Chapter 7

It is really an annoying thing to be a woman. I missed the days of my childhood, where my monthly happiness would never be thwarted by the biological phenomena of what was largely known as menstruation. I could now barely remember the days where my months were fully spent without counting down the days to the first tidal wave of red.

The worst of such experiences was the fact that I had somehow inherited a blood disorder. Of all the amazing things my non-existent conman of a father could have given me, I had been blessed with the curse of this disorder which dictated that when I started menstruating, the flow of auspicious red was way more than normal, and I would probably have to be bed-ridden for the rest of the days.

The best thing? According to my mother, my father didn't even suffer this kind of problems. Apparently it only affected the women in his family, which meant that my Aunt -whoever she was -was also plagued by the same problem. That didn't make any difference to me, for I knew neither my father not his elder sister.

And so I was doomed to survive my days suffering from the pain like a baseball bat whacking repeatedly on my abdomen. This was doubly awkward for me, for I now found myself stuck in an environment with two men and while I had my privacy, woman things tended to escape their notice. I couldn't blame them -they lived their whole lives in testosterone anyway.

"Jonny." I greeted softer than normal, rasping knuckles on his door in substitute to my voice. Just standing up a few seconds could give me the sickly wet feeling down in my nether regions. Yeesh.

"I'm awake." He replied evenly through the door, so I offered no more disturbances to him.

"I'm feeling under the weather today, so I'll be in my room, alright?" I informed. For girls, 'under the weather' was usually codename for our monthly rituals of blood, but obviously the men didn't understand that.

There was the irritated sound of Jon's reply in which I wondered if the hormonal teenager was jacking him inside. It wasn't my business to know, so I ignored the wonders of my head and gingerly walked back to my bed. I'd left breakfast out for both the men in the house, cleaned up and left things as normal as possible, so my services weren't exactly needed unless Jonny decided to go out, in which I decided to beg like hell to prevent him from doing as such.

Passing by Mr. Elxa's study, I was a little surprised when it opened suddenly just as I passed it. Mr. Elxa rarely went out so early in the morning.

"Good morning." I greeted with my usual smile, but I guess I didn't sound as cheery as Mr. Elxa stared at me with careful eyes.

"Good morning." He replied on instincts. There is only one man in the entire world who can make greeting sound so informative, and he stood before me. "You look pale."

I jumped at the chance to tell him of my situation.

"I'm not feeling too well, Mr. Elxa. I'll be in my room. But if Jon has to go out, I'll follow him." I informed, and it got through to him as he nodded without any expression at all.

"Don't push yourself." He advised, and again it sounded like another piece of information he was merely imparting upon me.

"I won't." I promised, and he nodded once more, turning to walk again. He was still relying on his cane. I wanted very much to ask him approximately how long more it would be until he was alright again, but I had never known how to open my mouth about it, so I had never tried. "Take care, Mr. Elxa."

He didn't give any reaction to acknowledge my wishing of his wellness. Simply, Mr. Elxa walked away with his cane at his side -painfully.

Back in my room, I built my fortress of pillows, creating the most comfortable environment a woman with extremely bad menstrual cramps could afford to. Since there was nothing left that I could do, I situated myself in my heaven, dealing with the pain as much as I could.

Eventually, I fell into heavy sleep.

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"Wake up, woman." Jon's voice faded through my dim realization and I drift back from the comforting embrace of sleep.

"Jon?" I mumbled sleepily. "What time is it?"

"7 at night. You literally slept the whole day away. You know; you were hired to take care of me. I could have died fifty times over today and you wouldn't have known." Jon replied, and I cracked heavy eyelids to see his looming figure over me, half-hidden in the shadows.

"What are you doing so close to me?" I started, eyes going wide at the sight of his face only inches from mine.

“And what if I say I’m trying to kiss you?” Jon grinned as I moved quickly to put a comfortable amount of distance between us.

I made a face at his comment. While it would be a compliment under any other circumstance, this was Jon trying to kiss his nanny. And yes, while we were only two years apart and very suited to be lovers, it just kind of turned me off.

“Then I would have killed you fifty times.” I replied back in a sickly sweet tone, watching as shock, then a spark of anger, then irritation, finally settling for resignation.

“Oh, I’m sorry I upset your pretty little virgin head. In case you don’t realize, woman, you built a fortress of pillows so high I had to climb in to wake you up. What are you; a little girl afraid of monsters?” Jon climbed his way out of my mountain of pillows, destroying my formation by throwing a few larger pillows away carelessly.

“Hey, don’t judge.” I said, suddenly a little self-conscious. I hadn’t prepared to sleep so long. What if my flow had somehow been too heavy? What if the red wave had leaked through? “I’m just a sick girl looking for comfort.”

Jon finally climbed from the bed, standing up and turning back to face me with a judgmental look, crossing his arms across his chest as if trying to affect his father’s serious, informative look. I tried not to laugh too hard at the effect of rebellious young teenager trying to fill the businessman boots of his father.

“Comfort? You slept like a pig. Even if you slept over a bed of nails, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have mattered a single bit to your thick skin.” He commented, and I only blew him away with a roll of my eyes. Right now, Jon and my relationship had progressed nicely in the zone where we insulted each other without taking any offense at all. After all, I’d dealt with Jon’s initial stage of dirty cuss words, so this stage was just easy-peasy for me.

“Then why’d you wake me up? Surely not to see this thick-skin woman wake up with a bedhead?” I asked, not planning to move until Jon was gone. If I’d stained the sheets, then at least he wouldn’t see them. I could do the laundry while Jon was asleep or something.

“It’s 7pm. Even healthy people need food.” Jon informed, and for a short moment, he looked and sounded exactly like Mr. Elxa. Ever heard of the phrase ‘Like Father, like son’?

“Then go get your own food, pig.” I scolded. He woke me up from my pleasant dream about rivers of chocolate just for his dinner?

“There’s nothing at home, and he hired you to follow me wherever I go. If I go out to get dinner without you, he will kill you.” Jon replied, still unrelenting on his obvious hatred against Mr. Elxa in the way he emphasized the word ‘he’.

“Wasn’t there some pasta and bacon left in the refrigerator?” I asked.

“There is.” Jon replied, as if that was enough.

“Then?”

“Then what?”

“Couldn’t you have –you know –cooked up something for yourself?” I asked, wondering how oblivious Jon could be at the obvious.

Upon this question, Jon only shifted his stance a little uncertainly, then scrape his confidence back in a moment. He held his head high once again, and a haughty expression flashed on his face.

“I don’t cook.” He said, as if proud about that fact when the truth probably showed before in his uncertain, embarrassed face just a moment before. “I’ve never cooked in my life.”

I sighed and buried my face in my pillows again. What else did I expect? Too often, I tended to forget that Jon grew up in a privileged environment, albeit not the best one. While my mother and I did our best to scrimp and save in order to make sure I had enough to get through college, Jon was probably spending money like water –money that Mr. Elxa worked to get to sponsor Jon’s alcoholism.

“Please say Cabonara is on your menu today.” I groaned through the pillow, muffling my voice. Jon must have heard me alright, though, for his reply came quick.

“I was going to say no, but since you look so pitiful, I’ll give you a break for a day. But for that, you’re going to give me extra bacon because I’ve been a good boy for the entire day, in which I could have stabbed myself a thousand times and died –leaving you fired and charged for negligence.” Jon said, as if terribly proud of himself.

“You’re going to get fat eating so much bacon.” I groaned, still refusing to move from the safe haven of my bed. I didn’t even want to know how I was going to survive the rest of the week when this was only my first day.

Back when my life was still simple, my one week of menstruation per month was usually spent with me staying at home, watching TV, eating junk food and sleeping. When I had to work, I stocked up like hell on pads, and refused to move from my work station until time came –in which I would go immediately home, and continue my ritual of watching TV, eating junk food and sleeping.

“I won’t be as fat as you are.” Jon replied quickly, his tongue ever so sharp.

“Wow, I’m so insulted.” I replied lamely. “Is Mr. Elxa still at home?”

“No idea. I don’t care.” Jon’s reply was not as icy as I expected it to be, so I guess something was working –albeit taking his time. Still, it was progress, and I wasn’t going to complain about that.

“Uh, fine. Give me a minute to wash up, then I’ll be out.” I complained, and Jon made a grunt of agreement –trying to sound all serious and businessman-y, only succeeding in sound like an unhappy rebellious teenager. I waited until the sound of the door closing came before I removed the pillow over my head.

At least I had convinced Jon against going out to get dinner, so I was saved from going too far. Honestly, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to make it past a few blocks without feeling faint. The pain of menstrual cramps was beginning to come back to me again now that my body was awake again, and I groaned against my pillow as the first touch of pain began again.

Reaching over groggily to the bedside table, I found my iron-replenishing pills and popped back two. If it weren’t for these pills, I probably would have died years ago from excessive blood loss every month.

Still, a job was still a job, and a hungry teenager was waiting for the amazing culinary skills of yours truly. I dragged myself up, checked the sheets and was secretly relieved to find that nothing had leaked. Standing up after hours of lying down brought a sense of vertigo as blood rushed quickly to my head, but I bit my lip and made it to the adjourning washroom.

The strange thing was that my dizziness didn’t leave me even as I splashed water on my face. It normally did after I was finally awake, but it didn’t seem to be working this time.

In fact, I seemed to be even dizzier…

I looked up at the mirror, inspecting myself as if I was some sort of a doctor. Yeah, if I was, then it would be great. But I wasn’t, but I knew enough that something was wrong in the way my cheeks looked sunken, and my lips were really pale. My eyes were bloodshot, and I wondered how Jon could have been so easily joking with me –before I realized he had been speaking to me in half-darkness.

Thank goodness, or he would have seen such a hideous side of me.

Thinking to go back to my room to retrieve my makeup to cover up the discoloring of my face, I turned away from the sink.

And then I just collapsed.

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“Woman! Hey, woman! Wake up! What’s wrong with you?” I heard a familiar voice very distantly, feeling a shaking on my arm.

Tap, click tap. Tap, click tap. Tap, click tap. Tap, click tap.

The now-familiar sound of footsteps accompanied with the strike of cane against the floor came –sounding rushed this time. The clicking and tapping of footsteps came closer, and then stopped close by.

“What happened?” An evened voice asked. Wow, he was really just calm in any situation, wasn’t he?

“I don’t know! I was waiting for dinner, then she took too long to come out from the room. I came in and found her like this.” Jon –surprisingly –didn’t even sound hostile this time as he replied the impassive tone of voice quickly, sounding a little panicked and mostly worried. Aww, I didn’t know Jon cared so much about me.

“Ms. Hurst? Ms. Hurst?” Mr. Elxa’s even voice enquired, and if I was a receptionist working a front desk anywhere, I would have replied to that respectfully polite voice with a smile anytime. Still, I made no response, because I wasn’t even sure if I was in my body or not –not even sure if this was real or not. All I knew was that I felt really drowsy, as if everything was happening very far away.

“It’s no use, I’ve tried calling her a million times.” Jon sounded impatient and worried, as a pair of familiar warm hands closed over my arm. I distantly felt the shaking of my body, as if it could somehow get me to wake.

“Call a doctor.” The evened voice instructed quickly, and internally, I braced myself for the explosive impact of a rebellious teenager in reaction to the order given to him by his most hated enemy on the Earth –Mr. Elxa. I prayed internally for peace and order to the world left in ruins after Jon’s imminent explosion… except that it never happened.

Instead, I heard footsteps rushing away –presumably to get a phone.

Wow. Jon was finally listening to Mr. Elxa.

"Ms. Hurst?" Mr. Elxa continued, as if not getting the hint that I was pretty much unconscious and not waking up soon. I felt 2 cold fingers slide underneath my neck, searching for a pulse. He must have found it quickly, for the icy cold fingers move away. Was it him who was cold, or me burning up like a bonfire?

"Kaylen?" He asked, this time softly. If I was in control of my body, I would have jerked awake, for it was the first time I heard something more than an informative tone of voice. It was also the first time ever that he called me by name.

Strong arms picked me up bridal style, and I was aware of exactly how cold he was as I was pressed up against his solid chest. I felt myself being shuffled to a more comfortable position, and then Mr. Elxa took a step.

The horrible realization that Mr. Elxa was attempting to carry me to my bed came crashing in my unconscious self, but what could I do except simply stay unconscious? Unaware that somehow my hearing was still working -albeit through a heavy set of mufflers -Mr. Elxa made soft sounds of pain with every small step he took with me in his arms without his cane.

It seemed as if forever that he took getting the both of us through the bathroom doorway, and another eternity as he slowly edged towards the bed, making louder, uncontrollable sounds of pain as he went. My heart almost broke knowing that I was the cause of his pain, but my mental faculties were down, and all I could do was drown in darkness, wallow in guilt.

And then there was a slight misstep by Mr. Elxa.

"No!" I heard a shocked exclamation -the first time I ever heard true shock in that radio voice.

Soft wind brush past my skin and I was distantly aware of the sensation of falling, the arms around me tightening as I was pulled into the tight embrace of a cold body. We landed, and with his body beneath me, we bounced once in my pillow haven.

"Of all times to work up again..." I heard his mutter shockingly close to my ear, and was dimly aware of the arms shuffling and leaving me tucked under the covers with slow difficulty.

"What are you...?” Jon began to demand, and I was barely aware that he was back in the room.

"Help me get my cane. I can't get up..." Mr. Elxa cut off any more demands from Jon, sounding surprisingly in pain.

The flurry of sounds became murky in my ears again as the depthlessness of unconsciousness was beginning to set in again.

"She's burning up..." I heard someone say distantly at a point of time.

"Woman, you are bad at your job, you know that? I'm here taking care of you instead of the other way around..." There was another snippet of conversation -which I was 99% sure was Jon.

"She has a rare blood disorder. During the days of menstruation, her blood loss would be unnaturally high and there is a type of antibody within her blood that rejects all sorts of blood transfusion. Her fainting is most likely caused by recent overworking of her body, combined with the coming of her menstruation days…" The unfamiliar voice explained with the compassionate kindness reserved for a doctor. It must be whoever Jon had called for me.

“…days… you sure she’s alright?” The muffled sound of a worried voice came drifting through the darkness. There was some sort of reply, but I couldn’t make out any words at all, just strange mumbling that sounded almost like a foreign language.

I wove in and out of consciousness. Through it all, I was barely aware of snippets of conversation from the voice of Mr. Elxa, Jon, and an unfamiliar voice in which I assumed was a doctor. Then, eventually, the murkiness of the darkness faded away into comfortable silence, and I was left drifting in somewhere peaceful, somewhere safe.

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“Mommy?” I asked, tugging at her pants leg to get her attention. She was at the counter, chopping up some vegetables for my salad dinner.

“Yes, sweetie?” She replied with her beautiful smile, and I wondered why in the world no man have ever wanted to be my foster father yet. She was so pretty, and she had such beautiful eyes and beautiful smile, and beautiful hand. My vocabulary –at that age –was filled with only one word ‘beautiful’ to describe my mother.

“I found this!” I brandished the ring I had clenched in my fist. My mother had been distraught a few days ago when she found out that she had lost the ring, and had never seemed to cheer up. I hated the sad look in her eyes, so I searched every corner of it, until I found it squeezed between the wall and our couch. “This is yours, right?”

“Kaylen!” Her eyes brightened immediately, and she set the knife down, swooping down and carrying me up in a quick motion, bouncing me up and down as we both laughed in joy at my discovery. “Kaylen, my sweetest girl, you’ve made Mommy so happy!”

I held out the ring proudly against the light, pretending to be Superwoman. Then I saw the carving written on the inside of the ring that I had never seen –for it had always been on my mother’s finger.

“H-A-Y-D-E-N.” I spelt, stringing the word in my 6 year old mind. “Hayden. Mommy, who is Hayden?”

Quickly, my mother set me standing on the counter –away from the chopping board and the knife –while she took the ring back and set it back comfortably on her finger with her great, beautiful smile.

“Hayden is your father, sweetie.”

“Really?” I asked, my eyes widening in wonder. “What happened to him? How come I don’t have a father anymore?”

My mother only continued smiling. She never hated him –no. No matter what, she still loved him, and she never frowned or sighed at his absence. No, she only smiled whenever he was mentioned, and the only sad ideal she had about his non-presence was the fact that he would never watch me grow up.

“Your father is still alive, sweetie, but he isn’t a normal guy. Don’t follow his footsteps, Kaylen, but he is a conman. He is a very good conman, and he stole my heart.” My mother explained –the first time she ever explained anything about my father to me.

“What is a conman, mommy? Is he a thief? He stole your heart!” I questioned innocently.

“A conman is someone who lies and cheats to get what he wants, sweetie. Your father was very good at that. Especially with his smile. He had a beautiful smile, and he could charm anyone with that smile.” My mother reminisced.

“But lying and cheating is bad! You said it is not good to be a liar or a cheater! Daddy is a bad man!” I declared hotly, crossing my arms, a little offended to find out that my imagined hero Dad turned out to be nothing more than a sham scam.

“Oh, you can’t say that when you grow up, Kaylen. Hayden almost gave up everything for us –that was how much he loved you and me both. But Mommy didn’t want him to suffer. So Mommy took you and ran away and hid, so that he would forget us and still be good at what he does.”

“But why?” I sat down at the counter, because my legs beginning to get tired. Mommy went back to the knife and I sat there watching her skilled hands.

“Because his world was dangerous for us both, sweetie. If we stayed, we would be in danger every day. I didn’t want to hurt him every day making him choose between us and conning, so I took you and left him.” Mommy explained further, focusing on her task at hand.

“But don’t you love him?” I asked innocently.

She stopped, as if I had asked a very serious question. Her eyes looked up tiredly, blue eyes going dull as she looked at me. The sadness there immediately made me regret my question, but she only held both my shoulders strongly, looking straight at me.

“You will learn one day, sweetie, that when you love someone very deeply, you don’t care what happens to you and how much you hurt. You just want that person to be happy and comfortable –and when you know he is happy and comfortable, you are too –even if you are suffering in silence.”

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