From Street Trash To Dragon Lord

08

"What on earth is going on in here? I'm awake and alive! Why is no one happy?"

It was a strange and unsettling sight for Thomas Ashford to behold when he woke with a start, feeling 30 years younger after being incredibly sick, and no one - not his daughter Sophia, not his son Marcus and not his brother Richard - was excited.

Not even the doctors, Chen or Volkov, were ecstatic.

He'd been near death and had suddenly gone from that state to total wellness, yet somehow his family didn't seem to notice it. Neither did the medical staff.

He'd given them a few minutes to react but the more he waited, all he could see were shocked faces and expressions of confusion.

Thomas Ashford was a man who was used to lighting up the room with his presence. Having been a billionaire for decades, he was used to seeing bright faces whenever he walked into a room because everyone knew he had enough cash to change any man's life.

So to have been as terribly ill as he was and then wake up feeling better only to see unimpressed, stunned faces, was a deflation of his ego.

Finally, Dr Chen spoke up. He seemed to have a death wish because the words he chose to say were the worst possible ones he could have said. But whether it was just pure shock or a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that Ethan had done something that he couldn't, he said:

"I'm sorry for the flat silence, Mr Thomas. It's just that… You… you should be dead."

Thomas Ashford's eyes lit up in confusion.

"How dare you? How dare you say that to me? What is the meaning of this?"

He looked around at the faces of the occupants of the room.

"Richard, do you care to explain the blank look on your face? Do you also wish me dead?"

Richard Ashford stuttered, babbled and muttered like one learning to speak as he replied:

"Uh, no, erh.. Thomas, of course not. Actually… The rate of your recovery was just very… Unexpected."

To this, Thomas said, "Unexpected? Why, you brought me to St Mary's, right? They have specialists over here, they can do miracles!"

Dr Chen wiped his brow, drowning in shame because he knew that nothing he could influence had healed Thomas Ashford, and to think that this was all thanks to a riffraff looking young man who he'd talked down on for the past 30 minutes was mind blowing.

He was too disgraced to speak. And so Marcus did.

"Actually, father… St Mary's had nothing to do with it…"

Thomas Ashford was taken aback for a while, then he looked around and spotted Dr Volkov. He didn't know who he was but he could see his medical attire and he proceeded to ascribe credit to him.

"Well, then, I suppose it was the handiwork of this fine doctor over here? What is your name?"

Dr Volkov, a hardly emotional man, replied calmly and with a measured tone:

"My name is Dr Volkov, sir. I am a specialist from another hospital. I was called in to help you out, as you had a deadly illness. But upon arrival, I found that you were completely whole. How it happened, I don't understand. And I asked them all a question which no one has been able to answer: WHO TREATED THIS MAN?"

Finally Sophia, who'd been quietly observing the entire scenario, spoke.

"Father, Dr Volkov… It was a young, strange man who operated on you. Because his acupuncture methods were considered archaic, unconventional and ineffective, he was regarded as a trickster by Marcus, Uncle Richard, all the doctors and even myself, for a brief moment. We were convinced he had nothing to offer."

"But" Sophia continued, "we all saw him heal you with our own eyes."

Dr Volkov and Thomas Ashford looked at her, agape. Finally Dr Volkov spoke.

"Did you just say acupuncture? Did he use acupuncture?"

"Yes, he did," Sophia replied calmly. "And he did it for free."

"For free?!" Thomas Ashford, a man of finance and numbers, exclaimed. He could not believe that someone would provide such a lifesaving service at zero cost.

"Where is this man right now?" He asked.

Pointing at the door, Richard responded, "He's outside, in custody of the guards. We were about to detain him after the procedure he did on you because you were motionless for a moment. We feared you were dead. Then Dr Volkov came in to check and perform a resuscitation only to find you completely healed. He hadn't touched you so he couldn't say he did anything. It had to be the young man who healed you."

"Amazing," Thomas responded, taking in this mind boggling information. "Bring him in, I'd love to thank him in person! And he should be rewarded!"

In a desperate bid to protect what was left of his reputation and dignity by preventing Ethan from receiving any accolades, Dr Chen spoke up, talking faster than Eminem could rap:

"But, but, but, let's not get a- ahead of-of ourselves, n-now… We cannot categorically say it was the young man's procedure that saved Mr Thomas. For all we know, his cells could have begun fighting back and the young man could have been just in time to take undeserved glory."

Upon hearing this, Thomas Ashford was enraged.

"Listen to yourself, Chen. Listen to yourself! The same cells that couldn't fight back all this time, while you milked me of thousands of dollars per night, just chose to begin fight back by themselves when this young man touched me, yes? You sound retarded, fatigued and mentally challenged. I think you need a break. A permanent break. Effective immediately, you are fired."

Dr Chen immediately dropped to his knees, pleading.

"Mr Thomas, I beg you, don't be so hasty!" Dr Chen knew that Thomas Ashford was a man who said what he meant and meant what he said.

"Security!" Thomas Ashford, ignoring the pleas of the doctor, barked. "Security!"

Usually, one or two calls for the guards would see the hefty men rush in to do the bidding of whoever was in charge, but this time, there was nothing.

It was beginning to look awkward and embarrassing because Thomas Ashford was fuming and looking at the door, expecting it to swing open. But it didn't.

When, after a few more moments, none of the security men who were presumed to be at the door came in, Marcus went to call them himself, still rubbing his lower back subconsciously.

He found them lying on the floor behind the door, sleeping soundly without any signs of heavy blows or suffocation. They'd been knocked out. But how?

Ethan, meanwhile, who was previously in their custody, was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit."

This was bad. Thomas Ashford would not be pleased.

Marcus hurried back in to break the news. He did it as mildly as he could to cushion the inevitable effect.

"Father… The guards… They are fast asleep."

"Asleep? Incompetence! Incompetent fools! They must be fired alongside Dr Chen. And what about the young man? Why have you not brought him?"

Sophia studied her brother's fidgety reaction to the question and knew, without needing to hear any more words, what had happened:

Ethan was gone.