Taking a quick glance down at my watch, I saw it was 1:23pm; I looked back to everyone just hovering over them like they were in some sort of zoo.
“I swear, if you all aren’t back at your stations by the time I get to that door I will make it my mission to have you fired from this hospital,” I stated, already heading to the door.
I heard them scattering and when I turned back, Ian was the only one still standing there.
“Ian—”
“Sorry, I got distracted. Your heart is growing three times in size.”
“Go!”
His phone rang and, not answering it, he danced right past me singing loudly to “Feels Good” by his favorite South Korean band Super Junior…the very fact that I knew that bothered me more than I could bear to explain.
I’ve spent too much time around him.
Concentrating on the task in front of me, I entered the room to find Toby sitting next to Molly watching the coverage of a block party on the television.
“Hi, Dr. Eli.” Molly waved and her father stood up quickly, moving to me.
“Hi Molly, how are you feeling?”
“Not sick,” she whispered, hugging her bear to her chest.
“That’s good. I’m going to talk to your dad for a second, all right?” She nodded, just watching the television quietly.
He followed me out, and no sooner had I closed the door than he started pressing for answers.
“Has the tumor gone down? Can you operate? She’s feeling really good today so I was—”
“Toby.” I stopped him. “I don’t have any news about Molly’s condition and I’m sorry if I’ve given you the wrong message by coming. I came because I’m worried about you right now.”
“Me? I’m fine. If you have nothing new then—”
“I heard about your meeting today,” I said when he reached the door.
His grip tightened. “That is none of your concern.”
“Yes I know. I’m overstepping right now, but I wanted to know if you really want to hand over your company to a bunch of sons of bitches who can’t even allow you time with your daughter. I don’t know much about TWM, but I remember your motto being all about making life better for others.”
“Innovation today for a customer’s better tomorrow,” he said, letting go of the door and hanging his blond head. He stood there for a moment and finally turned to me. “I dropped out of college, lived off cereal and noodles building TWM. I still remember when I bought my first actual office on top of a Chinese restaurant. It was just me, my girlfriend, and my brother. I thought I had really made it then… Now I have over a hundred thousand employees across the country; believe it or not, I know all their names.”
“I believe you, and I believe you don’t want to just give up and hand them over to the vultures surrounding you right now.”
He shook his head. “Eli, I don’t care. If they want to take TWM, let them take it. I won’t leave my daughter alone, especially not today. Not the day I lost my wife and she lost her mother. My daughter can’t even go to the block party. I won’t sit in a board room listening to their bullshit—”
“I’ll take her.” Why am I going this far? What the hell is wrong with me!
“What?” His eyebrows frowned together.
“The meeting will take what, an hour? Two? Molly can’t be outside without being monitored, so while you go and beat the shit out of the suits, I will go with her to the party. I’ll make sure she has a good time, and then you can meet up with us.”
“Eli—”
“It’s 1:31. You can still make it. I have your information, and my driver will pick up Molly and me—”
“Why?” He cut me off. “Why are you going this far? We live in the same building, but we aren’t friends. You didn’t even know me when I came in here. So why?”
I thought about it for a moment, and all I could think of was Guinevere and what she had once said to me.
“Do you know how many crappy people we meet a day in this city? I don’t want to be one of them. Sometimes we just need help and it's hard asking for it, so I’m going to offer it. Accept it Toby. Don’t give up yet; what kind of example does that set for Molly? Instead of giving up when the world knocks you on your ass, sometimes it’s okay to ask for help,” I replied, stretching out my hand for him.
He looked down and swallowed. “Please help me, Eli.”
“Of course.”
As happy as I was to help him, for some reason I wanted to call up Guinevere and tell her I wasn’t as much as a pathetic asshole as she thought.
“Molly, you’re going to the party with Dr. Eli,” he said when he opened the door.