GOLDWING (ing version)

chapter 8

writer's pov

Almost 2 weeks passed, and Victoria got out of the hospital. Concerts around the world had to be canceled, and there was still a lot of explaining to do. Thomas and Ethan kept asking Damiano for explanations about Vic's mental health, explanations that even he couldn't explain.

And in all this, one of the most affected people was him, Damiano.
Seeing his best friend at death's door gave rise to several nightmares and panic attacks, things he had never felt before. When he left that hospital holding Vic's hand, gradually saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

DAMIANO'S POV

After 2 weeks, we left Zurich. My psych was worn out after that 15 days when I went every single day to that hospital to see Victoria because although this recovery process took a long time, there were some days when she got better, and in others, much worse. It was a real achievement to see her walk out of the hospital with almost no help, even though she was still in need of oxygen. When we got off that airplane that took us to Rome, I felt like we had a long way to go, but I have never given up hope that she would get better. For safety's sake, I decided to take her to live in my house, at least for the few moments of the recovery.
I had to take a lot of care of her with little things: for example, not leaving the house too much alone, monitoring her health status daily, and helping with very basic things, such as bathing and dressing, I can't help but I admit that it was very strange when I had to touch her in certain places of her body.
I lost count of the days I went to her room to comfort her until she fell asleep, of all those times she would just pull me by the arm and take me to her room to watch a movie together, listen to her breathing while she slept, anyway.
Sometimes, I miss those moments.

It had been almost 2 months since we returned to Rome after all that situation, and Vic's recovery process has improved a lot, so much so that she's becoming less and less dependent on oxygen and has gained all the weight she had lost during the hospitalization and the first few weeks of recovery. What worried me is that she became psychologically super dependent on me, as I was one of the few people she saw during the recovery process, for example, there had been some situations in which I left the house while she was sleeping, and because of her anxiety disorder when she woke up and started to think I would never come back.
After all this time, she is already able to do everything she was prevented from doing before on her own, and most importantly, she hasn't self-harmed for exactly 53 days now, which means that she can go for her "normal life". But that decision couldn't be made by us, it had to be made by the doctor who accompanied her from the beginning of everything. And fortunately, that decision was about to be made.

On the day of the appointment, Ethan, Thomas, Vic and I went for a walk in the streets of Rome, something we hadn't done in a while because of Vic's constant 'voltage drops'. That day, everyone was hoping for good news from the doctor, everyone except Vic herself. At the time, that seemed strange to me. I mean, it was good news, right? Was there a specific reason for her sadness?

After a coffee on a quiet terrace, she and I went to the clinic, while Ethan and Thomas were wandering around random places. We got there, and after sitting in the waiting room, they finally called the name 'Victoria de Angelis'.

"Good afternoon, Victoria. Wow, you look so much better," greeted the doctor, surprised. "Can I ask your boyfriend to wait outside for like 10 minutes?"

"Yes, of course," Vic said, winking at me.

Wait, had the doctor just said I was her BOYFRIEND? Wow.
Oddly enough, I'm not that surprised by this, a lot of people think we're dating, but we're just friends, close friends. After a while, the doctor authorized my entry again, I looked at her face and it looked like she had good news.

"Well... according to all this data from the exams, it seems that Victoria doesn't need any specific care anymore, just a little more control of the glycemic index, and when she needs, she can keep the oxygen. If her evolution continues like this, the daily number of anxiolytics could decrease by half by the end of the year," the doctor declared.

When I heard those words, my head filled with joy, not because she no longer needed to live with me, but because that was a big step in her recovery. Finally, after 2 months of daily struggle, another light at the end of the tunnel came on.

We left the clinic, and I noticed Vic wasn't happy about it at all.

"Dolcezza, why are you like this?" I questioned, worriedly.

"Like what? I'm great," she responded, rubbing her eyes.

"Vic, I know you. Those dilated pupils don't fool me anymore."

"It's nothing, I swear. I'm great."

Still, I don't believe what she said. I don't think it's fresh new to anyone that Vic is good at hiding feelings.
After walking for a bit, we found Ethan and Thomas sitting on an old bench at the end of a blind alley.

"So, what's the news?" Ethan asked, standing up immediately.

"I don't need to live with Dam anymore. My evolution is... good," she affirmed, in a tired voice.

"That's great news!" said Thomas, hugging her "We have to celebrate this. How about a trip to Hard Rock Cafe?"

"I think it's a good idea," I agreed, being interrupted by Vic.

"I don't want to go. I'm not in that mood right now, guys," Vic said, sighing.

"But Vic, you love to go there. What's going on?"

"First, it was Dam asking it, and now it's you. I'M COMPLETELY FINE!" she shouted, in an angry voice.

"Okay, we can leave that for another day then..." said Thomas, a bit surprised.

After we said goodbye, Vic grabs me by the arm and walked to the parking lot I had parked my car. During the car ride, I noticed that she fixed her gaze on the doll who was on the dashboard, and she also don't even say a single word. It was more than obvious that something was going on.
We got home, and she went straight to her room, another thing that doesn't usually happen. I thought she might be in pain, so I ordered pizza and prepared a movie/series night. 1 hour later, the pizza arrived, and Vic still hadn't left the room, so I went to check on her.

I went in there, and I saw her lying on the bed, in her autumn pajamas, still sleeping with the oxygen on, and looking like a fallen angel. As I leave the room, I accidentally made a loud noise when I closed the door, which woke Vic up.

"Someone had to wake me up, right? Damn it," she said, in a sleepy voice.

"I just came to see if you were okay. Anyway, shall we eat?"

"I'm not hungry but..."

I took a towel over my bed, put the pizza box and dishes on the top, and turned on the TV. It's a ritual that we used to do: eating while watching a movie. But even so, she still looked sad.

"Vic, is that a... is that a tear?" I asked, placing my right hand on her face.

"It's just... I don't know if I want to go back to living alone... I love being here and living with you."

"Honey, you don't have to be like this. Regardless of whether you're living here or not, we can continue to have these movie nights and deep conversations. Nothing is going to change, I promise."

— Always?
— Always. - I said, placing her head against my chest.