The Best Friend's Contract novel Chapter 52

Just as Aidan is about to say something, my phone starts to ring which causes me to look down; seeing that it's a call from the hospital. My body tenses immediately, knowing that this might be an important call and there's nothing I can do.

''It's a call from work,'' I say, frowning down at my phone.

''I'll be here,'' He replies as I quickly make my way through the crowd, finding somewhere more quiet to pick the call.

I immediately answer the call to hear an anxious Marley, one of the male intern nurses. ''Hello . . . Dr. Anne?'' He greets; the staffs would sometimes call me by my middle name instead of my surname. ''I'm sorry for calling you on your week off but it's about Albert,'' He adds, which worries me.

''What's wrong with Albert? Is he okay?'' I ask, running my fingers through my hair.

''He's doing fine but his tantrums are getting worse. I'm worried about his health,'' He continues to speak. ''He wants to see you even though I've told him that you won't be here until next week; he won't bother listening to me. The other doctors have tried to calm him down but he said that they don't understand him like you do. He also resisted on eating anything so they had to give him drugs,''

''Marley, I told you. He's an old man, he can't have too many drugs in his system. It's going to give his kidney a long-term side effect,'' I reply, thinking about Albert and how his tantrums are always the worse; except when he's with me. He would be making sassy jokes but what's most . . . he would always tell me stories about his late wife.

''I know, Dr. Anne. I know that you would be upset about this, too but we didn't have a choice. Dr. Vince told me not to tell you but I can't simply lie because Albert is your patient,'' He mutters.

''Thank you for telling me, Marley.'' I reply after a few seconds of silence before letting out a deep sigh, not really knowing what to say or how to respond. It's hard when the other doctors have tried to make sure that he'd be comfortable with someone else than just me but he would always resist.

I try to calm myself down as I inhale and exhale before making my way back towards Aidan, my head is fully occupied with work; something I've forgotten for the past days I've been here but now, has made me worried again.

I look up to find Aidan but instead of finding him standing in the middle of the crowd with his phone in his hand, I find him near the 'shooting games' as he smiles, receiving a big teddy bear as a prize for winning.

As soon as he turns, he starts to make his way towards me before using the teddy bear's hand to wave at me, ''Hi . . . I'm Mr. Bear. Would you like to cuddle?'' He says, giving Mr. Bear a voice of his own while I stand with a smile slowly creeping up on my face; eyeing the big teddy bear which is almost as tall as me.