The Miracle of You

Christian Callahan shook his head as he looked at her sorry state. This was why he always thought that emotions were a waste. They simply brought you down and distracted you from your goals.

‘Such a waste of time,’ he thought.

But he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders with a gentleness that was unlike him.

The air conditioning was on, and it was raining heavily outside. If she caught a cold or got sick from overwork, she would be useless at her job, and he couldn’t let that happen.

He reached out and brushed his fingers lightly across her skin. She was indeed cold to the touch.

When he looked at her face again, she looked even more tired than before. He could also tell that she had been crying earlier.

‘Indeed, what a waste of emotions.’

He sighed internally.

She was going to hate him for this, but he had to do it. It was getting more and more annoying to have to deal with her constant irritation towards him, but he supposed that he couldn’t blame her.

With all the stress she was under lately, he figured that he could forgive her transgressions.

For now.

He smirked and turned around, going towards the direction of his office.

His plans were starting to go into action, and he was looking forward to how everything would go.

On the coffee table in his office, there lay an open chessboard with the pieces in different places.

Whenever he and his father played with each other, Christian would always choose the black pieces. His father, on the other hand, didn’t really care and took whatever was left.

Christian personally found the color black to be quite fascinating. Technically, it wasn’t supposed to be a color since it was the absence of color, but it could still be a color nonetheless.

It was just that the shade of black made him feel drawn to it, as it reminded him of himself. He had nothing inside of him, so his heart did not contain any wasteful emotions except for a silent determination to crush everything that was in his way.

There were only goals in his head that he needed to achieve. Every single one of them.

Things often went his way for the past several years, so it would remain the same even now. It was just the way it had always been.

He sat at his desk and resumed working.

On the chessboard, there were only three white pieces left, with the black pieces having cornered them and their king into a checkmate.

***

Camille couldn’t believe her ears the next day.

“What… What did you just say?” she stammered.

“We can’t believe it either!” Ben exclaimed from the other end of the line. His voice was filled with so much hope, which was a stark contrast to his depressed tone as of late. “Dr. Colmen actually contacted us today and said that he would put Papa at the top of the priority list! He also told me that the experimental therapy will start as soon as possible!”

“Wait. Wait a second!” she said hurriedly. “So suddenly? H-How? And why? Did he tell you the reason for this unexpected decision?”

“No, just that someone he knew contacted him out of the blue. An old acquaintance, he said. Someone he owed a debt to.”

‘An old acquaintance?’ Camille wondered.

“Wait, hang on, Ben.” Her head was spinning. She could barely take in what was happening. For a brief moment, she thought that this was just a wishful dream of hers. “Who is this acquaintance, and do we know this person? I mean, why would they ask Dr. Colmen for such a favor? Maybe… this person is a friend of Papa’s?”

“I don’t know, sis. I can’t ask Papa right now because he’s still resting. But aren’t you happy? Papa can finally get the best treatment! He might get better! With Dr. Colmen’s higher success rate, he has a good chance of recovery, right?” The excitement was evident in Paul’s voice.

“I…” Camille was momentarily at a loss for words. “Yes, you’re right about that…”

“Oh, I’ll call you later, sis! I gotta do something important.”

“Of… Of course. Go ahead. I’ll call you again later, okay?”

Camille didn’t know why she felt this way, either. Her mind was jumbled with confusion, and she had no idea what to feel right now.

Suddenly feeling a pang of anxiety in her gut, she took the phone away from her ear and started to check her messages and call logs.

There was nothing. No one had texted or emailed her or done anything to inform her beforehand.

Not even him…

Camille felt silly for even thinking about it, but…

What if it really was him?

What if it was Michael who was secretly helping her?

After all, the Michael she knew was very kind and generous. He really cared about her.

Maybe he had somehow found out about her situation and had taken the initiative to help her?

Taking a deep breath, Camille tested her theory and sent Michael a message.

‘Hey, Noah,’ she texted. ‘How have you been?’Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

It sounded awkward, but she figured it could be passed off as a normal greeting. Hopefully.

It took Michael only a minute to reply, which touched her a little.

Someone in Michael’s position usually took some time to respond to trivial messages like this, especially personal ones, so for him to reply so quickly made Camille feel like she was actually important to him. That he actually paid attention to her often and prioritized her.

‘Hey, Vanilla. I’ve been good. How about you?’ he texted back. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but did something happen?’

Her heart skipped a beat.

Was he hinting something? Or was she just thinking too much?

‘I’ve been good, too,’ she replied. ‘And no, I just wanted to know how you’ve been doing.’

‘I see. It’s just that I know you’ve been working hard on the collaboration project with Grady. I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you or oversee things personally.’

‘No, it’s okay. I know that you’re a busy man.’

‘But I ask Grady about the progress from time to time. He tells me that you’re doing an extraordinary job.’

‘He told you that?’

‘Yes. He also told me that you’re quite trustworthy and capable. That’s high praise coming from someone like him, you know.’