Camila grunted when she felt the pain surge up her neck from how she slept the previous night. She moved on the small sofa so she was laying on her side and her hands draped over the sofa handle.
"Camila,” the soft voice of Joan, got to her ear, and her senses were awoken.
Camila sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her gaze lifted to Joan, who was trying to sit up on the bed while wincing.
“Hey, stop,” she dashed to Joan’s side and pressed a button to move the bed in a slight sitting position. “How are you, mama?” She removed a strand of hair from Joan’s pale face.
Joan nodded and coughed, looking to her side for water.
“I’ll get that for you." Camila stretched out to grab the bottle of water, then fed it to Joan slowly. “That’s fine?” Joan nods. “How are you doing?”
Joan nods again. “Where’s Santiago?” Her voice was hoarse.
“He’s in the ward next to you,” she responded, “but he’ll be good too. He will wake up with a concussion,” she explained to her.
Joan sighed and lean back on the bed. She looked at the ceiling while trying to remember what went on. “Where’s mom and dad? His parents are aware?”
“Yes, they informed us about the accident." Camila’s voice broke.
Joan looked at her friend, who was trying to bite back a sob behind her lips. Joan placed her hand on Camila’s hand and squeezed it in comfort.
“We are okay, right? Don’t beat yourself about it,” she smiled.
“I was scared something bad happened to you guys,” she cried. “How did it happen?”
Joan sighed and closed her eyes. She took in deep breaths and let it out slowly. Her eyes flew open, and she forgot about her state when she jerked up from her laying position.
"Oww,” she exclaimed when a sharp pain shot up her head.
Camila helped her lay back on the bed, then caressed her hair.
“Don’t try to put yourself in any more pain, please,” she pleaded.
“There was a lady,” she shook, panic in her eyes as she looked into Camila’s worried ones.
“What lady? What are you talking about?”
“When… that… there was a lady, she pushed the car. She let the car tumble down the cliff. " Joan couldn’t breathe properly; her face was flushed, and her eyes held tears.
“Can you calm down for me?” Camila’s eyes went to the beeping machine attached to Joan. Her heart rate was increasing by the second, and it wasn’t good.
A nurse and doctor burst inside the room and asked her to step outside while they checked on her.
Camila worriedly paced in the waiting area, praying that she’s okay. She strolled to Santiago’s room and looked at his sleeping form through the window.
She might not be on good terms with him, but that doesn't mean she can’t feel pity for him. She felt sad about what happened to him and her friend and also prayed he got well too.
Camila turned upon hearing footsteps, followed by a question from Flora.
“What happened? Why is there a doctor and nurse in there? Did something happen to my baby girl?” There was panic in her voice.
Gary held her shaking form, his eyes on Camila. “What happened, dear?”
“I-I think she remembered something, so she became hysterical; her heart kept beating at an abnormal rate,” she explained. “I think they want to put her to sleep.” She looked at the peaceful, sleeping Joan and the doctor, telling the nurse to write something down.
They came out of the room in about a minute and acknowledged Joan’s parents.
“We advise that she isn’t put in unnecessary stress; this can affect her greatly since she’s still in a traumatic state after the accident,” he explained to them.
“Camila mentioned her talking about remembering someone,” Flora told the doctor.
The doctor and nurse shared a look before he focused his attention on them again.
“Just try not to pressure her to remember something. When she’s ready to have that memory back, she’ll remember. We need her to get better, and if she forces herself to remember something that traumatic, it will cause her some brain damage, and we don’t want that, right?” He looked between them.
"No, please. Thank you so much, Dr. Ken; we appreciate a lot." Gary shook hands with him, and he nodded then started turning to leave, but Camila stopped him.
“How about Santiago? Is he okay? Will he be fine?” she asked.
He smiled. “He will be; he just needs enough rest. We are still watching him, so nothing goes wrong with him, but we are positive that he will wake up fine, only with a mild concussion,” he explained to her.
A sigh of relief left her lips, and she thanked him, then faced Flora and Gary.
“How about Santiago’s parents?”
“We told them to go freshen up so they can come back later to check on him. Daniel went to grab us all something to eat." Gary answered, “I spoke to him before we entered the hospital.” He completed his sentence.
Flora sat on one of the benches, and Camila held Gary in one hand and pulled him far from her.
“Are you guys positive Darken and his parents are responsible for their accident?”
“Julian wouldn’t place blame on anyone if he isn’t convinced; they did it,” he told her.
Camila kept quiet and looked at Flora, then back at Gary. “You guys should just do your investigations before coming to a conclusion,” she advised.
“I told him already, so we don’t persecute the wrong people,” he rubbed his tired face. “I don’t like them, doesn’t mean I will wrongfully accuse them of something this grave.”
“I hope whoever did this is caught.”
“Me too,” he hugged her, then pulled away and went to sit beside his wife.
Camila leaned on the wall close to the window of Santiago’s room while watching him. She let out a sigh and walked closer to the door to enter when a screaming lady’s voice attracted her attention, and she looked to her side to see a lady yelling at two nurses who were trying to prevent her from coming closer to them.
Camila stepped closer to see who it was and recognized the lady as Lisa Herman, the one claiming to be carrying Santiago’s child.
“Let go” Lisa snatched her hand from the nurse’s grip and walked fast towards them. “Hello, I came to see my baby’s dadd—ow, ow, let go of me,” she winced when Camila snatched her by the arm and pulled her to the other end of the hallway.
“Look here, you little attention seeker. I am not sure if Santiago truly is the father of-” she looked down at the small bump then back at her face “-this baby or not” she put her hand up when the lady was about to argue “Whatever it is, we will know soon, but this is a very sensitive time for us as a family and we don’t need some outside drama to add to the tension around us, do you understand that? Can you not come here to cause a ruckus? At least for now?” she requested.
Lisa looked Camila up and down and rolled her eyes.
“Well, I will get my baby’s inheritance from Santiago since it’s his child, and I didn’t come to cause any trouble; instead, I came to tell you who caused the accident of the newlyweds.”