chapter 43
Avira
I reach Mama and Daddy’s room and knock. After a short while, Mama opens the door.
“Mama, Zoan is not picking up my calls. I called Leo last night, he said Zoan was in some important meeting. And now he’s not picking up either. Where’s Daddy?”
The worry on her face deepens. “Your Daddy got a call and left the house after Zo left. He hasn’t come home yet.”
I walk inside her room and sit on the bed. “Ask him where he is. I’m sure Zoan must be with him.”
She takes her phone from the bedside table and makes the call.
“Where are you?” she asks, then looks at me with a frown. I get up from the bed. It looks like bad news.
“We are coming there,” she says. She cuts the call and comes to me, holding my hand. “Zo is in the hospital.”
I feel the floor leave my feet. “What… what happened?”
“He didn’t tell that much. Let’s go.”
I nod in a daze and follow her outside. A car is waiting for us. We climb inside. My brain is racing, running through endless possibilities of how he could have ended up in the hospital.
Could it have been Daddy? No, he wouldn’t have harmed him that much.
And if he had, he wouldn’t have been with him.
He must have taken him for a checkup for the injuries from yesterday.
Yes, that must be the case. Or Zoan could have fainted from overwork, and Daddy would have taken him to the hospital.
I keep giving myself trivial reasons to stay calm.
We reach the hospital in half an hour.
There are men in black everywhere. The hospital is closed today, with no patients or families, only men in similar black uniforms covering the entire place. I know this uniform, it’s Zoan and Leo’s top-ranking security’s uniform.
Two men escort us down the hallway on the second floor. I see Daddy sitting in front of a ward as soon as we turn the corner.
His elbows rest on his knees, he is looking down, tired and weak. I’ve never seen my father like this before.
As we get closer, I notice his condition more clearly. It looks like he was drenched in rain, the water has dried on his skin, but his clothes are still wet.
He looks up toward us. His eyes are bloodshot. I turn my head to see the room in front of him. “Operating Room” is written on it, with a blue light on.
I point my finger toward it and look at Daddy. After a moment, I find my voice. “Zo—Zoan?”
He nods.
Mama sits beside him and asks, in shock and horror, “What happened?”
Daddy doesn’t say anything for a while, then speaks in a tired, low voice. “He was attacked. Got shot.”
He was attacked.
He was attacked.
I sit down beside Mama, my eyes fixed on the closed door.
“How long has he been inside?” Mama asks.
“Seven hours,” Daddy mutters.
My head snaps toward him.
“What’s going on, Alexander?” Mama’s voice breaks.
Before Daddy can reply, the ward door opens and a team of doctors comes out. We get up instantly. They approach us. The eldest-looking doctor glances toward Daddy.
“The operations were successful. Hopefully, he will be conscious in a few hours.”
Few men wheel a stretcher out from the operating room. I watch the pale face of the man lying on it and follow them.
They take him into a large ward and shift him onto a hospital bed.
After recording the initial readings and stabilizing him, the nursing staff step back and leave the ward. I take a chair from the wall and slide it close to his bed.
I watch him for a long time, not fully understanding my own emotions, there is a small, numb relief that he’s breathing, an ache for the pain he must be feeling, and a fear that threatens to consume me if I let my thoughts run too far, if I let myself consider what could have happened.
If I go down that road I will spiral until nothing is left but a crying wreck.
He is fine. My Zoan is fine, and he will open his eyes soon.
The ward door opens and Mama comes in, gives my shoulder a light squeeze, stays for a few minutes, then leaves. I hear her sob quietly before the door closes.
I stay seated in the same position for an unmeasurable amount of time, watching his chest rise and fall as proof that he is breathing.
Doctors come and go to check on him. Mama and Daddy return several times.
Once again the door opens. I don’t look up at any of them, I won’t let my gaze leave his chest.
Leo pulls another chair and sits beside me, silent.
After a long time he speaks. “He killed thirty-four men alone.”
“Are you bragging about his kill count when he’s in this state?”
“Come on, don’t be so depressed. We all know he’s fantastic. In fact, I can bet he’s unconscious because he wants sick attention. You don’t know how much of an attention seeker he is.”
I turn my head toward him, trying to figure out how this bastard could even joke at a time like this.
He shrugs. “I’m serious. Just tell him a man has sent you roses and a ring, and he’ll open his eyes in the next second.”
Maybe I’ve officially lost my mind, because there’s no other explanation for me thinking about using Leo’s bullshit idea.
I lean closer to him and comb back the hair on his forehead with my fingers. “Zoan, don’t you think Roxion is a good man? I think I can reconsider the idea of marrying him.”
No reaction comes. Leo nudges my arm. “Carry on.”
I definitely need this long-overdue therapy.
“After all, he’s tall, hot, handsome. And gosh, his smile—I could die for—“
My sentence stops when a pair of red-ice-blue eyes open and stare at me, silently challenging me, daring me to complete my sentence.
Leo’s laugh echoes in the room. “This man is so fucked up.”
I remove his mask and press my lips to his, grinning against his mouth. “You’re awake finally.” I punish his lips with nonstop kisses.
I peeled away from him, Leo grabs my shoulder and pushes me back into the chair, then shifts his own chair forward, moving closer to Zoan. “I’m sorry, man. Even after trying your best, you couldn’t make yourself die.”
I glare at him. “Stop your nonsense.”
“I don’t like nonsense either, but this man over here loves death.
There can be no other reason for him to roam out without security.
” He looks toward Zoan. “They were planning to attack you for the last three days, and you served yourself up last night on a silver platter. How many times have I told you to keep your security attached to your ass?”
“I’m not easy to kill,” Zoan says slowly.
“One more shot, and this discussion would have been taking place in hell. I swear, man, next time I see you alone, I will kill you myself,” Leo grits out his anger.
“I’m calling the doctor,” I get up from the chair, but Zoan holds my hand, stopping me.
I hold his hand with one hand, then carefully take my other hand and place his hand—with the IV drip needle inserted—back on the bed. “Don’t move your hand.”
“Stay here. He will call the doctor,” Zoan gestures toward Leo.
Leo lets out a cold chuckle. “Keep dreaming.”
My eyes land on the red button. “Oh wait, we can call them here.”
I press the button, and soon after a nurse arrives. After seeing that Zoan is awake, she leaves, and soon the doctor arrives along with Mama and Daddy.
Everything is as fine as it could be. He needs to stay in bed for a long time.
Zoan’s case is different from typical patients because he doesn’t feel pain, which can cause serious issues, he won’t even know when he stretches his stitches or opens his wound.
The doctor says they will arrange his periodic checkups more frequently to make sure his wounds remain well protected.
Zloban
After the doctor left, Dad sits on the bed holding my hand. “I’m sorry, son.”
“It was not your fault,” I tell him.
“Asking you to leave the house in the middle of the night was my fault.” He exhales a tired, shaky breath. “What would I have done if something had happened to you?”
“I’m fine.” I don’t like the look of sadness and guilt in his eyes.
“I should not have reacted like that. You don’t choose the person you fall for, and by doing what I did, I disrespected both of your feelings. I’m sorry.” He looks toward Avira.
She gets up from the chair and hugs him, her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes connecting with mine.
“We tried to go against our love till the end. We didn’t accept it, neither did we acknowledge it, but nothing was working. I’m really sorry, Daddy, but I can’t love anyone else.” Her words falter by the end of the sentence.
Dad wipes her tears. “I understand more than anyone how it feels to fall for someone you shouldn’t.”
Mom comes closer to me and strokes my head. Her swollen eyes are red, and with difficulty she manages to say the choked words, “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. It won’t happen again.”
“And I will make sure of it,” Leo says.
“By the way, Uncle, what made you change your mind about them?” he asks, now looking toward Dad.
Dad looks at me. “I almost lost my son, and it made me realize how little everything else matters.”
Mom chuckles lightly, wiping the corners of her eyes. “And it’s not that bad. Just think of it as us raising our son-in-law. And Zoan is not asexual, which would have been worse than this.”
Dad gets up from the bed. “Rest for now.” He looks toward Avira. “Take care of him, we will come in the evening.”
She nods.
Mom, after giving me another pat, leaves with Dad. Leo stays seated in his chair.
Avira looks at him. “You can also go and rest.”
“I’m well rested.”
She purses her lips. “Your face is looking shitty. Go and rest. It’s your wedding in two weeks, don’t give Iselyn another reason to cry over this wedding.”
He raises a brow. “Why so much care for me?”
“I called you twenty times last night. I was dying in worry, and you didn’t pick a single call after the first you answered and lied that Zoan was busy.” She bursts out.
“Ahhh, so that’s the reason behind this sisterly love. I’m sorry, my hands were full at that time. If I had known you would get this mad, I would have attended your calls, even if it meant getting a few wrong people killed,” he replies with a tight smile.
She crosses her arms. “Where were you fighting?”
His gaze sweeps over me before he rolls his eyes and gets up. “There is no business for you in my matters. I’m leaving. I need my beauty sleep,” he says, walking toward the door.
A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. Avira looks at me with a frown. “What is this man?”
She sits on the bed, placing her elbows on either side of my face. She leans down and presses her lips on mine lightly.
“My lips are not hurt, Dove,” I murmur against her lips.
She presses a little harder. I open my mouth to kiss her back, but she pulls away. She sits up straight on the bed with her back against my side, her shoulders trembling though no sound comes from her throat. This is what I feared most.
“I’m sorry, Dove.”
A few suppressed sobs escape her. I lift my hand and touch her arm. She instantly turns and places my hand back on the bed. “Don’t move it,” she says, her voice thick with tears.
“I’m sorry. This won’t happen ever again,” I tell her with certainty as she keeps staring at me with tear-filled eyes.
After a long, torturous silence she speaks: “Did you think for even a second what would happen to me if you had died?”
“I knew I wasn’t going to die.” The thought of death didn’t cross my mind. I knew I would live, my body didn’t betray me until I knew help was coming.
She frowns and slaps me lightly. “How can you be so confident?”
“I worked very hard to become this confident, Dove. So don’t worry, I’m not leaving you. I’ve become addicted to living with you.”
She kisses along my jaw. “Promise me you will never let something like this happen again,” she whispers.
I hum. “I will keep myself safe.”
She kisses the corners of my mouth, the areas around my lips, when her mouth reaches the center I open and bite her gently, then suck both of her lips. I release her lower lip and nibble her upper one. She holds my face and sucks on my lower lip.
I lift my hand to cradle the back of her neck, but she instantly pulls away.
“Are you going to be a pain in the ass?” she scolds, putting my hand back on the bed. “If I see you move any part of your body again, I’ll tie you down.”
I smile and nod obediently.