C4 Chapter 4: Tommy

I walked in the apartment and quickly made my way to the living room. I let my body fall on the couch and sighed with fatigue. I straightened my back and stared at my reflection in the glass in front of me. My green eyes didn't have their usual sparks. I looked tired. Of course I would be tired. I mean, I've worked last night and had to attend college this morning. I've gotten barely two hours of sleep.

"It sucks to study, right? " Rose asked as she walked in the room with a glass of cold mango juice in her hand. She gave it to me, causing to smile brightly. I really needed this. I gulped down the juice and took a deep breath.

"Really suck" I answered.

"Go rest" she said while staring at me with concern.

"I can't" I exhaled. "I have to visit Tommy" I told her as I closed my eyes and leant my head on the pillow of the couch. It was so comfortable.

"I'll come with you! I miss that little man" Rose said with happiness. Tommy's my step brother. He's seven. Long story short, my father cheated on my mom and got his mistress pregnant. The latter died and my dad refused to take the responsibility of this little boy with cancer. My father was heartless. My mother was worst. She said that she was praying for the death of Tommy.

Why should he suffer for the mistake of my father?

I left home after having a huge fight with my parents. Hatred built inside of me after I saw their real faces. This is why I was now living with Rose. I had to pay my college fee and Tommy's treatment myself. It was getting difficult. I was glad to have the help of Rose and my sister, Alena.

Alena has always been there for me. It really hurt her the day I left her and at first, she didn't understand why I was taking care of Tommy, the child of my father's mistress. I explained and she accepted to meet the little boy. She instantly fell in love with little cute boy. It broke my heart each day thinking that one day, cancer might take over his little heart. I tried not to think about it too much. Tommy needed me, and I needed him as well. He was like a little ray of sunshine.

I stood up and went to my room. I have to change my clothes. I was so tired right now. I took off my dress with a sigh. My eyes soon met with my reflection in the mirror which was in front of me. Why did life have to be so hard? But again, if it was easy, it would be boring. I pulled out my jeans and a top. Once I've put my clothes on me, I decided to put my sneakers on.

"Ready?" Rose asked from the door. I nodded and picked up my handbag. We walked to the car in a comfortable silence. Rose knew that whenever I was tired, I was a little grumpy.

"I just wanna get on my bed and sleep tonight" I breathed out as I started driving to the hospital. I was glad that I didn't have to work tonight.

"You really need to rest" Rose told me as she stared at me in concern. I nodded and put on some music to get my mind off all the problems that I had.

As I stepped out of the car, my face scrunched as the smell of the hospital hit my nose. I hated hospitals and the smell of medicines. Rose seemed to agree with me as she made a gesture that she wanted to puke. A doctor passed by and stared at her as if she was crazy. Suddenly he rushed to her and held her arm.

"Miss, Are you alright?" the doctor asked with wide eyes. He seemed to be in the forties. Rose nodded and gave him a smile.

"Yeah, I am. Don't worry" she told him as she slowly pulled away from him and started walking towards me.

"Then will it be alright if I take you out for dinner?" The doctor suddenly called as Rose reached me. Rose's eyes widened and she seemed disgusted by this proposal.

"I'm sorry, but I have a girlfriend" Rose told him as she hooked her arm with mine. The doctor's face fell. He nodded and walked in the opposite direction. I chuckled when I saw Rose's face.

"Rose" She turned to look at me. "I don't know how to tell you this" I said seriously, making her frown.

"What's wrong?" she asked with crossed arms as we stopped walking. I made a dramatic sigh and put my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not lesbian" I said seriously, causing her to huff in annoyance. I laughed when she glared at me.

"As if I was" she mumbled. "Sweetheart, I love only dicks" she said bluntly loud out. Some people who were passing by, turned to stare at us with wide eyes. Why wouldn't they?

"Come on, let's go" I laughed. We made our way to the reception. The receptionist gave us a bright smile.

"Hey girls, how are you?" She asked. Amanda has been working here for a long time and as I come to meet Tommy trice in a week, we saw each other quite often.

"We're pretty fine. What about you?" Rose asked with a smile on her face.

"I'm good" She answered.

"We're going to see Tommy" I told her. She nodded and motioned us to go.

"Go on. The little boy has been waiting since this morning" She told me. Tommy knew that I was coming today. I walked to the elevator, pulling Rose with me. As we stepped in, a doctor stepped as well. He seemed quite young and cute. A smirk plastered on Rose's face. She turned to stare at me and fanned herself.

"He's hot" She whispered. But seriously, it wasn't a whisper. I was pretty sure that the doctor heard her. The door closed and we pressed on the 5th button.

"Thank you" the doctor said as he turned to look at us.

"For pressing the button?" I questioned with confusion. He chuckled and shook his head. His eyes went to Rose and again, he smirked.

"You're hot as well" He told her. I knew it. I knew that he heard. Rose was turning the same colour as a rose. I laughed, making her pinch my arm.

"Who said that we were talking about you?" Rose asked, tilting her head slightly to the left and rose one of her eyebrows. The doctor did the same but he wore an amused grin.

The sexual tension was suffocating me in here!

"Jace" he said and placed his hand forward.

"Rose" Rose mumbled her name and shook his hand. Jace then turned to me and I shook his hand as well.

"Athena" I told him while offering him a smile.

"What are you doing here, girls?" he asked as he stared at us. He seemed to be a nice guy. Rose was staring at his pale blue eyes.

"We're here to meet my little brother" I told him.

"His name?" he asked with a little frown.

"Thomas Willams" Rose said. Jace's eyes widened and he gave us a bright smile.

"Hello, I'm his new doctor. Mr Johnson retired yesterday" Jace said.

"He retired?" I asked with wide eyes. Why? He was a pretty good doctor and I trusted him with my brother. What about Jace? I don't even know his capabilities.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of Thomas" Jace said, giving me a reassuring smile. I took a deep breath as the elevator stopped and we got out of it. We made our way to Tommy's room and I saw Rose looking for something in her bags.

"What are you looking for?" I asked as I reached the door.

"The cakes that we bought for him" she said as she bit on her lips in concentration, shuffling in her bag. Finally, she pulled out a plastic bags, in which there were different type of cakes. I smiled as I pushed the door open. There, on the little bed, I saw my brother talking with one of the nurses. Talking? No. More like arguing.

"Spiderman is better than Hulk" he said with finality in his words. The nurse made a huff and faking disagreement.

"Hulk is better. He is green" The nurse said. I chuckled lightly, causing both of them to turn to look at me. "We'll talk about this later" she then told him with a wink and gave us a bright smile as she left the room.

"Athena! I missed you" I wrapped my arms around his little body and pecked his forehead.

"I missed you too, big Boy" I whispered. I then moved so that Rose could hug the hell out of him. And she did.

"Aunty! You're choking me" Tommy shouted. Rose gasped and pulled away.

"What did I tell you about calling me Aunty?" Rose asked, trying to sound intimidating.

"That it makes you feel old" Tommy mumbled. Rose nodded. "But you are old" Tommy exclaimed as he pulled the bag of cakes to him.

"I'm only Twenty six!" Rose exclaimed after a huff.

"Athena is twenty" Tommy said while giving me a bright smile and then he stuffed his mouth with a chocolate muffin.

"Tommy, slow down with the cake" I said as I handed him a tissue paper. He nodded.

"She's too young" Rose said. Jace, the doctor, stood at the end of the bed while staring at Tommy's documents. He had a frown on his face. Just as I was about to ask him if everything was okay, my phone rang. I ignored Tommy's and Rose's bickering. I pulled out my phone and saw Jerry's number flashing on the screen.

"It's an important call, I'll take it" I told them and walked out of the room. I pressed on the answer button. "Hello?" I said as I sat on the bench in the corridor.

"I need you to work tonight" He said, sounding breathless. He went straight to the point.

"I'm really tired, Jerry" I sighed. "In two days, I had only two hours of sleep" I explained.

"Please. Then I'll give you three days off" He said, trying to make a deal. It seemed good enough.

"Deal. I'll be there in two hours. I'm spending some times with Tommy" I told him.

"It's six right now" He said. "Take your time. I'll need you here by ten" he said, making me smile.

"Thank you Jerry" I breathed while closing my eyes.

Since when did my life become so complicated?

"Anything for you, sweetheart" he said. "Tell the little boy that Uncle Jerry will visit him soon and I miss him" He told me. Jerry absolutely loved Tommy.

"Will do. See you in a few" I said.

"See you later" With that, I ended the call and walked back in the room. I told Rose that I'll be working tonight too and she simply stared at me in concern and nodded. We spent two hours with Tommy and then we left around eight to get ready for work...