Chapter 17-The pain she hides
Jonathan's POV…
“She's stabilized now,” the doctor announced.
"Her temperature is normal and her blood pressure wasn't affected by that. Most importantly, her breathing is back to normal. It seems like she had a rough time breathing well at night as a result of excess fabric, and coupled with the fact that she was drunk"
Now I was wondering if I should have called someone, a female staff member from my house, to come undress her.
“Thank you so much doctor. I hope this tea won't have an effect on her health?" Lena asked as she put the duvet over Audrey.
"It wouldn't. She'll only sleep for that long, nothing to worry about. But that is only if she receives proper care, that includes feeding her, bathing her…"
I gasped.
“And staying close to her, in case a situation arises that needs someone's attention and immediate check on her.
Other than these, no problem. You'll be feeding her liquid foods.
I'll give you a list of them and some prescription to avoid bloat as she will be asleep all through the while she'll feed" he finished.
“Does that mean she'll add weight?" Lena asked.
“Definitely" he replied.
Lena sighed and tucked a strand of Audrey's hair behind her ear.
“Thank you very much. We appreciate" I shook hands with him.
"Richard” I faced him. “See him off"
He nodded. “Yes sir"
“Are you sure he'll keep quiet about this? That he wouldn't blab about it?” Lena asked.
"He can be trusted,” I paused. "But Richard, make sure he does"
“I'll do just that, sir"
I took one final look at Audrey and turned around, ready to leave. I had wasted enough time already and I didn't want to be late for work.
“Excuse me. Where are you going?"
I felt someone hold my hand from behind.
I turned abruptly and saw Lena holding my arm.
I yanked my arm away from her hold and frowned at her. How dare she touch me?
“Where do you think you're going?" She asked again.
“You're not that dumb or blind to see that I'm going to work"
“Oh. So work is important to you, but Audrey isn't?" She asked.
I rolled my eyes. “You're here to take care of her"
“No, I'm not,” she snapped. “As a matter of fact, Audrey has three shoots scheduled for today. Tomorrow, she's meant to fly to Italy for her official brand ambassador unveiling and signing ceremony. Then a welcome reception and brand gala tomorrow night.”
She took a breath.
“All of that? Ruined. Because of you. Now I have to stall the companies, come up with a valid and reasonable excuse that'll convince the Italian brand, and hope they don’t cancel the deal. I’ll be busy.”
She wasn’t wrong. And that irritated me even more.
“On top of that, I’ll have to get her a fitness coach when she wakes up because she will definitely gain weight in these three days.”
"I'll hire someone to take care of her,” I said plainly.
It hit me. I would actually risk her condition going public and people will question what happened.
I groaned in frustration and rubbed my temples.
“The only thing I'll be helping out with is bathing her and changing her clothes" Lena said coldly. “Every other thing, you'll do it yourself” she said.
She walked toward the bathroom door and stopped.
“Just pray she doesn’t lose this Italian deal, Jonathan. The biggest skincare brand in Italy doesn’t knock twice.”
She disappeared into the bathroom.
If I was going to do this, then first, my mom needed to leave.
I looked out through the window and saw as my mom's ride left the compound. I had Richard get her a driver. He had to represent me and welcome the investors.
I turned around and saw Audrey sleeping on the bed.
It was just her and I. Lena had gone, but that was after bathing her.
I moved towards the bed and sat by Audrey's side.
I felt her breathing and it was steady.
“I need you to wake up as soon as possible so we can actually work together and find out who drugged us and set us up" I muttered.
I had people on my suspect list, but I didn't have any evidence to support that. Besides, Audrey had this way of knowing if someone was genuine and telling the truth or not.
The doctor gave us a list of food and drugs for her. Lena got ready the milk I'll feed her.
I went downstairs to the kitchen and put the milk in the microwave and heated it to room temperature.
I poured it into a glass cup and headed back to her room.
"Stop. Don't do that”
I froze by the door. I thought she was waking up but when I approached the bed, her eyes were still shut.
She was talking in her sleep.
“Don't do that… please dad”
Dad. She was having a nightmare about her dad.
The dad Lena had refused talking about the other day like he was some forbidden topic.
"No dad. Mom's going to get hurt” she whimpered.
Her brows furrowed and her hands clenched the duvet tightly.
She thrashed her head side to side on the pillow and her breathing turned into short gasps. Her forehead was filled with sweat that ran down towards her hair.
I moved towards the bedside table and placed the glass of milk on the table.
I didn't know what to do. I had never seen anyone have a nightmare before.
"Audrey” I called her but she didn't hear me. I shook her shoulders slightly to jolt her out of the nightmare but she didn't react to it.
“I hate you" her voice broke and she started sobbing.
Was that possible? Crying in your sleep.
“I… hate you… dad”
A tear escaped from beneath her lashes and traced a path on her face into her hair.
My heart melted at the sight before me. Audrey was a strong woman. Not one to be dwindled by emotions. Seeing her in this state; defenseless, without her walls built, made me have compassion on her.
I quickly put my hands on her fisted hands and tried to embrace her. She was turning her head on the pillow and was thrashing against it.
For some reason, I didn't want her getting hurt.
As I put my arms around her, she struggled and pushed me away.
I fell back and my hand hit the glass of milk on the table and the glass fell and the entire liquid spilled on my leg.
I winced. It wasn't too hot, but I didn't like how it felt on my skin.
“I'll protect mom from you" her voice rang through.
The tears fell freely from her eyes and soaked the pillow.
“Audrey" I called as I gently put my arms around her softly. I had to lay on the bed, beside her and hold her in a protective position.
She whimpered as I held her. She gripped my arm so hard her nails dug into my skin.
“It's Jonathan. It's okay, you're safe" I said, reassuringly.
I watched her, a heavy lump forming in my throat.
I had spent weeks thinking she was just a spoiled, arrogant model, but the person in my arms right now was broken.
I realized then that I didn't just need her to wake up so that I could resume work, but I needed to know why she was hurt this badly.
This was it. The forbidden topic… her father.
He must have done something terrible to her and her mom that made her hate him.
I used the back of my hand to wipe the sweat on her forehead. Her sweat and tears had wet her front hairs and they were clinging to her face.
My hand reached forward and removed the wet strands of hair from her face and for the first time since I met her, I was seeing her for who she truly was.
She must have built up those walls because of what she had been through.
I stared at her face. She was very beautiful and her wet lashes that fluttered out did things to my heart.
She slowly loosened her grip on my arm and her furrowed brows eased. I knew she was calm now.
I was heating another milk since the first one was wasted.
I heard a car honk and I moved towards the window to find out who it was.
I saw a car pulling in. I furrowed my brows.
“Who was that?"
I left the kitchen and went towards the door.
On reaching the door, I opened it and stood by it. The owner of the car had stepped out.
That figure was familiar.
She turned around and she had a wide smile on her face as soon as she saw me.
Maya!?
So sorry for the late update. Here's two chapters for you.