It was a long night in the waiting room. We weren't allowed in to see Mr. Mills. All three of us just sat there in silence. At one point, I was wondering if Piper was praying or just sleeping. After a long couple of hours, everyone's favorite sex novelist showed up. Yes, I'm talking about Howard Line.

"How's he doing? Came as soon as I heard."

"We don't know. They're not letting us see him. Just have a seat. We may not see him until the morning."

Another hour passed. My eyes were starting to doze off until there was a commotion. Nurses, doctors, and others were rushing in the building. An ambulance was outside as a woman on a stretcher was being rushed in which woke all of us up. In fact, I was completely awake when I saw Giselle rush in the building. And behold, she was right in front of me."

"Giselle, what are you doing here?"

Her palm touched her head with her mouth doing a lot of heavy breathing. Tears were rushing down her eyes. "It's Gloria. Something happened. One moment she was fine and the next she called me telling me something was wrong. And now I'm here."

Naturally, I found myself hugging her. "She's strong, she's going to get through this." Another seat was found and she sat down. It didn't take long for her to calm down.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"My Boss had a heart attack."

Giselle's POV

We were all awoken by a nurse that following morning.

"Excuse me, who here is here for Mills?" Liam and the others raised their hands. "You can all see him in an hour." Her eyes found themselves on mine. "You here for Gloria?" My head nodded. "She's been having seizures. We'll let you see her soon." The nurse left us.

Immediately after the nurse left, Ricky and Lady made their way into the building. My body froze. Shit, he was actually here. What do I do? Where am I?"

"Is she OK?!" he asked in fear. "Where is she?"

I couldn't muster up anything to say. Instead, I licked my lips and scratched my nose. Liam did the speaking for me.

"They don't know what's wrong with her. From what it sounds, she's been having seizures. Once they have that under control, you can see her."

He nodded and sat down with Lady in his lap and soon found myself sitting next to him. With the hour passing, Lady found herself asleep in Ricky's Lap. Ricky just stared at the wall while I slowly moved my hand over to his until he realized. "Please stop."

Liam's POV

Giselle found herself outside on the phone with her dad. It looked like a pretty intense conversation with her screaming and crying. We were all glad she took it outside, to say the least.

"You know, I'm actually going on a trip to New Orleans next week," announced Leah. "It's a business trip. Interested in coming. Hell, you probably could invite Giselle if she's on spring break."

"Maybe. It depends I guess."

The nurse made her way back to inform us that Mr. Mills wanted to see me and only me at the moment. With much confusion, I stood up and followed the nurse to his room where he laid like a helpless man hooked up to a monitor.

"Hello Mr. Mills," I greeted sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Hey O'Malley," he took a few heavy breaths. "It means a lot for you to be here. Thank you."

"No problem." I found myself touching his shoulder. "How long are they keeping you here for?"

"Originally they said five days, but the nurse just informed me that they want to keep me here for two weeks." Another deep breath. "Believe it or not, this is my fifth heart attack in two years."

What was I supposed to say to that? Stop having heart attacks?

"I suppose you won't be working for the next two weeks boy." A tear left his eye as he grabbed my shoulder. "Is the book coming along?" My head nodded in approval. "Good. Very good." His mouth opened as his tongue licked his teeth. "Boy, I don't think you realize how lucky you are to be young. When I was a young lad, I always knew I would someday be in charge of Mid Mills. I always dreamed of it. At the time, we had at least a hundred authors with us. Each one of them were revolutionary writers with amazing writing. Harrison Wheeler was my favorite. All his writing was about how wonderful the future would be. After reading each of his novels, I would always dream of what greatness my future would hold." A cough left him with a few more tears. "There was so much potential and possibilities. The world was ours" He lifted up his other arm pointing to the ceiling and sighed. "The world was ours. My grandfather told me that every dam day and I believed it. And now here I am as the CEO all these decades later in the hospital with a fifth heart attack. Wheeler has been long dead. All we have left is Piper and Line. My father was never even crazy about Piper. Every day I ask myself what happened. How did it come to this? Does any of this matter anymore?"

"Don't say that sir," I interrupted putting my head on his stomach. "It does matter. It does."

"Easy for you to say. You're in your early twenties. You have a full life ahead of you with all this great opportunity. I'm just an old man waiting to die after struggling with a shitty company that was once great."

Giselle's POV

Sitting in the waiting room, I noticed something on Ricky's Right Hand. A ring was on one of his fingers. Did I dare ask him the question? My heart was pounding just thinking of the possibility. The nurse finally called us in to see Gloria. Lady was awake. As we walked, Lady gave me a bright hug full of joy. I couldn't remember a time where I smiled so big.

"Get off of her Lady," commanded Ricky. "We're here to see Gloria." His eyes shot me a look which seemed to be a disapproving look. What the hell was his problem?

Sure enough, Gloria was on her hospital bed fully awake.

"How bout that. The whole crew's here." Her hand grabbed mine and with a great smile, she told me a random story. "You ever hear about the poor boy looking for some soup? A mighty fine story. Anyways, this poor boy was walkin' the streets in the big city. He told himself that one day he'd be an important man." Ricky soon developed an annoyed look on his face and came close to shutting her up. "The boy met this poor girl also on the streets. The girl talked an awful lot about creating the next great soup. Wasn't long 'til they became friends. As years went by, the boy never went to school and worked in a damn food factory The girl did have a boss who was an expert in soup. Sadly, the son of a gun was old and wasn't much of a help.

"What the hell is the point of this story?" I surprisingly shouted. "I'm sorry, I can't do this." I left Ricky and Lady behind to talk to her and myself in the waiting room sitting next to Liam.

"Must've been rough," he started. With a breath, he spoke again. "Spring Break is next week right? Interested in coming to New Orleans?"

At this point, what did I have to lose? My future was looking bleak, Gloria wasn't well, Ricky had a girl, and I really wasn't allowed to see Lady. "Sure. Never been to New Orleans before."

Hope you enjoyed this depressing chapter! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share.

Next Chapter: Ava spends her spring break watching Elizabeth Jay teaching Sara how to walk and eventually run.

Is Mr. Mills going to survive? Do you hope he does?

Is Gloria going to survive? Do you hope she does?

Should Liam and Giselle be going to New Orleans?