Elsa
I blinked away the tears. I didn't want to cry in front of them and my head was also hurting too much to be crying. I removed my gaze from my hands and looked up to see Nicholas with his hands. in his pockets, staring at me and once again, not showing what he was thinking or feeling.
"Okay, you're all set here." I looked down to see Mikka had bandaged my foot. I had been too lost in my thoughts to realize what she had been doing.
"From what I can tell, it's not broken but I would like you to come to the clinic to do a proper check-up. Until then, do not support your foot and rest a lot, okay?" She smiled at me, and I gave her a small nod back. She went back to her back and grabbed a wipe and gently started to dab around on my brow.
"I really need to stitch you up now." I scrunched up my nose at the thought of being sewn in the freaking face.
"Fine." I mumbled. I was feeling a bit more relaxed now. Whatever she had given me, was working. She put on a new set of gloves and grabbed the needle driver and tissue forceps and came close to my face. Out of reflex, I smacked her hands away from me, almost making her drop the things in her hands.
"Try not to hurt my wife." I looked to the doorway and saw Antonio standing there, observing the whole thing.
Wait, what?
"She's your wife?!" I exclaimed. I immediately looked at her hands to find a ring but didn't find one.
"It's around my neck in a necklace. I can't always wear a ring as a doctor." Mikka explained when she noticed what I was looking for.
"Huh, how come I didn't know you were married?" I asked Antonio.
"You didn't ask,"
"I'm pretty sure I asked, and you were like 'I would rather not have you ask me questions." I told him and tried to imitate his voice.
"That sounds like Nino." Mikka laughed.
"Aww, she calls you Nino? That's so cute!" I smiled.
"You can't call me that." Antonio told me with a blank face and I pouted.
"Why not? It sure makes you less scary - Ow!" I yelled when I felt a painful pinch on my brow. I was too busy teasing Antonio I didn't notice Mikka had started to stitch me.
"Don't move!" She said as I tried to lean away from her.
"That's it! I'm holding her." Arianna got fed up and sat behind me. She held my head to make sure I wouldn't move again.
"Let me go, it hurts!" I tried to move away but Arianna had me in a strong grip. She was surprisingly strong! Did she bench press or something? How in the world was she this strong?!
"Stop making faces, you will get a scar. I'm almost done." Mikka scolded while continuing to torture me with her stupid needle.
"Ow, sit! It hurts!" I complained. I clenched my jaw when I felt another painful pinch.
"Stop being a baby!" Arianna hushed me.
"See, all done now." Mikka let out a breath and stepped back right when I thought of kicking her away from me.
"Already? Oh, that wasn't too bad actually." I said impressed. Mikka gave me an 'I told you so' look and Arianna finally let go of me.
"She's the most difficult patient I have ever had." Mikka said to Nicholas with a smile while shaking her head.
"Come to the clinic tomorrow, and make sure she gets plenty of rest and doesn't move around too much. I have a feeling she's the type to defy orders."
"You have no idea." Nicholas and Antonio said at the same time and I gaped at them. Arianna let out a laugh at their comment and I flipped her off.
I couldn't be totally defensive about it when it was true so far...
I went to lie down when a sudden feeling of exhaustion hit me. Mikka packed her bag and made her way to Antonio whose eyes followed her every move. He took her bag from her and kissed the top of her head before they both went on their way.
"So cute..." I mumbled tiredly, struggling to keep my eyes open.
"That did not make me feel lonely at all." Arianna sighed and she walked out of the room as well.
I let out a small chuckle at her comment and got comfortable as my eyes closed. The bed was so soft and practically sucked me in, which my aching body was grateful for.
A blanket was pulled over me and I felt the bed dip next to me, fingers lightly caressing my face. I opened my eyes and saw that
Nicholas's gaze was focused on my now stitched-up brow.
"Get some sleep."
"What about yourself? You haven't slept at all." I had no idea how he was still awake and not looking tired at all when we both didn't get any sleep the night before. I was ready to sleep and not wake up for the next ten days.
"You don't need to worry about me."
"A bit too late for that now." I gave a small smile, and a corner of his mouth lifted a little. He leaned down and pressed a small kiss on my lips.
"I'll send Arianna in to keep an eye on you."
"Okay." I was a bit disappointed that he was going to leave but I didn't want to sound like a needy little girl.
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes while enjoying the way he was caressing my face, having sleep come to me in no time.
The sound of faint voices disturbed my deep slumber. I moved around a bit on the bed to get comfortable and resume my sleep. Just as I was about to fall back asleep again, someone barged into the room. I quickly sat up with a scream and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. I jumped when an arm wrapped around me and pulled me back into them. I turned my head to see Nicholas glaring at the person who had barged in like that.
"What the fck happened to you?!" Tessa's voice filled the room and I put a hand on my chest in relief. For a moment, I thought the guy who attacked me found me to finish me off. Arianna called after Tessa, telling her she couldn't just barge into the room like that but
she ignored her.
"My goodness, look at your face." Tessa cupped my face, moving my head from side to side to examine.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I smacked her hands and scowled at her, only to wince in pain when a throbbing feeling began from my brow. The skin was tightened uncomfortably and it was painful.
"Don't touch it." Nicholas stopped me when I was about to.
"I feel like I have been hit by a truck." I groaned. I leaned back and rested on the headboard. My body felt heavy and in so much pain. It was much worse today.
"You look like it too. Who did this?" Tessa continued.
"Please, stop yelling. My head is about to explode." I complained and closed my eyes. I was too drained of energy and in too much pain to be interrogated right now.
"Keep your voice down, she needs to rest. Dante, get your woman out of here." Nicholas almost snapped and I opened my eyes just in time to see Dante getting Tessa out of the room. She wanted to say something about it but took a look at me and decided against it and left quietly.
"What time is it?" I turned to look at Nicholas, only to realize he was shirtless.
What a treat for the eyes.
"It's seven."
"Typical of Tessa always barging in this early." That woman had nothing better to do than waking up early and bothering me.
"When did you even come?"
"About an hour ago." Nicholas's arm glided around me to lay me down and pulled me closer to his chest.
"Go back to sleep." I felt him draw smooth circles on my back, having me snuggle into him with my head resting on his bicep as I slowly felt sleep come to me again.
"Already there..." I mumbled into his chest, and I drifted off to sleep.
.
I let out a yawn as I woke up, carefully stretching my aching limbs. My face was hurting a lot from kissing the floor too many times, and my brow was itching especially with the tight feeling still present. I looked to where Nicholas was sleeping only to find the spot empty. How was that man even human? He barely gets any sleep.
I moved to the edge of the bed, trying to figure out how to get to the bathroom with my injured foot. I thought of jumping on one leg to get here but quickly decided against it as it would only make my body ache more. So, I only had one last option.
To crawl.
Here I was, on the floor and my hands and knees, trying to get to the bathroom while keeping my foot up. The room was literally the size of an apartment and I felt it took forever to get to the bathroom. By the time I got there, I was out of breath and I couldn't' t tell if it was because of the condition I was in or if I was just really out of shape.
Probably a mixture of both.
When I was done doing my business, I supported myself on the counter of the sink. I gasped when I saw myself in the mirror. My hair was a big mess and my face definitely showed just how many times I kissed the floor. I had three stitches just above my brow but luckily it didn't seem too bad or swollen.
I started to pull out all of the hairpins in my hair to fix my appearance a little bit. I must have been exhausted since I could sleep with all of this in my hair without it bothering me. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to tame it and untangle all the knots since I couldn't find a brush. It was a whole dan workout.
I went through the drawers and grabbed a spare toothbrush. I washed my face, dabbed it dry, and looked back in the mirror. I did look a lot better compared to how I first saw myself. I still looked like sit but less.
Just as I was about to limp to the door, it swung open.
"You can't just open the door like that. What if I was peeing or something?"
"So?" Nicholas raised a brow and closed the distance between us.
"Well, I don't exactly want to pee in front of you." I explained as I looked up at him. He caged me between his arms, his face coming closer to mine.
"I have seen all of you. Tasted all of you. Nothing to be ashamed of." His hands slid down to me and lifted me in his arms.
"It's not the same." I said amused and wrapped my legs around him the best I could. He walked to the bed and sat down with me still straddling him.
"How are you feeling?" He asked softly and took a look at my stitched brow.
"I'm sore, tired, and hungry. Also, this is really annoying me." I pointed to my brow.
"So, like sit to put it in one word." I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.
I was feeling a little tired even though I had just woken up, but I knew it was my body using all of its energy to heal. Nicholas hugged me tighter into his body and we just sat like this in silence. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the feeling of his arms wrapped around me and listening to his steady breathing.
"We need to get you to the clinic." he suddenly spoke.
He brought some of my clothes for me to change into, but I only grabbed the sweatpants and kept his t-shirt on, and tucked it into the waistband.
"I like it on you." He nodded in approval.
"You're never getting it back just so you know." I warned him. I loved how big it was on me and it also smelled like him, having me love it even more.
"That's fine." He carried me again and went to the dining room as it was lunchtime, and everyone was seated there. I could already hear Arianna and Josh bickering as we neared the room.
"Look who decided to make an appearance." Josh smiled from ear to ear when he saw us. Nicholas sat me down on a chair and seated himself at the end of the table next to me.
"Oh, dang! When I said she won't be able to walk when she comes back, I didn't mean it like that." Josh erupted with a laugh. I gaped at him as he said that in front of everyone. Including Rosana and Sofia who were in the process of placing food on the table.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Arianna yelled at him but he just grinned at her.
"So, did you fck her that hard she banged her head against the wall?" Josh continued.
My face turned completely red, and I didn't know if it was from being completely mortified or by rage. that he had said that in front of everyone. I would probably have cared less if Rosana and Sofia weren't present.
But they were!
"Sofia!" Rosana scolded when a loud sound of the plate clattered against the table and made us all look at Sofia.
"Sorry, it slipped." She mumbled and kept her eyes down and continued to place the plates on the table a bit harshly. Sofia quickly left the dining room when she was done and Rosana followed her after apologizing for her behavior.
Weird.
"Are you okay? They told me what happened." Tessa looked at me worriedly.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." I gave her a reassuring smile.
"Is it really what happened or is it just a cover-up story so we wouldn't know that you were fcking like animals." Josh wiggled his brows at me.
"And why would you think he did this to me?" I asked him while I placed some fruit on my plate.
"Look at him. He's huge. I wouldn't be surprised if he finally let loose." I shook my head at him as he continued to laugh. Nicholas was doing an excellent job of ignoring josh and just ate his food.
"Can we please talk about something else? I really don't want to hear about my brother's sex life." Arianna shivered in disgust.
"You're just jealous because you ain't getting some." Josh teased.
"Who says I'm not getting some?" The minute the words escaped her mouth, both Nicholas and Dante stopped eating and looked at Arianna with a look that was so menacing it had me leaning back in my seat, not daring to make a sound. Even Tessa had an 'oh sit' look on her face.
Arianna was not fazed by them one bit and just rolled her eyes at them.
"Oh, so you can talk about how you all are getting some, but I can' t?" She scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Who is he?" Dante demanded with his narrowing eyes.
"Like I'm going to tell you."
"I just want a word with him."
"Does it involve a knife or a gun?" She raised a brow at him and Dante gave a devilish smirk.
"That's what I thought." Arianna rolled her eyes.
"Liar, you're not dating anyone." Josh commented.
"I'm not dating, I'm just having fun." She shrugged.
This woman was truly fearless. She did not give one fck about the looks Nicholas and Dante were giving her, ready to kill whoever was 'having fun' with their sister.
"Go, Arianna! Is he hot?" I asked while smiling sweetly at Nicholas. He directed his glare at me. I could handle the looks he was giving me, but I didn't dare to look at Dante.
"I'm telling you, he is fine as fck!" Tessa suddenly erupted. In a split second, Dante pulled Tessa out of her chair, threw her over his shoulder, and walked out of the dining room with her laughing.
.
"Okay, so you don't have an infection, which is great, just make sure you keep your stitches clean and dry, and you'll heal in no time." Mikka said after finishing a full check-up on me. I sat on the hospital bed and watched her type everything into the computer while she asked me some more questions.
"As for your foot, it's a mild sprain. Are you resting and keeping yourself off your feet?"
"Yes. I can't really be bothered to do anything right now. And he's practically carrying me everywhere like a child." I gestured to Nicholas who was standing next to the bed.
"I noticed that. I will get some crutches for you to use." She chuckled.
"There is no need for them." Nicholas dismissed.
"How am I supposed to move around then?" I asked him. Surely he wasn't thinking of carrying me all the time?
"You're not. That way I know you're staying put." I sighed and rolled my eyes at him.
"I will get lazy if you carry me everywhere. I need to move around at some point."
"She has a point." Mikka backed me up.
"You can't argue with a doctor. She knows best." I grinned at him.
Nicholas didn't look happy about it but eventually gave in. He said I was getting them tomorrow to make sure I would be doing nothing but rest today, which was fine by me. I secretly liked being carried around in his arms but people were staring too much which I didn't like as it made me feel uncomfortable.
"Do you have any questions before you go?" Mikka asked.
"Just one. How long is it supposed to be like this?" I pointed to my brow.
"Around five to seven days. Come back by the end of the week, and I'll have a look. Deal?" I thanked her and promised I would take it easy.
"I have to call my mom and tell her I won't be able to come home this week." I told Nicholas once we were in the car on our way back to the manor. I would have to come up with some kind of believable excuse as there was no way I was going to tell my mother that someone tried to kill me. She would have a heart attack.
"You'll get your phone later, I just need to make sure nothing is wrong with it."
"What should be wrong with it?"
"Tracking device since you left your phone in the room." He explained.
"I don't know why I keep getting surprised by your answers." I sighed tiredly and got comfortable. The sun was shining brightly above us and the warmth was covering my body in a nice, relaxing way. It was enough to make me sleepy.
"Was that really a heart I saw on the wall?" I asked nervously. I had been wondering about it but felt sick every time the image flashed
in my mind. I didn't know much about this world but I wasn't that clueless that I didn't know what it meant. What I couldn't
understand was why me.
"A cow's heart." I turned my head to look at him.
"How do you know?"
"I just do." He replied curtly. I didn't press on as I couldn't really stomach the whole heart situation. I was disgusted but also in a way relieved that it wasn't an actual human heart.
"What will happen if you find him?" I decided to ask instead. He had his hand placed on my thigh as he drove, his thumb caressing me now and then.
"Not if but when. And I think you already know the answer to that." He looked at me after parking in front of the manor. His eyes went to look at my stitched brow before meeting my eyes again. This time, his expression hardened.
"I'm going to make sure he won't be able to hurt you again." A slight chill ran down my back from the tone of his voice. It was full of promise and I had no doubt Nicholas would most likely end his life. I had after all, in a way, witnessed him shoot people without even blinking.
I gave a small smile when he caressed my cheek. I should be more afraid, and even traumatized, but he was so good at making me feel safe with him and have me forget about it all when he was near me. He looked at me with that expression again that filled my body with a strange feeling.
And it felt so good.
It was all so overwhelming with the fluttery feeling it had me pull him into a soft kiss. It had me feeling like I could never get enough of him.
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