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Hospitals scare me.
The smell of the disinfectants, the chatter of the people around, the rushing of patients and doctors, the worried family members crying for their loved ones, it's like an all too familiar experience for me.
Ridge and I rush to the main reception and ask for the room number where his parents are being treated.
"What's your relation with the patients?" She asks us politely, a small friendly smile on her face.
"I'm their son and she's my fiancee." Ridge replies in a hurry, making me choke on thin hair. What the fuck did he just say? Fiancee? Oh god, I'm hyperventilating. Shit. Fuck. But why?
I don't realize that the lady has already told us the room number because the next thing I know is that Ridge is dragging me towards the hallway, while I'm still recovering over the fact that he just called me his fiancee.
He stops abruptly and then faces me. "Look, I'm sorry for scaring you like that but I had a feeling that they don't allow people who are not immediate relatives to visit. And, and I need you there with me. I cannot do this alone." The vulnerability in his voice tugs at my heartstrings.
I kiss him softly. "I understand Ridge. You don't have to explain yourself to me."
He gives me a nod and then we are both off, down the hallway where Ridge stops right in front of two adjacent doors. Room no. 012 and 013.
An old lady runs towards us and engulfs Ridge into a hug, making Ridge cry into his embrace. She's whispering something in his ear, to which he nods before separating. "Where's Miles?"
She sniffs quietly, wiping her face with her hand. "He's with Harry. He was hungry so they have gone to the cafeteria to get something to eat."
He's eyes flicker to me, a confused expression on her face. "Is that her?"
Right nods, grabbing my hand. "Yeah, she's the one. Lydia."
The lady smiles through her tears, wrapping her arms around me, taking me by surprise. I hug her back, just for courtesy. She pulls away, smiling at me. "I wish me had met under better circumstances but I'm still happy to finally meet the girl who's made my boy love sick fool."
I give her a soft smile. "It's good to meet you too.."
She understands what I'm trying to say because she presses her lips together and mutters sheepishly, "Right, I'm Anne. I'm their caretaker. Been with them since this hunk here was a kid."
"Oh." I nod.
A small kid's voice screaming Ridge's name captures our attention. We turn around to see his brother, Miles running towards us. He swings himself into Ridge's arms, crying loudly. Ridge holds him tight, a few tears escaping from his eyes. But I notice that he's trying to push them away, he's trying hard to stop himself from crying.
For his brother.
They pull away and Miles looks at Ridge. "Mom and dad promised me that they will never leave me. How can they break their promise like that?"
Ridge wipes his face. "Hey buddy, mom and dad are absolutely fine, okay? They didn't break their promise. They will never leave you. It'll all be fine."
"I'm scared, Ridge." He whispers his voice so low that only Ridge and I get to hear him. Ridge kisses his head.
"Even I'm scared buddy. But we have to be strong. For mom and dad." He murmurs. Miles steps away from from him and looks at me, recognition flashing in his eyes.
"Hey pretty girl." He whispers and then walks towards Anne who's sitting quietly on one of the chairs, seemingly deep in thought. She pulls him into her arms, holding him close. I step towards Ridge, who's looking down, his hands shoved in his pocket.
I take his face in my hands, managing to make him look at me. I bite my lip hard to stop myself from crying. He notices the expression on my face, his arms wrapping around my body, caging me in his arms. I should be the one comforting him, but here we are, his arms wrapped around me as I try hard not to cry.
"I don't wanna lose them, Lydia. I can't lose them." He whispers, burying his face deep into my neck. I run my fingers through his messy hair, holding him as tight as physically possible. That's all I can do right now. Give him support, be it physical or emotional. Me promising that everything's going to be fine won't change anything. Because that's not in our hands. And that's what scares me the most.
I fish my phone out of my pocket when it buzzes loudly. Ridge doesn't leave my side, his hands clutch the back of my top which means he isn't ready to let go yet. I see that it's a text from Ashton.
Where are you guys? Ridge is not here. You are not here. Did you guys go out for a quickie? ( ͡° ÍÊ Í¡Â°)
If only he knew.
I quickly type a short response saying that I'll explain everything on the group text. I sent them a quick text explaining all that's happened in the past few minutes. And it's a good thing that everyone's active so they all decide to come here.
I put my phone in my pocket and murmur into his ear. "Our friends, they are all coming here."
He lifts his head from my shoulder, sighing loudly. Just then a doctor rushes out of the room 012 making us all walk towards him in alarm. He looks at us. "You all are the family of the patient?"
Ridge nods. "I'm their son. How are they? Are they gonna be fine? Are they in danger?"
"Right. Mr. Meanders is currently in a stable condition. It appears that he fell onto something hard when he fell down due to acute shortage of oxygen in his lungs. He injured his head pretty hard but now we have put him into induced coma so that the wound heals a little faster. It's a miracle that the survived the blow."
"And my mom?" Ridge whispers, his steps faltering a little. I clutch onto his arm to give him support.
"Mrs. Meanders is a different case. Since she has asthma, and she needs her inhaler in such cases, which she couldn't get access to, the lungs got filled with smoke to the point where no oxygen was available to the brain. Due to low oxygen level in the brain, she has slipped into coma. We are trying our best to treat her but we cannot say when she'll wake up. You can visit them after an hour."
With that, he walks away, leaving a broken family behind.
Ridge staggers a bit, his hands coming up to hold his head in his hands. I walk towards him and hold him tight, stopping his from falling into the pits of despair and sadness. He gladly accepts my support, leaning into me completely. We stay like that for a while, wrapped around each other as he quietly cries into my shoulder. He isn't sobbing hard, there's no sound, but I can feel the wetness of his tears on my shoulder. And it's paining me to see him like this. So broken and defeated.
I hear loud, numerous footsteps approaching, so I turn around to see all of our friends rushing towards us, worry and dismay etched on their faces. They all talk to Ridge, console him, mingle with Anne and Miles so I decide to excuse myself and call my dad and inform him about my absence from the school since he's already called me twice.
He picks on the third ring. "Hey dad."
"Lydia, honey. Thank god you picked up. I got a call from the school saying that you were not at school for the second half so I called you but you weren't picking up. And Tanner's phone was off and even Emmy didn't pick my call. Is everything fine?" He bombards me with his questions.
I sigh loudly and tell him everything that went down. Right from the phone call to what the doctor told us. I hear him suck in a deep breath."Shit, that's horrible. Is he fine now?"
I worry my bottom lip. "I don't know dad. He's pretty shaken up."
"I understand. Do you need me to do something? Any kind of help?" He asks. I hear someone calling for him but he silences them and focuses on our conversation.
"No dad. But if I need something, anything, I'll call you. But I gotta go now, bye dad. I love you." I whisper, noticing everyone has taken a seat on the chairs, faces gloomy and sad. I don't like seeing all of them like this.
"Take care of yourself and him. I love you too honey." He murmurs and hangs up. I walk towards Ridge who's standing in a corner, staring into at the room, his eyes red and dejected. I hold his hand in mine, squeezing it tight. We see the doctor walking towards us, making us all rush to him.
"You can visit them. But only close family members are allowed. Two at a time. They won't be able to talk to you but they can hear all you say." He tells us, giving Ridge a polite, hopeful smile. "Sometimes a loved ones voice helps the patient heal a lot faster."
Ridge nods glumly. "Thank you doc."
Anne walks to us, holding Miles' hand in hers. "Ridge, go and talk to them. And take Miles with you."
He nods and pulls Miles to his side. His eyes flicker to mine, a silent message in them. I nod him, kissing him softly. "I'll be here, waiting for you. Go talk to them." He takes Miles with him and enters inside, closing the door behind him.
I sigh loudly, closing my eyes tight. I feel a soft touch of someone's hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see that it's Tanner with Em, both looking at me with concern.
"Lydia, have you eaten something since morning?" Tanner asks, even though he knows very well that I haven't. I didn't even have breakfast today because I didn't feel like eating.
I bite my lip, shaking my head. "I'm not hungry."
"Honey, you need to eat something. You didn't even have breakfast. Just a glass of milk in the morning doesn't do. Let me get you something please." Em insists, caressing my arm softly.
"I'm not in the mood to eat anything Em. And Ridge also hasn't eaten anything so I'll have something with him when he comes out." I refuse.
"Okay." Tanner nods. We all sit quietly, no one uttering a single word. I rest my head against Tanner's shoulder, closing my eyes. I'm beyond exhausted. Ridge and Miles come out after fifteen minutes, give or take, and sits down beside me. I take his hand in mine. He winces slightly, massaging his forehead with his fingers.
"Are you fine?" I ask, giving him a concerned look.
He nods, closing his eyes tightly. "I have a slight headache but it doesn't matter."
Anne stands up from her place and comes to us. "I think you guys should head back now. It's quite late and you all must be tired and hungry." She gives us all a warm smile. "And Ridge, come with me. You and Miles will be staying with me for a while."
Everyone gets up, giving Ridge a hug, promising to meet him tomorrow. Because Anne's right. It's pretty late now. Tanner and Em leave too, when I force them to go promising that I'll be back in a while. When everyone's gone, it's just Anne, Ridge, Miles and I left.
"I don't wanna go anywhere." Ridge whispers, his hands playing with my fingers. "Can't I just stay here?"
"You cannot Ridge. It's not allowed. And the doctors assured that your parents will be fine. Don't worry too much. You need rest and some food in your system." I frame his face in my hands. "You look pale."
He rests his head on my shoulder, sighing deeply. "What if they wake up and I'm not here?"
"How about you come with me? And I'll drive you here tomorrow morning?" I suggest, making him snap his head up in surprise. "You can live with me for as long as you want to."
"I don't want to intrude. That's- I-" He starts but I stop him.
"You're not intruding Ridge. Dad has no problem with that. Tanner and Em will also be there. I'll there. Even my aunt and Dave are there. You'd feel good. Please." I pleade, stroking my fingers against his unshaven jaw.
He sighs. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing what I want to do." I kiss him. He wraps his arms around me, resting his face agains my neck. I run my hands through his hair, hoping to bring peace to the inner storm brewing in his heart.
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Oof. I'm tired.
The fiction awards nominations are open and they have some awesome categories this year. And if you think this book is deserving, help me and please nominate this book! It would mean the world to me! â¥
Next update soon!
Till then,
Stay Safe and Stay Happy! <3