Chapter 32 Closed Eyes
Lina's POV
I didn’t wake up gently. Unlike every other day, I woke up like I was being chased from the other side of the world.
I felt myself floating first, like my mind was trying to swim out of a deep, heavy darkness.
Then a soft beeping sound pushed through the silence, steady and faint, dragging me closer to the surface.
For a spilt second, I felt confused…whether I should wake up or not. I wasn't sure.
My eyelids twitched and my breathing deepened, then my fingers curled slightly against the white sheets that was underneath me.
I wasn't sure what was happening or where exactly I was.
I barely even remembered what happened to me last. Well, I remembered myself slumping down into someone's arms…but I couldn't tell why I slumped or what happened before I slumped.
And then I squinted my eyes open at once.
The first thing I noticed was the white ceiling. Then the sharp sting of light running behind my eyes. It felt like my head was full of needles.
It stung me so badly, I almost grabbed the closest fabric next to me to cover my face with it.
I blinked slowly, trying to understand where I was and why everything felt so… still.
Then it hit me like a wave of storm.
The hospital.
I'm clearly not at home….not in my office…
Maybe in a hospital?
Then I perceived it—the smell hit me hard and real—the inevitable smell of disinfectants and that regular taste of being unhealthy even though you were just a visitor in the hospital.
They all hit me at once and I don't need no one to tell me where I was now.
Well, I almost missed it; that cold sterile scent hospitals always carried. Hmm, so traumatic!
I swallowed and shifted a little. Pain shutting through my ribs as I tried to be comfortable on the bed. I wasn't comfortable still.
Before I even knew how to move properly not to hurt my aching body the more, someone had already moved beside me.
Someone was sitting beside me all this while. The person was asleep but suddenly jerked awake at my sudden movement.
“Lina? Lina, wait—don’t get up yet. Just… hold on. I’m here.” the familiar voice spoke as he rushed closer to me.
It was Noel.
He was sitting on the small couch near my bed, but the moment Imoved, he shot to his feet and rushed toward me like he’d been waiting hour after hour just for this moment to see me awake again.
His hands were on my shoulders almost immediately, already helping me to sit up slowly, carefully.
I blinked at him, shocked to see him in one piece—quiet, alive, normal.
Then the memory hit me like a storm.
I remembered it like i5 happened just now: Noel standing by the edge of the window in his hotel room while his eyes turned completely black and something was whispering to him to jump and ‘come home.’
“Noel…?” I whispered softly, shock evidence in my tone. It was as if I was shocked to see him alive.
His face was pale but steady. He nodded quickly. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me. Just breathe, okay?”
I couldn't breath properly. The whole thing was confusing now.
What exactly made me slump?
Why did I slump?
I shook my head and blanked my eyes like I wanted to wash away the sleepiness in my eyes.
Then I looked at him harder and to my own realization, there was no dark circles under his eyes like they appeared earlier in his hotel room.
Something haunted me even more, and that's the fact that all of this was happening the very same day that Noel and I had sex.
It's been a very long time and it's more terrifying remembering that we were so horny that we didn't care for a condom.
Noel didn't take cover before going into me.
Hell no, he fucked me raw.
No condom.
No pills.
Okay I think I'm doomed.
I looked up at him again, he didn't seem concerned about the sex, he was just smiling at me…like he was fucking excited to see me alive.
Well, I should be the one who's surprised to see him alive because he was the one who was standing by the edge of his window and almost jumped off.
Now he's suddenly normal. No trembling hands. No wild look like earlier. No confusion. He looked… present again.
And that alone terrified me.
“You… you’re okay?” I asked with a breaking voice. I was barely audible.
I was scared and happy at the same time.
Noel nodded softly, his eyes still scanning me while his expression kept asking if I was okay too.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” he said sharply, as if it didn’t matter. He glanced at my hands, then back at my face… before letting out a sigh.
Then he swallowed and his voice instantly softened. “What about you, Lina? How do you feel? Are you hurting anywhere?”
I took a slow breath. “I feel… strange. My whole body hurts like it was dragged across a floor. My head is the worst though. It feels like someone hit me with something heavy.” I explained.
Noel looked instantly worried. “Should I call the doctor? The nurse? Anyone? Say the word and I’ll go.”
“No,” I said quietly. “I just… need a second.”
Noel sat on the edge of the bed, but not too close, like he didn’t want to overwhelm me. His eyes stayed on my face and I could see the fear he was trying to hide.
Then a memory suddenly pushed into my mind—sharp, vivid, cold, and thoughtfully unexpected.
It was my keys.
Yes I remember now
I left my keys behind at Noel's hotel room.
Wait, was it my keys that I left behind or my phone?
Hm, I don't know precisely but I knew it was either my keys or my phone.
Then I got into the elevator. And by the time I remembered that I wasn't with my keys, I was already on the ground floor.
So I'd to go back up to grab my phone or keys…whichever one it was that I left behind.
Oh my fucking god! I can remember everything vividly now.
The hotel room.
The coincidence. Everything.
My eyes widened slightly as everything came rushing back.
Noel noticed immediately. “Are you remembering something?” he asked softly, his hand carefully softening my knuckles.
I nodded slowly. “Everything.”
Then his eyebrows tightened at once. “Everything like… what happened at the hotel?” he asked with delayed instinct.
This made me close my eyes for a moment and breathed out shakily.