"Gently, pick it." The surgeon said to the assistant.
Upon the head surgeon's commands, the assistant took the tweezers to hold the alien substance inside the body of the patient. "Careful! It's a sensitive area, we can afford no risks or chances. Be precise." The surgeon warned, as the assistant nodded.
He carefully squeezed the tweezers and got a firm grip on the tiny object. "Very good. Now pull it out, slowly." He guided while holding the skin of the patient apart. The other surgeon held out a kidney tray in which the assistant placed the object. It fell onto the tray with a metallic clattering sound.
"Good. Get the staples and suture needles. We need to seal it up." The surgeon ordered as the rest got to work. Soon enough, the light above the operating room was turned off, indicating that the surgery had ended. The doctors came out, covered with sweat, to the only few people waiting in the lobby.
"How'd it go?" A man asked. "Success. He was very lucky to have survived a bullet that was aimed at the head. It missed the crucial point and hit his ear instead. We'll discuss the rest after he wakes up." The doctor said, moving past those group of men.
"He'll be alright, right?" Another guy asked. "Yes, he has to be. Nobody should know about this, okay?" The man replied as everyone nodded. "He'll be soon getting his revenge on the man who did this all to him. Poor Juggy." They all spun around in the direction of the door, looking through the small window at Juggy, who lying unconscious.
* * *
"Pass it through the loop to seal it." Granna said. "Like this?" Lavender asked, doing as she was told. "Yes, correct. That's a good crochet." She smiled, patting Lavender's head. "You learn pretty fast."
"Thanks, Granna. I really hoped I could do all of this with my grandmother. She passed away when I was only 4." Lavender said, looking at her small pink pattern of crochet. "Well, you have me. I'm so glad Tristen brought you here. Give me a great-grandchild now already, will you?" She teased. "Granna!" Lavender giggled, placing her palm on her knee. "You see, Cady refuses to marry any man. I had lost hopes of seeing a grandchild. At least, Tristen made it come true by bringing you here." Granna smiled, looking at her hands.
She was getting slight tremors. "I'm going to last a five more years, at maximum. I'm happy I can see you both get married before that." She said, patting Lavender's hand. "Come on, don't say like that. You're going to outlive everyone on this planet." Lavender grinned.
"Ah, giving me false reassurances? Naughty girl." She playful slapped Lavender's shoulder as they both merrily laughed.
"I see you ladies getting along." Tristen remarked. He was watching them with his arm rested on the handrail at the end of the staircase. "Granna's teaching me how to knit. I just learned a crochet." Lavender cheerfully showed him her work. "Wow, look at that. At this rate, we're going to open up a store and sell these woollens at the highest rate." Tristen smirked, holding the knitted pattern into his hands.
"Now I get where you get the habit of giving false reassurances." Granna chuckled, getting up from her seat. "I feel like you both are talking about me." Tristen raised a brow, sitting beside Lavender. "Yes, we are. Instead of giving her your bad habits, take her out for a walk in the forest." Granna scoffed, holding her back in pain.
"I'm going to get some rest now." She mumbled, as she made her way towards her room. "That's a great idea. Let's go." Tristen held his hand out for Lavender, who took it without a thought. "I know every corner of the forest." He proudly boasted, coming out of the mansion with Lavender.
"That's impressive." She flashed her eyebrows at him. "I know, right?" He smirked, putting an arm around her. They both walked on the trail, entering the forest.
"It's so calm and green. It's like no one can ever find us here." Lavender said, snuggling closer to Tristen. "It is. No one can find their way out once they've entered this forest. But you're lucky that you have me." He said with a grin plastered on his face.
"You're so full of yourself." She smiled, to which he shrugged.
"So Tristen, say, are you going to leave me in this forest and run away like they show in the movies?" She smirked. "How do you even get these thoughts, hm? You're at quite some liberty because of our baby. After it's out, me and you need to have a serious alone session." He smirked back, squeezing her fingers in his palm.
"Oh, stop it." Lavender blushed, looking at her tummy as they walked deeper in the forest. "Do you think I'm showing, Tristen?" She asked, putting her hand over her stomach. "Let me look, I haven't seen quite a difference." He said, running his palm over her tummy. "A tad bit. I'll need to be careful now. Did it pain when I fucked you last night?" He asked, pulling her in his embrace. "Please, language Tristen." She scolded him with her cheeks flushed red. "Oh, you like it. I know it." He smirked.
"No, it did not pain when we did it last night." She rolled her eyes. "You're going to have a lot of back pain in the coming few months. I'll be at your service, always." He smiled, pecking her head. "I'm so scared, Tristen. Honestly thinking about it now, I realized that I was not ready to carry a child. Let alone the thought of delivering it." She hid her face in his chest, holding him tight.
"You didn't want the baby?" He asked. His tone indicated that he would support her every decision. "That's not it. But I didn't think it'd be all this soon. I mean, a week ago we'd been planning a trip to Rome. And look at now, we're taking cover from the cops, and probably Juggy's men." She sighed. "I'm so scared, Tristen. I'm not even ready to face the day I'd deliver our child. I can only imagine it tearing my skin apart to get out of me." She felt a small shiver down her spine. Her eyes started tearing up and she knew she'd cry if she spoke any further.
"Lavender, you are the girl who mocked death in it's face and returned alive. You helped 20 girls escape from somewhere they had no chance. And I know, this is going to be a no deal for you." He held her by the shoulders, making her look into his eyes. "The pain you've faced till now is much greater than what you'd feel when you'll give birth to my heir." He smirked.
"Tristen I swear to God..." She smiled through her tears, softly tapping his chest. "You're already doing great. I trust you, and you should too. But still, if you think it's happening all too quick, we can abort it. It's still not too late." He said, waiting patiently for her decision.
Lavender thought about it for a while, playing with the buttons of his black shirt. She sighed heavily and hugged him again, shutting her eyes. "It's alright. Don't take it to your heart, we'll figure it out. I understand it's not an easy decision to make." He held her tight. "Oh, Tristen..." She whimpered, thinking it over and over again.
Tristen looked around themselves and found the forest growing darker. No chirping birds, nor any butterflies. We'd better leave before the sunsets, he thought to himself.
"Baby, let's go ba-"
"Tristen. I've made up my mind." Lavender interrupted. Despite that, listened to her patiently. "I want to keep it. I want to keep our child." She smiled, courageously. "Are you sure? We can wait for the right time, if you want." He offered yet again.
"No, I'm sure." She smiled, as he caressed her cheek. "That's my girl." He kissed her head. As she ran her hands down his back, she felt a solid object tucked under his shirt and pants. "What's this?" She asked, touching it. "Ah, right. It's about time you learned it." He smiled, pulling out his newly customised designer gun.
"Wow..." Lavender dropped her jaw at the beauty of the weapon. "You wrote our initials on it." She smiled, running her finger over the carving. Their initials were written together with a heart between them. It was made in pure gold.
The gun was simply beautiful. Combined with a look of glassy wood and gold, it was lavish. "Hold it." He shoved the gun in her hands. "Tristen, I can't! What if I-" She started.
"I'll teach you, let's try." He quickly stood behind her and glued her body to his front. He held her hands to make her grip the gun tight. "Tristen!" She panicked. "Shh, it's going to be fun. Think of it as a sport." He said, holding her arms out to point the gun ahead.
"What shall we hit? How about that squirrel-"
"TRISTEN!"
"That wheatish mark on the tree where the squirrel was sitting. Let's aim that." He quickly improvised. "Rule number one, steady your breath. You need to get into a stable state and balance your body perfectly without having it move a lot." He guided, pressing her on himself so that she was not moving too much. His palms naughtily traced up to her chest, squeezing her.
"You're doing it purposefully, I swear. You don't want to teach me." She complained, holding the gun still. "Are you kidding me? I'm teaching you. I'm such a good teacher, if only you could be a good student." He smirked near her ear as his hands massaged her.
"I don't want to learn."
"Rule number two. Take soft breaths. Set your aim." He continued, pointing her hand at that mark. "Once you've set your aim, then rule number three; you need to lock your pose and load the revolver. Like this." He put her thumb on the hammer of the gun. Pushing her thumb down with his, it pushed the hammer down and loaded the gun.
"And after we're loaded, we shoot." He whispered in her ear, pressing her finger on the trigger. The bullet shot in the blink of an eye, and hit right at the centre of the mark.
"See? You try." He smiled, pulling his hands off hers to rest them on her waist. "Go ahead. I'm here if things go wrong." He reassured. "Tristen I can't." Lavender whined. "You need to know this. It's a good self defense." He convinced. "Alright, I'll try." She held the gun up at the same mark on the tree.
"Steady your stance." He smirked, kissing her neck. "Y-You're distracting me." She stammered. "There are going to be distractions in such situations, I'm preparing you for them." He reasoned smartly. "Take your aim." Lavender gulped and set her target, soon locking it. "Load the gun." Tristen guided, as she followed.
"Shoot." He commanded in a whisper. Lavender shut her eyes tight as she pulled the trigger and hit the tree bark, completely outside the line of the mark. "Good one. People don't get that close to their target on their first try." He praised, patting her head. "That's enough for today. Take it." She shoved the gun back into his hands. "Alright. We should head back." He said, tucking the gun back under his shirt.
"Yeah, I'm tired." She exhaled heavily through the mouth.
They soon returned to the mansion and found that the sun had almost set. "Wow, time goes by fast when you're in a forest." Lavender remarked. "It does. The forest is too dense to use the sunlight as an indicator of time." He explained. "Come in, I'm making soup for you, Lavender. It's really good for the baby." Granna said from the door, as she put some trash in the garbage bin.
"That's so sweet!" Lavender smiled, walking ahead first. Tristen followed right after her. "It'll take a little while, you can lay down if you want." Granna said, as they all walked into the living room. "I guess I'll do that. I feel tired." Lavender sighed. "Agreed. Let me walk you to our room." Tristen smirked. "Don't you go anywhere." Granna snapped at him. "What? I'm just walking her to the room." He argued.
"It will take you an hour to come back down." She replied. "Granna!" Lavender blushed. "Don't let him get what he wants, Lav. Men don't stick to earth if you give them everything they want." She said, as if giving her tips. Without waiting another minute, Granna walked into the kitchen to check on the soup. Tristen looked at Lavender with a puppy face, making her melt. "Are you going to follow these tips?" He asked in a sad tone. "How can I do that when my husband is such a fearless intimidating leader? " She smiled, patting his cheeks.
"Good decision." He smiled. "I need to make a call. I'll join you in a while, go ahead and have some rest." He pecked her forehead. "But she told you to stay here." She covered her mouth in excitement. "Am I the one to listen?" He winked, taking his leave.
Lavender walked towards the staircase, realizing how tired she was. There was weakness in her knees from walking long distances into the forest. Not to mention that she had a baby and got tired easily. Geez, I should really ask for his help, she thought. The moment she spun around, Tristen was already gone. "Never mind, I'll just rest in Granna's room." She shrugged, walking towards the right side.
She opened the door to find Tristen's men inside, with some suitcases on the bed; some on the floor. They were all open, and contained bundles of money. "Ma'm, how may we help you?" One of them stood up. "Nothing, sorry. I didn't know this room was occupied." She said, motioning him to sit down.
"What's with all this money?" She asked curiously. "We need to make payments to the respective owners. You know, for things we bought from the auction. It's to clear our account of black mon-" The man was interrupted by another, who shook his head in a 'no'. "I'll let you guys be." Lavender said, making the smart choice.
There was no other room on the ground floor. She could rest on the couch but then again, the room next to the living room was filled with men. She did not find it comfortable or private enough to rest. She had to go upstairs.
"Guess I'll have to do it myself." She sighed. She took a few steps while desperately clinging onto the railing. She was nearly half way there when she felt a little dizzy. "This is not good." She exhaled heavily. Just then, someone grabbed her arm. They supported her back with the other hand, waiting patiently for her to regain her balance.
"Cady?" Lavender asked in confusion. "Care much?" She made a face. "Why're you helping me?" Lavender asked, as they slowly started to climb. "I've decided to be nice to you now. After all, it might be the last time I'm helping you." She said.
"What do you mean? Why?"
"See, I really want you to know what Tristen means to me. I'm here to talk it out with you, nicely. Ever since we were kids, I have always dreamt about spending my life with him. We've played so many games where I've tried to convey my feelings to him, indirectly. But he never understood them. And now that he's back, I want my chance to directly tell him how I feel." Cady said.
"Have you ever wondered that he must have understood those cues, but he might not have wanted things to turn out like that between you two?"
"That's impossible. We've slept together and-" She bit her tongue. "Just know that we've been very, very close with each other in terms of contact. Had he not wanted things to be like that, he would have refused to get close."
"But then you were teenagers. It's obvious that everyone explores sensuality in that age. Moreover, tell me that you did not get intimate with guys other than Tristen." Lavender remarked. Cady remained silent for a while, before she said, "I did."
"And did Tristen do that? Did he sleep with other girls?"
"Not that I know of. I don't think he ever did." Cady shrugged. "Don't you think he must have found out about you? That he might have actually considered being with you? And after hearing that you were being open and exploring things, must it not have broken his heart?" Lavender's words slapped her face, as they both stopped at the top of the staircase. "Oh my god, you're right." Cady gasped, staring at her feet. "Look, I'm sorry that it happened to you. But that doesn't mean you can take it all out on me like that. " Lavender argued. "Now I really need to talk things out with him. Thank you, Lav. You're not that bad." Cady smiled.
"Excuse me?" She scoffed. "He's my husband. He's going to be, my husband. Don't you dare sabotage us like that. I was only trying to be nice to you, Cady. I'm not plotting against our relationship, you got that?" She snapped, making her lose her smile. "We could've been good friends. You just have to ruin everything." Cady said in an agitated tone. "You've forgotten one thing about me, Lavender." She scoffed. "What?" Lavender asked.
"I'm not like you. I have mafia blood in my veins. I wouldn't give a damn if you died." Cady snapped, pushing Lavender off the stairs.