CHAPTER FOUR: THE LONGEST NIGHT
1120 Words
Nadia POV
The door opened and it was not Priya who stood by the entrance, rather it was Ethan.
Dressed in his work clothes, his tie was gone, like he had left it only the heavens knew where he left it after he had received the call as there was silence in the ward
He looked at me before looking at Liam who was on the bed.
I noticed his expression
I had been noticing his expression for six years, trying to figure out what he had known and what he had not yet known: whether any of this had been real, I had imagined the version of him that used to burn pasta, laughing out loud while calling my name softly.
I looked at his face and noticed that he had a tender look on his face which has not been there for a long time.
Then he entered the ward and he looked at Liam for a while.
His hands clenched into a fist at the sides.
He pulled out the chair and sat at the other end without asking for permission, and didn't say a word as he sat down.
“How did you know that we were here?” I asked.
“Priya called me.”
“I didn't ask her to.”
“I know,”
He wasn't looking at me this time, he was looking at Liam.
“Were you telling the truth when you told me that he was six years old?” He asked.
“Ethan,” I said, not answering his questions.
“Nadia,” he called in a cold tone, I sighed out loud as I nodded.
He did the calculations as his eyes widened as saucers before reverting to his original countenance.
His hand was on the bedrail tightly as his knuckles were white.
“Why didn't you tell me?” He asked.
“Because I couldn't,” I replied.
He looked at me with raised eyebrows: staring at me for a little while before returning his gaze to Liam.
“Is he going to be okay?” He asked.
“The doctor said that he was going to be fine as the fever was already coming down.”
He nodded.
We sat there as silence ensured in the ward, the only sound that was heard was the sound of the monitor beeping.
At some point, a nurse came and checked the IV, saying some encouraging words before leaving the ward. Ethan didn't move the whole time, he didn't check his phone for any message and didn't look at any place except the bed.
“Tell me,” he said after the nurse had left.
“Tell you what?” I asked.
“Everything.” He replied.
I looked at Liam sleeping as I exhaled out, telling him about the deal with his mother, the bank check, the threats to call off the arrangement if she found out that I had called him. I told him about Liam and the pain and agony that I had to bear in the labor room.
He listened without interrupting me as his expression remained calm.
When I finished, he was silent for a while.
“She told me that you chose to leave,” he said in a low tone.
“I know.”
“She told me that you took the money because you wanted to.”
I held back my words as I didn't know what to reply, God knows how it must have hurt him to say those words.
He stood up.
“I need to go.”
“Ethan…”
“Not because of him,” he looked at Liam one more time then at me. “But because I need to deal with her before I end up doing something that I would regret. I just need a few hours.”
He moved towards the door and stopped before turning back to look at me.
“Lock the door, tonight,” he said.
I looked at him with a confused expression.
He rolled his eyes at me as I resisted the urge to laugh.
“Lock the door,” he said it for the second time then he was gone.
I sat in the ward as I placed my hands on the bed rail where his hands had been.
It was still warm.
I left my hands there for a moment before pulling it back.
Liam stirred but didn't wake up and turned his head slightly towards me the way he always does. It turns out that even in his sleep, he knows where I am.
Priya arrived about an hour after he had left. Her hair was wet as she was not dressed completely, turns out that she had left her flat in a hurry.
She stopped at the door and looked at me with a concerned look.
“Is he….”
“The fever is coming down a bit. He's okay.
She came in and sat down on the chair that Ethan had sat, it was still tilted towards the bed region.
“Ethan was here,”
She played with the hem of her dress, a habit that meant that she was guilty as charged: she still had a conscience after all.
“I called him. You said you had nobody and I….”
“I know,” I replied, placing my hands gently on her lap. “It's fine.”
“What happened?”
I didn't know where to start as I thought about the expression he had shown when I told him the news.
“He knows.”
Priya gently placed her hands on my lap as she had a loving expression on her face.
“Everything?” She asked in a soft tone.
“I think so,” I shrugged.
She didn't say anything for a while.
“What did he do?”
“He left, saying that he needed to deal with his mother and told me to lock the door,” I replied.
“What does that mean?” She asked.
“I don't know,” I replied.
And that was what kept me awake for a while, long after Priya had slept on the chair and Liam breathing was already steady: and the ward was finally quiet.
Not the information that Ethan had known nor what he had felt.
The words “lock the door,” were continuously ringing in my ears.
What Ethan did not know yet was that Diana had already set plans in motion.
My heart raced at a faster pace because I knew that things were going to get tough from here
And there could only be one winner.
But the question here is
Who???
- Writer
