Forgetting Billions | ✓

31 | Forgetting Drugs

THE HOSPITAL staff had come to recognize the Karesh family as 'frequent flyers'. It was a morbid title, but ultimately true, whether they liked it or not. What was disrespectful, though, was the fact that they would stare on as the family walked throughout the hospital.

Every single day.

Jasmine was forced to ignore the nurses' whispers and the doctors' pitying glances as she made her way through the dimly lit hallways toward the private rooms near the morgue. Her fingers grazed over the roses she carried close to her chest and she shuddered.

She pulled open the door to Room 39 and saw her beloved Aunt Bia lying in bed, her eyes closed and her body poked and prodded with tubes in every direction. She no longer had to open her mouth to eat, drink or breathe, which meant Jasmine would probably not hear her voice for a while. She didn't realize how much of her aunt she took for granted, voice included, until she was rendered useless, one step above a medical vegetable.

Heartbroken, Jasmine sat down in the chair beside Bianca's cot and placed the flowers on her nightstand so she would see it when she woke up.

If she woke up, she reminded herself. She hated her brain and how it always wanted to keep her hopes and expectations low, in light of what her reality was. It had changed from joyful and full of love to Hell on Earth, all in the span of one year.

And there was nothing she could do about that.

She needed a break from staring at Bianca, who was approaching her fifth day in a coma, so she called Shayan while she was alone. He picked up on the first ring.

"Jasmine? How is Bia? How are you? Please tell me you're safe," he spoke quickly, almost incoherently, and her lips quirked upwards. He cared so much. Her smile faded when she realized that he would be hurt the most when SS finally got to her.

It was only a matter of time.

"I'm fine and Aunt Bia is the same as she always is." She sighed. "Non-responsive. Anyway, I'm safe. I just had to tell you something."

"Anything."

"SS is Evan."

She could envision Shayan shaking his head. "Not Selena?"

"It's not her. I can feel it in my gut. And Evan was the one who took the picture, remember? He's the reason my parents lost it. He's ruining us, Shayan." He sucked in a deep breath at those words, and Jasmine looked down at her lap, snapping her wrist with her hair tie absentmindedly.

"I'll take care of him." He grinned. "You sure I can't punch him a few times before I interrogate him? It can be a bad cop, bad cop scenario."

She chuckled weakly. "As long as you get all the information, you can do whatever you want."

"Fantastic." A low laugh left his lips. A brief silence entered their conversation before he spoke again. "But, really. How are you?"

"Like I said before, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Aditya. His legal guardians are my parents now. He's so screwed." She tried to sound amused, but she gave up halfway through her sentence.

"Well, don't forget, you two are always welcome in our family." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I love you."

Jasmine heard her father's voice resonate through the hallways, growing louder as they approached the room. "I have to go. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

She ended the call immediately after, ignoring the fact that she hadn't gotten the chance to say 'I love you' back.

Trying to seem as nonchalant as possible, her eyes fluttered shut. It didn't take long before she lost herself in a beautiful dreamland once again, where all her family was alive and well and where Shayan greeted her with open arms and a passionate kiss.