《I don't wanna live forever, 'cause I know I'll be living in vain,
And I don't wanna fit wherever;
I just wanna keep calling your name, until you come back home.
I don't wanna live forever - Zayn Malik, Taylor Swift》
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Liam was driving the car, and I was sitting anxiously, having mixed feelings about why Grace was at the hospital. After what felt like the longest twenty minutes of my life, we finally reached the hospital. All the three of us headed inside the hospital, and for a second there, I felt terrible for dragging them with me.
"Hey, Liam, why don't you take my car and go home with Jake?" I tell him, to which he replied, "No, mate, I'm not leaving you here alone. And I think you'll need me."
"Don't worry about me, and just go back. I'll call you later. Please." I tell him.
"He's right, Bro, let's wait at my place. Anyways Dad and Mom aren't going to be home tonight." Jake says, keeping a hand on Liam's shoulder.
"Fine. But you call me when you need me. Okay?" Liam looks at me, still hesitant about leaving as I assure him with a firm nod and rush inside the hospital, running to the hospital receptionist. "Can you tell me if you admitted any Rachel Grace Williamson today morning?" I ask the receptionist as my heart skips a beat or two, nervous to hear her answer. She checks through the list of patients admitted on today's date and finally answers, "Yes, she was admitted this morning."
"Can you please tell me in which room?" My voice comes out as a desperate plea and she finally tells me, "Room number three zero four." I rush through the people, taking the elevator to the floor on which she is. I reach the floor in no time as I search around frantically for her room number that's when I spot Emily and Paul sitting on the benches outside.
Probably that's where her room is, I slowly walk towards them. I was nervous, happy, excited, scared too, all the way up here but now that I was here, it just felt weird to finally see them after these two long years.
At that moment, Emily looks up and gasps, "Luke."
"Hi," I smile at her, not knowing what to say.
"What're you doing here? Is everything okay?" She asks, getting up from her seat and I answer hurriedly, "Yeah, everything is fine. I was here to see Grace."
"How did you know we were here?" She asks as I slowly make my way towards her, now standing face to face.
"Maria, your housekeeper told us," I tell her.
"Us?" Emily asks as she looks behind my back.
"Yeah, actually Jake, Grace's friend told me about your place. He just left." I tell her, nervously fumbling with my fingers. She looks at me with a surprised expression and asks, "Jake? You know him?"
"No, not me. He is a cousin of one of my friends." I explain it to her. "Is Grace okay?" I finally ask and Emily gives me a faint smile, "Yeah, she's better now."
"What-what happened?" I ask her and she answers quickly, "Rach fainted this morning. Her blood pressure dropped suddenly. She was probably under a lot of stress lately and not taking good care of herself. That's what brought her here today." without meeting my eyes.
She thinks I don't know yet.
"I know Emily," She looks up at me with wide eyes and I speak again. "I know about Rachel's disease. You don't have to hide anything."
"You know?" She gasps and I nod, "So please explain to me properly."
"It has happened before. Over the past two three years, she's been getting more symptoms-symptoms that didn't exist until recently."
"What is this disease exactly?" I ask, frustrated.
"Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy means a part of her heart muscle is thickened. Sometimes, there are no symptoms, and people, like her dad, don't even know they have it. They just go into sudden cardiac arrest. Many of them die. In Rachel's case, we found out through genetic testing that she has it. More recently, she's been experiencing some mild symptoms."
"How did you find out?" I ask and she explains, "Two years back, I got her tested because it took her father so young. There was a chance that she could have it because her Grandfather had it and then it was inherited to both his sons. When she realized she has the same condition that killed her Dad, she was almost convinced that the same thing would happen to her. That's partly why we moved to California."
"Is everyone with this disease destined to die young?" My hands tremble, as I try to get a grip on myself and she sighs, "No, that's the thing. Many live completely normal lives. There is just no way to know."
"But Rachel is convinced she'll die young?" I don't know if it's the anger or the sadness that is asking this question.
"Yes. And that's why she refused to get involved with you because she didn't want what happened to me to happen to you." Emily answers and a teardrop rolls down her eyes.
"Why didn't she just tell me before?" I mutter.
"Because she knew you would say it didn't matter. She didn't want you to know. She wanted you to move on, find someone else so that you never had to get hurt. It kills her to push you away because she loves you a lot."
"I love her too," I say without hesitation.
"I know. I can tell." She says, giving me a sad smile and I ask her helplessly, "What do I do?"
"Don't listen to her. She's going to continue to try to convince you that it's best not to get involved with her. She'll fight with you, say hurtful things, push you away. She thinks every day could be her last day. She's a selfless person, but she should let you make the decision. She's trying to make it for you because she thinks she knows what's best for you."
"She's what's best for me." I start pacing back and forth. "I need to see her," I say and walk towards her hospital room.
A nurse comes outside, "Excuse me, sir, how can I help you?"
"I need to see the patient inside," I say, peeking inside the room now and then.
"I'm sorry, sir, but only family members are allowed inside." She says.
And again, I'm forbidden to see her. It's painful to have her so near yet so far.
But I'm going to see her soon.
"When is she getting discharged?" I ask the nurse and she tells me, "As soon as she gains her consciousness."
"Can I just look through the window?" I ask with hopeful eyes and she nods hesitantly.
I slowly walk towards the window of her room, not confident anymore if I could see her in that condition. But I gather up all the courage to finally see her, my Grace. She looks tired yet so beautiful that It takes my breath away. I watch her as she sleeps like the Disney princess 'Aurora', waiting for her prince to come and kiss her awake. I keep staring at her and I realize that this is something I could do for a whole eternity.
Just then, I'm interrupted by a call.
I excuse myself from Emily and Paul and walk outside.
"Mom," I answer.
"Tell me, you found her." She asks desperately and I smile to myself, "Yes, I did."
"Jesus, thank you so much." She gasps as if she'd been holding her breath and I joke to lighten the mood, "Mom, I was the one who found her."
She still giggles at my lame joke and asks, "Where is she?"
"Stanford hospital, San Francisco."
"What happened?" Mom asks in a panicked voice and I explain everything that happened after her phone call in the morning.
"I'm so happy and grateful, that she's safe. Lucas, listen. Day after tomorrow, I'm taking a leave from my office and coming to visit her. I was going to take it tomorrow, but a huge project is due. But I'll probably be there the next day." Mom says and I nod, "Okay, Mom. Also, can you inform Sam, Matt, and Tyler, as well? I was going to call them myself, but Grace is getting discharged now, so I won't get any time."
"Yeah, sure. I'll do that." Mom assures me. Just then, Emily comes to me and says, "Lucas, She's awake."
"I'm coming," I whisper, keeping a hand on my phone.
"Is that Anna?" Emily asks, slowly walking towards me and I nod slightly.
"Emily?" Mom asks from the other side as Emily opens her hand, asking me for the phone. I hand her the phone saying, "I'll go check up on Grace." She nods and I hear an intake of a sharp breathe, "Anna," as I walk away.
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They're finally going to have a heart-to-heart conversation in the next chapter.
Be ready for the time you all have been waiting for has come.
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Have a nice day:)