Chapter 134 - The Terrible, Terrible Thing (2/2)
And as though she has read his mind, she looks up and seeks out his lips, and kisses him. A tender, loving kiss, to remind him that, after everything that has happened, there's a silver lining somewhere.
”He'll be fine,” Claire finally says. ”He's a Tan, right? You and your brother, you don't get defeated by something like this.”
”Yeah,” Gabriel says, his cheeks still wet with tears. ”Yeah, he'll be fine. The bugger's strong as an ox.”
Claire smiles sadly. ”Have a little faith. Maybe there's a reason why this had to happen.”
He nods; there are a million words that try to come out of his mouth, but they all lodge in his throat. He sighs and looks around the empty lobby. The nurse station is manned by a lone staff. The emergency room's door is still closed, and somewhere, within that zone, Miguel is fighting for his life. Gabriel won't even dare go to that place where Miguel fails; it is unthinkable. And yet.
”Why does this have to happen? He'd been a good person. What happened to him?”
Claire sighs. ”I've been asking myself that same question for days now.” She takes his hands, squeezing them in that peculiar way that only Claire could do; it is one of her cute, heartwarming gestures.
Gabriel shakes his head but says nothing. Truly, he can't really blame Miguel for falling hard for this woman. But the intensity of how that love has consumed him is baffling, to say the least. He'd been wanting to understand what his brother was going through, if only Miguel gave him a chance. And now Gabriel is afraid that everything too late.
They were both jolted from their thoughts when the emergency room doors swing open. The doctor, who looks like he'd run through a gauntlet, approaches them, taking away his surgical mask. ”Mr. Gabriel,” he begins, his weariness evident in his eyes. ”Your brother is stable for now. But there's something we need to address urgently. We need to replace the blood he has lost. We have to perform a blood transfusion.”
Gabriel's eyes go wide. ”Then please do what's necessary. Please go ahead, save my brother!”
”That's the problem,” the doctor says, sighing. ”Your brother's blood type is AB negative. It's quite rare. We haven't had a stock of that blood type for a month now. We called the blood banks in the city, and so far, we haven't located the needed one bag of that blood.”
”I'll give him my blood, everything you need. I'm AB positive. Is it possible?”
”I'm sorry,” the doctor says. ”AB negative cannot receive from an AB positive. He can only receive from—”
”I'm AB negative, Doc,” Claire jumps in, her voice tremulous. ”He can receive my blood, right?”
The doctor's eyes light up. ”Really? Well, of course. But let us test you first. Then if it's good, we'll proceed with the extraction immediately.”
”Extraction?” Claire repeats; right up to that moment, she didn't realize what it would take to get her blood to Miguel.
”Yes, extraction,” the doctor says. ”We'd need a full bag of blood from you.”
Claire looks at Gabriel; she'd give her life to save Miguel, but she pictures the needle they will stick into her, and she feels like fainting. Yet, she holds onto his arms to steady herself. ”Let's do it,” she says, her voice firm. ”I'm pretty sure I can handle one bag of blood. Bring it on.”