Chapter 15 Siege
\[Lilia\]
After I heard their conversation inside the hospital room I was in, both Kael and Val went outside. Whatever they are talking about, I could sense that it poses a threat to them. I'm not sure how it became associated with me. I am still taken aback by the realization that they had been searching for me in the midst of a thunderstorm.
Well, come to think of it, Kael spent millions of dollars, gone wasted just because he purchased damaged goods like me. He even tried to kill me, and I thought he wouldn’t bat an eye if I ran away. Hence, here I am now, laid in a single mattress bed, alive.
He didn’t just search for me. He saved me from the venom as well.
Kael confuses me to the highest level, though what he did to me the other night is something that I cannot simply forget. I was traumatized. No, it's not because he saved my life that everything will be alright with me. Well, he’s madly wrong about that. If we’re going to die, I will choose being stuck in that forest rather than being killed by that ruthless man.
I just hope he didn’t do anything terrible to Aya. It wasn’t her fault that I ran away. That poor girl has to bear the brunt of the blame simply because she forgot to close the door when she went to get a glass of water for myself.
Anyway, returning to my current predicament, I was still unable to move an inch. I am awake, conscious, and yet my body will not listen to what my brain would transmit. I couldn’t even blink my eyes open. I didn’t even know what time it was right now. Is it morning? Afternoon? Or nighttime? What date is it today? How long am I going to stay like this?
I have lost track of everything. All I know is that I am in the hospital and that Kael planned to transfer me back to that ill-fated mansion.
My back is already killing me from lying for too long. I wanted to stretch up my arms, to walk around. I felt suffocated, being all locked up again. I don’t think I could survive another day back to that horrible place.
I could promise not to run away, only if I wasn't going to become a prisoner again. I would choose to become a servant than be a bird without wings.
I was with my own thoughts when the door suddenly creaked open. The soft thud of footfalls ascended closer to my bed, then there was nothing. I thought I only imagined it when a warm knuckle brushed over my cheek. The touch was so subtle that I only felt like it was a warm sweep of air.
“My, my. It should have been me. That night, I should be taking you out of that place and not Aslanov.” A voice of an unfamiliar man whispered, his hot breath grazing over my ear.
Who is this man?
And what is he saying about owning me?
Who is Aslanov?
Why are there many names connected to me?
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such an angel sleeping,” the man went on. I felt his thumb tracing the outline of my lower lips, making the hairs on my arms rise and shivers running on my spine. “Till we meet again moya lyubov' (my love).”
After that, cold air replaced where his knuckle had been, followed by the fading sounds of his footsteps.
There was silence. I strain my ears, stretching up to where my hearing could reach, and if only I could move my body, I would have jumped out from the bed and gone to follow that man.
Who is he?
I thought it was all nothing, but from a distance, gunshots suddenly echoed. Panic voices and screams followed. I don’t know if the commotion that is happening is only coincidental with the strange visit of a man. However, Val mentioned something about a name that they had spotted.
Could that be the man that they are finding?
What on Earth is going on?
Wasn’t there somebody supposed to come and get me here?
Just then, the building shook violently. At first, it was like having an earthquake, but then the scream got louder and louder. Footsteps stampeding outside the hall as it was soon followed by another blast.
No, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was a bomb attack.
Someone was attacking the hospital that I was in.
Chaos erupted, and I was left there on my own. I couldn’t do anything but lay still.
“Lilia!”
The door slammed opened for the third time this day, but this time, it wasn’t the stranger’s voice that shouted my name. Instead, it was Kael’s. Behind him was a series of exchange gunshots.
“Fuck! Why is the chopper taking so damn long?” He hollered to whoever he was with.
I felt my body getting shaken from the bed, snatching the IV fluid tube out from my hand, and a pair of hands slid on my back before I got lifted. It even seems like my soul separated from my body when Kael snatched me away from my bed so rashly.
My heart thundered with fear. If anything happened, I couldn’t move to run, and Kael decided to drop me on the floor, leaving me defenseless. I am conscious, yet they couldn’t hear my screams.
“Master! The De Luca’s hijacked one of our birds!” Another voice came in. I guess he’s from the door.
“Shit!” He curses, pulling me tighter against his body as bullets begin to rain down on the wall of my room. The high-pitch sound of the bullets colliding with the concrete was making my ears bleed.
Why is death always chasing me down? What have I done so wrong that I deserve so much to go through all these?
“Open the door!” Kael ordered, swinging me on his arms, securing his grip on my body. “Cover me!”
I let out an internal scream when he began to leap on his feet, bolting outside the bullet-rammed room.
“Where is Val!?” He exclaimed angrily, his voice reverberating over the loud gunshots.
“Master, he’s on the frontline!” The other man replied, firing the gun he was holding. I may not see it, but I know he’s struggling to keep Kael and me safe.
Val is fighting on the frontline? Why are they risking their lives for me?
“We need to go now! We can’t stay here any longer.”
“Copy!”
My body jerked against Kael as I felt him running upstairs.
I was holding my breath, afraid that if I inhaled the wrong way, Kael might falter on his steps, sending us both to our quick death.
The best that I could do was pray.
Pray that I can get out of here safely.