[Ambrosia Bellemore]
It was a hospital. Calum Achorn brought me to a hospital.
I'd expected five star hotels where he usually preferred to hold his meetings. I'd expected a five hour flight to meet one of his special clients. Hell, I'd even expected an underground butcher shop with a huge guillotine to chop off my body into pieces.
But Calum Achorn parked his car right in front of the hospital, as if he owned the place. Which he probably did, given the throng of admirers who ran to attend to his every beck and call the moment we walked out of the car.
"We won't be needing anything except a few hours." Calum Achorn smiled politely, dismissing the crowd with just a wave of his hand.
"A hospital?" I hissed as everyone dispersed away, leaving us alone.
"Yes, Miss Bellemore. Is there a problem?" He asks, walking inside. I have no choice but to follow him.
"No," I defended. "But you could've warned me."
"Warned you about what?" He keeps walking like he knew the place by heart. Maybe he did.
How often did he come here?
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean, Miss Bellemore?" He asks, finally looking at me.
"Nothing." I mumble, shrinking away from his challenging gaze.
"That's what I thought."
We keep walking until we reach the end of the long corridor. Everything was white, as per custom, and the air smelled of chemicals and antiseptic. It was overpowering, yet I felt oddly at ease. Some of my mother's genes had passed into me, after all.
Calum Achorn led me to one of the small basins by the corner of the hall, where he gave me a pair of plastic gloves to put on. I stare at him, confused.
"Uh, don't overreact." Calum Achorn softly warns me, putting on his own pair.
"Why?" I start overreacting. "Is it something dangerous?"
Oh my God. Did they invent monster cheeseburger and pizza like in Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?!
But that wouldn't be a reason to panic, would it? That would call for a celebration. So why did he warn me not to panic?
No. It definitely wasn't monster pizza. Dang it.
"No! Of course not!" He says a little too loudly. "But it might be a lot to take in." He adds, quieter.
I don't say anything, but nod at him to open the door and show me. I mean, as long as I didn't end up dead by the end of this trip, what could possibly go wrong?
Giving me a final unwavering look, Calum Achorn opens the door. And I try to look over his shoulder, eager to find out what it is that had him so anxious.
The first thing I noticed, or heard, was the noise. A hundred or so voices, all trying to talk over the other, some shrieking and some crying so loudly I was sure my ears were going to burst.
The second thing I noticed, or felt, was the silence as the occupants of the room caught sight of something, or someone. As soon as Calum Achorn walked into the room, the whole room turned deathly quiet. The sudden absence of noise made me dizzy.
I walked out from behind his back and faced the room. About twenty pairs of eyes darted from Calum Achorn's face to mine, and then returned back to his in perfect synchronisation.
They were children, I noticed with shock. About twenty little kids, some strapped to the gurney, some moving around in a wheelchair.
Sick children.
"Marley, I see you're finally on your feet." Calum Achorn remarks, smiling at someone in the back of the room.
The spell is broken as the shock disappears. The moment Calum Achorn smiles, every child in the room starts screaming his name and jumping out of their beds to wrap him into a hug, or kill him, I don't know which. I take a few, quick steps back and watch as everyone of them, except the ones who couldn't walk, jump into Calum Achorn's arms and hug the life out of him.
And the fact which rendered me speechless was that Calum Achorn actually enjoyed their attention. He was laughing and smiling, hugging the little terrors back, ruffling their hairs and kissing them.
"Close your mouth. You don't want any flies to get in." A warm voice chides me and I turn away from the mayhem to look at an elderly woman of about fifty, smiling at me.
"I-I, umm. This is overwhelming." I admit, sighing heavily.
"He comes here almost every weekend. Spends time with the kids even though their parents don't. It helps the kids get better, ya know?"
"What's wrong with them?" I inquire, looking at the children. They looked happy, except their eyes seemed sad and forlorn.
"Everyone of them is sick, ya see. Some got bad legs, some got terminal disease. Parents leave them here, not bothering anymore. Not a good life, theirs." She mutters, looking morose.
"How did he find out this place?" I ask, staring at Calum Achorn as he talked to them. Each one of them stared at him with stars in their eyes, hanging onto every word that came out of his mouth.
"He just did. One day, he stumbled upon this place. The hospital was in pieces then. He rebuilt it, brought in new doctors, even made sure the bills were paid every month."
I was in awe. I'd never thought someone like Calum Achorn was capable of so much compassion. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, maybe he just pretended to be closed off and unapproachable.
"You his girlfriend?" Paola, I read from her tag, asks, smirking.
"No! Why would you think so?" My face heats up and I duck my head to avoid her eyes.
"From the fact that he'd never brought any girl here before." She admits and excuses herself to check up on some patient.
I stare at Calum Achorn some more. There was something about him, a spark which he hid from the whole world, a spark I wass unaware of until now. Who was he really? The cold, chauvinistic billionaire or the warm, compassionate man who now stood before me?
And why would he try to hide his true, real personality from the world? Why would he choose to be so cold?
"Why are you sad?" A shy voice asks from beside me. I look down and see a little boy of probably seven, looking up at me wistfully.
"I'm not sad." I smile softly at him.
"Then why are you frowning?" He insists, the cute little furrow between his eyes deepening.
"Maybe I'm confused," I trail off, looking at Calum Achorn. I snap out of it and look at the little, beautiful child beside me. "What's your name?"
"Albus." He looks up at me with those huge, watery green eyes of his and sudden warmth swells up inside me.
"That's a nice name." I compliment honestly.
"My parents loved Harry Potter." He says with a small shrug.
"Oh." I did not see that coming.
"I'm Calum's favourite. He loves me the most." He says, his face suddenly serious.
"I'm sure, Albus." I smile assuringly at him.
When I look back at the small crowd of children crowding around Calum Achorn, I notice that he was already staring at me. A blush rises up my cheeks as he smiles warmly at me.
"He likes you." Albus comments, observing Calum intently.
"Oh really? How did you know?"
"He looks at you differently." He admits, shrugging.
I think about what he said. Is it true?
"Come on, kids! Story time!" Calum Achorn announces, making everyone in the room, including me, cheer in anticipation.
"He tells the best stories." Albus whispers to me as we form a circle around Calum Achorn, as he pulls a thinning little girl onto his lap. I clasp my hands together and wait for him to begin. Everyone else was doing the same, even some of the nurses.
"Once upon a time," His warm, velvety voice begins, his lively eyes meeting each one in the room one by one, lingering on mine for a second too long.
"There was a beautiful princess who lived in the far away palace of Syncala. She was always so very confused. She wasn't good at painting, unlike her sister. She wasn't good at singing or dancing, she just read books all day. Books that took her to far away kingdoms, places she'd never heard of or seen. Indeed, books made her very happy."
"That's a lazy Princess." Some kid comments when Calum Achorn pauses for a moment.
"Shh, Freddy." A girl says, slapping the back of the boy's head. Calum Achorn snickers at their banter.
Snickers, as in laughs warmly.
Oh my God, did Calum Achorn swap places with an alien?
"The Princess had a drab, boring life, you see. Well, until she met the Prince. Now, the Prince was the greatest, bravest and the most handsome in the whole country. But he was a coward when it came to the Princess, so he disguised him as a commoner and went into the palace to befriend the Princess."
No one interrupts him when he pauses this time.
"The Princess and the Prince became great friends. But there was a problem, the Princess didn't know that he was actually a Prince and not the commoner that he pretended to be."
"Soon enough, the Prince had to leave. He had important matters to attend to in his kingdom. Before he left, he couldn't find enough courage to tell the Princess of his real identity. That was the first great mistake he ever made."
"Eventually, after a few years, the Princess forgot all about the Prince and married the King of England and lived happily ever after." He finishes, taking a deep breath.
"What?" I wailed, almost distraught. That couldn't be it. The children join me, making sounds of disappointment.
"What happened to the Prince?" The little girl on his lap asks.
"He ruled over his kingdom, but never got married. He didn't have the Princess, but it wasn't an unhappy ending for him." He defends.
"That's not how it should've ended." I protest and some of the kids nod their head, agreeing with me.
"Then how should it have ended, Miss Bellemore?" He asks, the challenging glint back in his eyes.
"Well, the Prince should've told the Princess who he really was. The Princess was a kind, awesome human being who would've accepted him, notwithstanding his status. If you truly love someone, you'll have to fight for it, and show them that you love them. How could someone say no to true love? The Prince was a fool to let her go." I huff at the end of my long rant.
"Indeed, he was." Calum Achorn muses, an unfathomable look on his face. I gulp audibly, his gaze felt like a hot branded iron travelling down my spine.
"The Prince, after gathering all of his courage," Calum Achorn's voice booms in all of our ribcages. "Finally told the Princess who he was, and professed his true, and deep love for her. And they lived happily ever after." He completes, still looking at me that way.
As the children begin clapping and cheering, Calum Achorn and I keep staring into each others eyes. I don't break away until someone grips my arm to grab my attention, I look down and see Albus smiling up at me, asking me if I wanted to check out his sticker collection.
I nod and walk with him to his bed, but not before stealing another glance at Calum Achorn. He was smiling at the little girl on his lap, talking to her and laughing softly when she said something funny. I felt something crack and drift away when he kissed her on the head lovingly.
I wondered if it was my heart.
~•~
Oh my God. The feels.
Who knew Calum Achorn was a big softie from the inside, huh?
Vote if you thought this was a sweet chapter. :)