Ashley had not felt like this in a long time. The last time was when she turned ten. After Frederick, her cousin's birthday
Ashley felt as though all the air in her lungs was being sucked out. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She felt breathless, an uncomfortable feeling in her chest.
"Ash?" She heard Jonathan call out.
Her head was spinning, her eyes blurring. She couldn't hold on anymore. After losing her balance, she lost consciousness
…
Ashley sucked in a cold breath of it air once she opened her eyes. Once again, she was in the hospital. Being in the hospital brought her bad memories she wanted to forget. She sat up shivering from the cold air from the air conditioning.
She looked up. Again, Nathan was in the room. He had fallen asleep on the long couch, looking like a mess.
The young woman didn't understand her husband's reasoning. The one time she really needed him in the hospital, he was never there.
He never saw the corpse of their five-month-old child.
Ashley remembered very clearly. The two families were overjoyed upon hearing the news of Ashley's pregnancy. The young woman was pampered the core. However, during her fifth month of pregnancy, and unfortunate incident happened.
And the cause: Vanessa.
"I've been with Nathan longer than you have. What gives you the right to have his child?!"
Vanessa and Ashley stood upstairs near the staircase in a heated argument.
"Vanessa, I don't have the energy to argue with you". Ashley was weak from all the vomiting and even though she had passed the first trimester, it didn't seem to get any better. She attempted to walk away when she was held back by Vanessa.
"No! You have to listen to me!" Rage was written all over her face.
"Please leave me alone.", Ashley said weakly, pushing her hand away from the infuriated woman. However, Vanessa tugged even harder, and Ashley felt the Ashley urge to vomit again.
"I don't see why you're allowed to have his children while I can't." With gritted teeth and malice filled eyes, Vanessa flung Ashley's hand away causing the pregnant young woman to lose her balance. Ashley tried to hold on to the staircase railings but couldn't. She ended up rolling down the stairs, losing her child.
It was a horrible period for everyone. Mostly for Ashley. She waited for Nathan, but the man never showed up. In the end, she didn't bother telling him the cause of the loss of their child. The best punishment for him was to spend his life with a killer of his child. That was if he cared.
Ashley heard a low grunt, pulling her out of her reverie. Nathan's eyes slowly opened; his blue eyes then stared into Ashley's direction.
The two stared at each other for a long time, neither of them blinked. Nathan then rose up from the couch. His shirt was untucked, and his collar was raised. His hair was in a slightly disheveled mess, he also had some stubble on his chin.
"Do you feel better?" He sat on the seat next to her, concern drawn all over his face. His voice was raspy.
"What happened to me?" Ashley's throat hurt. There was a change in her voice.
"You had an asthma attack." Ashley's eyes widened. She hadn't had an attack since she turned ten.
The last time she had an attack was during her cousin, Frederick's birthday party. Ashley wasn't necessarily close to any of her family members with the exception of her aunt Bethany, who was the daughter of her grandaunt, Claudia Scott. Frederick was Bethany's son and he had been close to Ashley since they were kids. This party was the first she had ever attended.
The teacher had left for India on a business trip and under Ashley's coercion, Leticia allowed her to stay with Bethany.
A fight occurred among the children during the party in which Ashley was involved. The fight occurred as a result of Ashley being blamed for stealing a girl named Penelope's butterfly brooch. At that time, none of the kids nor the adults knew of Ashley real identity.
Ashley's asthma was then triggered after she was pushed by one of the boys. No one noticed with the exception of her cousin, Frederick but the only problem was; Ashley's inhaler was missing.
After a while, the adults came around and sent an unconscious Ashley to the hospital. Once Leticia found out, she caused all those families at the party to go bankrupt. Penelope's family suffered the most from this ordeal.
When Ashley woke up at the hospital, her asthma was miraculously gone. The doctors looking after her were marveled at this.
Ever since then, Ashley had not gotten an attack. Hence, she was surprised at Nathan's words.
"I'm sorry. I caused this.", Nathan said, his eyes lowered. Ashley stared at him with a complex gaze. She had never heard him apologize. At least, not to her.
He combed her cheek and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. This was the first kiss they shared that Ashley had felt it was filled with love and care.
Ashley got lost in his dark blue eyes. It was like invisible strings were pulling them together. The door swung open at this moment.
"My dearest Ashley." A middle-aged woman invisible in a qipao stepped in. She had Asian with a mix of European features. She had dark brown hair and dark blue eyes which was just like Nathan's.
The middle-aged woman paused upon seeing Ashley and Nathan's position. "Oh. I'm sorry for interrupting." Her heels clicked as she turned to leave. But, just as she did, a middle-aged man entered. "Is Ash, okay?"
The man was basically an older version of Nathan, excluding the eye and hair color. The man too paused when he saw Nathan and Ashley's ambiguous position.
Ashley stared at them, unblinking. She then stared back at Nathan and pushed him away, causing him to fall back on the seat.
"Mom, dad.", Ashley said out loud. She hadn't expected to see her in-laws around. Especially during this time.
Nathan's mother, Ashandra Wang, waved her hands. "Haha. We came at the wrong time. We'll come back later" Ashandra turned around, pushing her husband, Ethan Li, out of the room.
"No. Wait." Ashley tried getting out of bed and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. "Ouch."
Ashandra, Ethan and Nathan turned to her in alarm. "What's wrong?" Nathan held onto her hands and patted her back gently.
Ashley steadied her breathing. "Nothing. I'm fine." Nathan helped her back to the bed. "Are you sure you're okay. Ashley? Should I get the doctor?"
Ashley shook her head and waved her left hand. "I'm perfectly fine. Except, I can't see a thing."
It was then that the three realized that Ashley was wearing neither her glasses nor contacts. "I'll ask Tish to bring it over.", Ethan said, contacting Leticia.
After a few moments, Leticia arrived. "Ash. My dear daughter." She took no notice of the others in their room and went ahead to hug the young woman. No one minded. We were all aware of Leticia's love for Ashley. After all, she was her only child.
Leticia hugged her tight and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm so glad you're okay." Leticia had never played with Ashley's health. Especially after the young woman had had a near death experience in her childhood.
Nathan got up and let Leticia sit down next to the young woman. Leticia held on to Ashley's hand with both her hands and brought it to her lips, tears forming in her eyes.
"I don't want to lose you. You're the only one I have left in my life now. I can't bear to lose you." The melancholy in her voice was unconcealed.
Ashley had never seen her mother like this before. To her, her mother was a strong woman who had no cares and even if she did, it never bothered her. And that was why she had always looked up to her as a kid. Seeing her mother like this broke Ashley's heart.
"I'm sorry, mom." She pulled her in for her. "Don't cry."
The door slowly opened, and William came in. He watched as the mother and daughter comforted each other, the glint in is dark green eyes undecipherable.