Brandon’s Pov
I could only hope they didn’t continue their squabble in the kitchen. I wished I had my legs because I would have walked in on them and found out what they were up to. I was lying there on my searing back from bedsores, presumably on my dying breath, but they didn’t seem to mind. They had somehow trodden on each other’s dumb egos and were unable to breathe each other’s air, and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, it was aggravating the life out of me.
Nestor strolled out smiling as the door opened, much to my astonishment. They appeared to be staged, but instead of saying anything, he checked my vitals and walked out of the room before I could inquire about what was going on.
The kitchen door opened again and Thalia walked out, unlike Nestor who was overly excited, she had a nervous face on and was biting her nails. She always did that when she was about to tell me something that I did not like. I stared at her as she took a seat, I noted she had lost the glow, she looked dirty and I wondered the last time she took a bath.
“Brandon, we need to talk,” she declared.
I’m not sure why, but my mind immediately went to Nestor’s cheerful expression. And my instincts told me they were sleeping together, and my heart began to race. That was the only reasonable explanation for their strange interactions.
I just sat there, watching her clear her throat for the fourth time. To be honest, I didn’t want to know whether they made a mistake. Nestor was probably sick of changing me stinky diapers, and her pregnancy hormones couldn’t hold on. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” I said quickly before she could finish her sentence. “But the two of you should grow up,” I added.
She looked at me puzzled and questioned what I was talking about, but I turned away and told her not to worry.
“Brandon, anything you’re talking about is incorrect; please pay attention to me. What I’m about to say will either kill you or give you another opportunity at life.”
For a little moment, I paused in my thinking and attempted to understand the final section. I had a sneaking suspicion that I was hallucinating. I closed my eyes and kept my head turned.
“Have you ever wondered why we met at that bridge?” she inquired but received no response. She was starting to irritate me, to be honest. My body hurt, and I wasn’t in the mood for sex confessions or stories about how grateful she was for everything I had done for her.
“Brandon, I think fate brought us to that bridge on that particular day. I was betrayed by my ex-husband and you had solutions to take back what was stolen from me and ditch back the hell that was given to me,” she emotionally stated and placed her hand on my shoulder. I moved away out of annoyance.
“Thalia please I just want to rest,” I finally replied.
She chuckled and ignored me, “Well I think I have answers to your disease,” she added and I quickly opened my eyes.
“Nestor and I are not fighting because we had sex, how many times am I going to tell you that Nestor is not my type? Anyway, if you can remember, am a graduate in bioengineering and sciences?” She made mention even though I has no idea where she was going with her story. She noted I was not responding and quickly asked.
“Brandon, am I talking to myself? Are you asleep?” she got on the bed and checked. She could clearly see that my eyes were wide open and I was breathing.
“Okay, for the past three months I have been studying math and science books? Sneaking around? The secrets? Going out early in the morning? The secret meetings in Italy? It was all for you Brandon, I was creating a machine to cure or treat your illness,” she confessed.
She was talking too fast and making it difficult for me to add everything together or make sense of whatever she was saying. I breathed in hard and began recalling all my suspicions even though I was not sure if what I was hearing was the truth or my brain was playing games with me.
She realized I was not going to say anything and went to explain. While I was busy thinking she was f*cking Nestor or had gotten tired of me and was looking for a way out; she was actually inventing the life-saving machine that all scientists rebuked as possible. She was out there, my garage to be precise, the one place that I never put Cameras because by the time my contractors were doing the garage I was already sick and I needed the house to be turned into my private hospital.
The door opened and Nestor walked back in excited, “Did you tell him?” he asked
“I’m explaining, but he is not saying anything,” she replied.
He walked to the side I was facing and knelt down, “I guess you guys met because she was supposed to save you,”
“Nestor, we are not even sure if it is going to work,” Thalia quickly spoke up. “That’s the part I was about to explain to him before you walked in,” she added.
“The machine is going to work, I just called doctor Willson and he wants to see whatever you invented.”
“Nestor over thirty monkeys are dead, we have to tell him the disadvantages before you start lying to him. The machine can kill him!” Thalia yelled at him. They were probably going to start their childish fight again. I began understanding where their tension was from. The third time again I was shamed it was not sex.
From my assessment, Thalia built a machine that she thought could save me but could as well end my life. She was trying to perfect it but my health was deteriorating while she was doing the perfecting. And that’s where she was fighting with Nestor who wanted to plug me into the machine. I slowly turned as they kept fighting and put myself in a seating position. I had no idea where the energy came from but I needed to get all the facts right.
As soon as they noticed I was up they stopped fighting.
“All I am saying is my machine is not human tested,” Thalia said in a low tone.
“You… you built a machine for me?” I asked. The tears that I was trying so hard to push back came flooding. She took a seat, “Yes, it’s just a prototype,”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” I asked.
“Because I wanted it first to work, I wanted to be sure that it was going to work rather than giving you false hope,” she replied.
The room became quiet, as we stared at each other. She cleared her throat and explained how the machine worked. It sounded too good to be true like I was watching some sci-fi movie. I did not understand most of the science part but it sounded s*xy coming out of her mouth.
I switched off and began staring at her. What were the odds that on the day I chose to take my life at an old bridge, a scientist chose to commit suicide as well? I knew she had papers from Harvard but it never occurred to me, not even once that she was capable of inventing the machine to cure me.
“I actually got the idea when you took down Gentex’s Dialysis’s machine. Something capable of filtering cells. Yes it is far-fetched but it can filter but I do not know if it can keep up with the replication because no monkey has been able to survive your illness,” she explained as she got on the end.
“I tried to volunteer but she…” Nestor tried to explain.
“Shut up Nestor! Go and prepare the room,” Thalia yelled at him.
I immediately looked up at him, “Who what? Are you s*upid?
“We had no option,” Nestor replied.
“You are one of the biggest idiots that I have ever met,” I replied but he retained my comment with a smile. What the f*ck was wrong with him? If I was not in bed I would have grabbed his as and beat some sense into him but Thalia grabbed my face and asked me to concentrate on her.
“I’m not promising anything Brandon, it’s just a long shot but Nestor was right I need to test the machine on you, that’s the only way I can know if the machine works. You are my only test subject,” she stated.
“You should have told me, Thalia, I would have helped instead of wasting my money on Dr. Wilson’s research, “I replied. “I would have brought in top scientists,”
She quickly let go of my face and smiled, “You would be dead if I told you, Brandon, you are impatient and always want things your way, you would have convinced me to test you.”
“ouch!” she replied.
“And I did ask help and opinions from renowned scientists but they all said I was smoking weed. The machine is scientifically impossible,” she added. “This only needs one mind, a mind with a will and a heart with hope not s*upid scientist,” she added.
I stared at her, I had a lot of questions and a lot of yelling for her. All the tension in the house could have been avoided if she only told me what she was doing but they had the guts to keep it a secret. They made a pact without me, yes I would have rushed her if I had known and I would be probably dead but she made me doubt her, she made me think the worst of her, I even began liking her a little.
“You made me think you two were screwing?” I said with a chuckle. She moved over and began wiping my tears. She signaled Nestor and he walked out of the room. “I wasn’t sure the machine was going to work, I even once gave it up?” she declared. I looked up at her without words.
The door opened and Nestor walked in rolling a table, on it was what I could only assume to be the machine. It had a screen, some buttons, a lot of buttons and it had a lot of tubes hanging and cables. Reality sank in that she had created the masterpiece by herself. More tears rolled down my face. I was never a cry baby but I could not help but think how many hours she had put into the machine while managing her pregnancy plus my moody a*s.
“I think we can set the machine in here, this room has everything we need,” Nestor suggested.
“Yes this room will do, Brandon I need an answer. Are you ready to try the machine?” she asked.
I had no idea how to respond as I just stared at the machine. My brainless Thalia made it, something that world-renowned scientists failed to think of and something that other scientists set for failure. A girl who brainlessly signed off all of her father’s properties and company. A girl who was left homeless and s*upidlydisturbed my suicide. A girl that out of curiosity I s*upidly brought home and manipulated to get pregnant and take over my company.
A girl that I slowly began developing feelings for, feelings that I never felt for anyone was going to save my life. At that moment I did not care whether the machine was going to work or not. I just knew that I found the answers to all the questions that bugged me ever since laying my eyes on her.
It was fate that brought us together on that bridge. And it was for that reason I was going to remove the doubts I ever had on her and trust her.
