CHAPTER 106

CHAPTER 106
The doctor hadn’t even finished his statement yet when we heard a cough from the bed. The room went dead silent as all eyed snapped to the formerly unmoving form of the king, whose entire body now wracked with coughs.
The queen let out a wail in relief as she rushed to her husband’s side a fresh set of tears were already flowing down her cheeks. “Raymond,” She said with much difficulty. “How are you feeling my love?” The sight before me was surreal. I had almost forgotten that these two people who did everything they could to stop me from living happily with my mate, were mates themselves.
He got that soft look in his eyes... the exact same one that I saw on Eric’s face every single day. It was a marvel to watch, honestly. You’d think that since the guy was always so cold to literally every single person I’ve ever seen him interact with, he’d be no different with his mate.
Spoiler alert! He was.... he looked at her like she was the sun he’d been starved of almost his life and there was nothing he could do without her. Even from the way he handled her, even though he was confined to a hospital bed, told the story of a world of affection.
The moment felt so.... ‘intimate’, I had to look away. It felt like I was an outsider looking on a ‘family’s’ private moment. I felt my eyes watering at the sight. For the first time since I had met them, they weren’t just the king and queen, Eric and Evelyn’s parents... they were mates, lovers... friends.
The sight was so emotional for me, it made me remember the good times back in the day, when my parent were inseparable and nothing could go wrong in my world.... in ‘our’ world. I shook those thoughts out of my head and focused all my attention on my mate that stood by my side.
He looked torn. I wish I could tell him to lean on me and not act strong every time, but I can’t, at least not here. Here he had to be the strong one... he had to be the rock and all I could do was hold his hand tight and walk with him through it all.
The doctor checked his vital signs and every other thing they needed to check and it was all fine, and those that weren’t he assured us were eventually going to get better, since he was awake now, it gave hope for a speedy recovery.
I noticed that all this while Evelyn had not come closer to her father, she sat there lost in thought almost as if she was in a trance. I pulled slightly on Eric’s arm and nodded in his sister’s direction, and raised a questioning brow, but he shrugged in response.
So he didn’t know what was wrong with her either. Honestly Evelyn was really scaring me these days. I didn’t know what went on in her head and from the look of things she wasn’t letting any one else in either.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when the doctor ushered the rest of us out to give the couple a little more privacy, much to Eric’s displeasure, but there was nothing he could do about it.
We stood there looking at the door for a few more seconds before he turned to face me, “I need to go and sort out some paper work love. I’ll be back soon.” He said and I nodded fully aware of Evelyn’s stare that bore into me from behind. He held my face like I was the most precious thing he had before placing a kiss on my forehead.
He turned to his little sister and held her shoulders. We’ll be fine Eve. We’ll be fine...” He repeated the words over and over as he hugged her. They stayed like that for a while before she released him. He turned away and walked down the hallway, looking like every girls dream.
I felt Evie come up from behind me. “Ana, could we talk?” She asked almost tentatively. Thank goodness! She was finally ready to open up. I nodded in a agreement as she led me down a corridor. We walked for a while in silence till we reached her room door. She opened the door and I entered the room settling down on the chair by her bed side as I waited for her to settle down too.
When she finally did, she was silent for a long time. I sat there quietly, giving her the time to gather her thoughts. She looked up at me again, “When were you going to tell me Ana? When were you finally going to tell me?” She asked looking right into my eyes.
I furrowed my brows in confusion, “What do you mean? What am I keeping from you?” There was only one thing I knew that I was keeping from her, but there was no way she knew about it, but the way she looked at me... it felt like, “But you know what I mean An. You knew how nervous I was to meet him, but you knew probably long before I did and you didn’t say a word of it.”
I didn’t know what to do... or say for that matter? How did she find out? I could have sworn that I left no clues, but all that didn’t matter to right now because she had figured it out and I honestly couldn’t even imagine how she was feeling right now.
“I’m sorry Evelyn, I’m so sorry that things turned out this way. I had no choice, I was stuck between a rock and a really hard place, but I need you to know that you’re very lucky. Your mate loves you do much already.” I knew instantly that as soon a those words left my lips she didn’t believe me.”
“He loves me?” She said with a scoff. “What kind of person leaves their mate standing there like a nobody? “ She was hurt. That much was obvious from the way she was speaking.