IF I COULD WAS PUBLISHED ONE TODAY ONE YEAR AGO! TODAY IS THE FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF IF I COULD!! I cannot thank you all enough for reading this story, for your votes and comments and for your TIME!! I never even imagined this would even hit 1K reads at all. Now we're at 18K! I never thought I would spend so much time translating this to Spanish and have the Spanish book be as successful as this one! This is the first story I have ever written so I didn't have high expectations for it! It's been surreal! Thank you, thank you guys, for making me so happy! This story is for you and only you!
It's been a whole entire week since Gwilym Lee went out of his way to get Michelle Hardy's forgiveness and his plan worked.
She forgave him and he forgave her.
Gwilym thanked Belle and Belle...
Belle is friends with Ben Hardy now.
Belle tried to distract herself from a very obvious point — the fact that Ben was her boss —, but she couldn't help but think that this newfound friendship could probably secure her spot as part of the psychiatric hospital's staff. She felt guilty, really guilty, for even thinking about benefiting herself through Ben, but it was impossible, no matter how selfless she was.
Anyways, Belle was sure Roger would be happy to hear that she now has a good relationship with his cousin.
Speaking of Roger, he was in his office having a serious conversation with his employee and best friend Adam Lambert.
"So, I really want to introduce Belle to my children this Saturday. I'm incredibly nervous, it has to perfect," Roger said with his chin perched on top of his loosely clasped hands.
"Don't try to make it too formal," Adam adviced from across Roger's desk. "If it's too formal, Belle could suspect that you are planning to take things to the next level. You don't want that, you want everything to be a surprise. Maybe you could introduce her to your children minutes before a family reunion, so the whole weight won't fall on her."
"Family reunion?", Roger raised an eyebrow, skeptical about the idea but quickly changing his mind. "Yeah, could be. I could invite Ben, and maybe spending more time together outside the hospital will improve Belle and Ben's relationship. I don't like to see them hating each other. They're my cousin and future wife, hopefully."
"See? You'll kill two birds with one stone."
"Do you think it would be weird if I invited Freddie as well?".
"Meeting the father of your future stepmother the same day as you met your stepmother would be weird for any kid, but I mean, we're talking about Freddie Mercury. I'm sure your kids will remember the day they met Freddie Mercury for the rest of their lives, and they will even tell your grandchildren about the story of how you married Freddie Mercury's daughter."
Roger smiled, picking up the phone to make call Ben and his sister to inform them about his plan. He felt good, really good. Nothing would be able to ruin his perfect night.
"I'll call Clare and Ben," Roger told Adam before dialing a number. "I know they both are really busy so they need to make time in their agenda for me."
"What about Freddie? He must be the busiest of them all."
"I think I prefer to talk to Freddie in person," Roger said as he fixed his tie. "After all, he's the father-in-law. I have to make a good impression."
Adam nodded. "You're right. Good luck with that."
3 hours later
"Good afternoon, Mr. Mercury," Roger was in Garden Lodge, nervously shook Freddie's hand as he entered the house.
"Hello, Roger!", Freddie greeted with enthusiasm, and Roger felt some tension leave his shoulders. "It's nice to see you again. Things have changed a lot since the last time we saw each other in Barcelona. I hope you're bringing me good news this time."
"I actually do have good news this time," Roger chose to plop down on the couch at Freddie's other side and the look on his face was hardly any better than the way Roger sounded, a mix of excitement and anticipation. "I came here to talk to you about a very serious but exciting subject."
Freddie smiled, right after Roger finished his sentence. It was a completely unconscious action, but in the back of his mind he knew very well where Roger was heading. He could feel it. "Go ahead."
"Well, um..," Roger bit his lips. "I want to - I want to propose to Belle. I want to marry her."
"Oh my God, what?".
Freddie's stomach did a little weird flip at Roger's words. All he could think of was a flashback to a distant memory in his mind, back when a worried Belle came to Freddie to tell him about how Roger's memory had come back to her. Now, Roger Taylor himself was telling him he pretended to marry his daughter. Freddie could have never predicted this day would even exist at all.
"You don't.. you don't support my decision? Do you think it's way too fast, considering that her divorce has not even been finalised yet?", Roger questioned with fear, feeling panic grow inside of him.
"No! No, not at all," Freddie denied, snapping back to reality. "It will come very quickly after her divorce but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think that's fantastic news, darling! Where are you planning to propose to her?".
Roger was relieved. "I'm not quite sure yet, but I'm planning on introducing her to my children this weekend. I want you to be there."
"That's a great honour, of course I'll be there," Freddie smiled, ready to ask Roger more questions about his decision to marry Belle but was interrupted by one of the domestic workers walking into the sitting room.
"This just in," she said as she handed a pile of documents to Freddie, leaving immediately after that.
Freddie read the black bold letters printed in the paper as an intrigued Roger looked on.
"Final Judgement and Decree of Divorce."
Freddie's eyes shone. "Roger, look at this! Belle is free."
"She is what?", Roger exclaimed as he took Belle's final divorce decree in his hands.
"Free."
Roger beamed with happiness.
"May I come in?", Belle asked with a light knock at the paneled, off-white door adorned with a lustrous grey nameplate that had Dr. Ben Hardy (Chief Psychiatrist) neatly carved in black on it.
"Of course, Belle, come in," Ben said without shifting his gaze from the file in his hands. He sat partly slouched on his swivel chair, revolving it slightly every once in a while. His deep blue eyes imbued with concentration, carefully studying the sheet in front of him.
"Here are the reports for today," Belle gingerly placed the set of reports on the desk.
Ben nodded, his gaze still fixed on the file afore him. "How many patients and what wards do all these cover?".
"A total of thirteen patients. Five from the rehabilitation section, six from the juvenile ward, two from Ward B."
"You abstained from taking a round in Ward C again, didn't you?".
Belle knew what was coming. She was well aware that an entire inquiry session followed by a righteous lecture regarding her eschewal of visiting the Ward C awaited her because Ben knew how to scold her.
"I...," Belle started, trying her best to keep a straight and relaxed look plastered to her face but unfortunately, she couldn't think of a suitable excuse to say. "I did. I was scared I would get attacked again," Belle confessed with a shaky nervous voice.
"Don't do that again, please. You need to examine severe cases in order to attain a better training," Ben asked, lifting his gaze to meet Belle's. She frowned because she was expecting him to yell at her. He realised Belle looked tired and somewhat sad.
"You didn't sleep well? You look kinda tired," Ben asked in a strangely placid voice.
"No, I did not," Belle shook her head. "I'm having problems with Rami again, all because we are failing to agree on details of Alice's christening," she said with a calm yet troubled voice. "Look, Ben, I can't wait to be officially divorced from him. I want to break free. I don't want to be attached to him anymore."
"'I Want to Break Free'?", Ben giggled. "Isn't that one of your father's songs? I love the music video, by the way," Ben pointed out.
"Yeah, it is," Belle responded with a faint smile.
"Don't worry, your divorce will be finalised soon, and we shall celebrate once that happens."
"Sure, Ben. Thank you, I have to go now."
There was a man listening to Ben and Belle's conversation from the other side of the door. Gwilym Lee. A confused and outraged Gwilym Lee. He couldn't believe what his ears were hearing. How come Ben Hardy didn't lose his goddamn mind when finding out about the fact that Belle Bulsara didn't take a round in Ward C? If anything, Ben lost his goddamn mind two days ago when he learnt about the fact Gwilym forgot to check on a patient from the juvenile ward. Omitting an entire ward altogether was way more serious and Ben acted like it was nothing.
So he waited for Belle to leave Ben's office and when she did, he slammed Ben's office's door open, not even bothering to knock it.
"I know the reason why you always acted cold towards Belle, and it's not because you wanted to prepare her for future stricter bosses, or whatever you like to call it," Gwilym was boiling inside, and his boss could see it. Ben glared at him and breathed deeply, trying to bury his growing anger because he couldn't believe Gwilym was so ill-mannered.
"Get out of my office, I never allowed you to come in," Ben said in a peremptory statement.
"Ben, I know you like Belle."
"That's my cousin's partner, you bloody bastard!", Ben grabbed Gwilym by his collar, pinning him against the wall while staring into his wide eyes menacingly. Gwilym was scared for a second, then his worrisome expression melted into a smirk.
"Go on and hit me, Ben, but you know I'm telling the truth," Gwilym's voice was lower and deeper than his usual light voice. "You tried to act cold towards her because you didn't want your feelings for her to grow any deeper. I know about Psychology better than you do, shorty. You like her, don't you?".
As soon as Gwilym finished his sentence, Ben pushed himself away from Gwilym and set him free from his grip, looking completely defeated. He gulped and walked out of his own office as fast as he could.
The reason why he didn't say or do anything to Gwilym?
Ben knew Gwilym was right.