Zach stood leaning against a white wall while his mother sat on a bench in the waiting area of the Emergency ward. The duo had followed after the ambulance that took Edmund to the hospital.
Announcements were heard over the speaker phones, people were being rushed into the ER, other walked about, some were at the reception making inquiries. The man had his arms crossed against his chest, and stood with one leg down and the other leaning against the wall. His head was down and his eyes were closed. His brows were knitted as though he was in the middle of a serious thought.
Victoria frowned when she saw the different men and women steal glances at her son. It reminded her of what Edmund said before she hurt him. 'One is more open about his actions while the other?' Victoria mused in irritation as she got up from her seat and went to hit Zach.
She delivered a few smacks to his forearms.
"Mom", he warned with a tone laced with danger as he slowly opened his eyes.
"My gosh!" She took a step back and patted her chest to calm down from her fright.
She could never get used to this. He was her son, she accepted that he had inherited her mannerism of sounding so dangerous and cynical. The fact that he perfected such mannerisms that it even scared her was something she never got used to. But then, she remembered why she was hitting him.
"Edmund is hurt because of you!" She said through gritted teeth.
Zach arched a brow in question. 'Where is this coming from?' he mused.
"I know I pushed him but it happened because of you! Zach", she let out a tired sigh. "Xavier is bad enough, but you too?"
Zach remained quiet, patiently waiting to hear where she was going with the allegations. She mistook his silence for embarrassment, she guessed he thought she would never find out. Taking the gentle approach, she placed a hand on his arm and expressed her concern.
"Zach, from when you were little, I've known you to be someone who likes to keep to themselves and hardly expressive. But when you like something, this shows", she gestured at his face with her index finger. Then she smiled as she continued, "And I witnessed it just recently when we talked about having someone to spend the rest of your life with. You found a good man Zach, cherish him. Don't let that woman ruin something as beautiful as what you have with that man."
"What woman?" Zach finally asked.
"Edmund overheard you speaking to a woman so late at night", she responded.
Zach sighed when he heard that. He looked down at her taking in her outfit. She was wearing a black bodycon dress with sandal heels and her hair was tied up. Youth never seemed to leave his mother. But something was off.
"And where were you coming from so late at night?" He changed the subject
"Oh! Adelaide and I went to a club", she blurted out. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized what she had spewed and corrected herself. "For inspection. We went to the new club you bought for inspection."
Zach shook his head as he silently stared at her, he would be a fool to believe her. The doors to the ER opened and a doctor came out. He was in green scrubs and crocks and hang a stethoscope around his neck. Victoria's face lit up when she recognized him. It was the same doctor who treated Nicole.
"Oh? Hello. We meet again", Victoria smiled.
The doctor's eyes lit up in recognition. How could he forget the beautiful woman who had secretly taken a picture of him? And she was wearing a figure hugging dress that fell above her knees but did little to hide her smooth and long legs. And those heels just made his mind fall right into the gutter. The tip of his ears turned red as he smiled and exchanged a handshake with her.
"It's great to see you.....", He gave a sheepish smile showing his embarrassment of not knowing her name.
"Victoria. And you too , Dr. Meanwell", she smiled. She was not offended by the fact that he didn't know her name.
"You know my name?" His brows shot up in surprise.
"How can I not after what you did for Nicole?"
"Nicole?" His head went blank after hearing that name.
"My friend, the one we brought in after I hit her with a golf ball?"
"Oh? Miss Oswell? Well, I was only doing my job Victoria. And please call me Noah", the man kept his gaze down as he couldn't handle Victoria's piercing eyes.
"And I'm Zach, one of Victoria's sons. How's Edmund doing? I believe that's what you came out to tell us?" He arched his perfect brow at him as he took a protective stance in front of his mother.
He felt annoyed by the exchange. Not because they had completely forgotten him, if anything he would have loved that, but it was the fact that this man was openly ogling at his mother and practically falling under her spell without her knowledge. He knew his mother was beautiful, but he still hated this. And this Noah guy was moving fast. He had placed them on first name basis, before he knows it, he might work his way into his mother's pants. Zach's glare intensified as he stared down at the man who was a head shorter than him.
Noah gulped when he caught the stare of the imposing and intimidating man called Zach. He subconsciously took a step back as he failed to even look him in the eye. Victoria frowned when she saw this. She was only having a friendly chat with him, Zach's behavior was uncalled for.
She gently patted his arm and whispered to him in her scolding voice, "Stop it! You're scaring him."
Zach was unfazed and continued with his stance. Noah let out an awkward laugh to ease the tension but only got silence from the mother and son pair. One glaring at the other and the other glaring at him. He cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry about that. Yes, Mr. Edmund is fine. We run a CAT scan on him and detected no sign of bone fracture. By the way, do you know what happened to him? He couldn't say", his brows were pulled together in confusion as he crossed his arms against his chest and quickly uncrossed them under Zach's imposing nature.
"Well, I pushed him", Victoria said quietly with her gaze to the floor as she was embarrassed. Zach took note of this and he frowned.
"You hit your friend with a golf ball and now push another? Wow!" Noah's mouth fell into an O.
"Problem?" Zach challenged.
"No! No!" Noah quickly shook his head before he swallowed a hard lump. "Anyway, he- he's fine. He pulled a muscle so we gave him something to relax it."
Snort. Zach's brows shot up when he heard a snort come from behind him. Noah thought he was questioning what he was saying. So his nervous self justified what he had been saying.
"It's quite a big muscle you see", he added quietly.
Snort. Noah finally registered the sound and both him and Zach looked behind the latter to find Victoria barely holding in a laugh. She wiped away laughing tears as she caught the men's gazes.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it", she said whilst trying to suppress her laugh.
Noah's ears turned red as he couldn't help but smile too when he saw her laugh. His smile quickly disappeared when he sensed Zach's stare. Soon, they made arrangements to have Edmund spend the night with one of the bodyguards acting as his gaurdian while the two returned home.
Zach sighed when he saw Amy's goodnight message. 'Tomorrow is another day', he mused as he drifted off to sleep.
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