Ben came early in the morning and found Smith on the couch sleeping and Julie on a wooden stool laying on the railing next to Henry. He knew it was a rough night. He brought them a fresh change clothes as they were still on the party outfit.
After some time, the doctor rushed to the Penthouse and revealed the shocking news. “Mr.Kingston has been spiked with the strongest and dangerous drug called meth, it is an illegal stimulant, causes harmful side-effects and also death in some cases. This drug leads to physical changes to the brain, affecting one’s judgement, decision making, memory and behavioural control.
It was mixed up with his alcohol. He would have ended up in great trouble, if we have hospitalised him. I have deleted all the lab reports. As he is innocent in this case I do not want him to face any legal trials.
Mr Smith hugged the doctor and thanked him.” As far as he is not exposed to that drug anymore, he will recover in a week”assured the doctor.
“Don’t choke me” yelled Henry, holding his neck. The doctor and the others ran to him and tried to understand what is wrong with him. He was strangling himself and shouting “leave me I can’t breathe” He had started coughing as he exerts so much pressure on his neck, Julie held his hand and tried to loosen it, but she was no match to him, in turn he held her wrist firmly with one hand.
Sensing the danger, the doctor took the stun-gun and struck it on his arm. The sudden shock just made him flap his hands, in the motion, Julie was tossed and thrown to the floor.
Henry was hyperventilating, the doctor checked for his pulse. It was way up initially but gradually started to fall. His breathing has also become steady in a minute.
Mr Smith helped Julie up and checked her hand. There were mild scratches on her skin, bruise started forming where he held. “Sir, I am Ok” she confirmed.
Then the doctor left, saying not to leave Henry alone, to avoid both deliberate and unintentional self harm.
Julie noticed Henry holding his arm where the stun-gun was used. She plugged in the electric heat pad, after a minute of heating, she took it to Henry. She placed it on his arm over his shirt. He felt the warmth and opened his eyes. He looked straight into her eyes for few seconds and she sensed he was going through so many emotions.
“Mr. Kingston shall we go sit in the balcony for sometime?”
He nodded and silently followed her. She sat next to him, and applied the heat pad on his arm. “Does it hurt?” He asked. She looked at him in confusion. He took her hand gently and examined the bruises. “no sir” she gave a small smile.
She wondered how could he chose to be kind even after life was so unfair to him by taking away every source of happiness from him at all stages of his life.
“It is so frustrating,my mind is all messed up and chaotic. It is like i am struck in a maze. I am indecisive,feeling disoriented and incompetent. I have never been like this. I am like a totally different person living in a stranger’s body” “Sir, relax once this food poisoning is settled, you will be back to normal. It is not going to take long”
He signed, “you know what is so painful? No one is true to me and think that I can be fooled easily” Julie’ heartbeat started to pick up. “Sir?” “Do y’all think that I am oblivious to my deranged state and will buy your stupid food poisoning theory?” “Sir, actually..” He shushed her. “I am well aware of the effects of drug consumption, Kingston Corp has been funding rehabs for decades”
“Do you all enjoy keeping me in the dark?” He shouted. Julie flinched at his sudden mood shift.
“Sir please give me a moment to explain. It was not intentional, the doctor did not want you to panic or stress you with this mishap, Mr. Smith and Mr.Ben does not want the media to know about this, as it would spoil your reputation. Off all this, their biggest fear was your grandfather. So they pleaded the doctor to approve for a private treatment. Also when the lab reports confirmed the drug involvement,the doctor swiped off all the records as it would bring us lot of legal issues.
So please do not mistake any of us for keeping this from you, everyone was concerned about your well-being. We are all here to protect you at any cost, none of us will hurt you, please believe us sir” Henry looked at her eyes straight. The sincerity in her eyes can never be doubted.
“Sir I would like to disclose one more thing that happened last night when you were resting” Henry was amused looking at her expression.”Why do you look like you were caught stealing cookies from the secret kitchen cabinet?” He laughed again.
“Sir, I do not think you would still laugh after I tell you what I did” “that bad?” he scrunched his brows.
“Last night, while you were resting, your phone rang, in an attempt to put off the volume i connected the call by mistake” she looked at his expression, he was curious, “It was your grandfather” she put down her face. She heard a sharp intake of breath.
“I said you are in a meeting with the government officials, he asked who and why I was staying back late, in a deliberate attempt to cover this drug issue, and a logical response to his question, I lied that I was your personal secretary, waiting for your signature in some important files. I was happy that I tackled him, but he lived up to his image who is difficult to please and cannot be fooled easily, came back with the master stroke asking what happened to Ms Jones, I was stunned. To maintain the facade, I lied again that she is on medical leave”
She was holding her breath in anxiety, she breathed out when she heard a roar of laughter from the boss. He was having the time of his life. But the fact is that no one would miss a chance to view this sight, if at all, you could capture someone’s Laugh, parcel it in a pouch and keep it safe, Julie thought she would definitely choose her boss’, so pure and refreshing like a flowing stream in the woods.
He snapped in front of her face as she was swooning in her own world. Julie asked hesitantly “Are you not angry about this Mr.Kingston?” He shrugged.
“So you promoted yourself as my personal secretary?” He asked mockingly, she gave a sheepish grin. He cleared his throat and wished loudly “Congratulations Miss Secretary” extending his hand for a handshake.
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