Chapter 201 - Room 412 (1)

Next day at the office, Sophia found on her desk letter from Mark requesting a leave of absence for personal reasons for an unknown amount of time. Sophia didn't want to inquire about it as she could already guess that it's related to the incident. She approved it and let her secretary handle the rest.

Good news for Sophia: her personal assistant, Leah was back from vacation. Sophia excitedly told her about Felix and promised that one of these days all three of them will go for lunch together. After a friendly chat with Leah, it was back to work for Sophia.

She was in New York for two months, and besides her regular meetings, all directors wanted to meet with her individually so that they can give her in person a status report and to discuss future plans.

...

Next Tuesday afternoon, Sophia had a meeting with Jeffrey White, CEO of White corp.

They know each other for some time, and have a good business relationship, so the atmosphere was quite relaxed. On top of that, Sarah and Aiden are dating, so besides business, there is an additional connection.

Sophia noticed that Jeff does not look too well. After they finished business related talk, Sophia took the liberty to talk casually with him. "Jeffrey, if you don't mind me prying into your personal life... you look like you could use a vacation. Are you getting enough rest?"

Jeff faintly smiled and shook his head. "I'm just tired. I crammed number of meetings in last week. I just arrived from Beijing, China, and before that I was in Bangalore, India, and before that Munich, Germany. After this I plan to go back to Los Angeles, but I don't have time for vacations at this time."

Jeff's birthday celebration is coming, and his parents arranged for him on this occasion to meet his future wife, the one they arranged for him years ago for business reasons. He never cared about this, but as the day approached, he was getting more and more anxious. All these meetings had a purpose of distracting him.

Sophia noticed that he is by himself. "Where is your assistant?"

"At last minute he told me he is sick. I didn't have time to find a competent replacement, so I decided to go by myself." Jeff explained.

Sophia offered him to stay back at least one day, and even to be his guide through Seattle, but Jeff politely refused saying that he has a lot of work. He left shortly after. As he exited Orion Enterprise HQ building, he felt dizzy and collapsed.

Sophia got a phone call from head of security. "CEO Hill, we have one young man collapsed in front of the building. He has a visitor pass for our HQ, so it seems he was just exiting."

Sophia held her forehead and rubbed it in frustration. "Did you call an ambulance?"

"My subordinate is on the call right now.", head of security confirmed.

Sophia thought how it could be anyone. Employees can have visitors, and also people who come for a job interview get visitor passes. But whoever it was, it was visiting their HQ building. She needs to make sure they are taken care of properly. It will be good not to damage company image.

Sophia didn't think much before instructing: "Please arrange that the man is taken to Franciscan Medical Center. Company will pay for any expenses."

"Yes, mam!", head of security responded and ended the call.

...

At Franciscan Medical Center, JoAnna is in a very good mood. She just found out that Dr. Light will be out of country for next ten days. He will perform a surgery in France and then attend seminar in Poland. This means that for next ten days she can focus on her work, and not worry about avoiding him.

Jeff was brought to the FMC and placed in a single occupant room. After the initial checkup, his diagnosis was that he collapsed due to exhaustion and dehydration. They hooked him up to an IV, and he needed to rest. The hospital staff found his wallet, so they know his name and address. They looked up his phone number and called, no one answered because he lives alone. Jeff didn't have any emergency contact information listed there, so they didn't notify anyone.

When Jeff woke up, it was late in the night. He planned to be back in LA by then, but seeing that he is in the hospital, he decided to use this as an opportunity to sleep. In the morning he will make necessary arrangements at work after he talks with the doctor in charge of his care.

In the morning Jeff was woken up by his cell phone ringing. His personal assistant, Steve, was calling him, since they had scheduled to meet before his meetings. Jeff told him that he is still in Seattle, and that he will not be back that day.

Not long after that, his secretary called. She expected him to be back to office and he didn't show up for his first morning meeting. Jeff explained to her that he is not able to be there and to clear his schedule for the day without giving too much details.

Soon after that, Dr. came for morning rounds. He told Jeff that he is not in a critical condition, and that he can check himself out at any time, but as a doctor, he highly recommends him to stay at least two more days. He is exhausted and dehydrated. Jeff listened what Dr. said and decided to think about it.

At that time, JoAnna was at the nurse station, chatting with a nurse called Jill.

Jill checked her phone and looked at JoAnna with big puppy eyes. "Hey, Jo, can you do me a huuuuge favor?"

"What is it?", JoAnna rolled her eyes.

Jill smiled at JoAnna and looked at her pleadingly. "Two patients need their IV checked... and my fiancé is downstairs..."

"You want me to accompany your fiancé while you check the IVs?", JoAnna teased.

Jill shoot her a mean look, and then quickly went back to puppy eyes. "Come on... pleaaseeee?"

JoAnna sighed. "Fine... what are room numbers?"

Jill grinned. "407 and 412. Thank you a million. I love you. You are the best.", Jill said as she rushed to the elevator.