“Damn,” Jennifer mumbled. It was such a pain to wear that dress. Letting her fate be up to fate, she patiently waited for him to finish showering so she could head inside and shower herself. Something told her that this relationship of theirs wasn’t going to be just a Christmas fling but actually a long-lasting relationship and she wasn’t going to just ruin it. At least it would keep Angelina out of her back.
Tristian was courteous enough to drop her back home while they returned, remembering he lived alone and not very far away from her was a boon for both of them. He promised to pick her up at six so they could go out and enjoy dinner in the city as a date and left with a small kiss. At that gesture Jennifer found herself blushing, she actually had found a boyfriend.
Similarly, Tristian was smiling, for the first time thoughts of Jennifer not haunting his mind as he could focus much better. He now was in a relationship with the very girl that had attracted his attention and he couldn’t believe it. He vowed himself to confront her about the fact that he was her boss’s son that evening, but right now he would simply let her do as she pleased. After all, they had a lot of time.
Chapter 6
The date in the evening was a nice one. She had found out that Tristian was never late. He was always early and he never betrayed a promise that was made. He even turned up outside of her rented home with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates, something which she didn’t even know he was capable of buying.
“You’re a romantic nut aren’t you?” She teased as she got into the car beside him. He good-naturedly rolled his eyes but kept his attention on the beach as he drove past the road and towards a good nice hotel in Manchester, trying to think of a good place where they could go out and have a nice date at.
He chose it to be an Italian place that he really liked. Italian food was really fun and amazing, it always managed to get a smile on his face and he had always, always loved eating Italian food ever since he remembered starting to eat Italian. He looked beside him to see Jennifer looking around curiously where he was leading her, and her eyes lit up when she spotted the Italian restaurant.
“I love Italian food,” Jennifer commented. “My mom is part Italian, of course, I would love it.”
“That’s another thing we have in common then,” Tristian said, parking in the parking lot beside the Restaurant. “My friends and I from the Marines used to come here often. It serves an awesome batch of lasagna by the way.”
That night was fun. There was nothing that involved hormones, sex, touches and dances, just a simple dinner date where they talked more about their lives, what they did and how they did it. He found out in the date that by March or April, Jennifer would be a fully-trained paramedic, and Jennifer in return found out that when the current captain for their county team retired, he was going to get that position. She also found out that he wanted to be a lifeguard on a beach when he was young because he had seen some things about them on TV, and they talked regarding their dreams, friends and more.
Finally, at nine in the evening, Tristian dropped Jennifer, now nicknamed Jenny, back at her home. Not knowing what was to come tomorrow, they had exchanged numbers, addresses, and even work addresses and phones to stay in touch with a promise to meet the other day.
The next day, as soon as he could, Tristian popped in the cafe. Jennifer was truly surprised to see Tristian at this unusual time of the day, and that was saying something. She almost dropped an order that she was taking.
“Tristie?” Jennifer muttered, watching him walk in. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, if it isn’t Tristian...” Mellissa noticed him coming in and smiled. “What can I do for the young master today. And did you call him Tristie?! Oh my, something happened between the 2 of you.”
“Yes, she’s my girlfriend now.” Watching as Jennifer blushed, he smirked. “By the way, can you call my dad out? I might as well have this done with.”
“Of course.” Before she could go, Jennifer asked her a question that had them both stopping in their thoughts.
“Your Dad?” Jennifer asked. Tristian looked at her, his mouth opening, then closing, then opening, then closing as he finally turned to look at Mellissa. Mellissa looked quite shocked herself as she stared at Jennifer.
“Um... Jennifer..... he’s the son of Tony Smith. His name is Tristian Smith,” Mellissa said slowly as if it would prevent what was to come. It didn’t even take two seconds for Jennifer to erupt.
“Wait, what?” Jennifer exclaimed, looking from Mellissa to Tristian, and then back at Mellissa. “W... What do you mean ‘dad’?”
“You really didn’t know?” Tristian asked, extremely surprised. “But how? Why? I honestly thought you knew!”
“Really, you didn’t know Tristian was Tony’s son?” Mellissa also asked. “Why do you think he never pays for anything then? Special Customers only get 1 drink and 1 Packed Sandwich on the menu free, not everything!”
“Wait, wait, wait. You aren’t getting out of this.” Marching up to her boyfriend, she poked him sharply in the ribs as she stared at him. “Your father is the owner of the cafe I work in. We’ve been together for the past few days and known each other for even longer. We got together after shagging our brains out in a hotel room three days ago, and you never thought of telling me that I am working at your father’s cafe?!”
“I.... I honestly thought you knew, Jennifer,” Tristian said as sincerely as he could. “I mean, you seem so close to everyone, I thought they would have told you already and I thought you were ignoring it for me.”
“Well ignoring things is much more difficult!” Jennifer snapped, slightly angry. “So why didn’t you tell me, even in fleeting moments, huh? Please, I need to know, Tristian, you’re my boyfriend now!”
“Well, how shall I put this. You remember my x-girlfriend I told you about?” Tristian said after a bout of silence. Jennifer wrapped her hands around her bust but didn’t say anything, just nodded. “Well, she only wanted me for what I had and not what I was. I honestly thought you were ignoring the fact and acting professional so you kept the job and I didn’t do anything. But if I offended you in any way, I truly am sorry, extremely sorry. I had no idea you didn’t know he was my dad. If you didn’t I would have told you right away.”
Jennifer only glared at him. There were not many customers in the cafe and all of them were busy with one another, so they didn’t notice the argument. Finally, Jennifer sighed and walked closer to him.
“Next time, tell me such things,” Jennifer said, crashing her lips against his. Though they didn’t expect one thing, Tim, having heard some sort of an encounter, walked out of the kitchen.
“W What is the meaning of this?!” Tony shouted as he walked out to see his son kissing Jennifer. Both of them parted instantly, pale and startled at the sudden shout. “Since when was this a thing?”
“Hey, calm down dad.” Tristian walked up to his father, raising his hands up in the air to calm him down. “I told you I wanted to tell you and Mum something, this was what-.”
“No!” His father growled, shoving his son harshly to the side. “Absolutely not! How dare you take advantage of my son like that.”
“Tristie!” Jennifer shouted as the little ‘shove’ his dad had managed to not only send him through a bench but also falling down as he lost his footing. He winced, cradling his arm, and Jennifer glared at her ‘boss’. “Didn’t you listen to him!? He was going to tell you about it today! Hell, I didn’t even know-.”
“Oh yes, that is what they all say.” Tony sarcastically said, raising a threatening finger towards Jennifer. “At first they say they don’t know what the others are talking about. Then they say that they just want to be spoilt and finally, they strike for the gold that isn’t theirs. What is your true reason here girl? Do you want my son for his previous affiliations or because he is a famous cricketer in these areas?! Or are you a simple gold digger, huh?!”
“Okay Dad, that was uncalled for.” Searing the hurt on his
girlfriend’s face, he got up again. “I told you yesterday I had gotten a new girlfriend I met at the Christmas Party. I told you I was over what that foolish, idiotic redhead did 2 years ago and I have told everything about her to Jennifer, so will you stop fooling around with your ridiculous and utterly foolish words?!”
“You shut the fuck up!” Now getting abusive, Tony’s teeth suddenly clenched hard and his eyes were slowly starting to bulge, literally. His veins popped out of his forehead as protectiveness surged up from deep within himself. “Don’t you dare defend her against me! You say that right now but in the end, it will end up like it ended up with that woman! Girl, you’re fired, now! Get out of here before I call the police!”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Tristian’s voice came in. Now the attention of all the remaining workers had been caught, and Mellissa was frantically running towards them. Jennifer firmly stood where she was standing, having already removed her apron. Now she realized what Tristian meant by his father being a bit ‘over the top’. This man had an anger that was worrying her. Inwardly she started noticing the signs of over the top anger.
A rapidly purpling face, eyes that were bulging and slowly getting blood-shot, fists clenching, she could see the signs of rapidly increasing blood pressure.
“Alright, Mr. Smith, I’ll leave. It will be much better for me and Tristian either way, but you need to calm down.” Jennifer said, her training kicking up. The man didn’t respond as suddenly his face went pale and slack as he collapsed where he was standing, starting to choke up on something. And right as she predicted, he had exploded.
“Tony!” A woman came rushing out of the back, she recognized the brown hair. It was the same as Tristian’s was. “Oh god, you fool. I told you not to worry about it! Can’t you have seen the signs?!”
“Now’s not the time for that,” Jennifer exclaimed, jumping into action. She instantly bent down in front of him and tried to roll the heavy set man over but he was getting too aggressive as he choked on his own anger and spit. His eyes were starting to tear up as he couldn’t breathe, hacking coughs coming out of his mouth. She looked up at a paling Tristian. “Snap out of it and help me! He needs to get up!”
Tristian snapped into action and barked out to his mother to call an ambulance. His mother was too frozen by the sight that was going on in front of him to even do anything so Mellissa took charge. She whipped out her mobile phone while his mother was openly weeping at the form of her husband dying in front of her. Everyone, even the ‘clients’ that were leaving were now forming a ring around the man that was slowly being held up by Tristian.
“Alright, do as I say. Hold him firmly by his ribs.” Jennifer instructed. She urged her boyfriend’s arms below his father’s chest and told him to stay there. “Now, hold him, firmly, let him bend over some, good.”
And then Jennifer started to smack the man’s stomach, causing him to cough more and more. She noticed how the man’s face was turning from purple to blue and he needed to breathe, immediately. She desperately hoped she was able to save him without any instruments.
“Mr. Smith!” Jennifer called out, calm as a bottle of water. She remembered all her training about choking on nothing. He needed to calm down, his Blood Pressure was too high and he didn’t even know what was going on around him. “Mr. Smith, you need to breathe through your nose. Take deep breaths, very deep.”
Seemingly trusting her, the man closed his mouth and started to breathe through his nose while Jennifer smacked and patted his stomach. He coughed a couple more times, not to breathe but as if something was going to come out and Jennifer instantly grabbed a nearby bin and held it in front of his face, just as vomit laced with slight blood came rushing out of his mouth.
The man was barfing for an entire minute, so much that even Tristian winced at the sight of it, but Jennifer didn’t. She stayed calm, and let him finish. Finally, after 8 minutes since the choking attack started, he was finally under control, weak and unable to stand.
“Lay him down.” Jennifer looked at Tristian, her eyes softening at the panicked look on his face. “He’ll be fine, lay him down. He’s not choking anymore, but his blood pressure is still too high.”
She bent down and pressed her fingers on Tony’s wrist, checking his pulse and wincing.
“Mr. Smith.... Tony? Tony, can you hear me?” she asked gently. He was still dazed, his eyes open and was breathing deeply. “Mr. Smith, calm down. The further you fight the more you’ll be in pain. Just relax, take a deep breath and relax. You’re fine, you don’t need to panic.”
The man had heard her loud and clear as he took deep breaths. Now the people had whipped out their phones and were recording but no one was actually making it help them except Tristian. Johnas had helped a weeping Mrs. Smith onto a chair and was slowly walking towards them. Jennifer looked at him.
“Water, full glass,” she said. He nodded and rushed off, so Jennifer could look at Tristian. “Tristie, call off these people. We don’t need a ‘circle of death’ around him. Hyperventilating patients usually have sudden claustrophobia.”
“Sure.” Tristian stood up and got into crowd control. “You heard her, people, everyone step back! Let the girl work! Out!”
Many of the onlookers realized that they were actually doing more harm than good so they backed off, but Jennifer stayed right beside him, one hand constantly on his wrist the other slowly now giving him the water that Johnas had provided.
“Ambulance is on the way,” Mellissa said quietly. Finally, Tony was back in control enough to speak.
“Why?” he asked, no, whispered. “Why did you help me? After what I said....”
“I am a paramedic in training, Mr. Smith, remember? My job is to forget all alliances and affiliations when I am at work, it is the first rule of any doctor,” Jennifer said sternly. “And please, don’t try to talk. You might be angry with me and might have fired me, but as Tristian said, he’s my boyfriend and I do care about him.”
“I.... I am..... I am sorry.” The man apologized, tears now streaming out of his eyes. “I am so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that! Please, forgive me! I was just shocked and surprised and....”
Looking at the sings of another attacking coming back, she went in for the kill.
“Mr. Smith, I am glad you finally got what we were trying to say but can you calm down? I don’t care what you said and with what has happened to Tristian, I wasn’t surprised you said that. But if you don’t calm down and continue to worry and think about things so hard, you will die. Your blood pressure is already hard, you don’t need to have it spike even more.” Knowing that alone wouldn’t work, she had to go for the kill. “Tristian, can you fetch my bag that is in your car?”
“Yes.” Realizing it, Tristian immediately ran out to his car. She was a Paramedical student, she was sure to have some drugs on her. Jennifer knew that it was almost the holy bible for her to carry a full first aid kit inside of her bag. It was big but it was needed and contained the most basic drugs needed. In the meantime, the paramedic in training turned towards Johnas again.
“Johnas, get Mrs. Smith something sweet to drink. Mrs. Smith, your husband is fine, he won’t die, he isn’t going anywhere. He just needs to have a breather. Mellissa, when is the ambulance coming?”
“They said there’s some traffic over at the highway so 5-10 minutes.” Calculating the time in her head at the answer, Jennifer ran through what she could use until she came to a decision. It wasn’t a hardcore drug, it wouldn’t have any dangerous effects and it wouldn’t lead to another breakdown for sure. 30 seconds later, Tristian came back with her bag. Jennifer opened it, extremely fast and picked out her first aid kit which had a lot of things, from various drugs to other things as well. She picked up a certain bottle filled with pills. But before she did, she got out a pulse meter and a pressure machine and hooked it up to the downed man who had now closed his eyes. He opened them at the unfamiliar sensation and only saw Jennifer working. The girl frowned when she s
aw that his blood pressure was 170-110. That was very high. His heartbeat was at 180, and the choking had caused a lessening of oxygen in his blood.
“Mr. Smith, this is an Ace Inhibitor, 2.5 mg, it will lower your blood pressure. Until then, you’ll have to wait for the ambulance to come in.” Jennifer said. She added the medicine to a small bowl and then some water and made the man swallow the mixture. The man slowly calmed down after taking the medicine and finally was stabilized. Jennifer sighed and sat down properly just as they heard the siren of the ambulance.
“Jennifer.”
She looked up at the sound of Tony. The others took her sigh of relief as their own sign of relief and all of them were either sitting down or supporting themselves to stand. “You better not run off now, I owe you my life.”
“Alright sir, I’ll be at work tomorrow.” Rolling her eyes, she stood up and waited for the paramedics to rush in and do their job.
“I gave him an Ace Inhibitor, 2.5 mg,” Jennifer said, giving them the bottle. “He was choking on air so I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver to clear whatever he was choking on, probably bile and vomit that rose up. There was some red blood in his vomit too, and his BP had raised to 160-110.”
“Ouch.” The other Paramedic, the assistant, winced as she noted it down while the lead one worked on the man. “That’s bad. Anything else?”
Beasts Awakened Page 46