This chapter was so much fun to write. I love Weston so much. XD
Weston Clark's P.O.V.
I missed Ellie. Without her I had no one to gossip with about all the cute boys on campus. That pasty piece of eye candy took her away from me and I haven't seen or heard from her since. Eventually I decided I'd take matters into my own hands and text her myself.
"Hey, wanna skype? I haven't seen that adorable face of yours since you married that pretty little oddball."
She texted back almost immediately, "Absolutely! I was beginning to think everyone had forgotten about me. When are you available?"
"Literally whenever. I have nothing fun to do without my best girlfriend on the scene, campus has been so dull."
"How about now? I'm not doing anything. I won't be doing anything for a while actually…"
"Why not? Too sore from the bedroom? ;)"
"Something like that… I'll explain later. I don't think you'd believe me if you couldn't witness it yourself. Just… Don't tell anyone. And don't freak out. I don't want people to worry and make a fuss."
That didn't sound good. What could possibly have happened? "Okay. I'm calling you on skype right now."
My laptop showed a picture of my favorite person's face. She was messing with her bottom lip like usual. "Hey there, love! It's been too long. Having fun without me?"
A young – and very handsome – Japanese man in glasses and a lab coat poked his head in and looked at the screen curiously, "Ellie, who's this?" Oh shit, he had a sexy voice… Seriously, she had all the luck, it was not even fair.
"Weston, meet Doctor Yori Kaneko." Her voice was all raspy and strained. Has she been over-signing again? "He's been taking care of me since…" She paused, "well, since I got hurt. Yori, this is my friend Weston Clark."
I heard a monotone voice from off-camera, "Is that the man who dressed me up as an old lady?" Ah, yes, Ellie's mysterious and elusive husband Lawrence. I wondered if he was still as pale as he was when I met him.
"That's me." I giggled, "You looked great in heels." I turned my attention back to Ellie, "How's it going, honey? Why do you have a hot doctor there; did you fall off a couch and break your wrist again?"
The hot doctor laughed, it was like music to my ears, "Again? As in you've done that before? Are you really that clumsy?" He looked at Ellie.
She glared back at him, "That was one time!"
"Oh that is rich," He couldn't stop laughing. I think I'm in love.
"If you must know," Ellie said, pushing the beautiful man away from the screen, "I was attacked."
Well that's not what I was expecting, "Attacked? Oh my God, really? That's awful!"
"You don't know the half of it," Kaneko commented, suddenly serious.
"What does that mean," I leaned forward. "You better not be keeping secrets."
"I have an idea," She said, dodging the question. Nice try, we haven't heard the last of this.
"What?" I asked.
"Come to Japan and I'll tell you everything in person! I miss you and all your fabulousness." She looked at something off the screen, "Is that okay? – Great!" She looked back at the camera, "We'll get you a first-class ticket to Tokyo, how's that sound?"
I tilted my head in mock thoughtfulness, "Well, let me think about it- YES! Are you kidding, I'd love to! Screw finals, I'll hop on flight and come to Tokyo tonight if you want."
She grinned, "Perfect! We'll arrange everything and I'll send you an email with all the necessary information. Do you have a passport?"
"Yep." I put my hand to the side of my mouth, pretending to whisper, "Does this mean I'll get to ask that babe of a doctor on a date?"
"Excuse me?" I heard him say from off screen.
"Well, he lives in the tower with us, so yes, I guess you'll have the opportunity."
"Ellie, stop talking right now," He demanded.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Piss off," he grumbled.
"Bite me," she teased, a sparkle in her eye.
"Oh, you live in a tower," I mused, "How fancy. You're like a real-life princess."
"You're more of a princess than I am," She reached up and made a heart with her fingers. Her hands were all bandaged up.
"And don't you forget it!" I pretended not to notice, mirroring her hands in a heart of my own. "Doctor Kaneko can be my knight in shining armor." I winked.
"You hear that Yori? You've got an admirer."
"Shut up." He sounded grumpy.
"Is that any way to talk to your boss?" She waved her finger playfully.
He ignored her, "Well, anyway Mr. Click, or whatever your name was," His face appeared in front of the camera again, "This 'real-life princess' has bandages that need to be replaced. Goodbye." Without letting me say anything else he disconnected our session and my screen went dark.
"Hot damn," I said to myself, leaning back in my chair.
I'd never been in first class before. It was luxurious. I was almost sad when we landed.
Walking out of the airport I found an old man with a mustache holding a brightly-colored sign saying "Weston The Fabulous, from Ellie." I laughed out loud. She knew me too well.
I was driven in the back of a limousine to a tall building with darkly-tinted windows. I knew Lawrence was rich, but I didn't know he was this rich. I'm starting to understand Ellie's decision to drop out of college and marry him a little bit more.
We had to go through security even worse than the airport to get into the building. It took forever just to get my bags through. How could Ellie have gotten attacked if security was this tight?
"She's on the fifteenth floor," the old man said, leading us to an elevator.
"Oh, I probably should have said, but-"
"Third door on the left." He didn't go into the elevator with me. Instead, he pressed a button and walked out, leaving me alone in the cold metal box.
I backed up against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut. I hated small spaces, they made me feel like I was being buried alive. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I heard a beep and the doors opened. I couldn't have gotten out fast enough.
I took a few breaths to regain my composure. I couldn't meet my true love looking like a panicked puppy. Reaching into my bag I produced a mirror, checking my makeup. I looked great, as always.
What had the old man said? Third door on the left. It was slightly ajar. I could hear voices.
"Mrs. Lawliet, hold still, for Pete's sake. I can't take a proper ultrasound with you wiggling about like a damn worm."
Mrs. Lawliet? Who was that? I decided to listen in.
"Sorry," that was Ellie's voice, "It's just so cold." Why would someone call her Mrs. Lawliet? That was not the name she told me. She had some explaining to do.
"Too bad. Do you want to see your kid or not?"
I gasped, covering my mouth. Ellie was pregnant?
"If you don't get serious about this, I'll kick you." Lawrence said, sounding like his mouth was full.
"I dare you," Ellie challenged.
"Humph."
I adjusted my hair a bit and knocked. They stopped talking. I heard footsteps, then the door opened, revealing an annoyed-looking doctor.
"Hello," I said, flashing him my most charming smile, "you must be Doctor Kaneko." I looked him up and down and whistled, "You're even cuter in person."
"Oh, it's you," he grimaced, but stepped aside to allow me entry.
I looked around the white room. Lawrence was sitting with his knees up to his chest munching on a slice of cake. He was staring intently at a set of screens. I saw that Doctor Kaneko was tall and fit. I bet he was good with his hands.
My face fell when I caught sight of Ellie. She looked horrible. "Oh, sweet Jesus, what happened to you?" I rushed over to her side, taking her face in my hands to look her over.
She told me about fire pokers and some bastard named Mikami. I still had a feeling she was hiding some key element in the story, like why she had been interrogated in the first place, but I elected to ignore it for now.
"I lived, but only barely."
"it gets worse," the doctor said, inspecting an ultrasound.
I frowned, "How?"
He looked at Ellie, silently asking for permission to tell me. When she nodded he said, "She's pregnant, but with the state her body is in, she can't safely have the baby. Despite this, she's decided to keep it. There's a good chance that she won't survive."
"That's part of the reason I wanted you to come here," she explained, "I might not get another chance to see you. Plus, I wanted at least someone from back home to know what was going on."
This was not the joyful reunion I had pictured. "Why don't you call your family?" I asked.
"No, they'd only worry."
"Damn right they will! And I'd say they'd have good reason."
"Weston, please, you have always been so good at keeping secrets, don't stop now."
"Fine, but now that I know, there's no way I'm leaving." I placed my hands on my hips in defiance. Kaneko audibly groaned.
She shot him a glare, "Yori, play nice. That's an order."
"Whatever you say your highness," he rolled those gorgeous eyes of his. I noticed his gaze linger on her for a little too long before he turned back to his work. Now that's interesting…
"Good," Ellie smiled, "now all that nasty business is over, how about a serenade?"
I laughed, "You're not still trying to get me to sing for you?"
"Yes. You're in theatre, but I've never heard you sing. It's a shame."
"Because I'm not a musical actor. That's your thing, babe."
She pouted, playing with her lip, "Please? It'd make me feel better." She put her hand on her forehead dramatically, "else I may faint."
"You better not," Kaneko warned.
"Hush," she waved him off. He almost laughed, but stopped himself, clearing his throat instead.
"Honey, it's not gonna happen. Stop asking."
She frowned, "Please? I've had a distinct lack of show tunes lately. I can't sing myself and it makes me want to cry. I think I'm going through withdrawals."
I had an idea, "leave that to me, I know just what to do!"
She raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"
"Doctor Kaneko, sweetie, could I borrow your cute butt for a second?"
"Over my dead body," he grumbled.
"Great! Let's go," I grabbed him by the lab coat and dragged him out into the hallway. It was not without difficulty; He was strong. I liked that in a man.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!" He yanked out of my grip.
I pressed my finger to my lip, "Shhhh, we're gonna surprise Ellie," he tried leaning away as I whispered in his ear, but I had him backed into a corner. I would not let him escape.
"Not a good idea. She's not-" I clamped my hand over his mouth.
"We can't talk here. Ow!" I felt a sharp pain on my thumb, "You bit me…" I looked at my hand. There was a red mark.
"Don't touch me," He warned. Okay, maybe he wasn't my true love after all; he was mean. Too bad… his looks were wasted on him. "She's too fragile right now for any surprises. If anything sudden or overly-loud happens, her body could go into shock."
I pursed my lips, "It's not a startling surprise. It's a fun surprise." A slow, mischievous grin spread across my face, "Don't you want to see her gorgeous smile? Imagine how great it'd be if you were the one to cause it," I offered him a glamorous wink.
He paused, his glare breaking for a fraction of a second until he plastered it right back across his features. He roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me into another room. It looked just like the one Ellie was in, only void of any patients. "Look," he said, "if it'll get you to shut up, fine, I'll hear you out." he sighed, releasing my arm, "What did you have in mind?"