Contract marriage with the Adonis

She pushed herself violently into the crowd. Apologizing swiftly at the people she bumped into.

Some people paused their activities to stare at her. Some are already familiar with her, she wasn't new to the hospital. She came around often. She literally looked like someone whose life was in great danger. She ran like her entire life depended on it.

" whoa! Slow down Amanda. The ground is slippery, you might get hurt", Linda cautioned. Pulling her back. Linda is a nurse at the hospital Amanda's mom is registered in. And she's also Amanda's closest friend. 

" How's she? Is she fine now?" Amanda asked breathlessly. She was at her second part-time job at the café when she got a call that her mother had collapsed again. This will be the second time in two weeks.

She was scared. What if this was the end? She used to have health problems once every four to five months. But these past weeks have been alarming. She has been having constant health scares that have been putting the family in intense tension.

" She's fine. But this time around you need to pay up Amy. The hospital can't keep treating her on loan. You've to pay up" Linda hated breaking such news to her, but she had to. Doctor Ben, who's in charge of Amanda's mother, had threatened her to make her friend pay up. In his words, " We aren't running a charity home here, Linda."

Amanda bit her lower lip and took her head down in embarrassment. She knew Linda would never talk about her debts unless words spread around. She guessed the doctors had been talking a lot about her. She sighed dejectedly and looked up at Linda. " I'm trying my best. I work four hours per day. I'd have done more, but I'm just a single body. And I can't tell my dad to go out and work. He's old and fragile. I'm trying, Linda, I really am trying." She cried softly. 

Linda felt a thick blanket of guilt cover her up in an instant. Why didn't she lay it out to her in a more mature way?

" I know you're doing your best, Amy. And I'm sorry for sounding that way. Just that your mom has been placed on oxygen and they cost a lot. The hospital can't afford that." Linda explained softly, trying to comfort the weeping girl in front of her.

Amanda snapped her head in that direction with wide eyes. "Oxygen what?!" She snapped unintentionally. 

Linda gave her a sad look, but Amanda ignored her and rushed into her mother's ward. She stopped close to her bed and a heavy weight started piling up on her chest. Her lips quivered as she stared at her mom's pale figure lying on the hospital bed with an oxygen mask on her nose. Her eyes trailed the pipe connecting to the mask down to the oxygen tank it was connected to, then her eyes fell on the weak old man resting his head on the sides of the bed.

Tears fell from her eyes. This is not the sight any child should behold. A dying mother and a drained father. 

Men her dad's age were still young and agile. He was in his late forties but looked like he was in his late sixties. Both of her parents were still young. Back then, when they still had the family business, Her parents were the perfect definition of a power couple. They stood by each other in everything. Her dad and mom looked like they were in their twenties. Some of her friends back in college always doubted they were her parents whenever they came to visit her in school.