A few hours have gone by since Thomas was shot. The whole family is in the hospital. Melina fears every second, the doctors will just come out and confirm Thomas is dead. Hopefully, that won’t happen. She snaps out of her reverie when someone calls her.
“Melina,” someone says, barging into the room. Melina turns her head to the door, and her eyes widen in shock.
“Franky!” Melina jolts out of her seat and runs to her sister.
“Hello, Mel,” Franky says, smiling.
“Oh, my God! Franky, it’s really you,” Melina says, pulling her in for a hug.
“Yes, it’s me.” “I’m so sorry for what happened to Thomas,” Franky says, pulling from their embrace.
“I don’t know what I will do, Franky, if he dies. I didn’t even tell him I forgave him before he closed his eyes,” Melina says, as fresh tears sting the back of her eyes.
“Don’t worry; he will be fine.” Franky gives her hands a warm squeeze and an encouraging smile.
“I’m praying for that.” “How did you escape?”
“Leo rescued me. I was held in one of Kimberly’s apartments in the city. That’s why I wasn’t where you were kept.”
“Kimberly?” Melina asks, shocked, but it only lasts for a second. She realizes she shouldn’t be surprised Kimberly helped Rafael hide her sister. Thomas probably didn’t tell her his plans to switch places with Franky because if he did, Melina doesn’t think she’d have helped Rafael.
“Yes, she helped Rafael hide me hoping you’d trade places with me.”
“Wow, and how did Leo learn about the place?”
“Leo says after they left to rescue you, Thomas still had Kimberly interrogated to find out how deeply she betrayed him. She confessed.”
“Oh,” Melina recalls Leo receiving a call after they arrived at the hospital and leaving soon after. He must have received the call then about Franky’s whereabouts.
“Leo said Rafael and James weren’t there when he found you.”
“Really?”
Franky nods her head.
“I wasn’t paying attention, but I doubt James will survive. I shot him close to the heart.”
“Yeah, me too.” “How are you doing, sis? Shooting someone must be terrifying,” Franky asks, concerned about how she is coping.
“I still can’t believe I shot him, but I don’t regret it.”
“That’s good because James deserves so much worse.”
“Yes, he does.”
“Uhm…, do you think Rafael would come looking for me?” Franky says out of nowhere.
“Why would he?” Melina asks, her brows furrowing in confusion.
“It’s just that…” Franky trails off, withholding what she wishes to say.
Melina looks at her sister, waiting for her to explain why Rafael would come looking for her especially.
“Nothing, I’m probably overthinking,” Franky says, dismissing the subject.
“Okay.” Melina doesn’t buy it but doesn’t push her sister to talk. Her main concern was Thomas right now. She will pester her sister later to explain things to her.
Melina walks back to her seat beside Kat but doesn’t sit as a doctor appears, asking for Thomas’ family. Melina rushes to where the female doctor stands.
“Mr. Costanzo was brought in an awful condition and lost a lot of blood, but…” Melina holds her breath, waiting for the doctor to continue. “We were able to save him as the bullet merely missed his heart,” the doctor says.
Melina releases the breath she’s been holding. “Thank God!” Tears of Joy form in her eyes. She couldn’t be happier Thomas was alive.
“Can we see him?” Kat asks.
“Yes, right this way,” the doctor says, leading the way.
Once they arrive at his room, everyone goes in to see Thomas. More tears of Joy fill her eyes as she hears the heart monitor in the room.
Beep, Beep, Beep.
Melina walks towards him and stands beside his bed. She brushes his hair out of his face and counts his scars that will heal with time. She moves her eyes down and sees the bandage around his chest area. Her heart clenches, remembering the bullet was meant for her. She moves her hand over to his chest. She feels his heartbeat, and hers unclenches. She needed that, even though a heart monitor was in the room telling her he was alive.
“When will he wake up, doctor?” Kat asks.
“He should wake up any time soon,” the doctor replies.
“Alright.”
“Mel,” Kat calls her.
“Since we know Thomas is fine now, why don’t you go home, shower and change.”
Melina looks at her body and realizes she has Thomas’ blood all over her. She totally forgot, but she doesn’t want to leave his side.
“I’ll drive you home and back. You will be back at his side in no time,” Kat says, noticing her hesitation. Melina takes another look at herself. His blood has even dried under her fingernails. She needs to shower.
“I would apprentice that, thank you.”
“It’s fine, dear. Let’s go,” Kat says, leading her out the door.
Melina follows Kat outside the hospital and into her car, and she drives them home.
***
Getting to the house, Melina takes the steps two at a time to her room. She quickly takes off her bloody clothes and hops into the shower. She takes the quickest shower she’s ever taken and dresses up in record time. Melina doesn’t even bother to use makeup to cover the scars on her chest before asking Kat to drive her back to the hospital.
Melina walks back into Thomas’ room, pulls a chair by his bed, and sits. Kat kisses her goodbye and promises to be back tomorrow morning, or once Thomas wakes up. She would have slept in the hospital to wait till Thomas woke, but there was only one couch available to sleep on, and Melina will be using it tonight.
“Hello, my love,” Melina says softly, taking his hand in hers. Warmth spreads into her palms as she holds his hand. She remembers his hand lifelessly dropping to her lap some hours ago. God! I can’t imagine what I would have done if I had never felt warmth from his hands again. She lifts his hand and places it against her cheeks to feel the heat from it more, but she unexpectedly drops it when she hears a deep hoarse voice in the room.
“Hi, principessa,” Thomas says, opening his eyes.
“Thomas!” Melina exclaims, her heart racing at the sight of his beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Her eyes well up with tears of joy.
“Why are you crying, amore?” Thomas asks, wiping away her tears.
“I’m just so happy to see you awake,” Melina replies, sniffing.
“You know I hate it when you cry.”
“Yes, I know; I’ll stop crying.” Melina wipes her cheeks clean and tries to keep her tears under bay.
“That’s more like it,” Thomas smiles at her.
“I forgive you for everything, Thomas,” Melina rushes to say. She doesn’t want him to be on this planet for another minute without knowing. Fresh tears sting the back of her eyes as she watches his eyes light up. She can’t believe he would have died without knowing. That would just have been horrible.
“Really?” he asks, searching her eyes to see if she’s lying.
“Yes, I have forgiven you,” Melina says as she stares deeply into his eyes. She wants him to see her heart through them and know she has truly forgiven him.
“Come here,” Thomas says, smiling. Melina stands up from her chair and joins Thomas on the bed. She lies on his right side, not where he was shot.
“Thank you for forgiving me. I love you,” he seals his lips with Melina’s.
“I love you, too,” Melina mutters against his lips, smiling