospital parking lot as soon as he located the black SUV car his father left for him. The sky was already pitch-black with total darkness hovering above the skyscrapers, dazzling with lights when he drove out of the vicinity, heading for home and arrived home at a very late hour of nine in the night. Angry and fatigued with the whole fiasco that he had witnessed the entire day, he decided not to eat anything for supper and went to bed as soon as he was done getting dressed up in his striped gray pajamas, ruminating on what to do to ease his plight the next day.