Time is ticking. Star is slipping.
The doctors rush to draw blood from Tomas, urgency weighing down every second like a boulder. Mandume drives like a madman, tires screeching, the city blurring past. Star's body stills. Monitors flatline.
The silence was louder than a scream.
She was gone.
The doctors return with the blood, rushing into the room—only to find her body cold, veins empty of motion.
Still, they hook the blood to her IV, praying for a miracle.
At the hospital entrance, Mandume storms in, his voice sharp with desperation.
"Star! Where is Star?!" he demands at reception.
They point. He runs.
The doctors step out, pale with dread.
"Doctor, what happened? You didn't take long to transfer blood," Rudra asks, alarm rising in his chest.
"Doctor, what are you saying?" Tomas adds, voice shaking.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Mr. Tomas. We were too late," one doctor says softly.
Silence.
"Too late?" Tomas says, stunned. "What do you mean you're sorry?! I gave you my blood!"
"We couldn't act without blood. Protocol. But time—it wasn't on our side. We did everything we could…"
Mandume stops dead.
The words hit like a bullet.
Rudra steps forward, voice trembling with restrained fury.
"I tried calling you last night! You kept declining. This—this is what your stubbornness cost us. I didn't want to blame you, Mandume, but I have to. Star's blood is on your hands."
Tomas is weeping, shoulders trembling like the walls of a house collapsing.
"She's gone... I never even got to say goodbye to my daughter. How do we tell Louisa? How—how?!"
"You were all she had, Mandume," Rudra says bitterly. "Since this nightmare began, she held onto you. And when she needed you most... Mendu didn't show up."
That name—Mendu—cracked something inside Mandume. Star's voice echoed in his ears like the ghost of a lullaby.
"No…" Mandume whispers. Then louder—defiant.
"NO! Star is not dead!"
Everyone turns.
"Star needs AB Negative, right?" Mandume says. "I'm AB Negative. Doctor—take my blood!"
The doctors try to stop him.
"Sir, there's nothing else we can do. She's—"
"Don't say it! Don't you dare!" Mandume shouts.
He breaks through, racing into the room where Star lies motionless. The doctors shout after him, but he's already drawing his own blood. He mixes it with Tomas's and hooks it into Star's IV.
No change.
He switches on the oxygen machine. No breath. No pulse.
"Nurse! Get me the heartbeat drug—now!" he orders.
"Sir, please… if anything happens, our records—our licenses—" she begins.
"What's worse than this?! If you won't, I'll get it myself—"
She relents. She brings the syringe.
Mandume freezes.
His eyes fixate on the needle.
Flashes. Screams. His father's face twisted in agony as syringes pierced him over and over. The trauma floods in.
"No… I said the drug, not that," he says, backing away.
"It's the right drug, sir," the nurse insists. "It must be injected directly."
Mandume trembles. Tomas and Rudra are confused.
"What am I doing…? I had the same dream the day my father died," Mandume mutters, voice shaking. "And now Star… what if… what if she vanishes too?"
"Then give me the drug! I'll make her drink it!"
"Mandume," Tomas says gently, "you injected yourself. Why can't you inject her?"
"You asked for it, man," Rudra adds, stepping closer. "What are you waiting for?"
Mandume looks at him, broken.
"Rudra…"
"Mandume, you're her hero. Star believes in you—so believe in yourself. You got this. Please, don't let Tomas lose his hope. Just… please."
Mandume closes his eyes. One breath in. Another out.
With all his courage, he plunges the needle straight into Star's chest.
He watches the monitor.
Still flat.
"Star? Star, come on! Please…" Mandume cries, collapsing to his knees, tears spilling.
The nurse reaches to switch off the oxygen machine.
Beep.
Everyone freezes.
Beep.
A faint gasp escapes Star's lips. Her chest rises. Then again.
"She's breathing!" the nurse cries.
Mandume falls forward, sobbing in disbelief. Tomas stumbles back, hands to his mouth. Rudra turns away, crying silently.
Meanwhile, at Home…
Bonita cuts the cake. Lufus leans into Maria.
"How'd you get out?"
"I have keys. Remember?" Maria replies, brushing him off.
"I see. You wouldn't confess, so I did it my way," Lufus says cryptically.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Just wondering where Mandume went."
Maria stiffens. Something's wrong.
She bolts out the room.
"Olivia, where's Mandume?" she asks, panicked.
"He's upstairs. On a business call with his PA," Olivia replies.
"No…" Maria says, already walking away. "I don't think so."