Chapter 81 Your Favourite

Chapter 81 Your Favourite
Braide

Gianna pouts as she licks the ice lolly I'd handed her from the children's ward. That's a whole lot better than watching her cry.

"What?" she asks after catching me staring.

I shrug, unable to stop the smile threatening my lips. "Nothing. Just making sure I didn't give you the wrong flavour. Saves me from being slapped."

She glances down at the ice lolly before taking another lick. "I would've if it were grape."

"So orange gets a pass?"

She shivers dramatically before making a face. "Orange is barely a flavour."

A laugh slips out of me. "Noted. I'll make sure to never buy you anything orange flavoured."

"I like grape ice cream though."

"Oh?" I grin. "Guess I'll have to take you out for ice cream instead."

She studies me for a moment before looking away, hiding another lick behind the ice lolly. "No."

“How many rejections? Keep it up and I might have to kidnap you for that date.”

"Only if you can catch me."

"Is this  your way of letting me know you have a chase kink?"

She hums, refusing to look at me. "Please shut up.” 

"Ouch." I place a hand over my chest. "You keep hurting me, pretty one.”

That finally earns me a genuine smile, and I can't help smiling back.

"There it is," I murmur. "I was beginning to think I'd imagined it."

She rolls her eyes, but the smile lingers for only a second before it slowly fades. "You know... when I came here today, I thought I'd be hugging my brother."

She lets out a humourless laugh, her gaze dropping to the half-melted ice lolly in her hand. "Instead..."

Her voice breaks, and a tear slips down her cheek.

I close the distance between us without saying a word, gently brushing it away with my thumb before resting my hand against the side of her face.

"You don't have to finish," I say quietly. "Not unless you want to."

"No... no... I can do this." She forces a smile through her tears. "They say he's going to be brain dead if he ever wakes up."

Her voice cracks, and she lets out a shaky breath.

"It's been a month, Braide. I finally had hope... and now it's gone. Completely."

I pull her into my arms, swallowing every useless word sitting at the back of my throat. There isn't a damn thing I can say to ease her pain.

I know this feeling.

I know what it's like to watch someone you love slip further and further away while all you can do is stand there and hope.

I hold her until her sobs quiet into uneven breaths before pulling back just enough to look at her.

"Wanna go meet my favourite kid in the ward?"

She sniffles, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand before giving me a tiny nod.

"Sure."

The pediatric ward feels like an entirely different world from the rest of the hospital. Bright murals cover the walls, colourful paper butterflies hang from the ceiling, and laughter echoes from somewhere down the corridor. For a moment, it's almost enough to make you forget you're still inside a hospital.

"This is her room," I tell Gianna as I push open the door.

A tiny girl with freckles scattered across her nose looks up from the colouring book in her lap. The second she sees me, her entire face lights up.

"Braide!"

She throws her crayons aside and launches herself at me. I catch her with a laugh before setting her back on the floor.

"Easy there, Sonia. You're supposed to be recovering, remember?"

"I am recovering," she argues, puffing out her tiny chest. "The doctor said I'm getting much better and stronger.”

"He also said you're still under supervision."

She sticks her tongue out at me before noticing Gianna standing quietly beside the door.

"Who's she?"

"My friend."

Sonia squints suspiciously between us before pointing at Gianna. "She's pretty."

"You never call me pretty."

Gianna lets out a soft laugh, the first genuine one I've heard from her today.

"Come," Sonia says, grabbing her hand without waiting for permission. "Braide is boring. You'll play with me instead."

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

Gianna glances at me with an amused smile before allowing herself to be dragged toward the little table by the window.

The next hour passes far quicker than either of us expects. Sonia insists on teaching us games she's clearly making up as she goes, changes the rules every time she's about to lose, and somehow convinces Gianna to help build a crooked castle from plastic blocks that collapses every few minutes.

I spend most of the time watching them.

Gianna laughs when Sonia accuses me of cheating at Go Fish despite the fact she'd handed me the winning card herself. She helps fix Sonia's teddy bear's crooked bow and pretends to lose three rounds of tic-tac-toe just to see the little girl celebrate like she'd won an Olympic medal.

By the time Sonia starts rubbing at her sleepy eyes, her words are slurring together.

"I'm not tired," she mumbles around a yawn.

"Of course you aren't," Gianna teases, helping pull the blanket over her. "Close your eyes anyway."

Within minutes, Sonia is asleep with her teddy tucked beneath her chin.

We quietly leave the room, easing the door shut behind us before wandering through the hallway in comfortable silence.

"I get it now," Gianna says after a while.

"Get what?"

"Why is she your favourite?"

I smile to myself.

"She's one of the bravest here you know and  got everyone wrapped around her finger."

"So do you."

The words leave her mouth so casually that I don't think she realizes she'd said them.

I glance sideways.

"What?"

She quickly shakes her head.

"Nothing."

We continue walking until we reach one of the large windows overlooking the hospital gardens. Neither of us speaks for a while.

"Thank you," she finally says, her voice quieter than before. "I really needed today."

"You don't have to thank me."

"I do." She turns to face me, her eyes still swollen from crying earlier. "For a little while... I wasn't thinking about Alec."

She exhales slowly before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me.

The hug catches me off guard, but only for a second.

I hug her back gently, resting my chin against the top of her head.

"I'm glad I could give you that."

The hug lasts only another heartbeat before I look up.

Dmitry is standing several feet away, his jaw clenched so tightly I swear I hear his teeth grind together. His gaze fixes on the way my arms are still around Gianna, and whatever he was about to say dies before it reaches his lips.