Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

Joshua finished his talk with Max and smiled in satisfaction. Their plan was sailing smoothly and the opportunity had come to them even before they started to do anything. Without wasting time, he sent Noah's assistant, Shane's contact details for them to schedule an appointment. Being a businessman himself he knew how dangerous it was to give people their personal phone numbers. It was also not wise to give them their business contacts numbers, especially to paparazzi. Since he and Max were friends, it was fine. But that would not be the case with Noah.

The best way was to follow the traditional method and book an appointment with the secretary. This way one would be sure that no nosy person would try to probe into their lives. Nothing was worse than people calling them at odd hours and harassing them.

He then saw an unopened message from Ian. He had missed it somehow the previous day as he had been too busy with other work. Now that he saw it was from Ian and had asked Noah and him to call back as soon as possible, he dialed his number without a second thought.

"Ian, hey."

"Joshua, I sent you the message yesterday and you are calling me now?" Ian assessed. "Even Noah did not give a call. What were you two up to that you did not even see my message?"

"Ian we were a little busy. I'll tell you everything when we meet. You tell me. What happened?" Joshua knew it was not a good option to tell about their mentor's death on the phone. Some things were best told directly rather than on the phone.

"It's about Rachel." Ian was alone in the ward and he was speaking softly. So, there were no chances of anybody hearing his words.

"What happened to her? Is she alright?" Joshua panicked a little. It was only a few days ago that she had been involved in an accident. 

"She is fine. But you know Jared right?" Ian asked calmly. For now, the situation was not that critical. So, he had not called them again yesterday after sending the message. Rachel too had warned Daniel about Jared and had asked him to stay safe.

"What did he do to her?" 

"He did nothing, yet. But he might do something."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems Jared likes her and he wants her to accept him. He has threatened her with Daniel's life." Ian revealed everything he had heard from Rachel at one go.

"How dare he?" Joshua seethed, clenching his jaw in fury. Rachel was his friend. Since childhood, he had looked after her like a true friend would. He did not consider her as a sister as there was Noah to do so. Instead, he considered her to be a true friend who could listen to his problems when the other two ignored him. She was the only girl in the group. So, the three men protected her with all their might. Though they teased her occasionally, they had never allowed anybody to hurt her, not even themselves. 

Now out of nowhere a puny man had threatened her with her boyfriend's life. How could he stay still without getting angry? It was impossible.

"Yes, that was what we wanted to talk to you about. But neither you nor Noah called back." Ian complained pushing himself up to sit comfortably on the bed. He had just finished with his lunch when Jo had called him. He was asked to rest another day and from the next day, he could start working again. He was waiting to get out of the ward. It was nothing but torture to him, sitting all day in one place and not doing anything. He wondered if all the other patients felt the same. If so, then he could do nothing but pity them.

"We had an urgent issue to deal with. Anyway, how is Rachel now? Is she fine?" 

"Yes. She is going to get discharged today. I think she has not left the hospital yet, else she would have come to meet me."

"Hmm. Who is coming to pick her up? Noah told me he has a meeting at three. So, it would not be him."

"Mr. and Mrs. Carter are coming, I presume and I will not be surprised if the old man tags along. Rachel is his favorite. He must be on the edge to get her out of here." Ian chuckled thinking about the old man and his weird antics. He had heard from Rachel how he had tricked his son and daughter-in-law to visit her although he needed rest himself.

"So, what are we going to do about this lowly creature?"

"Let's discuss with Noah first."

"Hmm. You are right, it is his sister after all. I'll have to go. I have some work here at the base. Some things have to be fixed. I'll call you later."

"Okay."

"Was that my brother?" Rachel asked. He did not when she had arrived and what she had heard, not that it mattered to him. She knew everything about them and their work.

"Nope. It was Jo. So, are you ready to go?"

"Yep. Finally. I wonder how you work here, in this tense atmosphere, no offense though. Seeing a lot of people die, makes me feel weird." Rachel made a comical face which led Ian to laugh out loud.

"Says the girl who is well versed with killing and beating. You have seen a lot more dead bodies and blood than most other doctors in this hospital."

"Yes. That was different and this is different. The men we torture are criminals, scum in society. Here, there are many innocent people who lose lives for various reasons. Just take today's case. More than thirty kids were wounded in an accident. The hospital is a mess, trying to treat the kids as well as consoling the worried parents." Rachel sat on the stool beside Ian's bed as she narrated what she had seen when she had gone to the reception to sign the discharge papers.

"What? Many kids were admitted and nobody told me about it. This is unbelievable." Ian stood up immediately.

"Where are you going?" Rachel looked at him strutting towards the door. He did not look that weak compared to the other days she had seen him. Other than having grown thin, he looked almost the same.

"I have work to do."

"But you are a patient...."

"I am a doctor and it is my job to save people."

"But Ian..."

"I cannot ignore my work Rachel. There are people who need me."

"I cannot stop you right?" Rachel sighed, accepting defeat in front of the stubborn man.

"No. Will you be alright?"

"Yes, I am going to wait at the reception for my parents. They have given me strict instructions not to leave the hospital before they arrive and I cannot defy their orders. Otherwise, I will be up for a hearing."

"Good girl. Take care."

"You too and don't faint while doing your job." Ian gave her a 'that was very funny' look, and she returned him a cheeky grin.

"Rachel, there are doctors around me. Even if I faint, the possibility of which is zero, they will take care of me. Don't worry." With that, he left the ward leaving Rachel alone.

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