Burning Desire (Completed)

chapter 7

Raymond parked his car at the hospitals driveway as he and Gloria rushed out of the car.
Their drive to the hospital was quite hectic. The roads were busy and jammed with traffic. Raymond cussed angrily as he gripped the steering wheel tight, honking the car horn constantly.
Gloria sat still on the passenger seat, not uttering a single word or looking his way, for fear that he might blow out on her. She last thing she needed was his angry voice to be raised at her, again.

They walked inside the hospital quickly and went to the front desk.

"Hello there, how can I help you?"
The young nurse asked them with a warm smile on her fat cheeks.

"I'm looking for Williams Cole. I believe that umm..he was admitted here last night." Raymond explained to the nurse.

"Okay," the nurse said going through the system.
"Are you a family member?" she questioned, eyes on the monitor.

"No," he said bluntly without making eye contact with the nurse.

The nurse raised her head and looked at him with questioning eyes.
"Okay, then who are you please?"

"For Christ sake can you just stop with the damn questions already and tell me where he is."
He requested angrily, getting pissed off with her questions. He couldn't understand what it was with hospital protocol. Always asking someone if they were related before letting them see a patient. This was why he hated hospitals.The questions, the delay, he just couldn't stand it.

"Excuse me!" The nurse retorted,
"Please sir,if you're not close to the patient I can't let you in. Only family members are allowed at the moment."
She informed him.

Her response agitated Raymond and he needed to let her know that he wasn't requesting for her permission to see Williams. All he wanted from her was to know Williams' room number but her attitude was quickly provoking him.
"Hey listen here," he said harshly pointing an index finger at her.
"I need to know..."

"Excuse me please." Gloria cut in quickly, nudging Raymond gently on his side.

He glared at Gloria with a frown but as he saw the look she gave him, he calmed down. She signaled to him with her eyes to let her handle the nurse.

"Please forgive us." Gloria gave the nurse her best smile.
"We came from a very far place, and traffic was really terrible. My brother is really stressed out, so do forgive him." Gloria explained to the nurse patting Raymond on the shoulder lightly.

Raymond looked at his secretary with a frown on his face as he raised a brow at her.

'Did she just say I'm her brother?'

He thought, looking at Gloria.

"Actually willams is our cousin. we heard he was admitted here yesterday, so we would like to see him." Gloria explained to the nurse.

"But he just said he wasn't related." The nurse pointed at Raymond with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, he did?" Gloria asked feeling uneasy as she scratched the back of her neck."well you see, he..."

Raymond was seriously loosing his patience and so he cut her off quickly.
"We're cousins okay,"
Raymond said to the nurse. "I only said that because I'm having serious conflict with Williams. But I care enough about his well being that's why I'm here with my little sister." He gestured towards Gloria with his hand.

He knew Gloria couldn't come up with an excuse to convince the nurse that they were Williams cousins so he had to come up with a lie.

Gloria nodded in agreement towards the nurse, "Yes it's true."

"Ohh, I see." The nurse gave a short nod as she believed their little lie.
"I'm really sorry, I guess you guys must be really close for you to be here this early," the nurse said with sympathy.

"Yes, we are really close." Gloria nodded, as she sniffed.

Raymond let out a frustrated sigh, getting tired of standing there as he put his right hand in his jackets' pocket.

"I'm sorry." The nurse gave them a sympathetic look and then went through the system.

"Okay," the nurse said to them. "He's in ward 84, that's on the eighth floor ."

"84." Raymond muttered with a sigh, grateful that he didn't have to continue talking to the nurse or he might loose his mind. He then walked off quickly without giving the nurse a single glance. Gloria thanked the nurse and followed Raymond.