Chapter 159 Clean up
>>Seraphina
“Sera,” Eris raised her head to look at me, “Your heart is beating like crazy~” She stared at me with those big round eyes of hers.
“Oh?” I was a little out of it, “Oh,” I forced her off of me, “Yea, I’ll get the discharge slip.”
“Sera, Brother Azef already went to do that though!” She tried to follow me
“Huh?” I glanced back at her while I walked away, “Oh, but they still must have the official guardian there too.” I looked away
“Oh… Okay,” She stopped and I noticed Runy a little distance from her, so I knew she’d be fine.
My mind was buzzing. I stared at the phone.
Below the texts I sent, was a text from her side.
There was nothing written in the text. It was merely a full stop
‘.’
I kept staring at it. The whole problem was that it came from her number. I pursed my lips.
God..
Someone could have sent it accidentally. But that’s the problem.
Someone else has her number. God!! Since when?!? My chest tightened with a suffocating pressure as I struggled to catch my breath, the walls closing in around me as my mind spiraled into a vortex of fear and uncertainty.
Someone else has her number… My texts haven’t been going to her, but to someone else?!?
I reached the counter, my thinking so foggy, I didn’t even pay attention to what Azef was doing.
Doesn’t this mean I didn’t imagine that typing icon when I was living at the apartment. Someone was trying to type then, but then stopped. I wasn’t hallucinating!!
God, they’ve had that number since then? Or even before that? For how long?
In that moment of despair, it was as though the world had come crashing down around me,
Texting Mom had been a way for me to get things off of my chest. But I can’t do that anymore? My chest felt constricted. Of course, I can’t. If the number was reissued to someone, I can’t tell a stranger about every detail of my life.
I felt like my world had started spinning. The news was too shocking for me.
What am I supposed to do now?
“Hey,” Azef tapped my shoulder, “Are you okay?” I couldn’t focus on him, it felt as though the ground had been pulled out from beneath me, leaving me adrift in a sea of confusion and despair.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I clutched the phone to my chest, the weight of disappointment and grief bearing down on me like a crushing weight. How could this be happening?
Azef turned me around, “Hey!” He grabbed my shoulders, “What’s wrong?”
!!!
While I struggled to make sense of the chaos raging inside me, seeing Azef’s face actually helped me bring back to reality.
“Um,” I shook my head trying to keep myself under control, “I just found out about something…” I tore my gaze away from him as I snapped back to reality.
“What?” He asked.
I shook my head, “You don’t need to worry about it,” I stepped back, letting his hands slip away from my shoulders. I took some deep breaths, letting myself stabilize.
“I don’t need to worry about it?” He said, “When you look so pale?”
“Yea,” The nurse at the reception said, “You look like you need a drip, girl,”
“Hmm,” Azef agreed, “What is it?” He folded his arms
“It’s something personal.”
“How personal?” He asked
“Um,” I frowned, “It’s something that was really important to me,” I took another step back, “But to other people it might seem insignificant.” I couldn’t look him in the eyes at the moment. The shock was still lingering in my head.
The nurse and Azef exchanged a glance,
“Miss, are you sure you don’t need to share it with someone?” The nurse asked.
“Yes,” I nodded, “I just found something out and it left me momentarily stunned.” Thankfully, I was able to answer properly. My mind was processing things fine again but that didn’t make all the hurt go away.
I had been robbed of an escape after all.
The nurse leaned in towards Azef, “Any chances she found out her boyfriend’s cheating on her?” She took a secretive pose while whispering to him.
Azef looked back at her, “As if,” He whispered back with an un-amused expression, “She’s been single since birth.”
“Oh~” The nurse nodded, “Then, did someone die?”
“I doubt she would assume that’s insignificant to me, unless she’s not that bright,”
“Oh~”
“I can hear you,” I said and they both pretended they never talked about anything. I shook my head at them, then paused.
Oh?
My panic attack had passed. My breathing was normal and my chest wasn’t suffocating anymore.
“Come on,” Azef stepped towards me and took my hand, “Let’s go home.”
“Oh!” I got another type of panic attack, “M-my hand,”
“I’m holding it because I feel like you’ll get another panic attack, you even refused to tell me what happened.”
…
“It’s really nothing,” I looked down as we walked out of the hospital, “Just something important to me, and only to me,” Other people won’t understand how much this meant to me.
“You can tell me about it,” He walked ahead of me and I looked at his back.
“You might think it’s childish or stupid,” I said.
“I might,” He answered without even thinking about it as he shrugged, making me roll my eyes, “But then again, I might not.” He glanced back at me, “I don’t know what it is, so I can’t say. But, I won’t make fun of you. So tell me,”
I shook my head as I looked away again, “I’ll think about it.”
As I carefully trimmed Eris's nails, I couldn't help but marvel at her stubbornness.
“Eri! Calm down!” Despite my gentle reassurances and patient coaxing, she remained haughty and defiant, her tiny hands wriggling impatiently as I worked to neaten her nails, “You brat!”
“Mmm!” She pouted
With each snip of the clippers, Eris squirmed in protest, her restless energy making the task more challenging than it needed to be. But of course I couldn’t stop. Her nails had gotten far too big! I kept working on them, my focus unwavering as I delicately trimmed each nail with precision.
She wiggled around, even rolling on the bed while I tried to keep her hand in place.
“Eri, stay still!”
“But it tickles!” She protested, “No, I mean it hurts!”
I shook my head at her, “Decide what it does first, then stick to it.”
I finished trimming her nails, “Done!” And leaned back with a satisfied smile, admiring my handiwork. Despite her initial reluctance, her nails looked neat and tidy, a testament to my patience and determination, “Oh, finally!” With a gentle pat on her head, “Be more patient next time,” I praised her, “But thank God you didn’t start jumping around this time.” I grabbed her nails to throw them in the bin, “Come on, let’s go take a bath.”
She stood up on the bed to jump on it, “A bath~?” I could already tell she wasn’t willing.
“You’ve been covered in sweat for two days and you don’t want to take a bath?” I threw the nails in the bin and looked back at her, “Get your butt in the bathroom.”
She pouted her lip, “But Sera…”
“No excuses, you have to go to school tomorrow, remember? Do you want your friends to say you’re stinky?”
!!!
My words hit her, “No,” she pouted, “But I’m not stinky,” She fiddled with her thumbs.
“You’re very stinky,” I smirked and then passed by her to go into the bathroom, “Everyone will make fun of you.” I began to take my clothes off, “They’ll call you stinky Eri,”
!!!
Her eyes went wide. My words got Eris in a bind. She thought about it so intensely, her forehead got clear lines on it. “I,” She kept frowning, “I-” She began to walk toward the bathroom, “Maybe I’ll take a bath.” She whispered, “Maybe…”
I watched her come into the bathroom and then I turned on the shower and started taking her clothes off.
The tub was getting filled with water. I had planned to fill it with cold water first, and then mix it with hot water after. As the cold water was filling the tub, I stepped inside to turn on the shower and see if the hot water was coming in fine.
It got me a little wet, but I checked what I had too and got out.
We both had taken our clothes off and I was grabbing the shampoo and soap when Eris dipped her toe into the water, a squeal of surprise escaped her lips as she recoiled from the cold sensation.
With a quick movement, she darted out of the bathtub, her tiny feet skittering across the tiled floor as she sought refuge from the chilly water.
"Sera, it's too cold!" she protested as she ran out of the bathroom.
"Eris!!" You can't run out like that, "Come back here!!" I wasn’t expecting her to run out of the bathroom, but when I ran after her while only being able to grab a towel in the process, I found out she not only ran out of the bath, she ran out of the bedroom as well.
That little!!
“Eris!” She got my annoyance meter boiling, and I ran after her, “Come back here!!”
She curved through the corner, "Noo, the water is too cold!"
"Eris! It’s only cold at the start, it’ll get hot! Eri!!” I ran after her but as I blindly took the turn I bumped into someone, "Ow!" The impact made me fall to the floor and I barely kept the towel on me
Owww
What the hell did I just hit? I raised my head to look at the person
!!!
Then my soul left my body
"A-azef??" Why is he back?? He said he'd be late, or wouldn't be able to make it back! It hasn’t even gotten dark, how come he’s here?!?
His eyes moved to different parts of my body, I saw them move from my upper body, slowly examining and moving down lower.
It made me conscious and a blush crept across my cheek.
"I-That," I grabbed the towel, stretching it over my front
I may have only stepped in the shower for a minute but I was wet. The droplets trickled on my exposed skin, gliadin down in response to gravity.
"You shouldn't be running around like that." His gaze lingered on me, watching as the drops of water lingered on the edges of my hair before plopping down
"Well, I didn't mean to do that-" I was beyond flustered.
"Seraphina," My heart skipped a beat when he called my name even though his voice was low. I looked up at him awkwardly.
This is the first time he’s called my name.
I gulped.
The first time ever, and yet it's making me feel weirdly hot.
"You must not think much of me, but let me remind you, I am a man." Our eyes met and I felt the intensity of gaze, "A man with desires."
I gulped, my heartbeat rising.
This is the first time. The very first time that a man is looking at me with 'those' eyes and I'm not disgusted.
"I'll catch that brat for you." He turned around to leave, "Please, be more careful from now on."
He didn't look back at me and went down the stairs, “Runy,” He called the female bodyguard that was at the hospital with Eris, “Catch that little brat, will you?”
I stood up with my heart pounding like crazy. My cheeks were red and I could feel the heat leaving my ears.
I ran back to the bathroom and shut the door behind me, then leaned against it.
My God...
Have I gone insane?
That gaze of his...
My pupils shook as my heart trembled
It was a look of desire. I saw something in his eyes that sent a shiver down my spine. There was a hunger there, an intensity that made my heart race with anticipation. It was as if he could see right through me, stripping away the layers of pretense to reveal the raw desire that simmered beneath.
I pursed my lower lip as the sound of my beating heart filled my ears. I walked into the bathtub, not caring that the water was cold.
It was a look I didn't hate. On the contrary it made my body feel hot
I slid down the bathtub, submerging myself in the water to cool down
Really?
I wrapped my arms around my knees
Have I really fallen for a gangster? A person that’s not even human. I closed my eyes shut. Of course I have. I can’t deny it anymore. I like him! I like him a lot!!
I dipped my head in the water.
I wonder, I really really wonder and I even dare to think;
Is he being so nice and protective of me, because I’m his mate?
Am I his destined partner?
That would make sense, wouldn’t it?