She felt his hands move to her zipper and her eyes immediately went wide, but still, she didn’t utter a word. Appearing to understand her affirmation, Jordan slowly pulled it down-all the while, looking away from her to give her some privacy-revealing her creamy back and in a swift movement, he pulled her back into his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
Emerald looked as red as a cherry when she remembered that she had opted out of wearing a bra when the zipper had failed to work in Jordan’s house. But all of that was short-lived when her tightened chest area immediately loosened up and she was finally able to breathe again.
The immense relief she felt left her slightly dazed and she sat limp, resting her entire body against Jordan and no longer feeling shy about her braless back resting against his front. Jordan, in return, wrapped his strong arms tighter around her, making sure that what was currently happening was hidden from the view of the others present in the room.
“Thank you so much,” Emerald whispered quietly and in return, she got a kiss on the corner of her lips. Jordan didn’t seem to mind the PDA but his younger sister and devil of a best friend wouldn’t let him live it down as they both erupted into fake gags and shouts of ‘eww.’
Choosing not to mind them both, Jordan, instead, gently turned Emerald’s face just enough for him to kiss her directly on the lips this time. More ‘ewws’ and fake gags, alongside laughter, filled the air until the couple pulled away from each other, leaving Emerald as red as an apple.
With a smug look in his eyes, Jordan left a kiss on her cheek before looking straight at Keelan. “Fucking third wheeler,” he gibed, smirking as a scowl invaded his friend’s face.
“Haha, funny,” Keelan muttered, unamused, eliciting laughters from Carol, Leonardo and quiet chuckles from Emerald when he crossed his arms over his chest and receded into the couch with a pout.
The sudden ringtone from Leonardo’s phone was successful in saving Keelan. “I need to take this,” he excused himself, placing a kiss on Carol’s forehead and regarding Keelan and Emerald with a small nod and smile respectively before leaving the room.
Jordan grunted, making Emerald feel the movement of his chest against her back and she noticed that his body went stiff for a bit when Leonardo stood up and when he left, he was relaxed again. She had also earlier felt the heavy weight of the colliding tension between the two and it had been so palpable and thick, it could’ve been sliced through by a knife.
Emerald didn’t quite blame Jordan for that, considering how much pain his brother-in-law had put his sister through and being Carol’s therapist and well aware of what had happened, Emerald had also been a tad indignant when she was being introduced to the man himself.
However, after watching the couple’s neverending public display of affection and how genuinely happy Leonardo made Carol, Emerald had eased up. The look in the man’s eyes whenever he gazed at his wife was one of true love and pure adoration. It had melted away any lingering dislike for the man.
But, Emerald couldn’t help but suspect that there was something more to Jordan’s evident hatred for Leonardo. It ran deeper than just his previous behaviours to her, but she refused to pry. In due time, he would open up to her, but would she be able to open up to him?
Discarding her thoughts, Emerald watched as Leonardo walked back into the living room with a sunken expression. Carol must have also noticed because she immediately stood to her feet and walked closer to him. “Is everything alright?”
Leonardo only sighed before running his hand down his face. Carol held both his hands, worry clouding her expression. “Is something wrong, Nardo?” she asked and held his chin, directing his gaze to hers.
“Kathy’s gone,” he muttered and confusion shortly dominated Carol’s face before it slowly cleared off and stiffly, she questioned him.
“What do you mean by Kathy’s gone?” her voice was small as she asked and her husband only responded by looking away from her while running his hand through his hair.
“No,” Carol suddenly whispered, shaking her head. Her voice sounded so sorrowful as she withdrew her hands from Leonardo’s. “No, it can’t be. She can’t just die like that, Nardo. She can’t!” Tears streamed down her face and that appeared to grasp everyone’s attention.
“Carol, honey? What is the matter?” Emerald softly asked, gesturing for Jordan to zip up her dress in an attempt to also calm him down since he was looking so livid as he glared daggers at Leonardo, probably assuming that the man had done something to hurt his sister again. They both rose to their feet.
“Yeah, what is it?” Keelan piped up, also standing.
Leonardo sighed again as he held his weeping wife in his arms. His eyes were bloodshot when he turned to look at them. “I had a patient, who just passed away.” He explained vaguely and tried to calm his wife.
“She wasn’t just any patient,” Carol wept, “she was a young girl, only thirteen but she had been a victim of rape ever since she turned eight.”
Emerald stiffened and her face paled at Carol’s words. “What?” she whispered inaudibly.
“Yes, she was being raped by her mother’s boyfriend secretly before her mother passed away from a car accident, but after her death, it became much worse and it kept up for five whole years.” Leonardo explained, letting Carol settle on the couch again.
“The secret got out when she was kicked out of the house by said boyfriend and a good Samaritan had brought her to my hospital where series of tests were carried out on her and we discovered something,” his voice turned grave and Carol wailed even harder.
Emerald’s heart thudded erratically against her chest and Jordan, standing beside her, noticed how her hands fisted and relaxed occasionally. He stared worriedly at her extremely pallid face. Her previously blushing cheeks had gone as white as a sheet of paper and the sight immensely unsettled him. He could barely hear what Leonardo was narrating.
Emerald, on the other hand, latched onto Leonardo’s every word, dreading the final outcome.
“She was pregnant,” he revealed and just then, a teardrop slid down Emerald’s cheek before another followed. “She was having a baby for the bastard,” Leonardo gritted out, his jaw clenching.
“We began taking care of her but the trauma was too much for her to bear. She had been caught frequently trying to end her own life, but we had done all we could to prevent that. We got her countless therapists but she wouldn’t open up to anyone. Carol then insisted on meeting her and they both began to bond,” he looked at his sobbing wife and pulled her closer to him.
“Although it took a long while before she finally spoke, but gradually, she began to open up.”
“She wanted to keep the baby,” Carol’s pained voice came up. “She wanted to keep the bastard’s baby, because she couldn’t bear to take the life of her own child despite how it came to be. She was so strong, so mature for someone so young yet-” A sob racked through her, preventing her from completing her speech.
Emerald’s chest danced violently as she heaved, taking in deep breaths yet unable to get air to fill her lungs. She had no idea she was convulsing until Jordan held her in his arms tightly. She couldn’t even register his words clearly. He sounded like he was speaking to her from the other far end of a pipeline.
“Emerald? Gem? Are you okay?” Jordan asked, his eyes filled with worry. Looking up, he met with Keelan’s worried gaze as well.
She made no response as she continued staring at Leonardo and Carol who were so engrossed in their narration to notice anything.
“I was informed now that she-” Leonardo cut himself off, letting out a shaky breath before continuing, “she went into labour but didn’t make it. They lost both her and the baby. Her mind and body were too frail for such agony,” he concluded, closing his eyes tightly before resting his chin on his wife’s head while comforting her.
‘She died. . . And with her baby too.’
Such a young soul had to endure such sexual abuse from a very young age up until her early teenage years and it wasn’t just once. She had to go through that for five whole years, yet she still chose to bring her child to life. She still chose to give herself a second chance but life still didn’t grant her that.
‘She died. . .’
Emerald could feel herself getting light-headed. She felt suffocated. She tried to breathe but air refused to aerate her lungs. Her eyes blurred with tears, her throat burned, her chest tightened and all the scars she had previously buried were suddenly ripped open again and blood flowed afresh from them.
She heard voices calling out to her but she couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. She seemed to be in a black hole, in an abyss that only promised her a world of agony and neverending sorrow.
Feeling her breath abandon her, Emerald succumbed to the darkness.