Quack

"Watch your tongue. Aren't you the doctor or are you a quack?" He retorted, glaring at me.

"What! A quack? I saved his life, mister, if you had forgotten!" I wanted to scream at him but I managed to control myself.

Instead, I gave him a glare that seem to tell him what I was thinking!

He had a look that matched mine perfectly as he shrugged with his reply. “I have no idea. You tell me. You're the doctor after all.”

“He threw a tantrum all night and a half through this morning asking for his mom. Which I suspected was you.”

I palmed my temple down to my face before sighing. “How is this possible?”

He shrugged again. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else but with me at that moment.

Hey! The feeling is mutual!

After another ten minutes, I saw Vince coming back with Nurse Abby and he ran straight to me.

"Mummy, let's go home. I want to show you my latest invention…"

" Vince!" Mr. Grumpy Pants called out angrily but when he saw his son about to tear up, he controlled his emotions.

Did he think he was the only one in a weird state? I was also getting frustrated but as his doctor, I had to do this for the little boy's sake and hope he snaps out of it quickly.

" Let's do this, Sweetheart. I will go with you but you know I have to work, right? I will stay with you till it's time for my work," I said, smiling at the brooding little boy.

Vince nodded his head and Mr. Grumpy pants had no choice but to accept it too.

Thirty minutes later, we got to a beautiful Mansion and I was taken aback by its beauty. Wow! He must be damn rich, no wonder he was able to keep his identity a secret.

I looked at my arms and saw the little dumpling was asleep already. The car stopped at the spacious entrance and the little dumpling was carried by a friendly looking woman who assumed to be his nanny.

I went inside with Mr. Grumpy Pants.

The house looked so majestic and screamed wealth. As I was staring around, I saw a portrait hanging above the wall just beside the marble stairs.

I instantly recognized the elegant aged man in the painting. How could I forget his face!

He was the reason my family was as miserable as they were. The hatred I had for him was massive and it lived comfortably in a special place in my heart.

“Gomez Clarksville.” I said almost to myself.

The f*****g bastard, I thought bitterly. But what the hell was his portrait doing here?

"He is Vince’s great-grandpa." He said with a sneer. Did he think I was having second thoughts about his wealth?

I was indeed having a second thought but it was the thought to get the hell out of this place! What he had just told me had made a nuclear bomb go off inside my head.

I was suddenly feeling suffocated as memories of what Gomez Clarksville did to my parents and how it had almost destroyed my family emerged.

It was the reason I was going out of my way to make sure I supported my parents even if it meant sleeping in my office. It was the reason my father was having a surgery!

Without a second thought, I ran out of the mansion. I didn't want to be in such a place. I ignored the piercing look behind my back or the glares of the servants in the house.

I was getting the hell out of here even if I have to walk all the way out of the lonely place before getting a cab.

Just as I got out of the gigantic gate and thought of the journey I was going to make before seeing a cab, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I said, answering the call.

Instantly, I recognized the voice of my mother but I couldn't understand what she was saying. Her words were jumbled and somehow it sounded as if she had been crying.

"Slow down, mother. Can you start all over?"

I listened to what my mother was saying more intently and my eyes bulged when I heard the whole thing.

My hands began to shake and I almost fell to the ground. Why was this happening to me?

"I'll be there right away," I said, fighting back my tears.

***

The same day, I took an excuse from my work and left to visit my parents. While on the bus, my mother's words kept ringing in my head.

How could my brother have gotten into such a mess? She told me how my kid brother, Charles, had gotten himself in a mess.

And I just can't believe it was with that family! The same family I f*****g ran away from! He had been arrested for a murder charge at the company where he worked. It was during the whole drama that my parents found out that he had been working in one of the Clarksville companies.

"Not those f**king heartless people again!" I cursed out, frustrated.

"How could you have been so stupid, Damnit?" I continued, breathing in the hot air.

Everyone knew the Clarksville family were a bunch of ruthless bastards. They don't care about innocence and they would never waste their time to investigate the truth.

They just want to punish someone!

Still filled with fury and frustration, I arrived earlier than I had anticipated. My mom was in a terrible state. Her eyes were swollen from crying most of the night.

I listened patiently as they told me how Charles had been taken off like he was a common criminal and the cops had taken their time beating him to a pulp.

I knew it but then I had no choice but to visit him so I could hear the truth from him.

When we got there, at the station to visit him in the night, he was all bloodied and bruised. I heard from him all that happened.

"Did you do it, Charles?" I asked. I knew he was innocent but I needed to hear from him.

"I swear on our mother, sis. I am innocent," he said, trying to hold his tears.

"Then why? Why would you work there?"

"I… I wanted to help… to help you out too… on dad's surgery. Sis, I… I knew you were going to be homeless… I knew how you starved… for us. I am the man yet I can't even take care of my family," he said, clenching his fist.

I felt my tears but I held it back.

" Stupid! Who said you are the man yet? You are my little brother. And I promise to get you out, okay? Just hang in there," I said, biting my lips.

" Sis, I… I don't want to die.. please"

" Die? Don't even think about it!" I warned him, holding back my tears.

Then I added," You still need to marry me off alongside father"

I watched how he tried to smile but the pains won't let him.

When we left, I considered my options.

There wasn't much I could do around those bastards. I had come just to find out how severe the case might be.

It broke my heart to see my mother in such a bewildered state. The woman looked as though she had aged several years in the few hours it had taken for this whole issue to happen.

For two days, I tried all I could to get my brother out but all to no avail. I stayed up crying and feeling helpless every night. I was sure it was the company that had framed my brother.

Otherwise, why wasn't the real culprit found?

Once again the Clarksville were going to ruin my family. If anything was to happen to my brother, my mother would.... No, no.

I shouldn't let myself think that way.