The Apple of My Eye

Chapter 455 Meeting Craig In The Hospital

The usual prenatal checkup is always something that an expecting mother always look forward to. And

for Autumn it was twice the amount of joy. Listening to the heartbeat of the babies and trying to identify

their features out of the hazy ultrasound pictures were something that could fill her heart with joy that

can't be expressed in words. Walking through the corridor of the hospital, Autumn touched her belly

gently and smiled. She said to her babies silently,"Are you ready to meet mom?" As she reached

Anthony's office door, she could hear him speaking to the other patient. She tapped on his door. His

voice came from inside,"Come in, please!"

Anthony walked out of the door with his patient who was here for her delivery. His eyes met Autumn's

and he gestured her to get inside the room and wait for him. Autumn seated herself in his office looking

around the room. She toyed with the paper weight kept on his table for a while to kill her time. Soon

she heard Anthony's footsteps pacing fast towards the room and in a flash of a second he flung open

the door and took his seat in front of her. "I hope I did not make you wait for too long. Actually the

patient you just saw..." He tried to explain as Autumn gave a reassuring smile saying,"Its okay."

"Come, let's get the checkup done," Anthony said as he gestured Autumn to lie on the bed. Autumn

made herself comfortably on the bed, as he started with the check-up. Anthony started with the

procedures. He pressed on her abdomen to feel the growth of the babies and then used other testing

devices to hear their heart beats loud and clear. The smile on Autumn's face spread to her eyes. She

laid still focusing only on the sound of the heart beats. It was that one priceless moment that she

looked forward to every time she came here.

Anthony asked her several questions regarding her health and the usual symptoms that showed up

during the stage of pregnancy she was going through at the moment. After making sure that her babies

were safe, Autumn turned her attention towards Anthony.

She had a faint idea about the budding relationship between Anthony and Lisa. And she was curious to

know more. After dealing with the initial hesitation she asked,"How about you and Lisa?" She sounded

inquisitive. She had a quirky smile on her face.

As Anthony looked up at her, he looked a little startled. "What do you mean?" Anthony asked, his eye

brows stitched together into a frown. He had never expected this coming from Autumn. He looked at

her and tried to be put up a casual demeanor. "Lisa and I are just good friends. Nothing else," he said.

"Oh! Come on!" Autumn had an impish smile on her face. "I'm not a fool, Anthony. I can see that she is

completely into you." Autumn was not ready to rest the topic so easily.

Anthony kept scribbling on the prescription pad silently. He hoped the moment would pass if he showed

his ignorance towards it. But Autumn was not ready to let it go. She again started after a

pause,"Besides, you guys had a relationship earlier. She traveled a long way for you. You should give

her a chance."

Anthony maintained the solemn look on his face and answered in a calm voice,"She has a thing for me,

so I must like her. Is that what you mean?" Anthony looked up at Autumn for a moment and glanced

straight into her eyes. Autumn could sense it was difficult to break through with him at the moment.

Then again he went back to his writing pad.

The was a momentary silence between both of them. Then Autumn uttered stammering,"I don't mean

that..." She was taken aback to see the indifference in Anthony's behavior. This made her rather

uncomfortable. She felt Anthony was overreacting. Still unwilling to rest her case, she pushed it a little

further,"Don't get me wrong. I just think that... Lisa is beautiful and she has a soft corner for you. And

now that you don't have a girlfriend, why not try dating her?"

Then she stared at Anthony with a piercing eye and blurted out abruptly,"Do you have a crush on

someone else?"

With every passing moment, it was becoming more and more difficult for Anthony. He froze in his chair.

Autumn sensed the stiffness in his behavior but still refused to stop probing into the matter.She forged

again with all excitement with another set of questions,"I got you this time, didn't I? Tell me now. What

kind of girl she is? Is she someone I know?"

"Oh, yeah, you know her," Anthony answered, his eyes calmly resting on Autumn.

"Who?" she asked brimming with excitement.

"You." Anthony replied jokingly, putting up a camouflage that he had learnt to master ever since he fell

in love with Autumn. He had never been able to express his feeling in front of her. And now that she

was so inquisitive about getting him settled with some other girl, it was nothing but the ironical truth that

came handy to make her silent. Autumn went silent for a while and then she started once more,"It's...

it's not funny." Her face turned embarrassed this time.

"Enough now!" Anthony got up as he spoke with a completely no-nonsense look on his face. "Don't

bother so much about my love life. Otherwise, I will use you to scare away girls who try to approach

me," he said with a sly smile on his face to make it light between the two of them. "You can leave now.

Other patients are waiting outside," he urged politely.

Autumn stood up silently and approached the door. He could not help looking at her face as she was

preparing to leave. His heart wrenched inside his rib cage. The more he looked at her face, the more

softened his eyes turned.

Autumn had her face pointed floor-wards. She carefully arranged all the reports in the file in one hand

and her hand bag on her shoulder. She looked at Anthony who followed her to the door once again

before he opened the door for her and smiled before walking out. The panic-stricken look at her face

was a clear indication that he had no chance to get her. As he opened the door, both of them were

welcomed with bustling laughter of Lisa and Craig who were approaching Anthony's office.

"Well, you must come to my house and cook for me to show your cooking skills," Craig said as he

laughed heartily.

Lisa nodded her head. "Sure, I would love to do that. But..." she smiled as she spoke.

"Don't worry about Anthony. I will handle him," Craig said keeping the spirit high. "I will break his leg if

he stops you from cooking for me."

"Thank you, Grandpa!" Lisa responded as both of them burst into laughter once again.

Anthony stood at the doorway watching them walking straight towards him lost in their conversation

and laughter. This was the last thing he was expecting at this moment. He was completely startled. Lisa

looked up at Anthony ignoring Autumn who was standing right beside him and said,"Anthony, surprise!"

"What made you come here all of a sudden, Grandpa? You should have called me in," Anthony spoke

to Craig with a frown on his face.

"Anthony!" Craig cried at this sudden disapproving behavior of his grandson. "I'm your grandpa. Do you

mean that I need to take your permission before coming to see you?" He stood there expecting an

answer from Anthony.

Anthony had never mentioned to Craig about Lisa since their latest call. But he learnt from an

acquaintance about the alleged rumor in the hospital that something was steaming between Anthony

and Lisa. He also heard how the rumor had enraged Anthony and that he clarified that there was

nothing between him and Lisa. This was what bring Craig to the hospital.

He wanted to meet Lisa in person. If he found Lisa to be a good girl, he would help her and Anthony

come together. Otherwise, he wouldn't force Anthony to accept her. Anthony's loneliness bothered

Craig to a great extent. He wanted to see him settled in his family. He was also eager to play with his

great-grandson.

"Hello, Grandpa Craig!" Autumn's voice came cutting through the tensive conversation between the

grandfather and the grandson. She stood right behind Anthony smilingly looking at Craig.

Craig turned to Autumn and broke into a smile. "Hello Autumn, good to see you here. How is your

grandpa doing these days?"

Autumn was glad to see Craig. Suddenly the awkwardness between her and Anthony got shifted from

her. Though Anthony felt like just before he could manage to get out of one awkward situation, he just

landed into another one. "He's good," she replied. "He mentioned you a couple of days back. He said

that no one played chess with him after you left. How long will you stay here this time? If you have time,

I can arrange for you to meet with my grandpa," Autumn said with a smile.

"I plan to stay here from now on," Craig declared in a profound voice. "Tell your grandpa that I will visit

him and we can play chess and go fishing every day as long as he likes."

"He will be glad to hear that," Autumn replied heartily. "Grandpa will be elated to learn about this good

news. I can't wait to share this with him."

One person who could not agree with the niceties, laughter and joy that were happening around him

was Anthony. Moreover, Craig's intention to stay here put him absolutely incomprehensible for him. He

turned towards Craig with a frown and demanded a reply,"What's going on, Grandpa? What do you

mean by saying you will stay here?"

"Didn't I make it clear to you?" Craig turned towards Anthony with a stiff look on his face. He

maintained a completely no-nonsense look as he spoke,"I came here to see you get married. That's

what even your parents want. They said, I would come back after you make a girlfriend. Are you not

willing to look after me?"

Anthony was completely out of his wits as to how to react to this situation. "Don't get me wrong. I..."

Anthony stammered to find words. After a short pause, he looked at Craig and continued,"You're my

grandpa, and it's my duty to take care of you. But if you have come here for that purpose, I think you'd

better leave soon.

I'm not a kid anymore. I know what kind of girl I like. I don't need other people to make a decision for

me,"

Anthony said in a cold tone in his voice. His eyebrows were knitted in a frown. He even looked at Lisa Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

in a reproachful glance.

When Lisa met Anthony's angry eyes, she realized that he had misunderstood herself. So she quickly

tried to explain,"Anthony, it's not like what you imagined. It's grandpa…"

She had just started explaining when Anthony raised his palm and gestured her to stop. "He is my

grandpa, not yours. Please call him Grandpa Craig." Lisa turned pale with embarrassment. It was as if

someone just sucked all the blood out of her face. She stood there with her mouth half open. Craig

gave Anthony a tight slap on his back that startled both the girls.

"Child, don't pay attention to what he said. He is talking nonsense," Craig said to Lisa. He tried to make

up for his grandson's heartless comment. "You can just call me Grandpa. Just ignore him."

"Grandpa!" Anthony called out to show utter disgust and disapproval to what Craig said to Lisa. Craig

retorted to Anthony with sharpness in his voice,"You stop calling me that. If you don't want to see me,

then I won't live with you." He then turned to Autumn,"Autumn, ask your grandpa to leave a room for

me and tell him that I will move in with him." Anthony looked helpless, not having a clue about how to

handle the situation.

Craig's words put everyone feel rather awkward. Autumn glanced at Anthony and sensed the dilemma

he was going through. She tried to pacify Anthony and said in a gentle voice,"Well, don't get angry,

Grandpa Craig. You must have got him wrong. Anthony is a dutiful person. I'm sure he'd like to live with

you. Now I must excuse myself because I have something really important to deal with."

"Okay. Be careful, my child. Watch yourself on the way," Craig said to Autumn with an approving smile.

Autumn did not waste a single moment before she walked out of the scene without turning around even

for once. 'I don't know what will happen if I continue to stay here, ' she thought to herself. She never

expected the situation would become so grave.

Seeing Autumn leave, Lisa also found out a way to sneak out of the situation. She looked at Anthony

and Craig, and said to Anthony,"Well, I gotta go now. Talk with your grandpa patiently, Anthony."

She then turned to Craig and smiled gently. "Grandpa, please let me know if I can be of any help. I

need to go back to my work. But I will see you soon."

"Bye!" Craig watched her receding in the corridor and smiled approvingly.

'She is such a good girl! Why does Anthony have no feeling for her?' he thought to himself.