Chapter 3
Gray sat in his cabin at office with his hands clutching his head. It was only his first day in office and he already attended two meetings since morning. His head was hurting very badly. Ultear, walked into his office but Gray didn't lift his face up see her.
"Gray" She called slowly.
"Hmm.." he replied.
He still didn't look at her. And she was only staring at him. After a few minutes, still not lifting his head he asked "What is it Ultear?"
She snapped out of her trance listening to his voice and said "Juvia is waiting for you outside."
"What?" he lifted his head in shock.
"Stupid girl. Cant she understand I don't want to meet her." He thought.
"Tell her I am busy" He said.
"She has been waiting for you since three hours and I also told her that you are busy the whole day but still she said she will wait and will only go after she meets you." Ultear said.
"Well, it's none of my concern. She can sit here all day. You can go and have lunch now." Gray said.
"But what about your lunch?" Ultear, asked.
"I'll go later" he said.
Juvia was waiting outside his cabin for about four hours now. Still she saw no signs of Gray coming out. She came here despite Lucy and Amelia's objection. She always gets her way by pleading with them somehow and also shedding few tears. But she was grateful to have them in her life as they are the ones that truly shower their love on her and also stood by her in her toughest times. She remembered how Lucy was there with her always when she was desperately waiting for a reply from Gray. Today she decided not to bombard him with questions but to just spend time together like they normally used to, i.e., have lunch together. And then when he is relaxed and comfortable with her, she would ask him what caused this drastic change in him? She was waiting for him to come out to have lunch in the canteen so that she could go to him and offer him the lunch she prepared and brought.
Gray got up to go to the canteen to have his lunch. He opened his cabin door only to find Juvia standing there and smiling at him.
"Gray sama, Juvia brought lunch for both of us. Shall we eat together like we used to back in those days?" Juvia said.
Gray stood there just staring at her for a few seconds and then to Juvia's surprise he said "Come in."
Juvia happily followed Gray inside. He offered her a chair to sit and went and sat at the opposite side of the table. Juvia was flabbergasted looking at how spacious his cabin was and also the cabin seemed to have walls of glass through which she could see the entire city of Magnolia from this 15th floor.
Gray was staring at Juvia as she was unpacking all the boxes containing food. "What in the world is this girl made of? Yesterday I insulted her and today I made her wait for so long. Yet she comes to me smiling and offers me food!"
She pushed a box containing spaghetti to him and said "Try it, Juvia made it."
Gray took it and started eating. For a long time both of them were only eating and didn't talk at all. Juvia felt uncomfortable with this silence between them and to break this silence.
"How does it taste?" She asked.
But she got no reply. He continued to eat without even looking at her. After he finished eating he pushed the box towards her and got up to leave.
"Gray sama, can Juvia talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked.
Gray looked at her and said "Can you stop nagging me Juvia and let me live in peace. You know what, you are no different from those gold digger women who lure men into having relationship with them just for their status and wealth. Anyway thanks for the lunch; that was a nice try to lure Me." and left.
Juvia stood their stunned after listening to what he said. "Does he seriously think about Juvia that way?" thinking about this left her in tears. With tears still in her eyes she put all the boxes in her bag and left.
Gray was at the construction site of 'Fairy Tail'. Since his mother was always ill, she had empathy towards people suffering from chronic diseases. One day in a very casual way she suggested Silver about building a hospital along with a university. Her intention was anyone who comes sick to a hospital must be taken good care of and treated in the best possible ways. Silver found the idea very good. He thought they can even have schemes like free treatments or reduced fees for poor people. But after the incident that took place 10 years ago he found it difficult to concentrate on his business but somehow persevered with the only motivation of bringing his wife's idea to fruition. That why it took so long to plan this and arrange all the resources to build this hospital and university. But luckily he found the best architect to entrust this project; Natsu Dragneel, who was Gray's classmate in school.
"So, what do you think?" Natsu asked Gray after showing him around the site.
"I'm glad you were trusted with this project. The progress is remarkable." Gray said.
"Thanks. Let's go to my office and talk. Since the main construction of the hospital is almost done, I would like to show you some designs for its interior." Natsu said.
"I would love to look at it but maybe not now. I have a severe headache since afternoon and the noises here are adding to it. So I would prefer going home now." Gray said.
"Yeah, I think you should go home and rest. You don't look too well. Do you need some aspirin tablets?" Natsu asked.
"No. I'll manage." Gray said. "See you later Natsu."
Gray waved Natsu goodbye and started walking towards his car. The noises in this construction were adding greatly to his headache to a point where he couldn't tolerate now. Suddenly, his vision started to blur and instead of noises at the construction site he heard a strange ringing noise. Ignoring all these he rapidly walked to his car. He started to sweat profusely and felt severe pain taking over his hands and feet. He caught the handle door to open it when suddenly everything went black.
Natsu rushed to Gray when he saw him lying on the floor near his car. He turned Gray around and helped him sit straight with his back resting against the car door. He then roughly patted his cheeks to bring him back to consciousness, but didn't get any response. So he bought a bottle of water and started sprinkling it on Gray's face.
Gray slowly regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes. But he still had a very bad headache. He looked around and saw Natsu look at him very worriedly.
"You scared the hell out of me. You lay fainted here. What happened to you?" Natsu asked.
Gray was simply staring at natsu without giving him any response. This worried Natsu even more.
Natsu jerked Gray's shoulders and asked him "What happened Gray?"
Gray snapped out of his trance and got up with Natsu's support.
"Uh…. I must've overworked and also this headache is getting worse. I'll just go home and rest, it'll be alright. Thanks for helping." Saying this Gray opened the door of his car when Natsu caught his hand.
"I'll drive. I'm not letting you drive home in this state." Said Natsu.
"But what about work here? I can manage on my own Natsu." Said Gray
"I have talented workers here. They'll take care. Right now your health is more important." Saying this he sat in the driver seat of the car and was waiting for Gray to sit in the car.
Finally, Gray had to give in to Natsu's stubbornness. He went and sat beside Natsu in the passenger's seat.
Natsu drove all the way to Gray's residence and all this while Gray felt the pain in his hands and feet increasing. But he didn't explicitly show it so that he didn't attract Natsu's attention. But Natsu sensed something wrong with Gray.
"Gray are you alright?" asked Natsu.
"Uh… yeah." Said Gray.
"Are you sure?" Natsu asked doubtfully.
"Yes Natsu." Said Gray forcing a smile.
When they reached Gray's residence, Natsu parked the car in the garage and helped Gray step out of the car.
"Should I help you till your room?" asked Natsu.
"Come on Natsu. Now you're treating me like a kid. I'm absolutely fine. It's just a slight headache." Said Gray. "I'll arrange a car and a driver for you."
"Take care Gray." Said Natsu. "And when you come next time don't faint and scare me."
Gray nodded his head and waved goodbye to Natsu forcing a smile. He stood there watching Natsu leave. The pain in his hands, legs and head were getting severe. The moment he saw Natsu's car outside the gate, he took out his phone and called Dr. Porlyusica.
"Doctor I need your help." Said gray.
"I'll be there in 15 min." said the doctor.
Gray walked to his room silently making sure his father doesn't notice his presence. Upon reaching his bedroom he was constantly watching the entrance to his residence from his balcony to spot the doctor despite the pains taking a toll over his body.
After exactly 15 min. a car came to a stop in front of the gate attracting Gray's attention. A slim and tall elderly lady with pink hair tied in a bun stepped out of the car wearing a white coat and a stethoscope hanging around her neck.
Gray looked at her in shock. "Why did she come here in her doctor's clothes? Now what if dad notice's her?" He thought.
Dr. Porlyusica walked to the door and as she was about to enter Silver saw her and walked up to her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you." Said Silver.
"That is because this is the first time we are meeting Mr. Silver." She said.
"Is it? But you know my name!" Said Silver.
"That is because I know your son and he was the one who called me here." She said.
"Oh no. It slipped out of my tongue. How am I supposed to handle this now? Where are you Gray" She thought nervously.
"But why did he call you?" asked Silver.
Now she was really nervous and didn't know what to say. So she randomly blurted out "My name is Porlyusica and I …" Before she could complete Gray walked in.
"Dad she is a doctor by profession. I called her here to discuss certain things about the 'Fairy Tail' project" said Gray. "Now please excuse us." And then left to his room with the doctor.
Silver thought "I'm glad you're putting so much of efforts into that project Gray." Before he could ask Gray when he came home both the doctor and Gray disappeared into the room.
"How could you be so careless? You should have changed to something casual before coming to my house." Gray said in an irritated tone.
"I had just finished with an emergency case when you called me. And after talking to you I thought you were in some serious trouble so I rushed here. So don't blame me for this and also don't put in this type of situation again. I was so nervous." She said.
Gray looked at her with a very irritated expression and before he could say anything,
"Tell me what your problem is?" she asked.
"Severe headache and pain in my hands and feet. Maybe I overworked in office today." He said.
The doctor took out an injection from her bag and filled it with medicine and gave it to Gray. He sensed relief after few minutes. When he opened his mouth to ask her something,
"Did you find relief?" she asked.
"Yeah I feel fine now." He said.
"Oh that is good." She said. But HOW DARE YOU IGNORE taking tablets every morning? And then over work yourself in the office. IS THIS A JOKE?"
Gray was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Your tablets mostly make me sleep and I didn't want to doze off on my first day of work." He said sheepishly.
"OH, so you'd rather DIE than sleep, IS IT?" she shouted.
"Can you stop shouting? My dad might hear." He said.
"See Gray, this fabry disease that you have inherited from your mother is a very rare disease and equally tough to treat. Please cooperate, it's a question of life and death." She said with a sad expression.
"So exactly how many days do I have left on this planet?" he asked with a straight face.
"HUH! What kind of an irresponsible question is that? I am treating to save your life and not sit and count the number of days you have left." She said. "I'm cooperating with you in not disclosing this to your family and I hope to have your full cooperation in the treatment. Don't lose heart Gray, you will definitely come out of this."
Gray stared at her with tears in his eyes and said "This is not about the success of this treatment. I have to find out the reason for my mother's death and I have to do it fast in case I have less time left."
She placed a hand on his shoulder and said reassuringly "It's ok Gray we will work it out together."
"Can I tell you something, but I don't know if you'll remain calm after listening to it" she said.
"What is it about?" he asked.
"Juvia" she said
"Then don't tell me anything. I think we are done for today." He said.
"See Gray, I'm like a mother to you and will only wish you good in your life that is why I'm telling you don't be so rude to her. Whatever differences that you have sought it out with her. It can also bring a positive influence in you health." She said.
To her shock Gray broke down in tears. She embraced him and gently patted his back and asked "Gray are you alright?"
Gray slowly pulled away and wiped his tears. He said "I don't want her to go through what my dad is going through right now. She has an entire life ahead of her and does not deserve to be mourning over someone for the rest of her life."
"Gray, we are working towards saving your life." She said.
"But there is no guarantee!" He said.
Juvia was standing in front of 'The Comfort' orphanage. She was so hurt by what Gray told her in his office today. Even now she was in tears thinking about it. She wiped all her tears and put a forced smile on her face and entered the orphanage.
"I'm back Miss Amelia." She said cheerfully.
Amelia looked at her and said "Get ready Juvia. We are going shopping today."
"Shopping! But why suddenly?" asked Juvia.
"Because tomorrow you are getting engaged. So we have to buy a lot of thing like decorations, dresses and all." Said Amelia.
"WHAT?" Juvia screamed.
A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing my story. This is my first attempt at writing a story and so I am learning a lot through your reviews. I tried my best to work on the structure of the story to improve your reading experience. Feel free to highlight on anything you feel is not right in the story so that I can improve on it. Once again thank you all for taking time to read my story.