"We are here." The taxi driver interrupted my train of thoughts and Donnor's gaze weighing on me.
"Thank you."
He glanced at the driver, handing him the money as we got out at the same time.
His eyes met mine as he nodded.
I shot him a small smile. We went inside the hospital together as he inquired with the receptionist.
"Doctor will be there shortly, sir. Please wait outside the last room on first floor."
He gave her a flashing smile, the one which reeked fake to me.
I wonder...has he ever shown his real smile to anyone apart from me?
"Let's go." He said, making me snap back to reality. We took the elevator as he tapped a couple of buttons.
"Why are you tapping everything?"
I asked, confused as his fingers rushed from one button to another.
"We are in a hurry. Which floor is it again?"
He hushed, his voice cracking a bit. I stepped closer, holding off his fingers from the buttons.
"That won't help us reach the right floor. First floor it is."
He drew in a long breath as I tapped on the first button.
I had never seen him this anxious. It was kind of cute to see him being concerned for me.
I covered my mouth to hide away a laugh by coughing. He raised his eyebrows, spanning his eyes at me.
"You okay? Having a cold?"
I shook my head, still giggling.
"Then?"
"Nothing."
"There is something you are not telling me, Callie."
He asserted, his icy eyes narrowing on me covered mouth. I stepped away.
"It's nothing, i am telling you."
He stepped forward, urging me to step back. I kept shaking my head in a NO, but he wasn't listening to me.
"There is...."
He got me in the corner, his eyes peeling away covered mouth, as if exposing my smile hidden underneath.
I tip toed above his shoulders, glancing at the elevator door.
"The doors are opening! Lets--"
"They are not."
*Swoosh*
A strange sound sank in the air above us, flickering the elevator lights.
I brushed past him, my eyes stuck on the buttons. The lights on them weren't on anymore. Next i tried opening the door, but it didn't budge.
Oh lord.
The seriousness of the situation sank in my feet, making it sweaty. I exhaled, facing him standing right behind me.
"The elevator isn't working."
I announced in a low voice, hoping to sound disappointed, but somehow it didn't come across that way.
Silence fell between us, escalating the tension as his icy eyes remained on me, as if sizing me up in his head.
I cleared my throat, turning away.
"I am pretty sure there is something wrong with your throat, Callie."
He said it again, making me crack up. I held my mouth, not being able to control my fake cough.
Don't ask me why him worrying about my coughing was making me laugh. Maybe it was funny that he wasn't able to recognise that I was hiding a laugh.
That he was making me laugh.
"No-thing is wro-ng. Don't worry about it."
I exclaimed, holding myself back in.
"There is."
He came closer, catching me off guard once again.
This time I knew i didn't had any excuse. The elevator doors weren't going to open anytime soon. None of us were focused on getting it to open.
But someone had to take the responsibility.
I drew in a quick breath, still keeping my mouth covered.
"We should try to call someone..."
He silently listened to my suggestion, coming closer and closer.
I couldn't tell if it was the air in the elevator getting heavy or my heart, but suddenly my breath sped up.
He leaned in at my level, his icy eyes coating itself with a new layer of frost. I held my breath as he held my hand covering my mouth, sending goosebumps along my arms.
I stood with my eyes wide, glancing at the way his eyes smeared through my face, stopping at my hand. My mind turned blank, too overindulged in what he was doing.
I hated it. I hated to rage a war against my mind and body. It never listened to me whenever he came close.
His hand grabbed mine, so tight that the way my skin squeezed by his left me feeling all kinds of things.
My eyes dropped down at his hand, slowly turning my little cover into a fist ball, enclosed by his.
The tension in the elevator kept escalating, so tense that you could cut it through with a knife and it still wouldn't be enough.
I drew my lips in, my eyes tracing back at his face. The corner of his lips remained stoic, so did everything else - but his eyes felt different, different from all the other times.
I felt the urge to say something, to chop off the tension and go on with our day, but I couldn't fight off this rush jumping up and down in my body, faltering my balance.
He cleared his throat, chaining my attention. I blinked as he demanded our attention back to our hands - a fistball enclosed by a big one.
I hated to admit it. A sudden picture that flashed through. A picture that made that my chest tighten down my knees.
A mini solar system.
His big fist - a ice cold planet instilling a hot and fiery one..the fingers...lines of dust circling around.
My stomach dropped.
I was witnessing a solar system.
My body stopped functioning right then and there. I kept glancing at our hands, my eyes growing tense by the second.
I looked down at the floor, pulling my hand away from his, but he held it strong, not giving up. My heart dropped.
It almost felt like he wasn't giving up on us.
He squeezed my fist, holding it right up in the air. Tears bubbled my eyes as I looked up.
"Don...stop it."
I requested softly, trying to draw my hand away.
"Stop what?" He asked, his voice just as low and soft, glancing at me.
I exhaled, fighting off all the adrenaline, butterflies and...happiness.
"Stop with this. You know I have--"
"I know you have made your decision."
He cut me off, suppressing a sigh.
That one sigh felt heavier than the solar system.
So he knew.
Tears ran down my cheeks right infront of him, exposing him to all my fear insecurities.
I wiped it away with the other hand, but it didn't help.
"Callie.."
He whispered in a silver lining, tracing his thumb across my tears in a glowing layer of warm fuzziness.
"Look at me."
He demanded. I slowly pulled my eyes up at his face --- his jaw, chin and forehead softening.
He closed his eyes, nodding, as if to say it's okay, but for whatever reason he wasn't able to form those words.
He held our little solar system down, his icy eyes moulding sweet and soft, like an icy apocalypse overcome by a gentle season of winds in an aftermath.
He said it. He said it out loud. The words I never thought I will hear from his mouth.
"It's okay if you think I shouldn't be alive."
I shook my head, numbness grappling my senses as he continued,
"I will respect your decision...i respect you..like I always did."
My lips drew in, holding back a floodgate of emotions as tears dropped on the polished floor of the elevator.
He stood helpless, wiping them off as they came...all he could do.
He knew it was all upto me. He knew neither of us could do anything more.
But I wanted to fight it.
"Don...why did you do it? I need to know."
A heavy silence sank between as my question scraped off the air.
My heart sank as I waited for him to speak up, say anything, but minutes passed and no words came.
My chest tightened as i glanced at his back facing the elevator door. He held his waist, going through the buttons.
I stepped up closer, tapping on his shoulders, hoping he wouldn't leave me hanging.
"Don...."
I mumbled, my heart sinking.
"Don!?"
He turned around, catching me off guard.
"Because of you Callie...because of you!"
He snapped, his voice prickling the air in tiny bits and pieces.
It felt like everything split open right then and there like an open wound bleeding off his chest.
My body curled into a ball, with not even a slightest idea what he meant. My chest squeezed in my ribcage in a crack.
I could feel my voice drifting away.
"What--what do you mean!?"
His face had shrivelled off like a rotten leaf, making me more and more anxious by the second.
"because of you."
He looked me in the eye, making my heart fumble.
"But how...?"
I demanded, my voice turning into a whisper.
He folded his arms, as if to ready himself for the story. I draw in a long breath, standing awkwardly.
For whatever reason my heart turned uneasy.
There was something big i wasn't aware of, and it made me uncomfortable.
"It's about your dad, Callie." He spoke up, regaining his faltering voice as soon as it went. I glanced up at him, all the sharpness and roughness he carries with so much pride vanishing into thin air.
He appeared defeated. And the flickering elevator lights validated his thoughts.
I kept my mouth shut, stepping away from him as he continued after a pause.
"Your dad and I were friends...long time back when I worked undercover..."
I could have asked him a million questions circling my mind, but I listened in silence.
"He was the one who took my interview the first day around. He let me in and we became friends...but later because of my skills one of the officers wanted me for the undercover division..."
He cleared his throat, the one in stark contrast from the other times, the one that screamed dire seriousness.
"I am listening."
I stated, controlling the tone of my voice. I was freaking out underneath, but i decided against it to show him my meltdown.
"I know you are...days passed one after another. Then I got an assignment at the same location as his him being on duty...i had my fake terrorist men with me...but a shootout happened and--"
Silence filled the air, a damp, heavy silence. The tension was so thickening, you could feel it trickle down your body in shivers, soaking the floor.
I drew in a long breath, but somehow that didn't calm my nerves.
He continued, his voice ruling soft and breakable.
"I tried to save him...but in the process boulder brothers bumped into me and threatened me to help them...otherwise they would have killed your dad..."
As his words soak in the air, a sudden urge tingled inside me. To speak up.
And I did.
"He got killed anyways. That is what you mean. You tried to save my dad and you couldn't."
He blinked at me, turning his back.
We both knew I was right.
I blinked back tears, reacting the exact opposite to what my body commanded out of me.
"Why did you do it? For me? How come you knew me?"
Minutes passed in trickling seconds, waiting for him to answer. I repeated, my voice stumbling.
"Don...I need to know..I am--"
"I knew you. I did. Yes."
"But what do you mean? You said just now---"
"That I did it for you."
He faced me, his ice filled eyes glowing in a different light, a light that made my heart sink in deep waters, gasping for air.
I couldn't speak up. I stood speechless against it. I stood speechless against him.
I had to get out of this elevator to come for air.
He held my cheeks, his hands that were warm few minutes ago tingling my skin with sweat.
My eyes interlocked on his, finding myself floating across a different universe - a different dimension.
The corner of his lips pulled up in a half moon, like a homecoming in the icy reigns after ages.
His shoulders were relaxed, his breathing steady...his face as soft as butter...a godly mirage.
But then he spoke up, his eyes steering into my depths, all the tension in his jaw fading...the ones he used to held onto since the beginning.
"I liked you Callie...since the beginning...when i first saw you..."
Everything stood dead silent, and i, for once didn't drift away.
He sighed, followed by a pause as he completed the rest.
"I fell in love...long ago...that first time.."
My mouth split open, throat running dry.
His voice cracked open.
"Back then...I loved you Callie. I still do."
...
This was chapter 78! Chapter 79 coming super soon! Appreciate you for checking it out and do let me know if you liked the chapter through a vote :)
Much love,
Nature (Your author)