Playing With Fire
Part 49's

The wind gently blew against the skin of a man sitting under a shady tree. He fell asleep with a calm face like a very tired man.

A hand caressed her cheek gently. It seemed that he was a little disturbed by the treatment of someone who was now in his presence.

"Alexes..." There was a voice he was very familiar with but he had not heard for a long time.

Alex opened his eyes with a very surprised face when he saw the figure he missed so much.

"I-mom" she said as she opened her eyes.

He touched his mother's hand tightly like a little child who was afraid of being abandoned by her mother.

"Why did you fall asleep here, baby?" said the mother stroked Alex's hair which was now glazed over.

"I miss you mom, why did you leave me first?"

The mother smiled at the question from the son.

"It's Alex's destiny. And your destiny shouldn't be here either. Come home, baby, there's a lot waiting for you right now"

"No ma'am. I want to come with you, I'm lonely without you. I've always been abandoned many times, let me come with you ma'am" Alex said in tears as she held her mother's hand tightly.

"Be a good man Alex. Then we can meet again. Now it's not time for you to go with mom, because you have to find the woman you love. Don't waste what you already have, son, because if something goes away then regret is meaningless. Alex, I love you, baby"

Said the mother easily kissed Alex's hand gently, but the next second the shadow just disappeared.

"Mother......"

*******

Pov Author.

Today Elica was on a bus heading to her workplace. He does work while doing his lectures. Because her college hours are done in the afternoon, so she works in the morning.

For almost a year Elica worked at a food stall adjacent to her campus. Coincidentally the owner of the food store is a friend of Ren, until he immediately offered the job to Elica.

And Elica today felt excited because she was about to receive her monthly salary at the tavern. Although the amount is not much, but enough to send the money to Alex to pay his debt first.

Actually Elica is eager to find a side job again. So that in one week he has two or three jobs at once. Thus he can quickly replace the money Alex used to wear. But Ren is very much against that. The man was to Elica like the Japanese version of Bryan. Because Bryan was always there for Elica while in New York, while Ren was always there when Elica was in Japan. Both of them have considered Elica like her own sister.

Now he has arrived at his workplace, and it is not expected that visitors today are very crowded. Until Elica is made confused to deliver orders to the customer table.

Elica's tiredness was not he ignored at all. For him the more work he does, the more he gets. Not infrequently he will get additional tips from visitors who come.

And by late afternoon, Elica had already finished the job. He had just washed the dirty dishes, and was preparing to leave again for campus.

A woman approached her with something in her hands.

"Anami.." said the woman made Elica turn her head. At the same time Elica sees a white envelope thrust on her.

"Your monthly salary. Thank you for working so hard today"

"Thank you boss" said Elica received the envelope and bowed respectfully to the woman.

"Behind there are some rolls of Sushi, you'll take it home for your father"

"All right, thank you"

Night Days..

The clock shows at 11 p.m. Elica had just gotten off the bus with her stride being shaken from exhaustion. He came home late because there were some college assignments to complete today as well.

Elica's eyes were already heavy from being too sleepy, in addition she carried a plastic bag in her hands containing food given by her boss this afternoon.

Elica walks into the apartment and finds the lights turned off in all the rooms. Indicates that the father is asleep. Elica put her plastic on the dining table just like that.

"You're home" said the father, who suddenly came and turned on the lights again to light the room.

"Daddy why haven't you slept?"

"Daddy's waiting for you to come home. Have you eaten? Daddy made udon for you. Just need to heat up"

"But I'm so sleepy Dad" occasionally Elica yawns indicating she does want to go to bed soon.

"Eat first baby, after that you can immediately rest" but Elica shook her head.

"Daddy see you're always tired when you get home. What do you work for, honey? You're too hard on yourself, but Daddy sees your money never feels enough"

Albert said he felt annoyed at his daughter who every day was always in the same state.

But unbeknownst to Albert, Elica is trying to return the money she used for her father's operation first. It may be possible that Elica did not return the money, but Elica felt that she was an evil mother because she had exchanged the money with her daughter.

And Elica didn't care how long she had to take Alex. At least his guilt in the child is slightly reduced.

"I brought Sushi. We'll just eat with Daddy" said Elica, switching the conversation.

Albert who was aware of it could only sigh his resignation with the reason of Elica.

"alright. Daddy will take a few dishes first" said the father and in response Nugget by Elica.

But Elica actually put her head on the dining table with the support of her two hands. Without feeling he immediately fell asleep with his tired ranking quickly.

Elica's father came after taking the plate and found her daughter was asleep.

****

A few days later...

Irene is currently keeping Alex in the hospital. Because Alex hasn't shown any signs of waking up from his coma.

Although a few days ago Alex was down and almost not helped because of difficulty breathing.

Irene's son Damian came home two days ago. And she's grateful that Nancy always wanted to be close to Damian. Irene tells Damian to look after Nancy.

Day and night Irene faithfully waited for Alex while praying to be awakened quickly.

Suddenly as Irene was changing the flowers she always carried in Alex's room, there was a soft growl from the man.

"Hmmm.."

Irene quickly approached Alex in her bed.

The woman pressed the button next to Alex's bed to call the doctor.

"Elica.."

"Elica... Elise..."

Said Alex repeatedly mentioning the name "Elica" slowly.

The doctor came in to check on Alex.

"Mr Alex, can you hear me?" The doctor asked Alex who was trying to open his eyes.

He blinked his eyes because he was a little unfamiliar with the light of the room which slightly disturbed his sense of sight. No wonder because it's been a week Alex is lying in a coma. He looked around the room looking for something. But what Alex found was only a Doctor and Irene were there.

"Elica.. where?" Alex said when he fully realized.

"Alex baby, Aunt here son. You heard Auntie's voice, right?" Irene asked, stroking Alex's hair with her tears coming out.

Alex answered with a nod of his head.

"Then where's my aunt?"

"You take it easy, Alex, Nancy's with Damian right now. He came home two days ago"

Now Alex is trying to remember what happened that night. And even he dreamed of meeting his mother who had died a long time ago.

"Get Elica here Auntie"

Alex said suddenly which made Irene startled and a little confused.

"Elica there's no Alex. If you need anything you can tell auntie, okay. Do you have to, baby?" Irene is still trying to shift Alex's conversation about Elica.

The atmosphere was silent for a moment, Alex was seen trying to move his body that felt confused. He looked at the Doctor and Irene as he sensed something happening.

"Auntie... My legs why can't they move?"

Deg. That's the question Irene didn't want to hear from Alex. He didn't know what to tell her.

"It's okay, baby. You've just come to your senses from a coma, it's only natural that your muscles feel stiff" Irene patted Alex's shoulder

"I why Auntie? I don't feel anything. Look, even I pinch my own leg doesn't hurt "

This time Irene could no longer answer Alex's questions. The woman could only cry.

But Alex knew something wasn't right with her. And he knew that Irene was lying to him.

"Doctor, what happened to me? Tell me" Alex asked the doctor, trying to find an answer he didn't get from Irene.

"Sir Alex, I'm sorry to tell you this. Because both of your legs were paralyzed by the accident" said the doctor

Alex's throat was choked. He didn't believe it would happen to him.

All of Alex's questions about Elica just disappeared. The world seemed to stop instantly

"W-what.no. That's impossible" the man looked shocked by the doctor's statement.

"Let's calm, Mr. Alex, as long as you have the will to heal all that can be treated"

"No Arrgggh" cried Alex who was very unaccepting with all this.

Irene also tried to calm Alex, she was very unbearable to see Alex who is now crying while roaring has not accepted the reality.

"Alex is calm, baby"

"My aunt is disabled now. I'm disabled. I'm a disabled man" Irene can only hug Alex who is still shocked.

"It's okay, baby. Aunty promised to help you heal as before. You just have to try to get you to walk back."

"Then how do I find Elica if I'm like this. How's it?" Alex screamed with her painful crying voice

"Don't be like this Alex. Nancy needs you, too, you need to be excited because we're all right next to you"

Alex drowned his head in Irene's arms. He no longer thought of his image as a man who was notoriously cold and authoritative, although there was a doctor still in the room.

****

Elsewhere, Damian is with James looking for information about the whereabouts of someone who managed to harm Alex.

However, Damian wants to help Alex by finding the culprit. And he was a little taken aback when he found out the mastermind of all this was Andrew.

As far as Damian knows, Alex's father and Andrew were very good friends. He did not expect that the old man could do such a cruel thing.

"Who is Bianca?" Damian asked James, who was sitting across from him.

"He's Andrew's only son. One year ago he was entrusted to Mr. Alex with the excuse of wanting to study business. But it turns out that the woman actually likes Mister and get rid of anyone who is close to Mister. Including Nancy's mother"

Damian tried to hear all the explanations given by James, as he looked at the important documents in his hands.

"Then why did three percent of Andrew's shares get diverted to Alex?"

"That's Mr. Alex's number, if the shares are an agreement. If you marry Bianca then all the shares Andrew has will be entrusted to you."

Damian nodded in understanding after knowing everything. So Andrew's motive for harming Alex was heartache. Moreover, he already knew if the woman named Bianca was now in a mental hospital because of Alex.

But the problem is, Andrew is currently also in pursuit of the police for being a suspect in the embezzlement case. If Andrew gets caught and the police find out if there is a treasure Andrew given to Alex, then automatically Alex will also be dragged in that case.

"Create the stock sale letter that Andrew had given Alex. To make it look as if the stock Alex is the one who bought it. And make sure you find the man before the police find him, because we need his signature."

"Good Sir"

"And don't stop looking for a woman named Elica."

"Sure Mr"

***

TBC.

Follow IG Author @akiokokoru_69