Kaia couldn't believe it. Why was this happening to them? What did they ever do wrong? She let out a shaky exhale with her hands still clutching Alex's. Just seeing the state of his body made her heartbreak. Kaia's lower lip quivered as a few more tears rolled down her cheeks. Her eyes were already swollen from all the tears and her makeup was completely ruined. More negative thoughts entered her mind. What if he didn't make it? Her clammy bloodstained hands trembled at the thought. In just a few days Alex snuck his way back into her life and she didn't want to lose him again.
Once they arrived at the hospital, they quickly got out of the ambulance. The paramedics rushed in with the gurney and quickly but thoroughly filled in the emergency staff and doctors on standby about Alex's wounds and stats along the way. Kaia momentarily let go of Alex's hand as they rushed him out. The emergency room was busy as the EMTs and other medical staff brought in the other victims of the shooting. A doctor stopped to ask Kaia if she was okay when she saw the blood all over Kaia's clothes and hands. Kaia nodded with an absent-minded expression. They gently led her into a waiting area that was in the halls outside of the operating areas. She sank down onto the chair with a thump. She felt pain and winced, clutching her side instinctively. Maybe she should've let the doctors examine her...but then she would have to answer questions about what happened, and she didn't want to.
Kaia sat in the chair for what seemed like hours. She eventually fell asleep with her arms hugging her legs, and her head rested on her knees. When she heard someone calling Alex's name, she quickly jumped up in anticipation; only to see his parents had arrived and were trying to get information. She looked down at the ground, her heart aching even more now. His mom was crying while his father kept up a composed expression. Kaia took a deep breath calming herself down a bit before slowly walking up to his parents.
Seeing Kaia, his parents both stopped. They took in her wild appearance and saw how she was covered in blood. They almost didn't recognize her with her wrinkled blood-stained clothes and tear-stained face and messy hair. "Crestfall. What are you doing here? What happened to Alex?" Kaia looked at his mom who was anxious and crying. Fresh tears formed over the dried ones as she tried her best to explain what had happened to them. After the explanation, his father sucked in a deep breath. "Why was he at your company to begin with?"
Kaia took a deep breath in, trying to calm her nerves before letting it out in a shaky exhale. She looked at him but couldn't manage to swallow the lump in her throat so she stared down at the ground. Her fingers fiddled nervously with her shirt. "I…" she whispered in a hoarse voice. She cleared her throat many times, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "W—Alex and I...got married…" She finally couldn't keep the lump in her throat at bay after the confession and burst into tears again. She covered her face with her bloodstained hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
Alex's mother let out a sigh before calling out to a nurse. "Can we get a pair of scrubs and let her wash up? Don't worry, we'll pay the hospital for it." The nurse just nodded before she left and came back with a pair of light blue scrubs. Kaia looked at Alex's mom with a whimper. "I—I'm sorry." Her words came out as gibberish because of how much she had been crying and forcing herself to speak. His mom saw her pitiful state and calmly patted Kaia's back. Doing her best to soothe Kaia, she also carefully led Kaia to an area where she could wash off.
Once they arrived, Kaia went to the bathroom which had showers. She carefully stripped off her bloodied clothes and tossed them to the side before getting in the shower to wash off all the blood. She contemplated over and over again, wondering how things could've been different. She stood in the shower for a long time thinking. The clear water mixed with Alex's blood before going down the drain.
After she finally realized how long she had been showering for, she turned off the water and stepped out. She carefully pulled on the scrubs and wrapped her hair up with the tiny towels the hospital provided. She steadied her breathing and gathered up her courage before walking out of the bathroom to find Alex's mother still there. Kaia blinked back the tears that were starting to form again and gave Alex's mother a weak but grateful smile. "Thank you."
Alex's mother crossed her arms and studied Kaia. It looked like she was thinking about something. Silence ensued, and it was finally broken when she asked, "How's your illness?" Kaia froze. Her expression stiffened before she asked "H—how do you--?" Kaia was cut off before she could finish speaking. "I was there the day you two met as kids. He wanted to know if you were ok so a few days later we went to the hospital. When I found out who you were, I kept it from Alexander." Kaia's brows furrowed and she frowned. "Now's not the time to worry about me…" But his mother just shook her head. "You married my son. As a CEO, he's an important man. He'll need an heir. Are you capable of producing offspring?" Kaia choked at the words "producing offspring" and her face subconsciously flushed red. Alex's mother continued without stopping and asked, "If you're capable of bearing children, will they be affected by your illness?"
They stared at each other for a long time before Alex's mother sighed. "Come on, let's go back." She led Kaia back to the waiting area.
Kaia stared down at the ground with a frown the whole entire time. She carefully thought about what Alex's mother had asked and also about the implications of her condition. Kaia absolutely adored children but never thought of having one or two of her own. At least not at the moment. She finally whispered the words "I'm not sure…" in an audibly hoarse voice.
When they made it back, they sat in the hallway quietly. Kaia's eyes stayed on Alex's mother who was explaining to Alex's father about what was going on.
--
Meanwhile, Caine was driving down the road with his Bluetooth earbuds on. "Answer!" he yelled with frustration. The phone rang continuously. Finally, the person on the other end picked up.
"Did it work?" The man on the other end cut right to the chase. He didn't bother with any formalities and only asked about what he needed to know.
Caine was annoyed by the other man's words. He wanted to cuss the other man out so badly! But he was aware of the other man's position and exclaimed with a hint of uncontrolled aggression in his voice, "No! That meddlesome Sabor got in the way! Kaia wasn't hit because that piece of shit decided to get in the way! All our efforts to kill that little bitch has gone to waste!" He slammed a hand on the steering wheel.
The other man smirked. "Now, now. This is actually better than expected. If he dies, imagine how devastated Kaia will be. While she recklessly tries to find the killer, we can set up a trap to finish her off without anyone suspecting a thing. Won't we be killing two birds with one stone, then?"
The other man was all smiles as he said those things. Caine shivered slightly at the man's cold words. He took a mental note to never cross that man—ever!--if he wanted to stay alive. He wanted to speak again but was cut off.
"Just go to the hospital and make sure Alex doesn't pull through." With that, the man hung up the burner cell phone before handing it to his assistant to get rid of it. Caine sighed with frustration, glaring at the road. He turned the car around to make his way toward the hospital.
Suddenly, his phone rang displaying an unknown caller ID. Caine contemplated whether he should pick up the call. He relished in the thought of making the person on the other end panic before he slowly pressed a button on the earbud to pick up the call. "Yes?"
The man on the other side of the phone sounded frantic. "I did what you wanted, now wire the money through!" Caine scoffed, a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. "You didn't even finish the job properly, so go back and finish it!"
--
It took about another hour for the surgeon to come out of the operating room. He walked up to them, pulling his mask off. Kaia and Alex's parents all stood up to greet the surgeon with anxious expressions.
The surgeon rubbed his face slightly before breaking into a small smile. "The patient is stable. But he did puncture three spots in his back so there's quite a bit of muscle and tissue damage. Thankfully, none of his nerves were damaged, and the bullets were lodged in spots far from his spine. We did get the bullets out and did our best to repair some of the damaged tissue, but a lot of it will come down to the patient himself. He lost a lot of blood so he needs to stay in the hospital for blood transfusions. We'll have staff on standby 24/7 to monitor his condition. We've already placed him in one of the VIP rooms and need his guardian to please fill out some paperwork." He called a nurse over to walk them through the necessary procedures.
Before he left, Kaia followed the surgeon. She hesitated before saying, "I'm the patient's wife. Is he—is he awake?" The surgeon turned around with a troubled expression before saying, "At the moment, the patient is still unconscious due to a large amount of blood loss and tissue damage." He walked off, leaving Kaia standing there feeling even more guilty.
After a while, some police officers came up to Kaia after being directed by hospital staff. Alex's parents went off to fill out the paperwork. They were there to take statements from the victims who were awake, as well as eyewitnesses to the shooting.
Kaia verified her identity and told the police what had happened. She also did her best to describe the car that she saw. She wanted to figure out who had done it as soon as possible. A running suspicion flashed through her mind after the police asked her if anyone had any grudges against her or Alex. Her immediate thought was that Caine was the one who had ordered the shooting, but she didn't tell the police because she didn't have enough conclusive evidence. There would also be way too much explaining to do and she was too tired and frazzled to do so.
After speaking to the police, she was directed to the room that Alex was staying in. His parents were leaving just as she arrived. "We have to go and take care of some things at the company for him. He was getting things ready for some benefit concert and there were other things on his plate aside from it. Would you mind keeping an eye out for him? We'll try to come back as soon as things get sorted out." Kaia nodded softly. "I'm not going anywhere." She gave them a weak smile before watching them go. She shifted her eyes to Alex's still figure lying on the bed. She couldn't help but choke back a sob seeing him so pale and unconscious. She slowly walked over and pulled up a chair before sitting down next to the bed with a sigh, taking his hand in hers. She prayed that nothing bad would happen to him.