Trapped with a Doctor

Lulu's congratulatory tone when describing Rosa and Nita fell short of its aim. Angela didn't feel small at all. "Do I think I deserve his love?" Angela asked. "We can't all be department heads, but then again, not everybody likes to show off. I invented a eyedrop which has cured thousands of people's eye disease when I was thirteen years old."

"Well when I was fifteen, I invented a medicine that can cure blood disease. My brother has made millions selling it! You're not special." The backstory was, although Angela succeeded in creating the medicine. she had inadvertently destroyed Sven's laboratory.

Sven was mad at her, so he sold the medicine's formula, using the money to rebuild the laboratory. Angela cleverly omitted this damaging anecdote.

"When I was ninteen years old, I invented a medicine that can make people lose their mind. But it won't damage people's health. And my brother has earned millions of dollars by selling it at the black market." 'Well, 'thought Angela, 'everyone knows how to brag about themselves.' Though Chuck provided her with a comfortable upbringing, it didn't mean she was a waste of space.

So what if she had no success story to tell at dinner parties? She had her family. She was the daughter of Chuck and younger sister of Sven.

But Angela had destroyed Sven's laboratory. The successes gained from the medicine surely paled in comparison to the damages of her brother's lab? It was a Pyrrhic victory.

No one had been harmed in the blast; Angela, thankfully, had gone home for dinner while the chemicals were reacting unstably. When she returned, the ceiling had blown clear off. Everything, all her data, was destroyed.

To prove it was not a waste, Sven had kept logbooks of the experiment in his hospital, in a dinky little filing cabinet.

He simply opened up the logbooks, and they started again. When she had succeeded, she promised him all the earnings.

It was the least she could do. She never got to see Sven's new lab after that.

Wouldn't it be wonderful, she had thought, if I could build my own lab, in secret? But Chuck had shut it down before it had a chance to be conceptualized.

Several years passed. Angela stayed in uni, concentrated on getting a degree, and stayed away from inventing. The creative spark died out. She felt useless. But then, a light came on as if on cue. Arvin came into her life. She now had access to his research and development room.

It was better equipped and more modern than Sven's lab. There were machines and computers, the likes of which she could only dream about.

Of course, Angela would have to fawn over Arvin in order to enjoy the privilege.

Lulu sat up, genuinely interested in Angela's background. She didn't think she would meet someone who liked inventing things, like her.

"Why would I believe you?" stuttered Lulu. "Who's your brother? What's his name?" If Angela was telling the truth, then her brother must have occupied a place at some stage in the medical community. Lulu scanned her memories for the surname Si...

Wait...

Lulu vaguely remembered someone fitting the distinguished description. Angela confirmed her guess: "My brother is called Sven Si. You must have heard of him!"

Lulu's mouth would make an impression on the floor if it was open any wider. She looked at Angela for a long time. "You're joking..."

"..." Angela knew it was hard to believe, so she showed Lulu photos in her phone. "You can check it yourself!"

The photos did not lie. There they were, Angela and Sven as children, as teenagers, as adults, running like a slideshow before her eyes.

Lulu was bursting with questions. But according to the photos, she had no choice but to trust Angela.

"Have you got into Arvin's research and development room?" Lulu asked, intrigued. She had never seen the interior before.

Angela answered her question honestly, "Yes, I have. And the reason why I stay with your brother is because of the research and development room. I happen to like it, so I chose to stay."

Hearing her words, Lulu asked her, "Do you love Arvin?" Lulu thought if she answered no, maybe they could be friends.

But, hiding her emotions could cause problems.

"Yes," she admitted. "I do! He's such a handsome guy. What girl would say no to him? I will love him until the end of the world!" This last line was delivered with over-the-top valor, so she hastened to tone it down with a nonchalant laugh.

Lulu ran out of things to say. She remembered why she was mad at Angela; it was daft to imagine that they could have been friends.

"Come over!" yelled Lulu, going bananas again. "I don't care about who you are. Now you're just a nurse! Come and give me a massage!" She leaned back and waited.

....

.. Anything Angela said would be a waste of breath. She sneered, and took back her phone. Lulu and her siblings were all fascinating in terms of their collective affect to bring her suffering.

The first sibling who made her life hard was Aron. Eventually he lost interest in her. The second one was Arvin. But the moment she thought she could manage Arvin's brooding and pouting and bizarre proclivities, that's when Lulu appeared to make everything come apart.

Lulu caught sight of Angela's sneer. "What's with the face?" said Lulu. "Hurry up, come over!"

Angela took bounded forward. Before long, Lulu's cry rent the ward: "Ouch! Angela, what are you doing? You're such a fool! I'm telling you to give me a massage! I'm not telling you to hit me! Ouch! ! ! ! Angela! Enough! Get away!"

After the wracking tortures, Angela was breathless, as was Lulu from yelling.

When Hogan opened the door, he saw two girls gasping and glaring at each other. They were like two fowls which had just fought in a salvo of squawks and feathers.

A woman appeared behind Hogan. She broke into laughter when she saw this scene. "Lulu, what happened? You look a little...uncomfortable?"

The woman was in her thirties. Her beautiful hair rippled like a cascade of flaxen waters. She cast her beautiful eyes over the room.

They shone when they fell on Angela. The two hens were certainly a match. When she was outraged, Angela's resemblance to Lulu was uncanny.

"Sis, when did you come back?" When Lulu realized it was Tessa, she forgot why she was there, and leapt out of bed to greet her.

What Lulu did made Angela think of Nicole and Janet.

When they were together, they were also happy and joyful.

But Selina married a man from a different country, and moved with him. She hadn't seen her for a long time.

Tessa patted Lulu on her head, "I heard you're not feeling well this morning, so I went here immediately when I got off the plane."

Hearing her words, Lulu felt embarrassed and she lowered her head.

Hogan knew his daughter well. He looked at Lulu seriously and said, "Go back to bed! Since you feel sick, I will tell Arvin to give you a thorough examination later!"

"What?" shrieked Lulu. Lulu's feelings towards Arvin were mixed. She feared and respected him, loathed and loved him. But when she heard her dad, she started begging him to keep mum. "Dad, please don't tell Arvin! He doesn't know I'm here!"

Hogan knew about last night in detail. He had caught the full story earlier when Lulu had complained to her mother, Teresa. Nobody thought he was listening, becuase he was fully engrossed in the newspaper. But Hogan was fully aware of the complicated situation he had just stumbled into.

Now Hogan, Teresa, Aron, Lulu and Nita knew just who this mystery guest living with Arvin was. ☐☐☐