As soon as I opened my eyes, the once-blurry images began to sharpen, revealing an unfamiliar world that enveloped me. I began to look around and realized I was lying on a hospital bed with a monitor beeping continuously with so many tubes and wires surrounding me. But amidst the unfamiliar surroundings, one specific thing immediately caught my eye, one specific person to be precise.
A dark-haired guy lay restlessly on the couch beside me, his countenance marked by palpable tension. His tousled black hair framed a face etched with worry lines, his furrowed brow and tightly clenched jaw revealing the depth of his distress. He was in a state of restless slumber as if he hadn't found peaceful rest in weeks. His limbs occasionally twitched as if reacting to some unresolved turmoil within his dreams, adding to the sense of unease that hung in the air around him. He wore the same outfit as yesterday, the clothing now rumpled and disheveled, as if it had borne witness to the weariness that had kept him up through the night.
It was none other than Christian Larsen.
It was definitely him who brought me here. I attempted to recollect everything about last night, but it remained elusive, slipping through the cracks of my memory like smoke. I could only grasp fleeting glimpses of fragmented moments, leaving me with a mere fraction of the complete picture. I remember Marco leaving, the dance, Nailea, lots of drinks, the dare, the panic attack, the fake sympathy, the stolen kiss, and the creepy men encounter. But I couldn't recall what happened after those guys ran away leaving me on the roadway when that vehicle arrived. I'm guessing it was Christian. I practically passed out after, which is probably why I don't remember anything.
I reached out to retrieve my phone from the side table, my fingers urgently seeking a connection to the digital world. Upon unlocking the device, my heart skipped a beat as I was swamped with hundreds of notifications. My pulse quickened as I stared at the glaring evidence of Audreya's relentless pursuit. Her name, in bold letters, revealed an astonishing 35 missed calls and 52 unread messages, a clear sign of her persistent attempts to get in touch. Without any hesitation, I quickly texted her back providing some reassurance as well as comfort to her. It read- "I am very sorry for not responding earlier, but I'm perfectly fine. My phone unexpectedly ran out of battery last night" which it did because it was connected to the charger when I unplugged it a minute ago, but of course I didn't remember that as well.
Just as I clicked the 'send' button, the door to the room seemed to explode inward and Audreya stormed in with such force that the door rebounded off the wall with a resounding crash which made Christian wake up jolted. Her entrance was a spectacle of raw emotion- anger, frustration, and concern etched across her face. The room suddenly crackled with tension as she confronted me with an intensity that was impossible to ignore. Someone else walked in after her too, someone completely unfamiliar.
"What the hell Jo?! What were you even thinking? I thought you were supposed to call me to get you back!"
I didn't say anything, I couldn't. Christian stood there behind her, his furrowed brow reflecting his concern. He must've told her about what occurred after I lost consciousness. "Do you realize how scared I got because you didn't come home last night?" As I remained lost in the labyrinth of my thoughts, her words shattered the silence like a thunderclap: You. Didn't. Come. Home. Each word, laden with emotion and accusation, reverberated through the room, tearing me from my reverie and demanding my full attention.
"I didn't?" In that tense moment, after uttering those two words, my eyes shot like arrows toward Christian. They held an unyielding demand and unspoken insistence for answers, pupils dilated with the urgency for a detailed account of what happened the night before. "Uh, I think we should let her rest right now. Save the questioning for when she's ready to go home now, will you?" The woman behind her stated, and Audreya nodded while looking at me. Strange. She wasn't that old, probably three to four years older than us, that's all. Is she Freya? Her boss? In an instant, the room emptied as they departed, leaving me and Christian in solitary silence.
After an uninterrupted two-minute stretch of profound silence, he at last found his voice and began to speak. "Are you feeling better?" The confusion in my eyes was so palpable that even a toddler would have easily noticed it. Nevertheless, I nodded in agreement.
"How did you find me?" Out of all the questions swirling in my mind, I couldn't help but wonder, 'Is this really what you chose to ask?' It seemed pointless to feign innocence, especially when I knew he had already found me. "I was in my car when some guys were harassing you"
"Yeah, they wanted my bag," I said abruptly. "You could've given it to them and saved yourself." Worry in his eyes seemed real now, but it seemed real last night, too. So, I don't know what instinct to trust now. I responded with a resolute shake of my head, my inability to concur written on my face. "It was my father's last gift to me. I could never and I would never. I don't usually take it along with me very often, it's just Audreya wanted me to." After saying those words, I suddenly snapped. "Did you call Audreya?"
"I saw your phone was bursting with notifications when I switched it on and plugged it into the charger. I realized it was her, and she might be worried so, yeah, I asked Noah to tell her."
"Why didn't you do it yourself? Why Noah?"
"I was busy." He quickly replied as soon as I asked that question. "Busy with what?"
Probably being an asshole. "You."
Wait, what? "You were unconscious and I couldn't just leave you here all alone, for a mere phone call." Was it true now? The care, the concern, the reassurance? I don't know what instinct to trust now.
"Where did you take me last night?" The weight of a truly unsettling question bore down on me relentlessly. My memories from the previous night were shrouded in darkness due to intoxication, and I couldn't shake the gnawing worry that something might've happened that I couldn't recall. I found myself fervently wishing he hadn't taken me to his place ⎻ no, not his place, not after what transpired last night. The unease festered, twisting my gut into knots, as I grappled with the unknown horrors that might have unfolded. "I took you to my sister's, figured you'd be more comfortable having her around." Thank God. "The woman you just saw here with Audreya, was my sister, Sadie Larsen." Oh, so, that was his sister and not Freya.
"I'm really sorry about last night. I didn't think it would hurt you that bad, not like my instinct was to hurt you but⎼" My gaze fixed on him, but it remained void of any discernible emotion, a blank canvas of expression. "I'm sorry, I should've thought it through. Just tell me how can I fix it."
"I just want to ask one thing." His facial expression didn't change but I could decipher his eyes gesturing as 'Sure, go on.'
"Was it real?" The moment those words left my lips, a mixture of confusion, shock, and uncertainty danced across his face. It was as if he couldn't quite fathom the depth of what I had just asked, and the weight of the inquiry hung heavily in the air. "The concern and the assurance you showed last night after I had a panic attack. The way you created a profound sense of security and trust during that particular moment. Was any of that real?"
"I—" Just as he was about to say something, the doctor came in. "Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling now? Any kind of uneasiness?" I nodded in 'no'. "I'm feeling better."
"I'm glad," she said and started talking to the nurse beside her, while Christian stood right where he was before until his phone rang and he left. "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked with a calm smile on her face while measuring the frequencies of my internal body were normal. "No, he's no one."
"He's been sitting in this room and just watching over you since morning. Since he brought you here, he hadn't taken rest for once." It was 1:39 p.m., I double-checked from the clock hanging on the wall right at the top front wall behind her. "'No ones' never do that." she stood up straight after completely checking my heartbeat which probably wasn't normal after what she said and smiled again. "There are some things you need to keep in mind from now on." I nodded.
"Number one: never drink this much ever again, make sure you're not exceeding your limit, and number two: a woman's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) increases at a much faster rate than men's because of hormonal changes during mensuration and yours' increased way too much which could've cause brain damage or instant death."
"So, never consume the amount of alcohol which makes you lose control, even if you're with someone."
She's right. I was extremely stupid last night to fall for Nailea's mischiefs and over-drank a humongous amount of whiskey. "I'll keep that in mind and thank you," I said, to which she smiled again. I love how patient she is with me right now. "Mind if I ask you something?" she posed the question to me, and I responded with a subtle shake of my head, indicating 'of course'. The nurse had already left by now, and it was just me and the doctor. "You didn't seem like someone who'd overdose. Why'd you do it?" I could see the surprise on her face. She was inquiring about the reason being the overdose to understand the underlying factors or motivations that led me to this situation. "I'm just trying to get to the root cause of the overdose to provide appropriate care and support, but if you're not comfortable enough, I get it."
"No, I understand. It wasn't my motive to drink this much in the first place. My father died a few months ago, and with all of the emotions trapped inside of me I decided to drink a few drinks to ease the pain, but then I drank a lot more than just a few drinks because of my stupidity, I wanted to win a dare."
"You can't put your life at risk just for a dare." She was being like an elder sister I never had, concerned like an elder sister I never had. "I get it, I'm sorry. I promise I won't do that again."
She again smiled at my response and nodded. "And that guy who brought you here is damn hot." she winked at me and walked out, teasing me like an elder sister I never had.
As soon as she walked out, Audreya and Christian's sister- Sadie came in, calmly this time. "We brought food," Audreya said showing me off the food with a grin on her face. "Sadly, you can't eat it."
"Yet. The doctor said you can eat anything and go anywhere after you're out of here." Sadie said eyeing Audreya, to which she grinned again. I see, they're already friends. "I'm sorry I didn't quite introduce myself. I'm Sadie Larsen, Christian's sister. You were at my place last night if you don't know that but I think you already do because Christian has probably told you that. You know when we realized you weren't waking up this morning, that's when we rushed you here. But I think you probably know that too because Christian has probably already told you that, either. Also, he told me that you don't like people calling you with your full name. So, I should call you 'Jo' as well? And⎻" She paused for a second. "I'm speaking a little too much now, aren't I?" I smiled at how she said it all in just one breath and how she was so excited to tell me everything herself but thought his brother would've told me already and shook my head in 'no'. "No. You're not speaking too much. Also, yes and no."
Looking at her confused facial expression, I already knew she didn't get that. "Your brother did tell me that I stayed at your place last night, but not about this morning. He didn't tell me anything about this morning." She chuckled and nodded. Audreya had already started eating a burger. "Delicious," she said with her mouth full. I see why she did what she did. "So, how long you've been in Boston for?"
"A little more than a year I guess."
"And we're all meeting now. That's sad. But I'm glad, at least we met." Sadie said while eating her burger. "She has a flower shop, you know-'Florence'," Audreya said referring to Sadie. I love flowers, extraordinarily. I always wanted to own a cafe with a bakery, with lots of stargazer lilies⎼I love stargazer lilies⎼and so many romance and fantasy novels kept for free reading too. "Oh my god that's so awesome. I'd like to visit sometime. Do you guys have stargazer lilies?"
"You see, they are grown only once in a year that too from mid to late summer, and it's already winter." So, no stargazers. Got it. "But worry not, I'll try to order them for you."
"No, you don't have to do that. I won't need it, not yet. But I'll surely stop by."
"I'll be waiting. Bring Audreya with you too," she said turning to her. She was now done with her food and was very busy chatting with someone. I wonder how she managed to get off from work, considering how Freya is. I think that's who she's trying to convince right now because she stormed out as soon as her phone rang followed by Sadie.