Jasmine's cold piercing gaze fell on Ander, "Where the hell am I?" She roared.
Ander gulped, his voice caught in his throat. No ounce of blood in his veins gave him courage to answer Jasmine's question.
He didn't have an iota of faith in his survival were he to drop the news to Jasmine. Let her know of the changes made to her life while she laid unconscious. Ander murmured under his breath, cursing his luck, and the idiotic idea to come and check on the ice princess.
Though only minutes passed as Jasmine glared at him, waiting for an answer, it felt a whole much longer for Ander. Every time he faces Jasmine he loses a year off his lifespan.
"Did you suddenly grow deaf and dumb?" Jasmine asked in clear irritation. "I asked you a question, Ander. Where am I?"
"I'll see to supper," Ander excused himself. Like a thief he hastily hurried to the door to leave.
Jasmine reached out to the cupboard to her right, her eyes glued to the boy making a run for it, her hand grabbing whatever it touched and she flung it across the room aiming for Ander.
The golden orb brushed Ander's ear before hitting the door and breaking to pieces. Ander took a sharp breath, his body freezing up with his hand on the door handle. He feared moving might provoke Jasmine to harm him.
"What are you not telling me?" Jasmine inquired, pushing the dolorous feeling of her sticky skin to the back of her head and prolonging a well-fitting bath.
Jasmine replayed the last scenes in her life before she lost consciousness. She recounted her encounter with Leah and Jalana. An agonizing feeling settled in her heart when she recalled Henifer embracing her.
An unnerving emotion made hair rise on her skin. It sent goosebumps all through her body to imagine Henifer holding her.
"Is this Henifer's house?" Jasmine crossed her fingers to get a negative response.
"Yes," Ander answered. "She brought you here from the hospital and…" Ander bit his tongue and swallowed his words. The look in Jasmine's eyes warned him from proceeding.
Jasmine went pale when she heard him mention 'hospital' in the report. Her heart panicked.
"Which hospital…did she take me to?" she stammered the question. Anxiously trembling at the thought of the endless discoveries Henifer might have made on her body at the hospital.
"Don't worry, she took you to your doctor. I insisted you'll have it no other way," Ander gave her assurance, he tried to calm her, not knowing that his words were fuel to the flames of panic in Jasmine's heart.
"No…no…no," Jasmine cried out. Her eyes scanning the room in search of her phone. Her heart was in her throat at what the doctor might've disclosed to Henifer about her health.
Jasmine's body shuddered dreadfully. Mortally aware of everything she stood to lose were her truth be made public.
"Jasmine, are you alright?"
"My pho…my phone. Whe…where is it?"
Ander flashed her a worried gaze. Since he met Jasmine, he'd never seen her lose her composure, she never gets nervous or stammers so when she did, it raised all his alarms.
He pointed at her cellphone on the drawer by the bed. He'd connected it to a charger for her while she slept, he knows how important that little device is to her.
Jasmine hurried to the drawer, she forcefully pulled it off the charger and searched her contacts for her doctor's contact. She scurried to the balcony and connected a call through to her doctor.
"Doctor Woller."
"Yes, Miss Kincade. How may I help you?"
"I'm calling to inquire about your conversation with the woman who brought me to the hospital. I hope you didn't disclose any vital information about my health to her?"
"You needn't worry, Miss Kincade," Doctor Woller assured her. "I didn't mention anything about your condition. I merely explained to her urgency for you to get rest and proper care. But your condition has gotten worse since last we spoke, you need to come in for…"
"What's the point of coming for a check up, doctor?"
"You fainted, Jasmine. I wouldn't encourage you to neglect your health. Come in tomorrow, please," Woller urged her.
"Have'nt you heard it's cruel to give hope to a dying person, doctor," Jasmine snapped, regaining her composure. "I'll die in six months anyway, whether I come in tomorrow or not. So I'll find something meaningful to do with the little time I have left."
"Jasmine, I think…"
"I don't pay you to think for me, Woller. Stay within the limits of this relationship, don't cross the line. Goodbye, doctor," she hung up the phone.
Jasmine set the phone inside the pocket of her night dress. She stared coldly into the distance, her heart still and her breath composed.
'I'm alright, I'm better than my situation, I'm indestructible," she chanted internally.
Once the words settled in her core, she marched into the room. Picked up a bathing robe and a towel from the closet and headed into the bathroom to take a long bubble bath.
Unknown to her, Ander hid behind the balcony door, behind the curtains listening in on her conversation with the doctor. He'd been curious to learn what caused the ice princess's hard shell to melt with worry.
The truth was harsher than anything he'd imagined. A half an hour passed with him frozen on the same spot. His widely opened eyes staring at one spot on the floor as Jasmine's words echoed in his ears.
"I'll die in six months anyway, whether I come in tomorrow or not. So I'll find something meaningful to do with the little time I have left."
He played the words over and over to make certain he heard her correctly. Ander's heart missed a lot of beats as the truth sank in. Ander raised six fingers to his view, counting the months Jasmine had left on the surface of the earth, he felt his heart breaking to pieces.
'She's dying? Why? How?'
Ander's knees buckled, he dropped to the ground and sat there. His mind filled with one thought, questions on what disease Jasmine had that couldn't be cured.
"How is she so calm above this? How could she keep this a secret?"
His mind raced with worry. In that moment, he realized that he couldn't stand the idea of losing Jasmine, even in six months. Jasmine might be cold and terrifying but their complicated relationship was etched in his body, mind, heart and soul.
Ander couldn't imagine going through life without the dread that comes with standing next to Jasmine. He needed her to live, for her to terrorize his life, of course, he denied any other reason for his resolution. "I need to find out what she's suffering from?"