A Sulawesi Romance

Chapter 28

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Boat's POV

As I slowly and painfully stood up, holding on to the counter of the nurses' station to support my weight, I overheard Gun saying to Mark, "I don't think I want to help him anymore."

I wanted to burst into tears but I could not. My heart felt weary. I felt like I had had enough sorrows for the day.

I limped towards the nurse closest to me.

"Are you alright, sir?" the nurse asked. She had probably noted the pained expression on my face.

I nodded to her, unable to get a word out of my suddenly dry mouth.

"Would you like us to contact the mortuary of your choice, sir?" she asked.

Again I just nodded.

Suddenly Gun was standing beside me.

"I will take care of the mortuary arrangements," he said authoritatively to the nurse.

"How are you related to the deceased?" the nurse asked.

"I'm her son," Gun replied. "I'm her next of kin."

"Sir, I'm sorry but in our records your father is the one authorized to make mortuary arrangements for our deceased patient," the nurse patiently explained to Gun.

"No!" Gun was yelling now. "First of all, how can you stupidly assume that this juvenile delinquent is my father??? Can't you see he's not old enough to be my father?"

"Sir," the nurse remained patient in spite of Gun's rude outburst. "I'm sorry for assuming that he's your father. However, the fact remains that his name is in our records as our deceased patient's husband and responsible party and her authorized decision maker as well."

Suddenly, Gun turned to me, his face dark red with unconcealed fury.

He poked his finger right between my eyes, saying, "My father and I are going to make you regret that you messed with our lives."

Mark, who was standing behind Gun, pulled Gun away from me.

"Let's go find a quiet place to sit and calm down," I heard Mark say.

Thankfully, Gun listened to him and followed him out of the unit.

I made the necessary mortuary arrangements with the nurse in charge and then went in once more into my wife's room where I gave her one last tight embrace before leaving her with a heavy heart.

Instead of going home, I went to my close friend, Pitch's house.

Pitch was my best friend since high school. He knew every single important event in my life. He had known about how I first met my wife.

One day, she had brought her car to my car repair shop. It needed to have its air conditioning unit fixed. 

While she was waiting for my car technicians to fix her car, I had invited her to my office where I had offered her a can of cold soda from my room refrigerator.

I was immediately attracted to her. She was not wearing a wedding ring and she had never mentioned that she was married.

We had dated several times before she confessed that she was unhappily married and that she had already filed for a divorce. I told her that it was against my principles to be involved with a married woman but that because I had fallen in love with her, I was willing to stay away and wait until her divorce was finalized.

My best friend Pitch had advised me that even after she had finalized her divorce, that it would be best for me to not go back to her.

Pitch was disappointed to find out later on that I had followed my heart instead of my brain.

Now that I was spending the night on his couch at his house, I was thankful that he refrained from saying, "I told you so" after I told him that I felt uncomfortable staying in the same house with my stepson.

"Why don't you take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch," Pitch had offered. "You have to have a good night's sleep or you might collapse tomorrow during the funeral services."

Actually my concern was more about how I would have to deal with Gun and most probably the presence of his father. I would not be able to deal with any more violence from him, especially not during the memorial services.

I told Pitch that I would be okay on the couch. I was both mentally and physically exhausted so I knew that my brain and body would eventually succumb to sleep.

Just after I said good night to Pitch and he retired to his room, my phone started to ring.

The call was from an unknown caller. I debated on whether to take it or not. What if it was Gun's father and he was calling to threaten me.

Against my better judgment, I took the call.

"Hello, Boat, this is Mark," said a very kind sounding voice. "How are you holding up?"

I found myself bursting into tears. Had I found an ally in Mark? Would he be able to persuade Gun to take back his threat of making my life a living hell?