All Started With A Forced Marriage

Chapter 5:

The hospital room was filled with a heavy atmosphere. The white light from the fluorescent bulbs reflected off the walls, making the space eerily silent. I stood there, facing the man on the hospital bed—Alma—who had once been my fiancé, but not the man I loved.

My emotions were in turmoil. He had woken up after being in a vegetative state for so long, something no one thought was possible. But I didn’t know how to face him. People might expect me to be overjoyed, happy at Alma’s return, but deep down, I knew everything had changed. I had met and married Holden—the man I truly loved. Alma, though a benefactor to my family, was not the one my heart had chosen.

Luna Laureb, my mother, and my father, Alpha Kayak, stood behind me, both urging me with their eyes. They wanted me to go to Alma, the man they believed I was meant to be with. But I couldn’t step forward so easily. The responsibilities, expectations, and emotions weighed heavily on my shoulders, causing hesitation in every step.

On the bed, Alma opened his eyes, his gaze deep and calm, as if the long coma hadn’t affected him at all. When his eyes met mine, his lips curled into a gentle, familiar smile. I stood frozen, my heart racing, not from affection, but from the confusion of not knowing what to do next.

“Daughter, go to him,” my mother’s voice came from behind, soft but persuasive. Her gaze was a reminder that it was my duty.

“Yes, Hazel,” my father, Alpha Kayak, added, his voice deep and authoritative. “He’s returned. This is the time you should be by his side.”

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to step toward the bed. Each step felt heavy, not from physical weight, but from the burden of emotions I couldn’t name. Standing beside the bed, I looked at Alma, his eyes full of expectation.

"Alma... how do you feel?" I asked, my voice hoarse and awkward. I didn’t know what else to say. Before, whenever I visited the hospital, I had grown used to seeing him unresponsive, motionless, and that had made everything easier. Now that he was awake, facing him was harder than ever.

Alma’s smile remained soft and warm. "I feel much better. Seeing you here makes me feel like I’ve truly returned."

His words left me momentarily stunned. He didn’t know that my life had changed, that I was no longer the woman he had once been engaged to. Our engagement had never been born of love, but out of duty. My family owed Alma a great debt, and the engagement had been a way to repay that debt. I had never truly had the chance to love him, and he had never witnessed how my life had transformed while he was in the coma.

My father stood nearby, his stern gaze urging me to continue. Even though I didn’t love Alma, I understood that my family expected me to fulfill my obligation to him. But my heart now belonged to Holden, the man I truly wanted to be with.

Alma extended his hand, reaching out toward me, waiting for me to take it. I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. I looked into his eyes, eyes filled with hope and the belief that we still belonged together.

After a few seconds of hesitation, I extended my hand and placed it in his. His grip was gentle, but it carried a weight far greater than any feeling I had ever experienced. Awkwardness overwhelmed me, but I didn’t know how to escape it. Alma didn’t know that my life had moved on, that he was no longer the central figure in my story.

I could feel the warmth of Alma’s hand, but the sensation didn’t comfort me. On the contrary, each passing second made me more uncomfortable, as if an invisible weight pressed down on my chest. His touch, though gentle and filled with expectation, no longer belonged to me. My fingers began to tense, and I knew I couldn’t continue pretending like this.

My heart pounded, but not out of emotion or joy. I felt trapped between two worlds—duty and truth, past and present. I was no longer the woman Alma once knew. The woman standing before him had a different life, a different love.

A wave of uncontrollable awkwardness swept over me. I gently withdrew my hand, avoiding Alma’s gaze, unable to meet the clear expectation in his eyes. I saw the fleeting look of surprise and hurt cross his face, but I couldn’t help it. Holding his hand would only deceive both of us.

As soon as I pulled my hand away, my father’s voice rang out from behind, stern and filled with reproach. "Hazel, what are you doing? How can you treat Alma like this? He’s just woken up, and you can’t be so cold!"

I turned, seeing the disapproving looks on both my father and mother’s faces. My father stepped forward, his expression rigid and authoritative, as though he couldn’t accept my resistance. My mother, Luna Laureb, stood beside him, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder, but her eyes still carried unmistakable disappointment.

"Hazel, you must understand, Alma has endured so much pain and hardship. He saved our family, and now you should be by his side," my mother said, her voice gentler, but laced with silent reproach.

I felt my throat go dry. My heart raced as I tried to make sense of why they were acting this way. They knew I was married to Holden, that my life had completely changed. Hadn’t they accepted my marriage? Yet now, with Alma awake, they suddenly acted as though my responsibility to him had never disappeared, as though I was still unmarried, ready to fulfill the duty they expected of me.

I stood there, frozen, unsure of what to say or do. The pressure of their expectations weighed heavily on my shoulders. I wanted to scream that I was no longer Alma’s fiancée, that my heart belonged to someone else, but the words stuck in my throat, unable to be spoken.

I turned back to Alma, his eyes still filled with confusion, but he remained silent. Perhaps he didn’t fully understand yet, didn’t know that I was married to Holden, that I was no longer his. And that made everything even more complicated.

"I... I’m sorry," I whispered, my voice shaky and awkward, not enough to explain the chaotic emotions within me. "But everything has changed..."