Arabelle

Chapter 17 - Hospital Encounter

Bella’s POV

Ian and I arrived city hospital after a short 10 minutes’ drive, my house wasn’t too far from the hospital, the drive was a quiet one, we both had a lot on our minds, I was thinking  about Danny, I needed to call him back as soon as I got home, I am sure he was beginning to get worried, he couldn’t like he used to because his parents were back in town and whenever they were in town, they usually spent a lot of time together, presently, they were at their beach house on the other side of town, I really needed to call him as soon I got back home, he needed an explanation for why I was clearly ignoring him,

Danny really meant a lot to me and the thought of losing him was scary and terrifying, I will never be able to forgive myself if something happened to me because of all this, I will forever blame myself, I didn’t want to leave like that so I must make sure he was safe.

“Here we are” Ian said from beside me and he pulled up in front of city hospital which was crowded and filled with reporters from different TV and radio stations, it was a mad house and the reporters were running around chasing whoever they thought was worth their time, I felt thankful I was wasn’t known to the press, then I heard Ian let out a cuss,

“These people have to be the worst set of people on the planet, they have no meaning of the word privacy, I can’t say that I am a fan of them” Ian said,

I could not help the laugh that escaped me, he said it with so much displeasure like he found the situation hurtful, I figured he will be recognized the moment he stepped out of the car and we will be swarmed by reporters,

He turned to look at me with a glare “You find that funny huh, I was once chased by a paparazzi when I was in London, I had gone to a party with a friends of mine and someone he sighted me and started following me around asking for a blasted interview, I told the guy I was interested but of course he didn’t listen, I got angry and  yelled at him to f**k off, he left, much later into the party, I went to men’s room and my great displeasure, the jerk had followed me into the men’s room and was still asking for a damn interview, like who the hell interviews a guy in the bathroom, I wanted to sue to sue the jerk but mum convinced not to, he was just lucky” he said,

He had a look on his face that made me really want to laugh but I held it in because it seemed like the matter was personal to him,

“So what are we going to do now? It seems almost impossible to get past them” I said,

Ian flashed me a smile “Once beaten, twice shy, they say, I have learned not to be beaten” he said and reached into the back seat of the car, he pulled out a back pack, his smile changed into a smug one,

“What’s in the bag Ian?” I asked,

Ian opened the bag and pulled out a baseball hat, then a black leather jacket followed and then a pair of trousers and shirt, then finally a pair of sneakers,

He looked up at me and smiled “Now all I require is a little privacy” he said,

I had to hand it to the guy, he was really prepared for anything,

“You are a character Ian” I said as I got of the car, I rested my body against the car and waited for Ian to put on his so called mask,

Exactly 8 minutes later, Ian came out of the car looking like a bad ass college student, his formerly neat hair was now messy and he was rocking the black leather jacket he was wearing over a black shirt, he had a blue jeans on and finally a pair of black sneakers, he also had dark shades on,

“Wow, you never seize to amaze me” I said,

“I think you mean I look jaw droppingly handsome” he said with a smile only fit for a rake,

“You wish, you totally wish” I said with a smile,

Ian scoffed and said “Since you won’t admit it, it’s okay, I can’t blame you, you do have your pride as a lady to keep intact”

I laughed and said “Let’s just go please”

“Ladies first” Ian said with the same rakish smile,

I laughed and turned toward the entrance of the hospital, Ian caught up with me and walked beside me, we passed the reporters and they even spare us a second glance,

Ian gave me a smug smile once we were inside “That’s how legends operate” he said,

I smiled and said “Yeah some Legend indeed”

“Hater” he said

I stuck my tongue out at him and surprisingly, he stuck his tongue right back at me,

I laughed and he did the same “Wait in the waiting area while I find out where we are supposed to go” he said,

I nodded and he went off towards the reception, I turned and walked towards the waiting area, it was empty save for a man standing there, he was dressed in a business suit, he was tall and awfully familiar, I thought,

As I came closer, I realized I knew he was, it was Richard, what on earth was he doing here? I hadn’t expected to run into him here,

“Richard” I said,

Slowly, almost too slowly, he turned around to look at me and I almost regretted that he did, his hazel eyes locked on mine and for some reason that I could never know, he had a small smile on his face but it slowly fade away, he was looking at me with a kind of longing in his eyes,

“What are you doing here Arabelle” he said, his voice was low, it had that deep timbre that I had loved so much in the past, I said nothing in reply to his question,

As I looked at him closely and I realized he looked sad, I suddenly remembered Ruth’s words, she had said that I also had to protect Richard, protect him from what? How was it that he needed my protection when I saw him as an enemy, he had hurt me in the worst of ways and now they tell me that I needed to protect him, he possessed the answers to all the questions I had but he had chosen to remain silent, he had chosen to protect the one that deserved no protection, I looked at him closely, even now, I could still see the love he had for me, this man had loved me truly in another life and even now he still did so, I had to reach out to him, beg if I had to, he just had to tell me the truth.

 I found myself walking towards him, he didn’t move, he just kept his eyes on me, Finally, I was standing before him, I was just one step away from him and he was looking down at me, his hazel eyes were looking into my blue ones with a deep intensity, he still cared for me and without doubt obviously loved me,

“Richard, for the sake of the life we once shared and the love we once had, I beg you tell me the truth, I know you are hiding something, you trying to protect someone but please I beg you to tell me the truth, a lot of people are in danger” I said,

I hoped and prayed with everything that I held dear that he will agree to tell me the truth, that something might move him to tell me everything he was hiding, in his eyes, I saw a lot of conflicting emotions,

 He looked at me for a while then he said “I am sorry Arabelle, I truly am but there are some questions I cannot answer, I am very sorry”

With that he turned away from and made to walk away, I watched him as he walked away, if let him leave now then I will lose my chance, I felt a vulnerability from him now, if I remained adamant, he might just c***k and tell me what I needed to know,

A young man came up to him to say something but Richard simply walked past him saying words I didn’t hear, he was going to leave if I didn’t stop him, I found myself walking towards him once again, only this time, I was walking a lot faster than I had done before, my heels clicked on the tiles floor as I walked toward him,  

“Derrick” I called out to him, I didn’t want to call his name in the presence of the young man, he ignored me and kept walking, he had increased his walking pace, he was walking a lot faster as well now,

“Derrick” I called once again and still he ignored me,

“Richard” I said, this time around, I yelled his name, I didn’t care anymore who heard us,

This time around, he did stop, I walked around to face him, the moment I was standing in front of him, I found my right hand lifting all on it’s on and a few seconds later, it collided with his left cheek, the young man attempted to stop me or perhaps do something but Richard stopped him, I could the shock on the young man face but Richard’s expression remained vague, he said nothing which fueled my anger,

“You are so selfish Richard, all you care about is yourself, how many more people need to die before you speak up, why have you chosen to protect someone that is undeserving of protection, this person you are protecting is no better than a monster, you are willing to be the hated and guilty one for the sake of this person, why are you doing this Richard? You have become a spineless coward, you are far cry from the man I remember, I remember who was honorable and just but now all I see is a coward undeserving of the man in my memories, you have become a disgrace to the name you so much cherished, you have failed your family name, you failed me once Richard, please don’t fail me again, I beg you, just tell me the truth, I beg you before anyone else ends up getting hurt” I said, my voice was sounding a lot calmer than I intended,

The young man was looking at us like we had lost our minds, it was obvious he couldn’t understand anything we were saying,

Richard looked at me closely, then he took a step closer to me, he was standing even closer than I had done before, some parts of our bodies were touching and those place, I felt warmth spreading, I wanted to step back but I found I couldn’t of maybe, I didn’t want to, the smell of musk that emanated from him was maddening, he brought his face very close to mine, so close, I could feel his minty breath on my skin, for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me and I wasn’t even sure how I will react if he did so, then his face moved away from mine and his lips went close my right ear

“You will be smart to just forget about all this Arabelle, I am not trying to be a coward as you had said, I am just trying to protect you, you will get hurt again and like in the past, I won’t be able to save you, I will have to sit back and watch it all over again and we will be right back to where we started, just take your revenge from me and forget about the rest, because no good will come from it, just more death” he said,

His breath fanned my ear and the side of my neck, a shiver traveled down my spine, I wasn’t sure if it was because of his words or because of the proximity between us, whatever it was, it was an unwelcome feeling,

 I stepped back from him, he straightened himself and looked into my eyes, he was looking at me with a mixture of emotions, I couldn’t understand what he was thinking,

“Just listen to me Arabelle, it is much better if you forget all this and simply do what it was you initially planned, I will accept your punishment and everything ends there, you live your life happily and forget all this” He said,

“I find it amusing that you think you are in the position to make suggestions or requests, you are supposed to be on your knees begging for forgiveness with tears in your eyes, yet you stand tall and make stupid requests” I heard Ian’s voice say from behind Richard,

Richard turned around to look at the source of the voice, I looked toward Ian’s direction and I was shocked by what I saw, Ian’s face was void of the usual humor and warmth, his face was like a hard granite mask and his eyes were angry and I could see rage burning in their depths,

Richard looked at him for a moment then he said “Ian Langrove”

Ian smiled, it wasn’t his usual smile, this smile was full of evil intent “Derrick King, we meet at last, this was exactly how I envisioned our first meeting, once a bastard always a bastard, you are just as arrogant as I expected, Arabelle is wasting her time reasoning with someone like you, I don’t care what you think, I will come after you and whoever it is that is responsible for today’s event and when I do, you will all regret the day you hurt Arabelle” he said,

Richard said nothing, he simply remained quiet and watched as Ian walked up to me, Ian held my hand and pulled me away,

“Let’s go Bella, there is no use being here anymore” he said,

I said nothing and simply followed behind him, when we got to the exit, I turned one last time to look at Richard, he was looking at me with a vague expression on his face, then he vanished from my view and we were outside the hospital.