RED

30. Marigold

She took a silent and deep breath as he finally had his seat within the car. After what seemed like a moment of neither taking a good look at the other, he turned his head to her and her eyes shifted to him. She wondered if he had something else to say, but before she herself could summarise her thoughts, he suddenly drew real closee, causing her to unknowingly hold her breath in that very moment.

He drew the seat belt, which for a few seconds seemed stuck, but eventually, he got it and made sure she was buckled up. He had planned to do that very quickly and look away, but quite involuntarily, his eyelids flickered higher and his eyes rested on hers. It had been days since they were that close. As he stared at her widened eyes and the equal surprised look on her face, he couldn't seem to look away. Damn it, he had missed her. His heart raced and his fingers itched to make contact with her skin.

She needed to look away, but she couldn't. She was actually in love with the man and now, he was being so close to her, so nice to her. Her heart raced a thousand times and she had unknowingly held her breath, which she hadn't realised yet. She felt the need to say something, to let him know how truly sorry she was and how much she missed him , yet nothing came through her lips, just eyes filled with hope.

Suddenly, he pulled away and she eventually blinked several times as it dawned on her that he still hadn't forgiven her. Slowly, she released her breath as disappointment washed over her. She shut her eyes for a second to control her emotions.

"Where do you need to go?" He suddenly asked, bringing her back to reality.

She took a deep breath for a second, before speaking up right away, finally surrendering to her fate.

"Melody hospital." She stated. Slowly, his brows furrowed as he contemplated the new information he just received from her.

* * *

She hastened her pace, as soon as she stepped into the hospital. All other thoughts wiped away from her mind, she directed her eyes, as well as her attention, towards the reception as she headed for it.

Enrico followed behind and he could see how agitated she looked. Something was definitely up with her. He needed to know what it was, yet he could do nothing else but patiently tag along. His brain calculated the fact that he had ended things with her and only just made a decision to drop her off then get going, but his heart said otherwise. It yearned to comfort her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay, no matter what the problem might be. In the end, he just silently tagged along.

"Excuse me." She called as she finally stood in front of the reception and a nurse behind the counter looked up in reply to her call for attention.

"I-I was called here. I mean, my name is Kiana Stuart and my mo..."

"Miss Stuart?" A male voice called from slightly behind and both parties turned to it.

A man and a female dressed in a police outfit stared back at them. Enrico couldn't help but furrowed his brows. They only released when he caught sight of Kiana quickly walking up to her.

"Yes. I'm she. Where's my mother?" She asked, as she searched desperately for hope within their eyes.

Enrico's brows furrowed once more at the mention of a word he hadn't quite expected from her.

Mother.

"Is she alright? Where's she? Which room has she been admitted to?" Kiana asked once more and all they did was stare at her for a second, with a strange pity encoded within their eyes, before they let out a heavy sigh.

Kiana looked away from them, refusing to adhere to their facial expression.

"I have to see her." She commented as she attempted to walk past them, but the male officer caught hold of her before she could.