"No more reading it." She grumbled through the paper in her mouth. "That's cheating! They were meant for me. I could read them." James protested. Abby shook her head vigorously. Her pigtails were shaking around making her look cuter than ever. James was about to tickle Abby so that she opens her mouth but to his surprise Abby opened her mouth herself accompanied by a loud gasp. Her eyes went wide as she placed a hand on her stomach. Before James could react her heard the sound of blood oozing out of her stomach and Abby's breath getting harsher by the minute.
"Abby? Abby?" he shook her, alarmed. "I did your work for you." This voice belonged to Adrian. Adrian had shot Abby right in her gut. "What did you do?" James turned around as he removed Abby's hand from her stomach to see the wound. "What you had come here to do. I just spared you the agony of doing it." Adrian's voice was cold as ever. It could send chills up the spine of devil himself. "I wasn't planning on doing that." James could only speak this much.
"James, baby, what does he mean?" Abby asked as her breath slowed down. James let a few tears slip his eyes as he told Abby that he had come here to kill her so that they could gather an advantage over her mafia group and defeat them to ensure Jennifer's safety. "B- Baby…" Abby's eyes were slowly closing. "The password is 61104. Open my locker. You will understand everything. I love you." Abby said these lines as she closed her eyes.
"No. Open them Abby. Stay with me. I'm not letting you die. We had cleared our differences after so long. I'm not letting you go." James hurried around to gather first aid to treat Abby's injury. He leaned in really hard in the wound to stop bleeding as he grabbed the nearest cloth at tie it around her abdomen. "There's nothing that can save her. She's gone." Adrian placed a hand on James' shoulder. "No. She's not. She i-isn't d-dead." James stuttered.
"She is-" before Adrian could complete his sentence, a full blown punch landed on his face leaving him in shock. He felt another punch in his lower abdomen and another and then another one. Adrian tackled James on the floor. They both began fighting. James was uncomfortable. He was crying and fighting simultaneously. "Why did you do that?" James screamed at Adrian. "You… I just… kill her." Adrian could barely form phrases let alone full sentences.
Adrian was not fighting. He was only defending himself. On the other hand, James was determined to kill Adrian. Adriane was so badly injured. He was bleeding from multiple cuts across his face. He was pretty sure he had hurt some internal organ near his stomach. The punches that James threw were beginning to get really painful. Adrian was losing strength. "James, stop. It's killing me." He whispered to him.
"Did you stop before killing her in cold blood?" James was stuck in his own cycle of hurt. He back to his senses only to see Adrian lying unconscious on the floor under him while he was this close from choking him to death. Adrian's breath was slowing down. His lips had turned pale. "Bro… Bro…. Oh no." James was so panicked. He picked up Adrian and ran to the nearest hospital. His breath was ragged and by the time he finally got Adrian admitted in the hospital, he was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
James was lying on the floor, cursing himself for everything that happened today. Abby's death and Adrian's injuries, all were the fault of James. He was the one to blame but here he was, sitting on the floor with his life and not even a single cut on his body. On the other hand, Abby was dead and Adrian was admitted in ICU of the hospital. According to the report of the doctor, he had lost a lot of blood and started bleeding internally. His condition was really chronic and unstable.
James' best friend was struggling between life and death and his love was dead because he had no control over his emotions. Only if he had seen it through. Only if he had controlled himself, his affection for Abby had gotten in the way of his mission and ended up taking her life. Only if James had been careful enough. Right now, James couldn't think of anything else he wanted, other than his best friend to be back on his feet.
Abby was dead already. He couldn't afford to lose his best friend. James cried to his heart's fill for the first time today. The whole night passed. The doctors were doing the best they could to save him but Adrian's condition was deteriorating with the minute. His heartbeat was to unstable. James didn't know if he lost more water by sweat or tears. He hadn't managed to get up from the floor for the whole night. He had slept there while crying.
When the next morning he woke up, doctors told him that Adriane was stable but not powerful enough to express or reply to external stimulus. He was extremely tired. They suggested that he should be hospitalized for the week and asked the contact information of his parents. James insisted that he needed to talk to Adrian before he did anything else. The doctors tried to make him understand that he won't reply but James said that he just wanted to talk. He didn't expect a reply from him. He would be surprised if Adrian even graced him with a look.
When James entered the room, he saw Adrian on the hospital bed, wrapped in bandages from head to toe. His eyes began to tear up again and he barely managed to reach his bed when he broke down, crying bitterly. "Adrian. I'm sorry buddy. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness but I still beg for it. Please. I will accept any punishment you give but please wake up."