Lady in Red

Catherine looked outside the expensive car that she was in, amazed. The entire road they were traveling on was blocked for this car they were in and behind them were eight other expensive cars following them, guarding. She looked back at her boss.

She knew why this was happening. He was, after all, the richest in Boston and famous for employing over thousands of people. Catherine considered herself lucky for being in the same car as him.

"How do you feel?" She asked, giving him her water bottle. Jay Dean took it and chugged it all down before coughing aggressively. Catherine tapped his back lightly.

"I don't know, this sickness is getting to me pretty bad. The last thing I want is the press knowing about this and then follow me with their nosy asses."

"They won't leave you alone, will they?"

"NO. Where is the hospital at? Are we there yet?" Jay dean coughed and coughed and coughed. Catherine knew how ill he was getting lately and the thought of loosing him to anything was eating her up. Hopefully there were no bad news today; after all, no news meant good news.

On the arrival of the hospital, the security began to line up just about the front of the main entrance, blocking everything coming in and out and only reserved the spot for Jay Dean. Catherine looked around dumb founded but then proceeded ahead.

Everyone had prayers on their tongue for the better health for Jay Dean. Everyone had to wait outside while the doctors went ahead and proceeded with her boss. The suddenly the press conference folks walked in with cameras and microphones.

"What is going on here? It's just a check up! Will everyone get out, already? I said, get out! NOW!" Catherine snickered, pushing everyone out the door with her force. It took everything in her to kick everyone out. What is up with these people, she thought. Catherine went back inside and waited for the doctor all while wandering back and forth out of curiosity.

The time had gone by quick, seems like, as it was already noon. But Catherine felt as if time had stopped on her cue. She watched the clock impatiently as every second the hand on the clock moved. It was painful. Then suddenly, Dr. Patel merged out of his office--sliding the stethoscope around his neck. Catherine stood up immediately.

"Ms. White, nice to meet you again!" He said, extending his hand out for Catherine to take. She accepted almost immediately.

"How is he?"

"Come with me." Together, they both went inside his booth where her boss laid at. Dr. Patel closed the door behind him and sat back down on his chair. He extended his hand out again and signaled her to sit in front of him. She did so and looked at her boss, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Is everything alright, doctor? What's the reports say?" Dr. Patel didn't respond to me right away. Instead, he looked at Jay Dean then at me.

"We have experimented a special drug called MPDL3280A in patients suffering from a non-small cell lung cancer. Known as what we call, NSCLC, originally made by Roche. Our results so far demonstrate that the compound is capable of producing striking and durable responses in non-small cell lung cancer patients with metastatic disease who have failed to respond to previous chemotherapy," Dr. Patel said, gesturing his hand towards Jay Dean. Catherine nodded in understatement, not quite sure what all this meant for Jay Dean.

"What exactly does that tell about Mr. Dean?" She asked, curious.

"As of now, this is actually a good news for former smokers and non smoking patients with lung cancer, however; while this may sound promising, it is actually preliminary."

"What exactly is a, err.. MPDL3280A?"

"It's an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody that works by blocking the interaction between PD-L1 and the immune system, thereby boosting the patient's anti-cancer immune response," Dr. Patel explained. Catherine let out a breath or relief.

"Phew, at least now I know he will get better soon." Dr. Patel didn't exactly agree nor disagree to that and instead kept quite. Catherine looked at him, confused.

"That is good news though, right doctor? Sounds like it to me?"

"It's good news as of now, Ms. White. You see, lung cancer is very difficult to treat, and once it starts to metastasize to other parts of the body, it is incurable." Catherine's heart raced. But this just didn't make any sense to her.

"But he's fine, right? Did the drug work?" She repeated, getting impatience.

"It works, believe me, it works but as proven to some patients and not all, Ms. White. He hasn't reached stage 2 yet but he is very likely to."

"What! But why?" Dr. Patel looked at Jay Dean apologetically.

"Smoking can cause this, Ms. White. It can worsen anyone's health."

"But my boss doesn't smoke anymore, Doctor," she protested.

"It says, otherwise. Reports indicate that Mr. Dean has been smoking. I'm sorry, sir, but we need to keep you alive. I am here because of you. Everyone is happy, healthy, and full of satisfaction all because of you. I cannot lie to your own personal assistance. I know how much she cares about you, sir," Patel said, spilling the beans out of the bag. Jay Dean closed his eyes for a minute and looked at Catherine, shyly. Her hands balled up into a tiny fists .

"Has it gone bad, doctor?"

"Not yet. We need to make sure he doesn't reach to stage 2 otherwise it will be too late." Dr. Patel looked as if someone had forced to have him speak out but Catherine knew, otherwise. He smiled at him.

"Thank you, Dr. Patel."

"I will leave you two alone for two minutes," he said getting up. She nodded her hand and looked back at her boss. When Doctor Patel was out of sight, she stood up and walked up to Jay Dean. She sat down next to him and grabbed his hands, squeezing lightly.

"Why do you do this, sir?" She asked, pained.

"It's a habit, dear."

"Let go of the habit, it's not that hard. We all need you but not like this. Why are you constantly trying to kill yourself like that? You need to stop smoking."

"If I'm able to, I will. I have tried, Catherine."

"Give me all your cigarette packets, every single one that you own, and then tell me you have tried. Then I will believe you. But for now, I am helpless. As your personal assistance, all I ever will want is for you to get better. But you are making this hard for me."

"I'm sorry," he said, looking outside. For a second, Catherine thought the world had begun to have come to an end. What would the society say if they knew she had made everyone's boss in Boston apologize to her? But that was no motive for Catherine. All she wants is his well-being. She felt embarrassed to have her boss apologize to her like that but at this moment...everything was fair in love and war.

"I need you to promise me that you will quit smoking from now on." This caught Jay Dean's undivided attention as he looked at her, bemused.

"I can try to promise you---"

"No. I need you to promise me the correct way. Put your hand on my hand and vow that for the better of your health and others as well, you will stop smoking from now on. Come on, now," Catherine protested, extending her holy hand out. Jay Dean looked at her hand for a good second, pondering good, before finally giving in.

"I promise, mother," he grinned. Catherine laughed a little as she nodded in bewilderment.

"Don't tell my wife about this, alright?" He said, pointing a promising finger at her. She laughed.

"I want to so bad but I won't. Only because you have promised me not to ever smoke once we step out of this booth."

"Does that mean I can smoke one last time before stepping out into the real world?" He joked. Catherine gave him a flat look as he threw his hands up in defeat, laughing. She shook her head at his innocence and together they stepped out into the real world.

"Ready to get back to work?" He asked, as they both sat inside the tinted, expensive black Bentley.

"Yes sir, as always!"

"Good. Well done on the project, yesterday! I'm going to attend the Delaware's meeting today and only that so cancel all my other ones and shift them for tomorrow. Also, call Jason and his group to attend this meeting as it is important for them to come. Did you type the papers sent to you earlier today?" Catherine jotted down everything he told her in her notepad and shook her head.

"No, sir. But I will get to that as soon as we reach the office. Did you want me to fax it to the Delaware's company?"

"Yes, do that also."

The car came to life and out of the hospital's driveway. Catherine was jotting for everything her boss was saying when all of a sudden his phone rang. He looked down at it then at me.

"You didn't call and snitch on my to my wife, now did you?" He asked, wide-eyed. Catherine laughed.

"I wish I did to teach my innocent boss a lesson, but no sir I did not." Jay Dean rolled his eyes at her and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He spoke. Catherine was eager to know what was going on the phone as she couldn't hear but thin sounds coming from the phone. She pushed herself closer to her boss to get a better hearing but then shifted back as she realized she was about to invade his privacy. Instead, she kept his gaze on him. Perhaps his expressions could tell it all if he was in trouble or not. After all, it was never her to snitch on him to his wife but like they say---Women knows everything!

Jay Dean's facial expression was confusing but surely and convincingly, it looked like he was in no harm by his wife. He went from frowning to smile in just seconds.

"Really? Okay! No, that's good news. Oh, no I went out to a meeting and I'm just heading back now," he lied, giving her a wink. Catherine rolled her eyes and chuckled. After his final goodbye, he hung up.

"You seem a little happier and satisfied?" She asked, grinning.

"Of course. I just heard the news that my son is coming back from Paris this Saturday."

"Oh, wow! That's good. You will be seeing him after long time, huh?"

"After four years, that is."

"I see."

"He will be taking over my companies soon," He said, sighing. Catherine looked at her boss in awe. She had almost forgotten about his retirement talk they had earlier. She was actually happy though because at least not he would get to rest and be stress-free while his son took over.

Catherine had never met Jay Dean's son before, let alone saw a picture of him closely. She'd only heard of his name.

"You're retiring this Monday.." she whispered, disappointed.

"Yes. This old man is going to rest while my heir is going to take it all over and project it to a higher peak than it already is. I'm sure our special cast, the Johnsons will be happy to hear of this!" Catherine chuckled.

"Tell me about it."

The car came to a sudden stop now and they climbed out of it, rushing into the building before the press got to them. Once inside, people were already gathering up to his with bouquets of flowers and cards in their hands.

"Welcome back, sir! Hope everything was well!" Some of the employee's called out.

"Everything fine, Catherine?" Tonya, head office assistant at front, asked. I looked at her and nodded.

"Everything is well, guys." When the crowd began to lessen up, Catherine went back inside her booth. She dropped her belongings on top of her desk and plopped her ass down on the chair with a heavy sigh. It was been a hectic day today for her but in order for her to get her work done fast, she had better get started with it now. Overall, though, she couldn't help to but to think of one thing that irked her the most. In just three days, she was going to loose herself to somebody else other than her favorite boss. She was going to be someone else' personal assistant. She wasn't exactly too excited about the fact that Jay Dean's son was going to take over because she knew nothing of him. She had worked for Jay dean for about one and a half years now.

How would he look like?