IN LOVE WITH A SOLDIER - Season 9 Episode 62

As soon as Greg stepped out of the emergency room, Aria, who had been waiting at the gate for hours, grabbed his arm.

“Doctor Greg, how is my mother doing?” Aria kept his eyes on Greg’s while she waited for him to answer. She held her breath, unmoving, hoping that the answer from Greg that would give her comfort.

Greg saw tears from Aria’s eyes and his heart sank. He wanted to comfort her but he didn’t know how.

When he finally spoke, he smiled and said, “Your mother is alright now. She was in bad shape when she was rescued but she’s out of danger now.”

Aria finally released the breath she held back. Her mind was finally at peace now that her mother was out of danger.

Worried that Aria would ask a lot of questions about what happened, Greg beat her to it, “We found out, during surgery, that your mom was allergic to some of the drugs and she did have some bad reactions to it. But we fixed it and she’s safe now. So there’s no more need to worry.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Aria sighed, a smile appeared on her lips. She took Greg’s hands in hers and shook it.

“Doctor Greg, I cannot say thank you enough. I really appreciate everything you did for me and my mother.”

Greg shook his head and held up his hand to stop Aria. He smiled and hoped she wouldn’t see the truth. He felt guilty for not telling Aria the truth. Aria just looked so innocent and simple, like Violet. And if she knew someone wanted to hurt her mother intentionally, Greg didn’t know what she would do. And this could be connected to Lawrence, so he couldn’t say anything yet.

Greg exhaled to clear his mind. He reassured Aria, “I’ll ask the nurse to transfer her to the ICU when she wakes up. Do you mind waiting again while we do that? We really need to observe her so we can decide on the best therapy for her.” He did his best to stay calm so Aria wouldn’t notice his uneasiness. Paranoia hit him and he felt someone was watching his or XS Hospital’s next move. He feared something bad was going to happen soon.

“I can do that,” Aria agreed and took her place again on the chairs at the waiting room.

Greg left Aria by the waiting room to rush to the hospital’s security room.

There were two employees inside the room, who quickly stood up when Greg barged into the room, “Doctor Greg!”

“I want to see the security footage. I want to see what happened to Kate!” Greg ordered the staff. He was usually polite to everyone in the hospital but he wasn’t in the mood right now. He needed to know what happened immediately.

One of the workers got right on it. “Just a moment, sir,” he told Greg. He faced the monitors and looked for the footage.
Ten minutes had passed and they found nothing.

“Is there a problem?” Greg asked, even if he already knew.

The worker hesitated and turned to his co-worker. His voice was low and quiet when he finally spoke. “I’m really sorry, Sir,” he started to explain. “But that footage is missing. We’re not sure what happened with that footage.”

Greg gasped, bewildered. It did look like somebody planned the attack and tampered with the monitors to cover it up.

One of the workers stood up to face Greg, “We’re very sorry, Sir, but we really don’t know how this happened. Only the footage around Kate’s ward and the time of the attack is missing.”

With his mind full of questions, Greg’s face turns red with anger. ‘This was deliberate, ‘ he thought. And if he didn’t act now, something worse would happen soon!

“Who works here? How many hours? How many shifts?” Greg demanded to know.

“Three shifts. Eight hours each, with two staff per shift. When it’s time to eat, one staff would buy the food and the other one stays,” the staff explained to Greg.

“Tell your supervisor to go to my office now,” Greg ordered before he spun around to leave.

When he arrived at his office, he called his assistant to get to his office.

His assistant ran inside his office almost immediately with a pen and pad, ready to write down his instructions.

“Have the nurses transfer Kate to the only VVIP ward and make sure that there are nurses taking care of her every second. And make sure that everybody who was in the operating room during her surgery to stay silent and not tell anyone about her condition to anyone, including her family. Make sure everybody follows my orders or they’re fired!” Greg reiterated to his assistant. He needed to make sure Kate was safe and secure.

“Very well, Doctor,” the assistant confirmed.

There was a knock on the door and Greg motioned for his assistant to open the door. When the assistant opened the door, they found a middle-aged man in a black suit on the other side.

Greg motioned for him to come in. He rushed to Greg and announced, “Doctor Greg, I’m the supervisor of the monitoring room.”

“Okay, hold on,” Greg turned back to his assistant. “Book the conference room for an emergency meeting in one hour. Tell all the senior management to come for an emergency meeting. If they’re not in surgery, all the department directors must be there, too. And tell the security office to record every car coming in and out.”

“Yes, sir,” the assistant promptly replied.

“Make sure everybody follows my orders,” Greg emphasized.

Greg waited for his assistant to close the door before he turned his attention to the supervisor.

“Are you aware of the reason you’re here?” Greg asked.

“Yes, sir. My staff has informed me of the missing footage. I would like to apologize for this breach of security. I’ve already given instructions to my staff to find out what happened and who did it. I assure you we will report everything we find out to you,” the supervisor stammered.

“No, there’s no more need for that,” Greg replied. He was sure that whoever erased the footage did it deliberately. And it would be a hopeless case to find out who it was.

“I will arrange for more staff. From now on, make sure there are four people working per shift. If anything like this happens again, it’ll be the last thing you do in this hospital,” Greg continued.

“Yes, sir, of course, we won’t disappoint you,” the supervisor assured Greg, relieved that Greg was giving them another chance.

“You can leave,” Greg directed him towards the door. He waited for the supervisor to leave and close the door when he released a loud exhale, his head in his hands.

He closed his eyes, with a wish that his problems would go away. This was a difficult situation and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it. He wished Lawrence and Mike were there, to help him fix the problem. Tim and Alice would be of no help. No. He needed to fix this himself.

He directed his eyes upward and prayed, ‘Please let Kate and Aria be okay now until forever!’

Aria stood by the ICU entrance, bent over the glass while she peeked at her still unconscious mother. She had tubes everywhere and it took everything in Aria not to cry out. She covered her mouth but her teeth continued to chatter.

“Mother, please wake up. You’re my only family and I can’t lose you. You need to get better and be with me. You still need to be at my wedding and see me in my wedding dress. I still have to pay you back and give you the life you wanted for you. Please wake up, Mother. I love you. We still need to live that life together!” Aria sobbed. Her shoulders shook with every sob.

She slumped on the floor, against the wall, still sobbing. She muttered, “Lawrence, come back. I need you. I miss you.”

Meanwhile, in an apartment far from the hospital, Sally and Sharon clinked the wine glasses in their hands.

“Cheers! Now, we can celebrate!” Sally proposed, a triumphant smile across her lips. She clinked her glass against Sharon’s and drank all the wine in one go.

“What devil’s luck though! Why is she still alive?” Sharon asked. “I can’t understand why Greg had to save her. Why didn’t he just let her die?”

“Don’t doctors have an oath?” Sally retorted. “But Greg is the president of XS Hospital, not just a doctor.”

“You’re right. That’s why I can’t understand why he’d protect Kate,” Sharon complained. “And I just found out that Kate was transferred to the only VVIP room at the hospital.”

“Well, Aria is Lawrence’s girlfriend. And Lawrence is Greg’s brother-in-law. What did you think?” Sally sneered. It was such an obvious reason that she can’t believe Sharon didn’t figure it out.

Suddenly, a bulb lit up in Sharon’s head. “Lawrence probably told Greg to keep her alive! And of course, Greg would do what he said. I mean, the VVIP room costs tens of thousands of dollars a day! It’s such a waste of money to let people like Kate stay there. What a pity!”

Sharon continued to grumble but Sally wasn’t listening anymore.

She had other things on her mind. “Greg is sure to put in stricter measures. We need to come up with a better plan,” Sally analyzed. Greg was not just a silly boy. Lawrence was the most powerful man in the city, followed by Mike. And Greg was the 3rd most powerful. Their power and wealth made sure they mattered. The time of Jackson and Mond was now over. And their successors have taken over.

“Greg is still a good man and he will not be so scheming.” Sharon would always have a deep affection for Greg, who she took as her own son many years ago, although at the start she did it for her own good, using him as one of her means to get closer to Fred. She wanted to make it up to him ever since.

“I know Greg is a good man,” Sally reaffirmed what Sharon said. “But I’m afraid that he already has his suspicions with the drug.”

Sharon was curious and moved closer to Sally, asking, “What was that drug, Sally?” What’s so special about it that it can’t be found in China?”

“One can buy some only in New Zealand,” Sally said. She spent almost all her money on that drug. “Greg’s in the medical industry so I’m sure he knows about that drug now and what it does!”

Sally was not worried since the drugs were bought from the black market. Nobody was going to find out about it. Even if Greg knew what the drug could do, he had no way of knowing who it came from.

Sharon was confused at Sally’s smug look. “Kate is not dead this time. What’s your next step?”

“Easy, easy! Everything’s just getting started,” Sally said, a cocky smile was pasted on her lips.

“You mean?” Sharon thought for a second and speculated, “Rebecca?”

“Oh yes! In three days, a storm will sweep over the entire city. Just you wait and see,” Sally raised her wine glass again at Sharon.

A smile appeared on Sharon’s lips. She finished her wine and topped it up again. “I’m so bored. I want to see this splendid show start.”

“Actually, the only person we need to thank right now is Mike,” Sally announced.