บท 5: The Truth
Vincent
She stared at me as I held her arm, stopping her in her track. When I made to move closer to her, she hid her face to conceal her tears and then began wiping her eyes. I stopped moving but still held onto her arm. I needed to make sure she was comfortable enough to talk to me.
Slowly she raised her head but was avoiding eye contact with me.
"I'm sorry," I found myself blurting out.
This made her look up, confusion written all over her stunning face. Her eyes were puffy from crying and I very much knew the reason behind it.
When she arrived earlier, the nurse at the front desk had alerted me immediately. I was so ready to raise down hell on her. I had told the security to be on guard and had followed her to catch her in whatever act she was going to pull.
I did catch her but in a whole different scenario. When I was following her, I kept looking at how simple she looked. All of Andrew's women always dressed sophisticating, with makeup and all, and they had a thing in common, huge endowments on every feminine side. But this lady was different. She was slim and slender, looking so innocent on her white floral dress which ended slightly above the knee.
I had doubted my accusations but reinforced them when I reminded myself that psychopaths knew how to mask their behaviors and feeling, and can imitate any behavioral pattern.
I had slipped behind the door when I caught her looking around to make sure no one was close by before entering Andrew's room. I was sure I was going to get hold of her and send her to where she belonged. I had moved swiftly to the door and was going to bang it open to release the growing anger inside me. However, as I was about to raise my hand, a part of me told me to cease my rash actions. Then almost immediately, I heard her speak.
Even the sound of her voice held no threat. She had moved a stool towards my brother and had sat on it staring at him as he was trying to sit up.
The more I listened in on their conversation, the more doubts were planted in my head. My thoughts, accusations, plan of action, everything was wiped out of my head when I heard her scream those dreadful words to my brother's face.
My hands fell to my sides, as I stared from her to Andrew.
The security men had been following behind. One of them had even tapped me on getting to me, snapping me out of the shock I was in. I then signaled them to back off for the moment which they did.
I saw and heard the entire discussion. I had begun boiling with anger but for a different reason.
Why would Andrew do this?
My heart clenched as I stared at Andrew's shocked expression. See, I was here trying to get an innocent person locked up when in reality, my brother was the guilty one.
Women were there at his beck and call, but no, he decided to attempt such a heinous act on this lady.
'Why result to this Andrew?!' I thought.
I had moved out the doorway when she came out and was about to walk down the hallway.
Instinctively, I had shot out my hand and held her, I had no idea what I wanted to say or do. All I knew was that I needed her to stop.
"Who are you, please?" she asked still confused. I hadn't my lab coat on, so she couldn't tell I was a doctor. That would have been less confusing for her.
"Uhh…" I found myself searching for words that weren't forthcoming.
She looked closely at me, then at my brother through the small window on the door. She did it a second time and then realization hit her. She frowned her face and made to leave, but I pulled her back again.
"Please, let go of me," she said trying to wriggle her hand away. I couldn't. I just stood there speechless.
"Mister, I said unhand me this instant," she said staring daggers at me with her red swollen eyes. I let go of her, rubbing my palm on my shirt in total confusion.
'What the hell are you doing Vincent?' I asked myself.
As soon as she swiveled and made to take the next step, she tripped. I think she was going to land on all fours to the ground but I didn't wait to find out.
On impulse, my arms shot out, grabbing her waist to steady her. She had shut her eyes when she realized she couldn't hold herself, but when she didn't feel herself making contact with hard ground, she widened her eyes, with her arms still in midair.
She slowly turned to face me, her eyes still wide open, then ever so slowly, those eyes began dimming, filling themselves with liquid.
I came undone. I couldn't bear it. Without thinking, I dragged her towards me and onto my chest, wrapping my arms around her. This lady shocked me by resting her head on my chest, staining my shirt with her tears.
"I'm so sorry for everything that happened. For what my brother put you through. If I could stop you from hurting, I would." This stranger managed to bring out that part of me I always hid from the world.
She sniffled and move away from me, looking up at me with big brown eyes. "How did you...."
"I heard everything." I replied slowly. "and yes, he's my brother."
She looked away from me to the floor, wiping her eyes, "I'm going to be fine. I do not need your pity. He didn't succeed after all," she said taking a step away from me. "It just gets to me every time I think about what would have been of me if he had." She added.
"I'm sorry," was all I could say. I felt like such a hypocrite. I was hesitating to do anything against my brother. I was ready to lock her up but when it turned out to be something my brother brought on himself, I couldn't get myself to make him pay for the consequences.
'Hadn't he done that already by nearly losing his life?' I queried my conscience
"I should be going." She said, bending over to pick her bag that had fallen during the near fall.
"Wait! Where you hurt anywhere?"
"No, I'm alright."
"Let me drop you home then," I volunteered.
"No, don't bother." She said dismissively.
"I insist…please, that's the least I can do right now," I urged. It then occurred to me that she might be apprehensive considering my relationship with Andrew. I mentally slapped myself. Why would she allow a brother to the guy that almost raped her drop her off? I had to quickly add, "But if you're uncomfortable with it, I'll understand."
"You can drop me." She said, staring into my soul with those eyes that have successfully imprinted themselves in my head. I was surprised to hear her say that but it was a good development.
The ride to her hostel was brief so I didn't really get time to talk to her, I didn't want to push any conversation either. She had her eyes fixated on her hands all through the ride. As much as I wanted to see those eyes again, I couldn't. It was asking for too much.
I parked in front of the girls' hostel where she had directed me earlier. She looked up when she realized the car had stopped moving and sighed, mumbled a thank you, unbuckled the seatbelt, and was about to step down when I held onto her for the third time that day.
'What's with me and touching this girl,' I thought to myself.
When she looked at me with those big brown eyes, I almost forgot what I was going to say.
"Here, take this for…. ." I had begun, extending a ward of cash to her, but she cut me off.
"Thank you but I can't accept that," she said bluntly, her demeanor changing immediately. "As I told you earlier, I wasn't hurt anywhere, so I don't know why you're giving me that."
"I couldn't just let you go like that.." I tried explaining but she wouldn't let me finish. It was as if she had concluded that all I had in mind was to pay her to keep the incident to herself.
"See mister, I've forgiven your brother. Besides, I'm not the one in the hospital bed. You should go and take care of him." She deadpanned.
"Hey," I began calmly, "I'm not trying to bribe you or anything of that sort if that's what you're thinking," I emphasized. With the way she kept her face, I just knew she wasn't buying anything I was saying. I sighed and kept mute, pinching the bridge of my nose, with my eyes tightly shut. The stress from the day was beginning to get to me.
"Okay, take care of yourself then," I said giving up.
"Goodbye Mister," she responded, then pushed the car door open, stepped down, and closed it behind her.
I watched her walk towards her hostel. She stopped to speak with a few people who I presumed stayed in the hostel too. I sighed again and started my car. I really needed to let it go. The worst was over.
My next stop was at the hospital. I needed to talk with my brother.
* * *
I had a long talk with my brother when I got back to the hospital. I was so angry with him but my anger simmered down when I found out he felt real remorse for what he attempted to do.
He didn't need to tell me his reasons. I knew somehow that it had something to do with our dad. What I didn't know was that it had gotten this bad.
Severally, I have fought with Dad for the sake of Andrew. It was part of the reason he came to live with me, to get a breathing space. Dad had assured me he would take it easy on Drew but from the look of things, it wasn't getting easier for my little bro.
I was exhausted, hungry, and needed to get my head together. I also needed to expel a certain someone from my head.
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