Leonard
She is okay, he said. She lost a lot of blood but she is okay, they had to perform surgery to close the wound and stop the blood but she is okay. Nothing serious but she is sore, the wound was deep and she needed intensive care.
I was listening intently to the words of the doctor, the treatment they'll do on her, the medicines they'll gonna use, the amount of time she needs in the ICU, what kind of food she needs for the next few days and almost every other thing that'll fasten her recovery.
"She is doing fine Mr. King, you can wipe off that vein from your forehead" the doctor smiles and pats my shoulder, "also when you ask for a doctor next time, try to be nice and not scary," he says and starts to leave,
"Doc?" I softly call him out making him stop on his tracks, "can I....?" he understands my question and nods his head,
I braced myself and enter the room where they just put Veronica. I hesitantly walk over to the bed, afraid to see her covered in bandages, afraid that she might be worse than the doctor's description, afraid that my heart won't handle the bruised look of hers but the moment I reach near her she was sleeping.
Her face was pale, her lips looked charred and her head was tied with a single bandage all over her back and front. She looked lifeless but still pretty. I took a seat near the edge careful of not hurting her and gently rub my hands over hers "I'm sorry" the guilt attacked me,
Open my wounds and shoot me the lifeless look of Veronica, the same face that used to be vibrant, happy, showed me different emotions between anger and disgust and now it was blank,
"I'm sorry Veronica" her name was a whisper, I pull her hands up and rest my forehead " I was scared Veronica, this is the first time I've ever felt an emotion this painful" I look up and saw her,
Eyes opened, smiling at me through her eyes. When did she? I quickly got up and felt her face, she's awake. Holy fuck she is actually awake, I need to call the doctor.
I ran back to the door and just in time there was a nurse coming from the opposite room, I ask her to call the doctor, and slowly went back beside Veronica's side.
"You okay? Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere? I called a doctor, he should be here any minute okay?" I rub her cheeks with my thumb and she closes her eyes to my touch.
The door to my back slowly slides open and the attaining doctor makes his way towards me " told you to call me nicely, didn't I?" he mutters then checks Veronica.
Why is he so casual with me? Is he not afraid? the other doctor in the hospital seems pretty scared of me but he is extremely unaffected.
"Mr. King" he calls out and I turn my attention toward him, " from the looks of it, Miss Walker seems to be doing great, her blood pressure looks good, her heart rate is ordinal and the wound is not infected so we expect nothing serious but she still needs to be monitored," he said with a light smile on his face,
Wait a second, did I hear the thing I think he just said? Walker? Did he call her Miss Walker? my eyes searched for something in her eyes but she was silent.
The doctor took the hint and left with the nurse, instructing me to keep an eye on her condition, and if anything feels off then press the red button under the bed.
I nod my head and shut the door walking to her and sitting on the stool, "surprise" she said, the first word after her near-death experience, " I guess you know my real name now" I took her hand and pressed my lips against her skin.
Seeing the calm look on my face confused her, maybe she wanted a surprise reaction. Of course, when someone says their name had been fake all along there has to be a glimmer of shock or surprise but mine was calm like a rock,
Her eyebrows creak and she finally begins to form some words, "you knew my real name, didn't you?" her voice slow and suspicious, her eyes squinting,
I involuntarily smile and pull the stool closer to her, "what do you think the initials on my tattoo mean? I saw you checking them out that night"
Her cheeks turns red and god was I lusting? yes, so badly. She was bright again, the lifeless look of hers was replaced with red cheeks and glossy smiles. This is what I've been missing, this is my Veronica, vibrant and full of life.
I trail my eyes on her face and she is blinking still trying to contemplate the thing I just said, confused and shocked at the same time, " you mean the V.I.W initials?" she looks up, her eyes were curious for my answer,
I pat her shoulder and bring my lips near to her ear " Veronica Irene Walker" I softly whisper her name and feel her shiver against my hold.
She attempts to open her mouth, the words stuck inside her as she hides her shyness by burying her face in my neck.
I hold her and pull her closer to me, careful of not hurting her, " I too investigated you, Miss Walker, apparently you're not so open about your real name but after two months, three weeks, and seven days I found it" I pull back and cup her face, " I know I shouldn't have but you had me curious, I wanted to tell you but I felt this is something you would want to tell me, yourself"
We were looking at each other, this is the second talk we are having and kind of an important one. I softly run my fingers along with her cheek down to her lips and rest our forehead, " I'm sorry for everything, the things you've been through and last night-"
She hushed me in between replacing the words with her mouth, her hands cupping me and kissing me softly telling me it's okay, telling me she's not afraid of what she saw, telling me that there's still chance for us, an explanation that's all she wants from me and fuck I will give it to her.
I press my lips against her, sliding my hand up her head and arching her towards me, " I never killed anyone before" I said between the kisses, " last night was the first and only because I had no option, it's either them or me" I kiss her cheek and she closes her eyes, taking everything she needs to save our relationship, to save us.
"I like torturing them Veronica," she stops me and pulls aways, I bring her forward meeting her eyes, asking her to let me finish, " those who betrayed me, used me, played with my trust, and backstabbed me, I like inflicting pain on them the same way they did with me, maybe more"
She looks at me, sad and disappointed " I'll stop doing it starting now" I assure her, I told her I'm not the monster I was before, I want to change. She wants me to want to change, for her, for us and I'm willing to do it.
"I love you Leonard" she suddenly said and my ever-ready heart stopped beating the moment I hear those words, " it was really difficult for me to love someone again after my father but you made it really easy" she nervously bits her lips and watches me intently, conforming with her eyes that I'm indeed listening to her,
"When we first met I kind of misunderstood you but even between those feelings I was attracted to you, I tried denying it but instead I fell harder" tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as she tries to complete her sentence, "don't...." she bites her lip and I wipe the tears from her cheeks, " don't break.........my heart, okay?" she whispers and my heart clenched against her request,
I quickly pull her and bury my face in her hair, "I love you Veronica" she hides her face deep inside my neck and puffs a breath, " I will never let you ask that question again" I swore to myself,
She's been broken all this while and now when she fell in love with me, I couldn't imagine what she has to go through for accepting the real me. I know it's harder than its looks, action speaks louder than words and she wants me to prove it to her, she wants me to protect her from breaking again.
I will never let her feel this pain ever again, I will never, quote it "never" make her feel this ever again, and it's not a promise cause they are made to be broken. This is my condition to love her, so much that words like pain become meaningless to her.
I still remember the files Andrew handed me after a month of researching her and fuck I was shocked, I felt something that day and maybe it was also one of the reasons to start that pathetic game. She needed someone in her life, someone she can open up to, someone she wants to love and I was dying to give it to her.
The first page of her file, her life before me was now in my hands and as I read I felt something break inside me,
She was seven when it all began when she lost her father, her family, her hope, and herself to the extent she changed her name and took her father's middle name. Matthews was her father's middle name, she didn't want anyone to recognize her as the daughter of the cop who saved a civilian and lost his life, she didn't want any sympathy, any pity because it reminded her of the pain her father put inside her but still wanted to feel him close to her, so instead of choosing some alien name she decided to go with her father's middle name.
She changed the name for the sake of that little hope she had for her mother but it also went downhill when people targeted the difference in their surnames. She decided to move to New York, start fresh but tragedy followed her until now.
I'm here with her, for her. No more tragedy, no more controversy, no more blame, no game. Its us now, just us. Me and her. Veronica and Leonard.
~
Yo guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are finally at the end of this story, I can't believe I actually completed a story, and despite many errors, many self-doubts, many plot holes I still managed to finish it. There might be editing here and there to fix the plot holes but they are not that big or major but I still need perfection so I'll try updating a few times.
Till then goodbye and please don't stop writing. If you're a writer like me then go ahead and do it, write it, and don't think. Learn from the process cause sitting around and overthinking our mistakes, our doubts, our confidence will do nothing. It'll waste time and tire the shit out of you so to all the aspiring writers,
Don't think so much, don't feel sad because of low reads, feel proud that you overcame your anxiety and finally published your work. Don't mull over the fact that there are grammar errors, misspelled words, or anything. You will eventually learn little by little so go ahead and click the publish button right now.
Take a step and enjoy the journey. I'm taking my leave now and thank you to all the readers for patiently waiting for the updates, voting, and commenting.
Hakkuna Matata guys, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :))))))))))