The door opened once again and Zaria darted her eyes over.

"Desmond?" She blinked when the man walked in.

He closed in on her. "Is that disappointment I hear in your voice? Were you hoping for someone else?"

She nodded in agreement, then realized just how wrong it sounded. "I don't mean it's disappointing that it's you. It's just… she was here."

"Your mother?" He sighed in relief. His overthinking brain had just imagined that she hoped for Ryan to be the one coming over to stay with her. He knew that the latter's sister was receiving treatment in this hospital and her brother often stayed with her. Luckily the loser didn't take the opportunity to come over and bother his Zaria.

Zaria nodded to his question. "She said she couldn't be with us, but I still hope she can drop by again." She knew she was asking for too much, but she couldn't help being selfish when it came to this.

Desmond hugged her to comfort her. "As long as she wants to, she will come back."

She nodded and unknowingly fell asleep against his chest. He would have teased her about falling asleep while standing, but he knew she was under so much distress that she was tired. He carried her to the resting area meant for the patients' relatives or friends and eased her onto the small bed.

__

Lucy asked about the details regarding Theodore the next day, so she found out that his surgery could be scheduled as soon as Dr. Williams returned.

She sighed in relief when she remembered that the hospital was owned by Mrs. Qin, which made Dr. Williams her subordinate. She would definitely have a way to contact Dr. Williams and the right to call her back.

They had met on business before so she still had the contact number of Shera Qin, who she directly called.

"I would like to talk to you about something. Help me get in contact with someone." She requested over the phone.

"Who is the unlucky person to have Ms. Roatta directly as for them?" Shera asked humoredly, as though it was funny for Lucy to look for anyone. It was somewhat true. It was always other people looking for Lucy and not the other way round.

"Your subordinate, Kara Willaims, is the lucky person." Lucy emphasised on the word lucky, then wondered why she was playing along with Mrs. Qin's antics. The woman was unpredictable, and starting an argument with her was not sane no matter how tiny the argument was. She quickly switched back to talking about the doctor. "Call her back to Olphire." She briefly explained the situation.

"What do I get from that?" A taunt came from Mrs. Qin.

"0.5 percent of my shares from Twilight." Lucy offered without flinching.

"How funny." The latter burst into laughter, as though she had heard the craziest joke.

"One percent?" Lucy doubled her offer. Shera Qin was a shrewd businesswoman and an expert swindler despite her young age. Although she was only a few years older than Zaria, one could easily end up with nothing after dealing with her, so one had to use their brains to evade her traps.

She seemed to have realized that Lucy was more cunning than she was, so she changed her tactics.

"How about you owe me a favor? I will take the one percent too, if you multiply by ten."

"Just give her a call." Lucy slapped her forehead. Theodore could not wait much!

"Miss Roatta, I do not like to be owed. You didn't promise me anything." Shera reminded her.

"I did promise you one percent. I can send you some freebies too." Lucy did not agree to the other's suggestion.

"I guess that will have to do." Shera had to agree to one percent and freebies.

"It will. You aren't the one performing the operation anyway." She hung up then shook her head. Were young women so greedy for wealth these days? Her company, Twilight was the most frequented shopping website worldwide. Its mobile application was also the most popular. A single percentage of its shares could buy out the whole of Imperium, yet Mrs. Qin wanted ten percent? She was definitely crazy.

Luckily, Shera called Dr. Williams over, and the latter arrived in the evening after taking an emergency flight. She went to meet her in Grand View Hospital in secret.

"Dr. Williams." She greeted the young woman who had just arrived.

The woman, Kara Williams, returned the greeting and looked at Lucy in surprise. "Why do you give me that look?"

Lucy stopped scrutinizing her. "Nothing. Please run the required tests. Tell Miss Willaims everything that's needed. I mean Zaria Williams." She added when she realized that Kara and Zaria had the same surname. "You will find her in the ward of Theodore Willaims." She explained and had to rush away before she was seen here.

Kara didn't mind and proceeded to ward 808 after receiving all the required details.

_

Zaria was relieved when Desmond's friend finally arrived to check on Theodore. They took him away and returned when they were done, and the red-haired doctor finally explained the situation to her. The situation was more complicated than he thought but he would try his best, much to her relief.

As they talked about it, the door opened and in walked a woman who Zaria recognized from the pictures online.

She was about to greet her when the woman furrowed her eyebrows and looked like she wanted to die.

"Dr. Williams, is there something wrong?" Zaria was concerned.

"You mean aside from the presence of this man? No, no thing's wrong." Snarled Kara.

Uhm…

Zaria was speechless. What was this suddenly about?

Carlos slapped his forehead. "Why don't we save our fight for when the operation is done? I have already scheduled it for three hours later." Carlos said, attempting to break the ice.

"It seems like there is a mistake. I was called to perform this surgery." Kara was confused about what was unfolding in front of her.

Carlos looked at her to explain. "There is no mistake. We were both called so we will both do it. I can be your assistant for this surgery or you can be mine...My assistant." He emphasized on the last two words when Kara glared at him.

"I'll do it. I promised Shera." Kara insisted.

"And I promised Desmond." Carlos didn't back down either.

At the side, Zaria wondered whether there was enmity between these two. No matter what, she hoped that the two overlords would not end up fighting in the middle of the surgery. That would be tragic.

…

Two and a half hours later, Theodore was wheeled into the operating theatre and Zaria had to once again wait for the agonizingly long surgery to end.

Although Desmond wanted to stay with her, she insistently sent him away to deal with his work. But as she watched the hours tick by, she wondered whether she should have let him stay. She felt so anxious that her body froze even though it was warm inside the hospital building.

Her mind ran all sorts of wild and she could only cross her fingers and try not to look up the risks of invasive surgery until she finally saw Kara leaving the theatre.

"What happened? How was it?" She jumped over to ask while trying to read Kara's mood for the answer.

"The operation was successful." Kara announced. "Don't worry, Mr. Willaims will wake up in a day and will be discharged in a week. Make sure he doesn't overwork himself even after he gets better. The rest of the details will be discussed by the attending physician." She gave a myriad of instructions, all of which Zaria jotted down in her notebook to pay attention to later.

"Dr. Williams, thank you." She looked up at the woman before her, who had just saved the life of the person who mattered most to her. "I don't know how to thank you. I…"

"You don't need to. It's my duty." Kara interrupted by patting Zaria's shoulders.

"I still want to thank you." Zaria insisted. She was out of words to express her gratitude, because no amount of gratitude was enough for her father's life.

Kara smiled. "You're welcome." She was used to hearing patients thank her, some even emotionally begged to throw her parties for saving the lives of their loved ones. She couldn't rudely turn them down because she knew how it felt to get a loved one back from the brink of death.

After exchanging a few more words with the doctor, Zaria returned to Theodore's ward.

She was relieved now after learning that he would be alright, and she hovered by his bedside for hours.

Desmond had given her a few days off, so she rarely left Theodore's sight and was the first to notice when the man stirred in his bed a day later.

"Dad?" She looked over full of curiosity and joy.

He opened his eyes, making her cover her mouth with her hand to stop an overjoyed scream. His eyes were unfocused and he said something, which she didn't hear clearly. She leaned over to hear him whisper a name.

Lucy.

____________

*Fun fact

Zaria's birthday is 27th of December, which is the same as my mum's because she's my favorite FL, while Lucy's birthday is 5th September which is my birthday because she's my favorite mother.