Hand to Hold

Chapter 9

Nightmares came true.

.

.

Sitting on the study table, reading the same paragraphs, again and again, wasn’t pushing them out of mind. The whole morning my mind was hung upon them... They, who acted like they were the end of Royale family’s dictatorship, the truth couldn’t be more distant from it...

Sigh.

I-I didn’t understand. I just wanted Ash to be fine.

Black Hood would assassinate him if I was around him though they also wanted him dead even if I was excluded from the scenario. Considering these, was it alright for me to stop walking an extra mile just to be away from him?

They didn’t know Belle Verona yet my heart thumped nervously; my parents weren’t there to hold me because of them, and he-he also near died just to protect me.

I slammed the book and at the same time clouds thundered.

Hating the phenomenon I walked over to my bed and lied down on the soft mattress. I skipped the dinner today with the excuse that I wasn’t hungry. Plus, I wanted to avoid Aunt May.

Since I wasn’t hungry I also took my night medicine empty stomach, just like last night.

The dizzying remedy wasn’t working because my thoughts turned to that night's direction... It was the nightmare that I wish didn’t happen.

Opening my eyes all I wanted everything to be a dream... A big, haunting nightmare which in no way was related to reality. Though, adjusting to the lightning and gazing a little below ceiling the IV drip attached to me proved, it was all true.

Every single thing was true. Ash getting shot was true. Falling unconscious with his head on my lap was also true.

I got up with a jerk, causing my head to spin. I held myself until Mom's hands steadied me and arranged the pillows to support me. Her eyes glanced in mine with a pool of concern, and it was the second confirmation that things weren’t right.

Mom never really showed her emotions until in the absolute mother mode, and absolute mother mode only happened when situations were extremely low.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, she showed her desperation and fear, "Rose, how are you feeling now? Is your head hurting? Are you feeling giddy?"

My strong mama bear was trying to hide her tears, and I tried stopping her from rambling, "Mom..."

She ignored my voice on purpose and taking a deep breath, continued, "Though your fever has gone down, I should still call doc-"

I cut her off, and called her out again this time in a louder voice, "Mom!"

Her eyes met mine and she nodded, "Yes, baby."

Tears brimmed in my eyes, "Is-Is Ash alright?"

She shook her head, "No one knows, doctors are still operating on him. But according to what I heard, the chances that he survive or don't slip into coma are very low."

I nodded, and took a deep breath to make sure my voice doesn't break, "Where is Dad?"

She pressed her lips in a thin line and lovingly moved her hands through my hairs, "He is at home, looking after Sab. He fears in case Black Hood turns its attention on Sab, the babysitter won't be able to take them on."

Guess it for yourself, the babysitter was a trained bodyguard more than a caretaker. Yet, Dad couldn't trust him and in the end, returned to Sab. I didn't ask anything after that and Mom rang the bell to call a doctor.

Though, when he entered the room he wasn't alone.

Apart from a nurse, Alex, Uncle David and Aunt Julianne also came to check up on me in the private room of VIP ward. The only voice that boomed throughout the room was of the doctor as everyone else, including me, didn't know what to say.

In the end, he also declared that I would be discharged and I should rest at home. And that was the end of my silence, I argued with Mom, Uncle David and even Alex because I didn’t want to leave. It was Aunt Julianne who permitted me to stay with them and also sit in the waiting area.

But she then took Mom and Uncle David outside the room, probably to discuss things more privately and Alex helped me to the waiting room. Wearing the loose hospital gown I took heavy doses of caffeine under Mom's disapproving eyes to pull up an all-nighter.

The operation was sixteen hours long and then they warned that if he doesn't open his eyes in the next five hours he will slip into the coma... And the exact thing happened.

With the rain of that night, everything rushed back to me like it happened yesterday.

From the pain that shot through my veins the next day in the noon when doctors declared him comatose to Alice and Rexona’s attempts to soothe me from the other side of the phone.

The memory was imprinted in my mind.

Everything I knew was blurred that night and my happiness turned into an illusion.

Surprisingly, it all happened six days prior to Ash's birthday but the day was as normal as it could be, whereas it was after his birthday that the numbness refused to part with me.