Chapter 45 A Week
It’s been a week here with Carlos. Every day, he does his best to make me feel better, and it’s working. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. Even though I still don’t feel completely safe, I like to believe things will keep going the way they have these past few weeks.
Waking up from bed, the first thing my eyes met was a pair of blue eyes that were radiantly waiting for me to wake up.
A small smile curled on my lips as I said, "Good morning," my voice cracking with the weakness of sleep.
"Good morning." Carlos replied smiling back at me, "How are you feeling?"
"I’m good," I replied. I was about to say something else when my eyes met the tray of food in front of me. "What is this for?"
"Breakfast in bed for you." He grinned
"When did you even get a chance to do this? It’s literally 8am."
"I woke up a hour early just to make sure everything got ready before you wake up." He said.
I looked between him and the food, stunned. Carlos quickly added, "It’s got all your favorites, so you have no excuse not to finish it."
I couldn’t help but smile. Sometimes I wonder why he’s so kind to me now, because before I knew the truth about myself, he was the meanest person I’d ever met. And now he’s the kindest. Was he pretending back then? Or is he pretending now?
"I don’t even know what to say but all this for me?"
"I’ll take a few bites along with you but yeah, it’s all yours, princess." He leaned to kiss my cheek. Pulling back he said "I would also need you to be a little kinder to your health today. Make sure to rest as much as possible and you also don’t have to leave the room at all."
"But I want to."
"I know you want to but do you have to?" He questioned "Last night was scary Nala, I don’t want that to happen again,"
He’s talking about my illness. Carlos believes I threw up and fainted because I was stressed. He still doesn’t know about my illness. I wish I could tell him, especially now that we’re actually friends. But it just doesn’t feel like the right time. Too much has been happening lately, and right now just feels completely wrong.
I nodded casually saying "I actually feel a lot better now but I’ll take your advice, I won’t leave the room. But I still want to learn that defense move you were teaching me last night."
"I’ll teach you some other night, I promise. For now just rest and eat good food, okay?" He asked, worriedly
"Okay," I replied quietly.
Sophia told me Carlos was really worried when I fainted last night. I don’t remember any of it, but maybe he was. I mean, he does look worried now. He was probably stressed and fussing over me. I like that he cares, it’s comforting but it also makes me wonder why he cares at all.
"Do you want me to sit next to you and watch you eat, or would you rather have some time to yourself?" He asked.
"I obviously can’t finish all of this on my own," I said, glancing at the food. "So yes, I want you to sit next to me and eat with me… please."
"Sure I will." He said reaching for the strawberry.
I dived into it taking the bacon first.
"So do you have any plans today?" He asked
My brows furrowed slightly "Are you kidding me?"
"What?" He asked confused
"I thought I was not allowed in the room."
"Yes, you aren’t," He said, "But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a plan. I mean, you might want to read, or paint, or play an instrument… whatever it is, I can get it for you so you don’t get awfully bored."
"I think the books will do," I said shoveling a piece of blueberry into my mouth
"As always, it’s always books," He replied, a bit of laughter in his voice.
"Books are amazing, you know," I defended.
"Yeah, I can tell from the way you absolutely love them."
I was about to respond when his phone started to ring. He answered it, and his mood shifted immediately.
He excused himself by walking out of the room.
My heart immediately sank as I realized something must have gone wrong. Carlos’s mood wouldn’t just change like that for no reason.
A wave of panic rose in my chest. What if my parents had found my location? What if they are coming to get me? What if they had attacked someone all because of me?
So many thoughts crushed through my mind as I began panicking.
In a split second, Carlos stepped back into the room. "I gotta go," He said.
"They found us, didn’t they?" I asked quietly.
He hesitated for a moment before answering. "No, they didn’t, and they won’t. It’s just business stuff. I’ll be back soon, I promise."
Deep down I could tell something bad had happened or was about to happen. "Do you really have to go?"
"Unfortunately, I do. It’s important, but don’t worry, I’ll be back in an hour or less."
"Okay," I said softly.
Carlos leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. "But just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you won’t be in the room all day. You still need to rest, so make sure you do that, okay."
I nodded. "Okay."
He walked out of the room, and everything went quiet.
Carlos promised to be back in an hour but he didn’t. Two hours passed by and still no sign of him. Three to five hours went by but Carlos didn’t call or even show up. I’ve been sitting by the window all day, waiting to catch a glimpse of him, but it’s starting to feel like he’s never going to come back.
Maybe he’s piled up with work. Maybe he got so busy that he didn’t notice the time. Or maybe the Menendez got him.
Tears streamed down my face as I stressed over my thoughts. I just hope he’s fine.