Chased by Bad Boys

Chapter 3: Azael's Light

Slowly opening my eyes from the dark consciousness, I came face to face with Aziel lying on my bed sleeping. He was still sitting on the chair and bent over the mattress with his head lying on his arms. I could immediately recognize his woody toned perfume. I looked around and realized that I was in a hospital bed with all the machines standing beside me. I immediately checked my body to see if I was okay and only saw and felt the tube connected to the inner side of my elbow with what I assumed to be IV fluids. I finally remembered how I was last at the beach with Aziel, Casimir and Alistair. Instantly, I scanned the room to realize that it was just Aziel here. I looked around and noticed that it was already dark outside, so I assumed I must have passed out for few hours. Sensing my movement on the bed, Aziel’s eyelids started moving until his blue irises were completely uncovered. He jerked up from his sleeping position and scratched the back of his neck as he asked, “Uhmm, you are up," he sighed before continuing, "Do you want anything?”

Unacquainted with this caring side of him, I remained quiet for a bit before I whispered for some water. He immediately got up to go get me some water. “I will look for the doctor as well and be right back”, he said as he left. I just nodded a his back still fazed by his one eighty personality. I took the time to examine the room I was in. As I rubbed my eyes to try to be more awake, I realized how luxurious the room looked. Opposite to my bed was a beige loveseat with two similar chairs facing it and a coffee table in the middle. There was a small fridge under a table near the floor to ceiling window and a moving arm on my side that looked like a television that you could move around.

As I tried sitting up, feeling like my body was very stiff, Aziel came in. Seeing my struggle, he immediately rushed for my arm to keep me in place and help me but I just jerked my arm away with a frown on my face. Seeing my reaction, I could see Aziel felt hurt and sorry but he just said, “let me help you, I do not want to hurt you… please”.  I just nodded as he found some remote and inclined my bed so I would not have to struggle. After helping me up he assisted me with drinking some water in a cup. He treated me like a doll, which anytime could fall apart. He observed me as I took some sips of the water before gulping it. This moment we were sharing caused some weird sensations in my body and I did not know if it was due to some drugs or just my body but I did not get to investigate it further since the doctor came in.

“Hello Ms. Afifi, I see you finally decided to wake up from your deep slumber,” the doctor teased. I blushed slightly and waited for him to continue. “Based on the information I received from your friends, it seems that you passed out due to the shock caused by some extenuating circumstances.”

Right, it was not a nightmare, my mom did really leave me alone in this world. With that, the sad feelings immediately came back like they never left. Silently listening, I let him continue, “you also seem to have a slight iron deficiency but nothing too alarming. Nothing that some good rest and healthy meals could fix. From my side, you are good to go but since it is so late in the night, I would say you can leave tomorrow. I will have your papers ready so that you can leave in the morning.”

I nodded and said a shy thank you with my already dry mouth. He smiled as he started walking out of the room and right before leaving he turned and added, “Really fine friends you have there by the way. They would not leave any of our staff in peace when we told them you were fine and just needed some rest. They made it a must to question us on the hour.” He chuckled as left. I immediately turned to Aziel who was trying to look anywhere but me. I could see a light blush on his pale complexion. I took a moment to appreciate the sight. Standing in front of me was this six-foot-four football player (not American football) trying to turn his face in a different direction, making his naturally dirty blond curly hair to fall on his face, which still failed to cover his angular face with high cheekbones. He closed his eyes and scrunched his nose as he tried to bite down a yawn that was coming up. Even in a hospital, he still looked handsome with his broad shoulders and firm pecks peeking from under his t-shirt. As he stood there awkwardly, he tensed his arms which went to his back, showing off the definition of his biceps. If I did not feel so exhausted, I would have probably been enjoying this sight more but I wanted some answers.

So I started a conversation, “What happened to me? What are you doing here? Why are you here?” Taken by surprise with my list of questions he stuttered before he started, “You passed out while crying at the beach. We drove you back to the nearest hospital. We are now in Elberta. We took turns to stay with you and informed the school that we found you so that people from your home would not freak out.”

“Where are the others?”, I asked. He told me how Casimir and Alistair were at a hotel nearby since only one person was allowed in my room. That was only possible after much convincing since they were not family but after pulling some strings, Alistair was able to get this much. I blushed, knowing what they went through to make sure that I was fine. “What about my car?”, I asked curiously. “Luckily, Casimir came with me while we drove here so he drove it here. You do not have to worry. Try to get some sleep, you really need rest.”

I nodded at his statement but something inside was eating me and I had to ask him, “Why?” Puzzled by my question, he was not sure what I was referring to, so I repeated, “Aziel, why? Why would you look for me? Why would you care? Why are you doing this? After all these years, you never stopped bullying me so what is it that changed now?”

Recognition, followed by frustration and then guilt displayed on his face as he combed his hair with his left hand. He look agitated and I was not sure what would happen next, but I was not scared. Weirdly enough, I felt safe as I watch him drag the chair close to my bed. He sat down and with elbows on his knees, he joined his hands in front of his mouth showing how he was thinking of what to say next. I just waited patiently as I was not about to go into another sleep session before hearing this one out.

“There is nothing that I can say that will justify my actions. I am really sorry for the way I have treated you but I was a brat as a child and then I had too much of an ego to admit my mistake as I grew up so I carried on. But I now know that I will never let this happen again. That feeling of losing you and not knowing where you were, it drove me crazy. This is why,” he took a moment with his eyes wide open and his forehead lifted as he looked at me and continued, “This is why I can never let you go. Why do you think I came all the way across the country to the same school?” I was dumbfounded at this point. I was just blank staring at him as he kept rattling so I had to make him stop.

“Wait, hold up a sec here! What are you trying to say Aziel?? Speak in clear words”, I allowed him to continue. “Look I know it does not make any sense but ever since I saw you in grade 7, I knew I wanted you to myself. I know we were children but to me you were a prized toy that I wanted to be only mine. That is why I warned everybody not to be your friends as from the first weeks. I know it was a dumb idea I just wanted to be your friend and not share you with anyone. Wherever you went, I had to be there. That is why I took those home economics classes, I did not care as long as I could see you. You were a light at the end of the tunnel. I had a tough family situation and when I first saw you smiling, laughing and so cheery, you were like a breath of fresh air. With time I got scared to taint you with my darkness and with my own problems so that’s why I watched you from  far and ensured nobody would steal you away from me. When you left for this boarding school, I went crazy. I did not know what to do. Nobody would tell me where you were. Since you had no friends, I could not force anybody and the administration would not give away private information so I had to beg my mother to help me and when I did find out, I got my transfer done.”

Still in shock trying to take in the information I just got, I opened my mouth just to close it without saying anything. This was a lot to take in and I was not sure I wanted to process the information. Without a control over my own actions, I just splurted, “ So, that’s why you always stared at me…”. This was a lot for me to take in so I told him, “I think I need some sleep. This is too much for me to take in now. I should rest  we can talk about this later.” Too tired to react, I just flipped away from him and lay in bed as I felt him lower my bed before tucking me in. As he got himself in his previously sleeping position, he whispered, “Nefi, I am so sorry for how lonely I made you feel but I promise you that I will make it up to you.”

With those words, I fell into a peaceful sleep. Comforted by his promise and by the care he displayed, I allowed him to momentarily take me away from the emotional pain I was currently going through.