Chapter 21
Aria POV
I woke in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over my face, and still in the clothes that was covered in Terrel's now dried blood. I blinked a few more times to adjust my eyes to the bright light in the room. I looked over at Santos sitting in the chair next to my bed, he was sleeping and his hand was holding up his head and his mouth was wide open.
I chuckled a little then cleared my throat. He closed his mouth and sat up in the chair quickly and cleared his throat. "Wassup Aria how you feelin'?" He asked, his voice raspy.
"Good, bad, worried, stressed, everything in one." I said.
The room door opened and in came the doctor and Ms. West following closely behind him. "Hi Miss Perez how are you feelin'?" He asked.
"Still a little dizzy but I'm fine, but more importantly how is the baby?" I asked a little worried.
"The baby is doing just fine." He assured.
"Okay, that's good." I said feeling relieved. "Doc can you give me an update on how Terrel West is doing please?"
"Yea I can do that, just give me a minute." He said then turned to walk away.
"Thank you." I said loud enough for him to hear.
"No problem." He said then walked out of the room.
Any stranger that walked in this room could feel the tension right now. I looked up at the ceiling and just hoped to God that Terrel would be okay and make it out of surgery alive.
"Uh, I'm gonna go see what the doctor has to say about Terrel." Santos said getting up from his seat.
"Okay." I said and he walked out the room leaving me and Ms. West in there alone. She leaned against the wall and her head was low. I knew she wanted to say something by her body language but I didn't address it. I just kept looking at the tiles on the ceiling, and listening to the monitors beep from numerous patients in different rooms and the chatter from the nurses and doctors in the hallway.
"Aria?" Ms. West said.
I turned and face her. "Yes Ms. West?" I said coldly.
She looked at me and took a deep breath. "I just want to apologize, I mean its my fault that you lying here right now." She said. "I'm sorry for all the trouble that I caused you tonight, I was just upset and I didn't know who to blame so I just lashed out on you." She explained. She hung her head low before speaking up again. "I made you a target for my anger because I'm jealous." She said.
I furrowed my eyebrows at her comment. "But why?" I asked.
"Because." She said then looked up at me. "I'm no longer the number one woman in Terrel's life now that he has you, I know it sounds selfish, but once you have your baby boy and he starts datin' you're gonna feel the same way, he's always going to be your baby boy and you never want to see him with any female." She said. "Aria, sweetie all I'm asking is that I just hope you forgive me and accept my apology."
I sat there and looked at her for a minute deciding if I should forgive her or not. "I forgive you and accept your apology." I said. Of course I was going to forgive her, I'm not that mean, plus she needs my support to go through this tough time right now.
She smiled a little before walking over to the bed and giving me a hug.
Terrel POV
My body is numb.
I know they are working on me but I can't feel it. I know the doctors are in the room because I can hear them.
As they were working on me I could feel myself slipping into a dream.
I was walking to the park with Aria on my left side and I was holding a little boys hand that couldn't have been older than three, on my right. I looked down and saw that he looked just like me and Aria. Curly hair just like Aria and fair skin like her too, and his eyes were just like mine, hazel. I guess this was my son.
We came to an open space that was shaded by the trees, I picked up my son and watched Aria place a big blanket on the ground. She was so beautiful, her hair was straight and it complemented her beauty even more. But I noticed that she had a certain glow to her, I looked down on her left hand and she had a big diamond on her ring finger. I smiled as she straightened out the blanket and sit on it. I placed my son on the ground and he sat on the blanket and I did the same.
"TJ go play I'll call you back over later." Aria said bringing him closer.
"Okay mommy." He said and she kissed his cheek. He stood up and ran over to the playground.
Once he was over there I pulled Aria closer to me pressing her back against me. I rested my head on her shoulder and kissed her neck.
"You know I love you right?" I asked.
She turned to and looked at me funny. "Yea baby I know." She said.
"So why you lookin' at me like that?" I asked laughing.
"I don't know, that was just really random." She said smiling.
"Not to me." I said. "But you wanna know somethin'?"
"What?" She asked.
"You still didn't say it back."
She started smiling then turned to face me. "Te amo papi." She said in spanish.
"Girl you betta chill with that Spanish 'fore you start somethin' in this park." I said and she laughed.
"Bae stop, you're such a freak."
She smiled and I leaned down and kissed her.
"Ew!" I heard TJ say.
We pulled away from the kiss and I looked at him.
"Boy what chu mean 'ew'? I asked him laughing I stood up from the blanket and he started running from me. I chased after him and picked him up and put him on my shoulders and ran around causing him to laugh out.
"Alright you two come on before someone gets hurt." Aria said.
I put TJ down and he ran back to his mother. I walked over to them but just stopped out no where.
"Come on daddy, mommy brought snacks!" TJ said loud and excited.
"I'll be there in a minute son." I said.
I really tried to walk over there but I just couldn't move. It started getting windy and everything started fading away.
I could hear TJ yelling for me to come back but everything just kept getting darker and darker until I couldn't see them anymore.
The sound of my son was quickly replaced with the sound of the machines beeping slowly.
"We're losing him!" The doctor yelled.
I wanted so badly to just wake up. I can't leave the world yet, I need to be here for Aria and my son. I need to see his first steps, hear his first words, be the father figure that I'm supposed to be. I'll be dammed if somebody else raises my son.
God, I'm not ready to leave the world yet, its not my time. I just need to be here for my family and take care of the ones I love.
Please God, its not my time.
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Cree POV
I haven't heard anything from Aria since the news she told me last night. I cried myself to sleep last night and prayed that my mom and Terrel are okay.
I sat up in my bed and stared at the wall for the longest time. My phone started vibrating causing me to break the intense stare down. I didn't look at the caller ID before answering.
"Hello?" I answered groggily.
"Wassup bae?"
I put my hand over my face. "Hey Malik." I said lowly. "Nothin' much, just sittin here thinkin'."
"Okay well I'll be over later this evening. I'ma call and check up on you throughout the day and see how you doin."
"Baby you don't have to do that."
"Cree, I know I don't have to, but I want to, you're my girl and I just wanna make sure you good."
"Well I'm fine Malik." I snapped a little, but I didn't mean to.
He exhaled roughly. "Aight Cree."
"Malik I-" I started to say something but I was quickly cut off by the click of the phone. I threw my phone on the other end of the bed and rubbed my hand over my face while the other raked through my hair.
I got off the bed and went into the bathroom to do my hygiene thing. I knew my aunt had already left because it was sometime after eight.
I went upstairs into the kitchen and made a bowl of cereal then brought it in the living room and watched TV.
Aria POV
Santos finally convinced me to leave the hospital and change clothes.
I took a shower and put on some sweats. I walked out of my room and tapped Santos and told him I was ready to go.
"Did you eat something Aria?"
"No."
"Can you eat something please?"
"Santos can I get something on the way to the hospital, I just wanna be there when he wakes up."
"What place is gonna be open at four in the morning Ari?"
"Wawa nigga, c'mon." I said walking to the door with my bag and house keys.
We walked outside and I locked the door behind me and got in his car.
After getting what we wanted, we drove to the hospital. I took my food inside and went straight to the front desk to a smiling receptionist.
"Hi what can I help you with?" The receptionist asked.
"Hi, um is it possible for you to tell me if a patient is out of surgery and in a room?" I asked.
"Yea sure." She said. She moved the mouse around and clicked in a text box. "What's the patients name?"
"Terrel West."
She type his name in and I eagerly waited for an answer. "There isn't any update about him right now but I'll find the doctor that worked on him and see if he can come talk to you."
"Okay thank you."
"No problem." She said and I turned to go sit back down.
"What she say?" Santos asked.
"There isn't a new update on him but she is gonna find the doctor that worked on him and tell us how he's doing."
Santos screwed up his face and looked at me. "The fuck, how does that even make sense?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Because, I know he has to be out of surgery by now it takes a lot but it don't take eight hours to remove one bullet. They shoulda been had an update." He said frustrated.
I sat back in my chair and took a bite of my bagel. 'He's right what's taking so long for an update?' I thought to myself.
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This has to be like the shortest chapter ever. But I just wanted to update......Sorry for the long wait, I've just been so consumed in school and I'm getting so much work its ridiculous. So bear with me if it takes me a little longer than usual to update.
mla_ox♥