HURACIO
The moment our gazes clashed, fear slipped into her eyes. She stopped at the door and stared at me, clearly not knowing what to do.
Feeling frustrated, I stopped glaring at her and rubbed my forehead. If just looking like a wet cat can make me weak-hearted, then who is the actual master?
“Come over here.” I tried to soften my voice.
“Huracio. You are back?” She walked over with her head bent and said. Her voice was small and trembling.
“Yes. I am back.” I grumbled, trying to keep my displeasure out of my voice. “How did your shopping go?”
“It was fine.”
It was fine? Is that all you are going to say? I groaned inwardly.
When I was notified some hours ago that Helena surfaced and went to look for Katalina, I was happy. Our plan worked, and as long as she did her part, this long wait would be over. I waited for Katalina to call me, but to my grave disappointment, the call never came.
What did that mean?
My threats, my punishments, none of them worked. This girl never took me seriously. Was I too lenient?
Filled with indignation and vowing to break her spirit within the shortest time, I went back home to wait for her. But when she finally came back, the fear and anxiety in her eyes instantly deflated my anger. I realized at that moment that I didn’t want her to look at me like that. This discovery wasn’t just absurd, it was alarming. If Salvatore had known that I was getting attached to this girl, he would probably find a way to snatch her from me. Refusing to think about what he would do to her, I shook my head and adjusted my pose on the chair.
“Sit.” I spread my legs out and tapped on them.
She cautiously lowered herself on my lap , and I snaked a hand around her back.
“Tell me everything that happened at the mall today. Don’t leave anything out.”
Her body instantly went stiff, and her face paled. A clear indication that she was planning to hide it from me.
I felt a tightness in my chest and squeezed her waist. She slightly wiggled, snapping back to her senses. Her breathing quickened and I could almost smell her fear.
“She wasn’t my Mum.” She blurted out with averted eyes.
“She is,” I said in a low voice.
“She is?” Katalina abruptly faced me with pale, shocked, wild eyes.
Nodding, I clicked on my phone and showed her some clips of Helena stealthy following her around in the mall.
The longer she looked, the paler she became. Her body was trembling nonstop in my arms, slowly putting out the heat of rage I was nursing all day.
“She was the one? She really was the one.” Her voice trembled and big balls of tears rapidly coursed down her cheeks, further disarming me.
Once the video ended, she turned to me with big, loud, ragged sniffs.
“I didn’t know. I really didn’t know. I didn’t see her face. When I ran after her, she ran away. I tried to look for her, but I couldn’t find her. So I thought I was wrong. I am sorry. I really didn’t know.”
“It’s okay.”
I held her close and slowly rubbed her back.
Though I knew she was telling half-truths, the hurt and confusion in her eyes were hauntingly disturbing. She had never cried this hard.
“It’s okay, kitty.”
The more I reassured her, the harder she cried. So I carried her to the bedroom, tucked her in bed, and then stayed with her until she cried herself to sleep.
A soft knock on the door woke me up from a deep sleep. I had no idea when I slept off.
Half of her torso was lying on me, with her head resting in the center of my chest. Listening to the soft thudding of her heartbeats, everything felt perfect. I didn’t want to move.
“Come in,” I grumbled, worried that the knocking would wake her up.
The door slowly creaked open and Rosa poked her head in.
“I cooked dinner. You should eat.”
Dinner?
Sitting up, I realized that it was dark outside the window. The alarm on the bedside table read 9:48 PM. Katalina came back around 7 pm, meaning we had slept for more than an hour.
Seeing how deeply she was sleeping, I felt reluctant about waking her up. I waved Rosa away and gently tried to transfer her head to a pillow.
That was when I realized that she was cold to the touch but also sweaty. I switched on the light and found her very pale with rosy cheeks. Her face was furrowed like she was having a nightmare.
“Kitty?” I tried to wake her up but got no response.
Confused, I shook her, but she just grumbled in her sleep and went silent again. I watched in dismay as a single tear slipped out of the corner of her left eye, and slid down her cheeks.
“Kitty, wake up. It’s just a dream. Wake up!” I shook her again but got no response. Though she wasn’t running a temperature, my guts told me that something was very wrong.
I picked up my phone and called Gerald immediately.
“She is cold to the touch but sweaty? Are you sure she doesn’t have a fever?” Gerald repeated the symptoms I just listed, making me feel like choking him. How can a specialist doctor be so slow?
“Yes. I grumbled angrily.
“Did she experience any form of shock recently?”
“N…, maybe?”
Did seeing her mother count as a shock? I wasn’t sure, but I decided to play safe.
“In that case, it’s just a case of anxiety and shock. Keep her well-fed and dehydrated. Try to distract her from whatever is causing her anxiety.”
“I want you to come check her right now.” I snapped.
“I am preparing for surgery, Huracio. I can’t leave right now.”
Twitching my lips in annoyance, I ended the call and gazed worriedly at her.
I carried her out of the bed, changed her clothes, and put a well-padded coat on her, before tucking her back on bed. I then turned on the heater before going out of the room.
Thirty minutes later, I returned with a bowl of hot soup that I just finished making, planning to feed it to her to warm her up from the inside. But on checking on her, I found her blazing hot and shivering. Her lips were almost purple and caked. Yet, she wouldn’t wake up.
I turned off the heater and removed all the clothing on her. I then spent more than half of the night, keeping her temperature down by repeatedly wiping her body with wet towels.
Rosa came over with some home remedies for fever and I managed to force it down her throat with some of the soup I made after it cooled down.
Some time before dawn, her fever went down and I was able to drift into an uneasy sleep. Soon after, Gerald arrived, looking as grumpy as ever. He fixed a drip for her and took her blood for testing.
“When is she going to wake up?” I asked anxiously.
“Her drip has some sedatives, but she should wake up by evening.” He replied as he packed up his things. His voice sounded accusatory and made me feel the need to explain the situation.
“I didn’t do anything to her.” I blurted before I could stop myself.
“I didn’t ask.” He scoffed.
Knowing that he blamed me and didn’t believe me, I got angry and glared at him.
“Get out.”
Ignoring me, his motions became extra slow.