( BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA.)
Ricky Winterfield sat across Arian De’ Argent who was lying on a hospital bed in a private ward. He had a good view of the broken hearted French in coma. His condition was critical.
Stable one minute and unstable the next.
After hearing the terrible crash from inside the room, a professional locksmith was hired and security literally had to bulldoze the door to get to him. Mom Rose went crazy seeing her son lying cold and lifeless in a pool of his own blood.
No one knew how Arian was still alive.
The best doctors were paid to save him but they couldn’t do much. He went into coma and they weren’t sure when he’ld wake up.
Jeffrey, Damon, Nicky and Selena were also in the room. Mom Rose stuck to Arian’s bedside like glue. She looked miserable. Her eyes were red and puffed from so much crying. And her hands couldn’t rest a minute, arranging random stuffs on his bedsheets.
“Doctor Stephen, how long do we still have to wait till he wakes up?” She sounded frustrated.
“Mrs Argent, we believe it’s a short term coma but his immediate consciousness depends on the medication and his will to survive. Unfortunately, the wound is severe and its impact is deep. He lost a whole lot of blood. He’ll be alright but…” He took in a deep breath.
“… but there’s a possibility of some side effects when he regains consciousness.” Mom Rose almost passed out but Ricky was fast enough to catch her.
She rubbed her aching head and weakly pushed Doctor Stephen away when he wanted to admit her.
“You’ve been saying that for ages! Stephen, please I need your sincere diagnosis.”
Doctor Stephen, a honored medical practitioner on the late side of sixty, wearing a half circle glass shoved his hands into his white coat’s pocket and sighed deeply. He’d been the De’ Argent’s family doctor for decades.
“Sincerely Rose… It feels like he doesn’t want to wake up.” Jeffrey shared glances with Ricky and a silent understanding passed between them.
“I say that judging from the occasional, unsteady jumps between life and death and his slow reaction to medication. I don’t know what stress or trauma he’s been going through but it feels like it’s affecting his mental will to live.
“It’s all in his emotion. If you want him awake faster, you can whisper positive things to cheer up his spirit. It’s not medically proven but who knows, he might listen and leave his comatose state faster. Please excuse me.” He said and left.
Everyone looked grim and in pain. Mom Rose sat back beside Arian and took his cold hand, whispering soft words to him with faith in her heart.
Nicky buried her face in Ricky’s chest and he cuddled her. Damon looked morose. Jeffrey was worried and Selena?…. Her face was devoid of emotion most of the time but everyone knew she cried alone behind closed doors.
The engagement party of the decade couldn’t hold because the groom was in a state of coma while the bride was abstruse.
For months, Elva hadn’t called or texted Ricky either. He respected her intentions whatever they were and stayed put. Because he believed that someday she’ld call… and he’ld be there to answer.
He missed her so much…
***
( Astheria, Australia. )
Jake rushed into the late Queen’s room to see the Royal doctors rounding up their examinations. The Empress was awake and lying on the bed. He had a lot of questions but waited until everyone had left the room.
“What happened? I don’t believe your passing out story.” He went straight to the point.
That was what Natalia told the doctors. She explained to him everything that happened and touched the soft pulp behind her head where she was hit.
Thankfully, they’d prescribed pain relievers. Jake looked gloomy but Natalia knew it was all her fault.
“I had a hunch this would happen. It’s why the guards should never leave your side. However, I didn’t expect them to be so rash in their plans to take you out.”
“I know, but I had to. Having guards follow me everywhere around my home would’ve been too suspicious. Besides, I don’t think it was deliberate. I think the suspect was trying to…” She froze midway, recalling her memories.
“The bottle!” She jumped out of bed and scrambled to the floor.
“There was a little bottle with a strange liquid. It was right here! I was with it. I held it!”
“Whoever it was probably took it from you. That’s why you had to be knocked out! He was searching for it. But the question is why?… Why risk everything coming in here to get it?” Jake asked as Natalia’s hand touched a slimy liquid on the carpet.
“Jake!” She moved closer. ”I’d opened the bottle half way before the incident.”
Jake immediately pulled out a handkerchief and crouched beside her. He wiped as much as he could from Natalia’s hand and soaked up the rest on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“If it’s so important to them, we have to find out why.” He stared at the moist handkerchief he’d placed in a zip lock bag.
“I’ll have some tests run and then we’ll know what it is, where it came from and why it was here.” He turned to her.
Natalia nodded with an icy gaze…
***
( BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA.)
The usual hospital visits continued but this time, Selena sat by Arian’s side gently holding his hand. Suddenly, the monitors began beeping frantically.
“What did you do?!” Mom Rose jerked up and ran to her hysterically.
“I… I… the… I wasn’t…” She stuttered tearily, trying to explain when the doctors rushed.
Tears gushed from everyone’s eyes as Arian began to shake violently like he was having a seizure. He was injected and given a bigger oxygen mask but nothing changed.
Suddenly, the lines on the E. C. G slowly graduated from an organised wavy line to a straight one. The beeping became less and less chaotic and more orderly as it changed.
A derifribilator was wheeled in to jump start his heart but nothing revived the dying patient. Soon, the doctors switched to the manual resuscitation but nothing happened.
One of the doctors looked at his wristwatch and a nurse wrote down something. They removed their gloves and shared pensive glances before looking at the frightened family behind them.
“Mrs Argent…” Doctor Stephen came forward with a sad look and gazed at the terror stricken mother.
“Complimenting the words I’d said earlier? I’m so sorry but we lost him…”
***
( Astheria, Australia. )
Elva looked at her phone, wondering whether to call ‘him’ or not. It’d been months and she missed Ricky badly. Her fingers moved to the dial button but she froze at the last minute.
Her loyalty to her best friend came first.
Even though the same best friend kept pushing her away, Elva respected Natalia’s decision to cut contact with everyone back there. She couldn’t bare to be happy when her soulmate wasn’t.
She knew Natalia was still hurting deeply even though she tried to hide it. Her anger and aggression said it all.
So Elva had to be there for her all the way. She pressed her lips in and put her phone away before walking into the Empress’s room. Surprisingly, she found her at the balcony holding a cup of tea.
Elva was stunned.
It was only 3am!
Normally, her schedule ended at midnight. But as Queen, she worked overtime and retired to bed an hour later, starting her day by 4am.
But due to the incident that happened to her some hours ago, Natalia went to bed around 2am. So Elva was stunned seeing her wide awake!
Her bed wasn’t tousled but she was in her nightie which meant she didn’t go to bed!
Elva walked over but Natalia didn’t notice. She had a faraway look in her eyes, staring into the horizon. Arla was by her side, staring at her too. If animals could talk, Elva would’ve asked the pet tigress where her owner’s spirit had flown to.
“Natalia!” She called once again and she jumped.
“Are you alright?” Elva was worried. Natalia looked flustered. She cleared her throat.
“I’m fine. Thank you.” Her formal tone made Elva unhappy. She sulked a little before reading out the Royal schedule for the day anyway.
“At dawn, you have a meeting with the minister of public affairs. The agenda of the meeting has been sent to you beforehand. All you…” Elva paused and looked at her.
“Natalia!” She called out again. The Empress was distracted, looking out into the dark horizon for no reason.
Elva touched her and her gaze finally snapped to the hand on her shoulder.
“You seem distracted. Are you alright? Should I call…”
“There’s no need for that. And like I said earlier, I’m fine. Thank you.” She had a light frown.
Elva swallowed nothing and made way as she passed by. Her withdrawal from everyone was getting worse by the day. Suddenly, Natalia stopped and fidgeted with the cup in her hands before turning to meet Elva’s eyes.
“Is… Is everyone okay?” She asked in a more gentle tone. Elva looked at her in wonder.
“Huh?”
“Is everyone in the palace okay?” Now, a tinge of worry was etched in her captivating eyes.
“Yea… Yeah, I guess so.” Elva stuttered. Natalia looked at Arla with undisguised anxiety but the look vanished the next second.
Turning on her heels, she walked away muttering something about a bad feeling.
To Elva, it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was a good sign!
A good sign that her friend wasn’t totally broken…