Chapter 48: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 48

It was the fourth time the doors opened and left me disappointed, my third cup of coffee, the second time my father andLiam went to McDonald's, but the first time, no one ventured to mention that Henris was not sitting in that uncomfortablschair next to me.

Instead of having his support, I shook hands with Louis for the last two hours, then when Louis was allowed to return to Iboyfriend, I ended up sticking with Liam.

The problem wasn't that I didn't have anyone to comfort me while we waited for the results of Jace’s heart scan. In fact, Ihad more than enough people. The problem is that the person who should have been there, more than anyone else in thwaiting room, was not.

And it was almost two hours before someone commented. Of course, it was my mother who shook my hand forcefully whanother person, taken at random, walked through the entrance to the waiting room, disappointing me when it was notHenris. “Noras, dear,” she said softly, “I don't think he's coming”

I took a deep breath, but choked. I'm really, really trying not to think about that right now, mom. Jace is all that matters.That's it."

“I know you're stressed...”

“Mom, please. I just want to know why my best friend passed out in the middle of our living room, okay? Please."

She sighed softly, placing a kiss on the top of my head. “OKAY, darling. Do you need me to do something? Do you want thchildren to take something else while I'm out?”

“No. Just... distract me, please.” I whined, snuggling up to him. “I don’t want to think now."

“Did 1 tell you that we bought chickens to grow in the garden?”

I let out a little muffled laugh when my mother started her ridiculous story about the four chickens they had adopted tocollect fresh eggs. And, as I suspected, this scandalous account dragged my mind out of the unsanitized hospital room arall the negative things that came with it.

Finally, my dad and Liam walked through the door, their arms covered in big McDonald's bags and the worried look on thragged faces. They both ran up to us and immediately started asking about Jace as they walked past the food.

“Is he still all right?"Liam asked, throwing my order at me. “And you? Do you need anything? There's a cafe down the streswhere I could get you something quickly. I know the hospital cafe is terrible. But is Jace okay?”

I smiled at her with eyes full of tears. “Yes, it shouldn't be long. They said one more hour and we'll have the ECG results.”“Good, good. OKAY. And Julia, did I bring you some muffins? I don't know, Joshua said they were healthy. If not, I mean, I ¢20 find something else...”

“Liam,” my mother scolded him gently, “Sit down now. You don't have to take care of me. I promise you that. Have a seat.”He gave her a tired but grateful smile, then sat down next to me, his hands immediately intertwining with mine whereLouis's had been a few minutes before. The support system that surrounded me at that moment was more than I couldhave asked for, even without Henris.

I gave Liam's hand a little handshake. Thanks. For coffee. You know. And for thinking about getting me a bowl of fruit. Ancto be here.’

“Yes, yes. Now shut up and give me some of your chips. I forgot mine because I was worried about your stupid fruit bowl’“Hey!”

He stuck out his tongue at me and took the small package from my hands, a mischievous smile showing that he alreadyknew that I would not protest at all. The four of us were snacking on junk food We were halfway through the meal when Louis walked through the doors, his eyes frantically searching the room and hisfists clenched at the sides. If it had been possible, I would have said that he had aged at least ten years in the last fourhours because of the stress caused by his boyfriend passing out right in front of him.

“Louis,” I exclaimed as I stumbled off the blue plastic chair and dropped chips all over the floor. “Is he all right? What's thmatter? Lou?"

“I don't know. I've been waiting for you to hear what the doctors have to say."He looked down at the tiles. “I really can'thear what they are saying for myself. Whether it's bad news or not. I can't do this with Jace alone. I can't stand it. Please,come on."I took a step forward, gently grasping her little hand. “Well, let's go then. You know Jace doesn't like waiting”

A sad little smile appeared on her lips. We walked hand in hand, passing all the patient rooms, fingers clenched so tightlythat I wondered if one of our hands was going to break. After walking through this endless corridor, we entered a tiny roowhere curtains were hung to separate each patient.

Jace was in the one closest to the window, lying down, his eyes tightly closed and his hands crossed over his abdomen. Alarge white bandage over his stitches, just where the corner of his head had crashed against the coffee table when he hapassed out a few hours earlier.

“Jace?"I whispered, tapping the tip of his foot with my free hand. “Are you awake?"

A blue eye opened. “This scar on my forehead is really horrible. 'm going to have to invest in some kind of CEO cover.”“Seriously, are you worried about the scar?”

“Well,” he replied, “I guess I should probably be more concerned about you shaking hands with my boyfriend, right?”with an incredulous laugh, I went around the bed to hug him. Jace was definitely the person who showed a brave face inevery f*+**g situation he was in, a quality for which I was eternally grateful to him, because I probably would have beenterrified.

He placed a kiss on my forehead and I bent down to kiss him. “Please don't tear up my IV injection or anything else. Therare a lot of things you could stumble over”

“Oh shut up,” 1 sobbed as I snuggled up against his neck. “Are you all right?”

His arms were so tight around my waist that I practically fell into the hospital bed next to him, “I hope so. The doctor saishe'd be right back. Lou, can you pass me the water?”

Reluctantly, I released him and just leaned against the wall, my hands behind my back to hide the tremor they caused.Considering how terrified I was, there was no way that I would allow myself another emotional crisis in front of the onlytwo people who were probably more scared than me.

Louis was holding the water bottle for Jace when the doctor came in, a small woman with gray hair tied up in a tight bunand a stack of papers clutched to her chest. She seemed to have already familiarized herself with Jace and Louis while shwas checking my best friend's vitals.

“I see someone else has joined the party,” she smiles, pressing her fingers against each other to check her pulse. “Who isthis young woman?”

Jace smiled at me, wrinkling his nose in a cute way. “This is Noras. My roommate, my best friend, the girl who works withme. Noras."

“Nice to meet you, Noras. I'm Dr. Barton. Are we all here?"She asked, putting her glasses on the bridge of his nose as henodded in response. I took this as a signal to join Louis at Jace’s side, joining our hands as if it was preparing us for anynews.

The first thing I thought about was that Jace’s hand was shaking, and the second was that I would have given anything tohave Henris’s strong arms around my waist right now, to have him with me while he told me to be quiet because everythiwas going to be fine.

“Well, then,” the doctor began, “all the tests came back normal. Except for the electrocardiogram - the one that checks ycheart - which shows a few disturbing things. Your heart was beating at an excessively fast pace, which is called tachycardThat's why you passed out"

Jace frowned as he looked at her. “Is that all it's about?”

“Well, more or less. There's something causing your tachycardia. This is an additional and abnormal electrical pathway inthe heart. This is the electrical conduction between the atria and the ventricles. We call it the Kent bundle”

He paused, looking at our confused expressions with a knowing smile. “In normal people, the mechanisms of the heartprevent rapid beats when they occur, and prevent the next beat from occurring too soon. But in people like Jace, the signdeviate to an additional path that causes a very fast heartbeat.”

“OK, but how, what does it mean?"Louis asks in a low voice, moving closer to his sick boyfriend. “He's going to be all rightisn't he?"

“Jace has what is called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In most cases, the rapid heartbeat is not life-threatening, and tfrequency with which it occurs depends on the person. It can cause dizziness, chest pain or, in your case, fainting.”

I let out a deep, shuddering breath and squeezed my best friend a little tighter. So, what should we do? Is there a therapyor something like that? Is it just a passing thing?”

“There are some medications that we are going to prescribe to Jace. Adenosine, antiarrhythmic and amiodarone will conthis heart rate. If these do not work, there is an operation that we can perform to solve the problem, but it is not necessarat the moment. Jace will be fine. Just take the medicine.’

“Will it be all right?" He repeated, his hand still clasped in mine. “Apart from that wolf thing, are you going to be okay?"“Wolff-Parkonson-White syndrome; she says with a laugh, pushing her glasses over the bridge of her nose. “But yes, Jaceyou will be fine. We will release you tomorrow.”

He widened his eyes, then hugged Louis and me, desperately hugging us to his chest with all the strength he was capableof in his weak state. “Holy shit,” he whispered, “All this scary stuff and I only have one ugly scar to show for it"

We all gathered around his hospital bed, piled into chairs or snuggled in the little bed with him. I settled into the little sowith my mother, my legs thrown on her lap and my hands intertwined with hers while everyone chatted and joked.

it seemed almost impossible that only an hour ago, everyone in the room was about to collapse with anxiety. And I knew,knew that I should have been happy like everyone else, but Henris was still not there. And I hated myself for caring.

I knew that my mother knew that something was wrong; she kept sending me these horrible looks, she kept looking at mwith her half-pitying look that made me want to scream. She knew it was better not to say anything, but that was a goodthing, because if only one person had mentioned her name, I would probably have collapsed from stress.

And so, of course, at the moment when Louis was imitating Jace by falling, Jace noticed that something was wrong. My be:friend coughed slightly and motioned for me to approach the bed with the same expression of half-pity as my mother.

I swore under my breath as I walked over to the three swarthy boys crammed around the little bed. “Do you needanything?”

“A glass of wine,” Jace shrugged. “Maybe a shot of tequila?”

“Something that won't make you drunk and that won't get us kicked out of the hospital?”

“A new best friend to bring me a new list of tenants?"He laughed out loud as my frown deepened. “I'm kidding, my love. 1was wondering where Henris was.”

Behind him, Liam and Louis stiffened in their seats. My mouth dried up, and even though I wanted to vent to my bestfriend, I wasn't ready to do it after he went through this ordeal. I shrugged my shoulders casually. “You know. He's workinor something. I'm going to go get us some water.”

“Thank you, darling!"He applauded my elusive figure. I walked into the hospital corridor, where the strong light made mesquint. I might add it to the list of things I hate about the hospital, right after the only channel on our TV that aired Judgejudy.

After pressing the button to get water from the fountain and letting out a small stream, this list obviously continued togrow. I kicked this stupid machine with the tip of my shoe and turned around, finding Henris Steve standing at the nursesstation.

Considering that my first reaction was to shake the plastic cup so hard that my hand hurt, there was really pent-up angerHe was wearing a bloody Gucci suit, was six hours late, and was smiling at the nurse as if nothing about them mattered irthe slightest.

I ended up staring at him, my mouth hanging open in shock, until he thanked the woman and turned around. His smilewidened as he walked towards me, his shoulders straight and his hands in the pockets of his black pants.

When he was a few meters away from me, the anger seemed to hit me all at once, because Henris Steve had no right toarrive six hours late and still make me feel a little relieved that he showed up there. “What are you doing here?”l askedcalmly, stepping back until my back hit the wall.

Henris stopped in the middle of the lighted corridor of the hospital. “You asked me to come. Is Jace okay?"

“Yes, he's fine. Jace's fine”

“What's the matter then? You look angry."

I felt my lower lip tremble as I continued to stare at him, my eyes wide with disbelief. What do you think is wrong? I'malone. I needed you. And you didn’t come. You never came.”

“There's been an emergency at work he explained slowly, twirling the rings in his fingers.

“Good."I shrugged my shoulders slightly. “There was an emergency here, too. And I really, really needed you. I don't want Italk to you right now, I've had enough of this shit. I had enough stress for one day. You can go now. I'm sure you have ameeting or something.”

Henris gave a slight sigh. He didn't look upset, or scared. He just seemed to have a kind of weariness, like maybe he wasfeeling as exhausted as I was. “But is Jace all right?”

“He just needs to take medicine for his heart. And he has 16 stitches where he hit his head.”

“Then why are you so angry?”

I bit my lower Lip to keep it from shaking and tried not to let the tears escape from my eyes. “I'm angry because if Jacehadn't been well, you wouldn't have been there for me. You weren't there when I f*****g needed you."

“Noras,” he said calmly, “what do you want me to do?"

“I don't. 1 don't do it. You make me so happy and I love you, but I don't know what I need.”

Henris clenched his jaw slightly. “What do you mean?”

“I don't know what to do for us," I mumbled, cursing the way my voice started to shake with every word I uttered. “I reallydon't know what to do.”

“What to do? There's nothing for you to do, Noras. We are together. We have a relationship. You and me. Us."

“A relationship involves being there for the other, Henris. And you - you weren't there. I've always wondered why you werso opposed to this whole relationship thing, you know? And guess what, I understand now. That makes sense. You can't bthere for me”

“Noras, I had to work on..."

I turned to him so quickly that the words froze in his throat. “That's the trouble, Henris! That's still the f*****g problem!”There was a pause, and he was silent for a second as we stood there, me with my finger accusingly pointing to where hiswas tied, and Henris with his pouting lips and angry eyes, as if he couldn't believe what I was saying.

I drop my trembling finger. “Do you have the slightest idea how selfish I feel because I care about you? How were you in nf*+++*g head even when Jace was taking tests? And you shouldn't have, because you weren't there. You should have beenthere He desperately ran a hand through the strands of her hair, raising them with exasperation. “I can try. I can work less, andmake things work, Noras. We can make this work, I promise. I wil try."

The words were familiar, floating in the past, from the day he sent me hundreds of flowers, to the day after I hit the cabinin the sink, to the day he finally accepted that we were in a relationship. “You always say that you will try."

“And 1 will, baby."Henris took a step forward, circulating his ringed hands around my waist. He placed a kiss on each of mycheeks, at the corner of my mouth, as if these light kisses could calm my anger. “I can try. Once this agreement with Malikmade, everything will be normal"

“No”, I whispered softly, my voice still shaking, “it won't be”.

“Noras, it will be. Come home with me, OKAY? I can make dinner and we can talk. Or we can go out for dinner. Whatever y.want. I'll do whatever you want I tried to free myself from his grip, trying to ignore the way his face pouted and his hands lifted slightly before falling bacto his sides. “I want you to leave, Henris."

“What?”

“I can't do this anymore” I said, my voice breaking at the end. I could feel the facade falling around us, right in front of mbest friend's hospital room. “I can't do that. Us."

“No, Noras”, he muttered, pressing the palm of his hand into his eyes, “No”.

“I thought... I haven't got a clue. I guess I thought you could really do it. That you could really be there for someone, youknow? That you can really see someone coming into your life and make you take an interest in them could be a good thirI guess I was hoping I could be that for you. That I could help you."

The strong light from the hospital made the bags under her eyes darker, she simply showed the harsh signs of stress on Iskin more pronounced; it made that when her eyes widened in confusion, that sight hurt even more. “But you do. You'rehelping me. Damn it, Noras. I need you."

“Please, leave. I'm tired, Henris.’

“Noras, I can be there for you. I swear to God I can’He seemed almost beside himself at that moment, pacing the hundrepaces in the middle of the corridor. But somehow he was always calm and composed, always keeping control of thesituation. “I made a mistake, I know, and I should have been here. You needed me. Please, Noras. I need you and you neeme.’

my nails dug into the skin of my palm. “We are different.”

“No,” he insisted, his voice deeper and more tense this time, “You need me. Please, baby, let's go back and talk about it.need each other.”

“Maybe. I haven't got a clue”And the tears finally flowed, silently sliding down my pale cheeks. I turned up my nose, wipirthem with the back of my hand. “Please”, I begged him, more gently this time, as if a voice that was too loud was going topush him over the edge, “Please, go away’.

He pulled at the top of her hair. “Can you just f*****g listen? I hate that you never fucking listen!”

“Do you want to tell me what the fuck you're afraid of? Why can’t you even accept the idea of letting someone get tooclose? Why can't you take a day off?"My voice broke on the last words and I took a step back. “Why can't you name onething you like about me?"

“Noras...

“I'm here. Fuck, I've always been there, trying to help you open up, take a day off, or not give the impression that you werabout to break anything around you. You don't do it. You can't be all that, and I don't know why, but for some reason, inyour controller brain, you can't be there for me."

Henris did not move. He just stood there, calm, handsome and controlled, the perfect model of the businessman. Heopened his mouth once, then a second time, then hid his hands in his pockets and took a big step back. “I want to be thaperson for you,” he said quietly. “I want to try to be that person.”

I kept my head turned to the ground, because one look up and 1 would have lost the last bit of control I had in my body.can't let you try all the time. I need you to be that person. I need you to be able to separate work from your personal life.need you to open up to me. To tell me why you can't do this."

There was a pause, a strong inspiration at the end. “I don't know if I can.’

“Yeah,” 1 sniffed, and suddenly my legs were shaking so much that I had to sit down. I slid against the wall until I wassitting, knees to my chest, on the cold white tile. “And 1 don't know if I can go on like this."

“Noras," he said softly, “Please.”

“t am here. 1 will always be there for you. But I also need you to be there for me. I need all of you, and you don't want togive it to me. I'm yours, I've said it so many times, but I don't think you're mine. I don't think you're really mine’

“I can try...

“No,” I snapped my fingers, lifting my text to look at it through red eyes. “No. You can either look at me now and give upevery bit of control you have, or you can open up to me and be there for me now. Or you can leave.”

“I hate it", he says softly, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched, “I absolutely hate not being able to be what you need".There was a pause, then Henris left, and I sat in the cold, white corridor of the hospital, crying.