A JOURNEY BACK TO LOVE

CHAPTER 4

—Screamed Yes!

Weeks went by and Leslie and Miguel had the best of times together. From one romantic date to another. One beach hangout to another. It felt too good to be true. It was time for another hangout by Globus Pharmaceutical and Miguel felt it was time for Leslie to meet his pals at work. The hangout was held at Wildfire bar. As Miguel and Leslie walked in the bar his pals stood and cheered him. They were all genuinely happy for him because they were there when he struggled with grief when Cherry passed. Leslie was overwhelmed by the warm welcome and cheers.

“You all meet the love of my life”. Miguel said to them as he introduced Leslie. The cheers became even louder.

Not too long after conversations got rolling, Leslie noticed someone walk into the bar that looked like Trevor on initial glance. The place was dark so she couldn't tell. She kept staring there watching the person order glasses of tequila, hoping he would just turn back for a second for her to get her confirmation. He finally turned and surprisingly, it was—

TREVOR!!!!! She was surprised because he looked completely different, not in a good way but in the most terrible way. He looked lean and his beards were bushy and his hair untidy.

She didn't stop looking that way even after seeing he was the one. She kept wondering in her mind what went wrong with him in just a few months. The temptation to go meet him and ask what happened was building in her—

Miguel observed she was looking at him not knowing who he was, he asked—

“Is there a problem, do you know that guy?”

“No, I don't, I was just wondering why someone would be so upset in a public place like this.”

She replied.

Miguel chuckled and dived right back in the conversation he was having with his pals. Shortly later Trevor turned to Leslie's direction and they stared at each other for a bit then Trevor paid the bartender immediately and zoomed off the bar.

Leslie and Miguel become more inseparable. Apart from when they had to go to work, they were almost always together. Instead of one partner moving into the other's apartment, they chose to be switching between each other's apartment. It was more fun for them this way. They both had shared passion towards charity in health care so they planned a programme that will create subsidized health treatment for folks in rural areas including medical checkups, diagnosis, drug dispensing and minor surgical procedures. It was a big deal for them, so they took their time and set out 6 weeks to execute it. Through their influence, they were able to get partners from within and outside their workplaces.

Five weeks in and they made tremendous progress already, everything involving structural set up was done. It remained to finalize logistics arrangements.

Miguel's apartment. The following week, Miguel was going through some files when his phone rang, he checked it and it was Leslie. He dropped the files and with a big smile he took the call—

“Hello my darling Les”. The next thing he heard from the phone made his jaw drop. It was a call from the emergency department of St. Louis hospital. Leslie had been involved in a terrible automobile accident that left her conscious.

“Doctor, Is there something I could do?”. Miguel asked Dr Rasheed in the hospital with a shaky voice.

“Miguel, I assure you the doctor's in there are doing their absolute best to save Leslie, just sit back and we will get in touch with you when we need to”. Dr Rasheed replied to him and returned to the treatment room.

Miguel sat in the waiting area. He was so tensed and anxious as he waited. He interrogated every nurse that came from the treatment room but there was no definite answer. Hours later, Dr. Rasheed came out and explained what was on ground. Apparently, Leslie developed a brain bleed and they were trying to drain it out and maintain her vitals. He explained that she needed to be taken for a computed Tomography scan.

Later on, the scan results were out and as much as it was understood she would be in coma, the doctor believed she would eventually wake up, the only problem was when.

It was too much for Miguel to bear or comprehend. One minute you are having the best time with the woman you love the most and the next moment she is in a coma.

Miguel cleared his work schedule and made most of his duties remote. He spent his full time in the hospital alongside Douglas. He didn't even consider spending a night without being next to Leslie. All he went home to do was to get new clothes and fix meals. During this time, Douglas and Miguel connected on a deep level. Douglas was at the point where he had to accept he may probably be losing his daughter so he needed someone to share every detail about Leslie and his relationship with her. These moments became therapeutic for Miguel and Douglas.

On the other hand, it came to Trevor's knowledge from words on the street.

In Douglas’ House. He was fixing himself a cup of tea in the kitchen when he heard footsteps behind him with a thunderous voice:

“Now you know what it feels like when you close your eyes to sleep and you are so scared not knowing what news tomorrow will bring.”

Douglas turned and saw it was Trevor.

“What do you want, young man?”. Douglas asked

“I heard you are the reason all my clients left me one after the other”.Trevor replied.

“Yes I am the reason. Did you expect to hurt my daughter and leave scot free even after I found out the exact reason for you getting along with her was to use my position in business for your gain?” Douglas said.

“Well, now you have wrecked my business and left me with nothing, maybe we should both experience nothingness—”

Trevor drew out a his shotgun from his pocket and pointed it at Douglas who reacted—

“You freaking coward. That's all you do, toss blame around and blame everyone except his damn self, you are nothing but a foolish and senseless idi—”.

Trevor hit the trigger and—