Unusual Meeting

Ethan

Even though I didn't want to waste any more time, I was worried about Mariana, but fully willing to accept any demand from the other driver and agree to any settlement offered to repair all the damages suffered by the car I had just collided with, I got out of the car.

"Joshua!?"

"Ethan!"

The man standing in front of me, who had been tapping on the window of my car, was an old acquaintance, someone I had been close friends with for years, and only his departure from Brazil had managed to distance us.

"What a coincidence, man," he said, pulling me into an animated greeting.

After the famous manly hug accompanied by pats on the back, we stood facing each other, and several thoughts were racing through my mind at that moment, and I was sure the same was happening to Joshua.

"I didn't know you were back in Brazil," I commented, an old and familiar pain in my chest resurfacing with full force now.

Joshua was Beatriz's brother, and the pain of her loss had also greatly impacted his life, just as it had happened to me, and he had decided to leave the country along with his parents because the memories were too harsh and cruel to stay in the same place as before as if nothing had happened.

"I arrived in São Paulo yesterday," he shared. "I was planning to visit your office in the next few days."

The cars were maneuvering around ours to continue with the flow of traffic, but some honking began, and we smiled at each other in understanding. We were causing a disruption in traffic since the collision had been minor.

"Do you still have my number? I need to go because the crash injured the person who was with me in the car, and I'm taking her to the hospital," I said.

"A girlfriend?" Joshua suggested, with a sympathetic smile.

"No!" I vehemently denied it. "Just a friend."

"I'll come with you, then," Joshua proposed. "I won't be at ease until I know your friend is okay."

"Alright."

We each headed to our respective cars, and Mariana still kept her eyes closed, which raised an alarm in me.

"Mariana?!"

"I'm fine... I'm just sleepy."

Sleepy? That was even more concerning, and after Joshua cleared the way in front of me when the traffic light turned green, I drove as fast as possible to the nearest hospital. I noticed that my ex-brother-in-law was indeed following me toward the location.

"I don't know much about first aid, but if there's one thing I remember well, it's that you can't fall asleep, Mariana," I said, anguished.

"I feel dizzy."

I accelerated my car even more, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. Guilt haunted me, and I felt bile rising to my throat. I couldn't falter now, even though I was consumed by worry.

Virginia

Nausea followed me from the moment I entered the movie theater and smelled the popcorn all around, but I held it back. I didn't want to ruin my outing with Artemis.

But with each passing minute, my resolve grew weaker. So, when we were only halfway through the movie we had come to watch, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I excused myself to my sister-in-law and hurriedly made my way to the aisle, searching for the nearest restroom.

After emptying everything I had eaten from my stomach, I left the restroom stall and found Artemis waiting for me in front of the sink counter.

I tried to compose myself as much as possible, but I felt weak and dizzy, something that hadn't happened in the past few days but was now coming back with full force.

"Do you feel better?" Murilo's cousin asked, visibly concerned.

"A little," I lied, but quickly retracted my statement when a wave of dizziness hit me. "No... I don't feel well at all."

"I'll call Murilo. He should have finished his business dinner by now," Artemis suggested, a mask of anguish on her face. "Let's sit down."

I thanked her for taking the initiative because I wasn't even in a condition to think right now. I felt even more relieved when she said that Murilo had just arrived at the mall parking lot to pick us up.

We agreed to walk towards the meeting point to save time, but before we could reach the spot, Murilo found us halfway.

"What happened?" he asked as soon as he saw me.

"Virginia is not doing well at all, Murilo," Artemis hurriedly explained.

"It's better to go to the hospital!"

Before I could say anything, he was already lifting me in his arms and walking with me through the mall corridors.

I didn't like being carried that way, but I felt too weak to protest, so I just rested my head on my boyfriend's shoulder and silently followed until we reached his car.

"I don't want to go to the hospital," I managed to refuse, but my voice was only a timid and hesitant whisper.

Murilo had placed me carefully in the back seat of the car, and Artemis sat next to me. Her terrified eyes amused me a little, but I couldn't even muster a small smile, that's how bad I was feeling.

"We can't go home with you like this, Virginia," Murilo protested horrified. "I could never relax, and it's extremely dangerous when we don't know the reason for your sudden discomfort."

"It's just a normal discomfort of a pregnant woman, my love," I tried to calm him.

He looked at me with reproach but said nothing, now that the car was already on its way to our destination.

"We can only say it's just a common discomfort after the doctor examines you, Virginia," Artemis said, as Murilo is fully focused on driving now.

The journey to the hospital was considerably short, and we were quickly attended to because Murilo made a big fuss about my health condition to the medical staff.

But as I had assured him, it was just a drop in blood pressure, and after some tests, receiving a hydrating IV drip, and getting a few more recommendations from the doctor, I was discharged to go home.

"I told you it was just a pregnancy discomfort," I said, now feeling more energetic.

"I didn't hear anything like that coming from the doctor's mouth," Murilo contradicted me as we were leaving the ward. "Did you hear that, Artemis?"

"Actually, the doctor said you need to eat better and drink more fluids because he found you a bit dehydrated, Virginia."