ERICA
"No....no.no.no!" I tried to shake her awake. "Fay!" I held her tightly in my arms rocking ."Fay! Please.... just please wake up!" I quickly look around the house. "Uncle Ben! Help!" I carried her up.
He quickly runs down. "We have to get her to the hospital."
I nod. My uncle opens the door to the backseat I got in beside Fay. He quickly drove to the nearest hospital and we had a lot of nurses come to help run putting her into a rolling emergency bed. My uncle and I ran beside the bed following the bed while I held onto her hand praying that she would wake up soon.
We were stopped when we reached the emergency room. I watched the nurses running in. Tears quickly rolled out of my eyes. My hands were shaking. I slammed my fist towards the white wall many of the nurses and people were looking my way, but I felt stupid. If I only had picked her up from work she would've been safe or if I weren't so lost in thinking whether I should choose Camila or not Fay wouldn't have to be in this state. Fay had suffered enough.
"Calm down, Erica. Throwing tantrums wouldn't do any good," Ben said.
"No, but if I only hadn't been so distracted in this love then this wouldn't have happened. Fay doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve me."
Taking me into his arms he shushes me. "Look, everything is going to be fine. Even though I don't know much about Fay, I could totally tell in her eyes that she really loves you and trusts you so much that when she is in danger you were the first person she calls to. So, Erica, don't say anything right now especially when you are upset. Everything is going to work out fine." I grip onto his clothing and just nod.
During the surgery, I told him how I met Fay. "She was just a new waitress in a coffee shop named My Angels. I always go there to eat their dessert since they were famous for their cakes. Then on her first day of work, we saw each other.
At first, Fay just looked like any other girl I dated that just happens to look a little bit like Camila. So I got close to her buying her gifts, flowers, and just talked to her every time I showed up at the cafe. However, things changed one day when I heard she wasn't working during her shift. So I dropped by her house. When I didn't hear any coming to the door. I used a key she previously gave me for security. When I got into her house I went up to her bedroom and I saw her lying on the bathroom door with a box of painkillers on the ground. Then that was the moment when I was learning the truth about her and the fact she wasn't any normal girl I had dated in the past.
Fay lost her mother just a year ago because her dad had killed his own wife all because he was in his drunken state. He was an alcoholic and because of it, he gets very violent. Fay had gone through this violence every night without her mother, and that is why she tried to commit suicide. It was to get out of this violence." Ben listened to every word with his mouth clamped shut and his eyes in shock. "That's not all her father tortures her and his own wife to the point where they are close to death but not dying."
He sighed. "Can't you just call in the police?"
"I wanted to do that, but Fay doesn't want it. She doesn't want to see her father go to jail. Moreover, this news could ruin her career. She doesn't have the money to exactly live on her own and study at the same time. She doesn't have an actual appropriate legal guardian."
He lets out a sigh. He was thinking deeply. "How long have you guys been together?"
"Six months."
"Do you really love her?"
"She is my first and serious girlfriend. I even had imagined a life together with her."
"Then would you propose to her?" My eyes widened in shock. "I'm not saying to get married right away, but just to be engaged. So she could still go to school and have a life."
"My parents will never allow me to marry another girl?"
"How would you know if you never tell them what you really are to them, Erica? I actually have a sister who is also a lesbian and our family accepted her for who she is. So I know my own brother meaning your father will be ok with this for who you are. Also, I know your mom will be ok with it."
Thoughts started to travel around my head part of me was really happy with this answer, but there were other fears. The fear that they will look at me differently, but I knew what my uncle was saying to protect her from her father from beating her up. If she was engaged with me she could come to live with me as my fiance and a home where she can feel the warmth. However, part of me still thinks about Camila, and I knew I needed to come to a decision soon.
Silence came as we sat on the chair outside of the emergency room for more than 30 minutes. When a nurse came out I quickly stood up. "Is she ok?"
"The patient is alright. She fainted in a shock of extreme loss of blood. We have stitched her wound, and whenever she comes around we will give her several check-ups. If everything is fine she can leave whenever she feels like leaving." I breathe in relief.
"Can I go see her?"
The nurse nods. When the rolling bed came out. I see Fay was sleeping sound fully and breathing. I smile. I believe I have come to a decision.
"Uncle Ben," I said. He looked at me. "Thank you." He smiles. "Please call me when Fay wakes up. I have something to take care of. Oh, and Uncle Ben I am sure someday you are going to become a great husband."
I ran downstairs. Then I went from each jewelry shop to a jewelry shop. Every jewelry shop that I entered to girls would stare at from the bottom to the very top of my head. I could even tell that I was about to turn straight girls down to become a member of the LGBTQ+. Each engagement ring that they took out none of them caught my eyes, but one. It was a simple ring with a simple design of gold with a diamond in the center. What's special about it was the mini twin diamond that was standing in between the big one. With this ring, I have never felt so happy and amazing in my whole entire life.
"I'll take this one," I said.
The lady took the ring putting them into a red ring box. I couldn't stop smiling. She took my debit card and swiped it into the machine. I have never thought that a ring contained inside the box would bring me so much happiness. It's going to fill us with a bright future that only we could share.
The moment I held the ring in my hands. My phone rings and I pick it up. "Hello Uncle Ben, I am on my way."
"Good, because your girlfriend keeps asking about your whereabouts."
"Tell her that I am on my way." I end the call. Then I race back to the hospital. I was drowning in my own sweats. When I reached the hospital room a nurse was examining her.
"All signs are normal except you don't have many nutrients in your body. Do you eat regularly?"
Fay was looking at the nurse shyly. "No, I often have skipped a meal or two because of my job."
"Well, please take note to eat regularly. I will be giving you antibiotics for the infection in your wound, and some vitamins to keep you hungry. So you will eat."
"Thank you, doctor," Fay said embarrassed.
"No worries. You are free to check out once that Ivy is finished."
I walked inside the room putting the ring into my pocket. Once the doctor stepped out of the room. I held Fay's hands into mine, smiling at her. "You really got me worried you know, love. I apologized for not being there when you needed me the most."
"No... Erica, I really am happy when you came to my house. When you were beside me that is when I truly felt that I was safe."
"Really? Then Fay I would like to ask you I would like to start being a better girlfriend and a better wife."
She looked at me with her crystal big eyes like she was hearing something impossible, but when she saw when I held a ring box into the palm of my hand. Her hands reached up to her mouth, but what she was most surprised about is the gold ring with a big diamond ring in the center.
"What about Camila, don't you still have feelings for her?"
"She may have fallen for me now, but that's all in the past. Now all I want is a future with you. You don't have to be alone anymore. You won't have to wake up in the middle of the night screaming at the terrors coming to get you. I'll be by your side and I always will be."
Tears began to stream down her eyes. "I do."
I smiled and I slipped the ring into her fingers. When I looked outside the hospital room my uncle just stood there looking at me with his eyes filled with happiness.
~ * ~
BEN
Feeling happy for my niece was one good thing, but the thing is that my father has already someone in mind for Erica to marry in order to secure a better future for our family, and this person that our father wanted Erica to marry is someone powerful. A girl belonging to a powerful family that is equivalent to ours.
This girl has already seen Erica once or twice in real life, and she was already head over heels for her. She is the type of person who would get anything and everything she wants. She is the daughter of the powerful boss of the Arcana family. Her name is Micah Hale Arcana.