Broken Bad Boy novel Chapter 8

PERCIE

Fourteen months ago…

“Oh, boy. Did you just apologize? I can’t believe you can still remember words. I thought your brain is drained, too.” Grandma snorted while raising her brow.

“Stop making him feel guilty, Grace. Look at him. He doesn’t have any more left in him other than his skin and bones. Why won’t you try to cheer him up by telling him about his new apartment.”

“Wait, what?” I asked quickly. I felt something new inside me. Excitement? Hope? “You found an apartment for me?”

Grandma hit Grandpa’s arm playfully. “You, old mutt. Can’t keep your mouth shut for a while, can you? Now, where is the moment of surprise there?”

Grandpa laughed. “Surprise my butt. He got one surprised already. I think that’s good enough for him to get outside his hell hole.”

After the longest three weeks, I found myself smiling. “Thanks to both of you.”

Grandma waved her hand. “Don’t thank us yet. You’ll pay for it, Percival.”

“Of course, I will, Grandma.”

“Yeah, pay me by eating and grooming yourself. I don’t want your apartment will smell like a rotten rat. And I don’t want to see you looking homeless. What would people think of us? That I starved you to death in my care?”

“Fine. That’s a deal.”

“Good. Now get out of the car. We have to see Emma dear,” Grandpa said.

The parking area of Jefferson Neuro Rehab Facility was huge. The name was in a bold letter of the four-story building.

I followed my grandparents to the glass sliding door to the reception area. The smell of citrusy air freshener wafted my nose.

An Asian receptionist smiled. Grandpa told her about Emma’s information. Then she typed something on the keyboard. She told us the room after we signed in the logbook.

The anticipation overwhelmed me as we rode in the elevator. My heart started to beat again.

“Relax, Percie. You’ll collapse before you even see Emma.” Grandma must have noticed me fidgeting.

I faked a grin at her.

The elevator finally slid open after like an eternity. I took a deep breath before I stepped outside. We passed by some patients just like Emma. I noticed one pressing on the pad of his motorized wheelchair then it moved forward. His legs were gaunt. Only his skin covered the bone that wouldn’t look like a skeleton, and a pair of blue socks covering his feet.

He looked and smiled at me. He didn’t look old than his early twenties. “You must be Perce?” His voice was a little raspy.

I froze. Only Emma called me by that name.

My eyes widened in surprise. “Yeah. That’s me.” I offered my hand. We shook hands, and he introduced himself as Jonah.

“Nice to finally meet you, Perce. Emma mentioned you a lot.”

Grandpa patted my shoulder before I could say more.

“See you later, Perce!”

Grandpa already opened the door for us. I took a breath before walking in.

I saw Emma immediately sitting in the wheelchair like Jonah, with a laptop on her lap. She paused in the middle of what she was doing. She looked surprised as I was.

Emma still looked the same the last time I saw her. She tied her hair in a neat bun. She was wearing a white daisy printed shirt and a light pink pajama bottom, and a pair of pink socks.

I couldn’t wait for a moment. I dashed and knelt in front of her. I stared at her intensely, making sure this wasn’t a dream.