Chapter 32

Kathryn's heart had stopped. She felt like she died the moment someone called her and told her what happened to Zachary. It was her fault. Kathryn couldn't blame anyone but herself as she hurriedly went to the hospital where Zachary was rushed to.

The doctor was talking to Chad, David, and Earl but Kathryn couldn't process any word they were speaking of. Thoughts like Zachary not waking up again, or that Zachary leaving them made Kathryn feel numb, mind blank. 

"Kathryn, Kathryn!" David shook Kathryn's body, face full of worry. 

"D-David…" Kathryn's entire body trembled, fingers desperately moved and tried to reach out David's clothes. 

"It's okay. It's okay, just breathe," David tried to calm Kathryn down. "He's going to be fine, Kath. The doctor said he just needs blood. You have the same blood type, right?" 

Kathryn nodded, eagerly wanting to do anything for Zachary. "Yes…I can give my blood. Anything, everything, for Zachary.…David…I-It's my fault…David…it's my…" 

"Shh, it's not your fault," David gave a quick look at Chad who looked just as restless as them, discovering what the tall idiot did and scolded him before they learned about Zachary's accident. 

Kathryn trembled as David held her close, caressing her back repeatedly, "We know Zachary. He's gonna survive this." 

"That's right, Kath. Don't worry, Zack is too evil to die this early," Earl tried to lift the mood but only received a glare from David. 

The doctor came out again as some nurses assisted them to the room where they would perform blood transfusion. Kathryn kept her emotions to herself, not wanting to cry in front of her friends and make them worry more than they already were while the nurses started to take blood from her and Chad, who apparently were the only ones compatible with Zachary. 

She felt her body trembled even more the moment they went inside the room where Zachary was in. Zachary's head was covered in bandages, and so were his arms and legs and if that wasn't enough to break Kathryn's heart and blame herself all over again. 

"I called his parents. They seemed to be overseas right now and can't make it," Earl said. 

David frowned, "What? Can't they fly over here and check on their son?" 

Earl sighed, "They said they were too busy…" 

"But their son got into an accident! How could they be too busy?!" David felt his blood boiling. How could Zachary's parents call themselves parents when they don't even care about their son?

"David…" Chad tried to call out but David was too mad. 

"No! This is not right!" David argued.

Chad sighed then turned to Earl, "Can you give them a call again? Inform them of Zachary's situation."

Earl looked down. "I already did." Taking a deep breath as he recalled the couple of calls he had a few minutes ago. "Zachary's not really close to his parents. More than anything, he hates them. They always seem too busy to look after him. That's why Zack…"

Everyone fell silent at that, their eyes going over Zachary's direction for a moment, knowing no one could ever understand what their friend had felt while growing up. They all had struggles in life, each had different problems and their own way to cope. Now everyone seemed to connect the dots and somehow understood why Zachary was too attached to Kathryn. In a way, Zachary had his life depended on her, too much that he was hurting when he thought he had lost her. For Zachary, Kathryn was the meaning of family, love, and life altogether. 

Kathryn felt the familiar tightening of her chest, her stomach twisting in agony, guilt, and worry. If she knew something like this would happen to Zachary, she would've not continued. She could take anything in life. Anything but Zachary getting hurt like this. 

Carefully, Kathryn took Zachary's hand on his own, caressing it as she silently whispered how much she was sorry and how she would never leave Zachary's side ever again. 

The third replacement of Daisies were placed on the vase on the table. Kathryn was carefully arranging some clothes on a chair beside the bed, glancing at Zachary, watching his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. 

Thankfully, although he hasn't woken up yet, Zachary had been in a stable condition after the blood transfusion. It had been three days and Kathryn had kept her promise of staying with Zachary every day. She would only leave Zachary’s side when she had to attend her major classes, which unfortunately, she couldn't miss. Other than that, Kathryn had been in the hospital most of the time from morning until night. 

A sudden vibration from her pocket took Kathryn's attention from the deeply sleeping man on the bed. She slid the phone out, reading the message. Kathryn stood up after realizing it was David reminding her she had a major class in less than an hour. She had to thank her caring friends who constantly reminded her to not be too hard on herself and rest every now and then because she deserved it. Kathryn wasn't sure though. She knew it was all her fault. 

There were times Kathryn couldn't dare look at Zachary, finding it hard to be rightful to stay by his side. But then she remembered how she needed Zachary as much as Zachary needed her, knowing deep inside, no matter how Zachary might come to hate her and push her away, Kathryn would still be there for him because Kathryn won't be Kathryn without Zachary. If Zachary could be stubborn, Kathryn could, too. 

Kathryn glanced at Zachary, admiring how the man just looked handsome even as he slept. Smiling, Kathryn reached out to touch the side of Zachary's face with the back of his hand, caressing it as she leaned down, "I'll be back, Zack."

She then gently placed a soft kiss on Zachary's forehead, giving the unresponsive man a loving gaze before she turned around and headed out. 

Zachary could hear something. The sound of the waves splashing to a mountainous bunch of rocks ringed through his ears he wondered if he could die from it. Beyond the deafening sound though, he could hear words. A voice… an extremely familiar voice. 

Slowly, Zachary tried to move but frustratingly failed. There were thousands of thoughts inside his mind, but he couldn't contemplate any of them. For the second time, Zachary began to force himself to move, successfully able to move his fingers. In an agonizing motion, Zachary opened his eyes. Just as he did, he heard a door closing, the sound echoing around the painstakingly quiet room. 

It took a few minutes to feel his own body and steady heartbeat before Zachary noticed where he was. Fully awake now, Zachary scanned his surroundings, finding himself connected with a weird apparatus. 

He then stared at the ceiling, closing his eyes as he couldn't help, after all, but cursed out loud. Could someone tell him why he was in a damn hospital?