Prequel- Chapter 15: Goodbye
Elian Storm
"David, I am willing to surrender myself if you hand over Alena to me safely," the steady but desperate words I uttered over the phone were ones I never imagined doing.
"You are such a fool, Elian. I never thought you would stoop this low for love. Such a disappointment," came the sneering response of the leader of XS gang, David Garner.
"I don't have the time for chit-chat, David. Do we have a deal or not?"
"Alright, you got it. Come to the location I will send you. I know I don't have to say this to you but come alone and unarmed," he warned.
I hung up the call without bothering to reply.
"Elian, I don't have a good feeling about your plan." Jace tried to say. "As your consigliere, I have toâ"
"It's fine if the plan doesn't work out. As long as Alena is safe," I replied curtly. "Now, be ready with your troops. When I send the signal, ambush them and make sure none of them come out alive."
"But don't you think they will anticipate this?" Jace questioned.
"They are dumb, Jace. You were the one to tell me that, weren't you?"
Jace sighed. "Alright. We will risk it."
"I'm leaving then." I threw my guns at him for him to catch and wore the modified shoes that had the ability to transmit signals by tapping three times in a second.
It was a dangerous gamble, but I was willing to risk it if it meant saving Alena. For her, I would do anything.
With my mind filled with a mix of determination, fear, and a sliver of hope, I drove to the location David sent me.
I couldn't help but question my own sanity, wondering if this desperate plan would actually lead to my demise.
But... I had to save Alena, no matter the cost.
When I arrived at the designated location, two men checked me thoroughly for any weapons before they let me enter. The warehouse was dimly lit with a cold and eerie atmosphere.
"Welcome, Elian Storm!" greeted David with a huge victorious grin.
My eyes scanned the entire warehouse, but there was no trace of Alena.
"Where is Alena?" I asked, my voice dripping with uncovered hostility.
"Right to the business, eh? Don't you want to have some tea with meâ"
"Don't fuck with me, David. I already told you I don't have time for chit-chat. Where is she? I want to see her first."
"Relax, Elianâ"
I grabbed his collar and yanked him toward me. I didn't flinch a bit as his men pointed their weapons at me. "Bring. Her. Out. Now," I threatened.
David sighed, realizing there was no stalling me. "She is on her way here. My men are bringing her."
"Are you kidding me? Do you even have her?" I scoffed.
"Yes, we do! I sent you a photo of her tied up, didn't I?"
"Then why am I not seeing her yet?" I yelled.
"Okay, okay, wait. Let me make a call and you can talk to her," he tried to persuade me. "Now, will you let go of me?"
Just then, I felt a stabbing pain in my chest.
I glanced to check if I was actually stabbed or not, but I wasn't. The pain came from within me. How strange!
"Hey, let go of Boss!" one of David's men shouted.
Huffing, I let go of his collar, not before pushing him back and making him stumble backward.
I watched as he made the call but got no response. He dialed again and started to get anxious. I started to get a bad feeling as well.
Someone else called him, and he picked it up. His complexion paled from whatever the other person said.
"What is it?" I asked, but he didn't give me any reply. "Will you fucking talk or not?" I snapped.
"It's, uh, it's nothing. Your girlfriend is on her way." His lips trembled as he said that.
He was clearly lying.
Right then, I decided that it was enough charade.
I sent the signal to Jace, and within two minutes, my men completely surrounded the entire place. They were hiding in the forest, waiting for my signal.
David was now on his knees with his hands folded behind his head.
I squatted in front of him and tilted his scared face up with my gun's muzzle. "Where is Alena?"
He was already crying, but as he saw the straightforward merciless look in my eyes, he started screaming and sobbing in forgiveness, "Please don't kill me! It wasn't our intention to kill her! She did it herself!"
"What the fuck do you mean?"
"She crashed the car into a truck!"
My heart almost stopped at that.
"And? Is she okay? Is she alive?" I asked desperately, my fleeting mask of calmness falling off.
"I don't know, I don't know! Maybe they took her to the hospital."
"You fucking son of a bitch!" I couldn't control my rage as I took my gun and emptied my entire magazine on that guy. "Jace! Find out which hospital Alena is in!"
###
My heart pounded loudly in my chest as the drive to the hospital felt like an eternity.
I couldn't believe what this day was turning out to be.
Alena was in a car accident, and the severity of her injuries was unknown. Panic surged through my veins, overriding any rational thoughts.
My mind raced with thoughts of Alena, our shared memories flashing before my eyes. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her.
Finally, I reached the hospital. Without a second thought, I parked my car haphazardly and rushed towards the hospital entrance.
Tears welled up in my eyes, a mix of fear, desperation, and hope consuming me.
I searched frantically for any sign of Alena, my heart pounding louder with every passing second. My mind was filled with a thousand 'what ifs,' but I pushed them aside, focusing on finding her.
Finally, I spotted a nurse at the reception desk and approached her, my voice trembling. "Excuse me, please. I need to know about Ms. Alena Fleur. She was brought in after a car accident."
The nurse glanced up from her paperwork. "I'm sorry, sir. We have seven accident patients without any identification. Can you please tell how does she look like?"
"She has red hair. She is about 168 centimeters andâ"
"Yes, a red-haired woman. We only have one patient like that." She then told me which emergency room Alena was in.
My heart thumped in my chest as I waited anxiously for any news outside the operating theater. I prayed fervently that Alena would be alright.
After what felt like an agonizingly long wait, a nurse came out, and I asked her how Alena was.
"She is in critical condition. The doctors are doing everything they can, but her injuries are severe. I don't want to give you any false hope, but she most likely won't make it."
My breath was caught in my throat as I absorbed the news. Despair welled up within me.
I dropped down on the hospital bench, my knees no longer able to support me. Tears streamed out of my eyes as the last few words of the nurse kept ringing in my head.
"She most likely won't make it."
I buried my face in my bloodied hands. I didn't have the time to clean up the blood I got on me by shooting David mercilessly, so I was covered in his filthy blood, but I didn't care.
All I wanted was for Alena to be okay.
###
I didn't register as Alena's parents came and tried to ask me questions, more like yelling at me. I was too busy crying by myself and praying for Alena.
I only came to sense when the doctor came out of the emergency room and said Alena had to be shifted to the ICU now. She was still not out of danger, so she needed to be monitored.
I stayed in the corner of the hospital bench, trying to ignore the glares that Alena's dad was shooting me. Jace briefly came and brought me a change of clothes.
Finally, after what felt like countless hours, the doctors declared Alena to be out of danger, and it felt like the giant boulder that was crushing me was off my chest.
As selfish as I was, I let Alena's parents go in to see Alena first.
When they came out, I was about to go in, but Alena's father blocked my way.
"With what right are you going in there?" he questioned me.
"I am sorry if you haven't realized it yet, Mr. Fleur, but I am Alena's boyfriend." To hell with Alena's secrecy and portrayal to be the perfect boyfriend on the first meeting. I was not in the slightest mood to entertain them.
"We have never heard about you. How do we know you are not any danger to our daughter?"
"Wow, why am I not surprised at that?" I couldn't help the condescending chuckle that came out of my throat. Even if Alena had told them, I heard about them enough to know that they would outright reject her, not just our relationship.
"Whatever it is, young man, I cannot let you see Alena. Go back," he said, and I was about to oppose. "I am her guardian on the hospital papers, so yes, I have the authority to decide whether you can enter or not."
I scoffed and decided to come to check up on Alena when Mr. & Mrs. Fleur wouldn't be looking.
###
It was two in the morning, and Alena's parents had dozed off on the hospital bench.
With the nurse's permission, I sneaked inside Alena's ICU cabin.
My heart broke, seeing her wrapped in so many bandages, especially her head.
I sat down on the stool and gently took her hand in mine, tears slipping out of my eyes at her sight.
"I am so sorry for everything," I murmured. "It's all my fault." Of course, it was.
If only I hadn't been so foolish and reckless to pick up a fight with the XS gang two and a half years ago, then none of these would have happened.
I heard a small groan come from Alena and glanced up at her, delighted.
"Are you awake?" I asked softly.
She blinked many times before her gaze finally settled on me.
"How are you feelâ never mind, that's a stupid question. Of course, you must feel terrible. I should go call the doctorâ"
"Who..." I stopped hearing her trying to say something.
"Yes, babe? Do you want something?"
"W-who... who... are you?"
I furrowed my brows in confusion. "It's me, Elian. Don't you recognize?"
"No... Who are you?" Her voice came out a little clearer.
"You must be shaken up, that's why you don't recognize me," I said.
"I really cannot recognize you."
I sighed lightly. "I'm your boyfriend, Alena."
Her eyes widened slightly, while her heart monitor showed her spiked heart rate before the machine started beeping loudly.
"No, no, that can't be... I don't... I don't know you. How can you be my boyfriend? No, you are not. You are lying!"
"Alena, what are you saying?"
"Just go away! Get out of my sight!"
I felt like I was being stabbed multiple times with her mere words.
The nurse, who was waiting outside, came rushing in and instantly went to call the doctor. I was ushered out, and I was left in confusion, shock, and fear.
Before I could even think about what happened just now, I was yanked forward by my collar.
"What the hell did you do?!" shouted Mr. Fleur. "I swear if something happens to my daughter because of you, I won't spare you!"
"I didn't do anything, Mr. Fleur. She just couldn't recognize meâ"
"Don't you know she has amnesia now?!"
My eyes went wide at the revelation. "How... how would I have known that?" I let out in a whisper. "You didn't even give me any information."
"Because you are dangerous! You are dangerous for my daughter! I don't know what exactly happened, but it's definitely because of you that she is in this condition. You are a bad omen in her life!"
His words struck me, crushing me down an unbearable guilt, because I truly believed at that moment that he wasn't wrong.
He kept yelling at me, and everything kept hurting me. I was numb.
Maybe it wasn't exactly his words.
But the look on Alena's face was probably what broke me.
My Alena couldn't recognize me. She forgot me. Maybe it wasn't just me who she had forgottenâ
Mr. Fleur let go of my collar and went inside the cabin with Mrs. Fleur. Before the door shut, I heard Alena say, "Mom, Dad!"
Oh, so she remembered them?
I was the only one she forgot?
I chuckled self-deprecatingly and dropped to my knees, hot tears coming out of my eyes at the devastation.
I wanted to laugh at what happened to meâhow my life just turned around in a single day.
My Alena, the woman who I loved more than anything else and who was the reason for my living, didn't remember me.
I sat there crying for a few minutes, and then, I picked myself up and wiped the tears, taking the hardest decision of my life.
This bad omen will forever disappear from your life.
I glanced at Alena from outside the door through the small glass and cracked a broken smile.
"Stay happy, babe. I will forever love you."
Tears stung my eyes, but I held them back because I promised not to cry. I would turn this heart into stone. I would bury all sorts of emotions so that I didn't crave her love.
"Goodbye, Alena Fleur."
A/N: Thank you for reading this prequel! This is how their love story ended and started again after a few years. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Have a nice day!