Lara’s head was crowded.
Loud voices stread into her consciousness, and no matter how hard she tried to shake them away, they persisted.
The voices crescended, and with a sudden jolt, she woke up. Her mind was foggy, but the fog was clearing away by the second, and even though her entire body felt as though she had been subrged in lead, she was alive.
Breathing.
And the loud voices that seed to have penetrated into her coma belonged to her contract husband and his mother.
Curtis and Lisa.
She had no idea what they were arguing about, but Lara was sure as hell that the argunt was about her.
Lara was about to open her mouth to speak, to interrupt the argunt when Curtis’s next words stopped her.
"No sane mother would want to kill the woman her son’s heart beats for! My heart beats for Lara. She’s the only one I want, and there is nothing you can do about it. And I ant it when I said that I want nothing to do with you. NOTHING. I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"
Lara’s heart stopped in her chest. Surprise coupled with shock and disbelief slamd into her like a tornado, and she could not breathe.
How could she, when the man she was carrying his baby, the man she got into a contract marriage to, just confessed his love to her in a very loud way?
’My heart beats for Lara.’
When he turned to face her, Lara was sure that her eyes were as wide as saucers. Her entire face had gone red too, and there was absolutely no way she could pretend that she didn’t hear any of his words.
Because she did.
And Curtis knew.
He knew that she heard, which had to be the only reason why he suddenly looked flustered.
Curtis turned to face his mother and Amanda.
"I will not be repeating my words. Get out. You can stay, if you would like to be dragged out by security," he said, his voice so bland and casual in a way that made Lisa stiffen.
With a barely annoyed glance at Lara, Curtis’s mother turned around and walked out of the hospital ward.
Amanda hesitated as though she had sothing to say, but she just shook her head and trudged after Lisa.
The door closed behind them, leaving Lara and Curtis alone in the room.
A weird tension stretched out between the both of them, and Lara could feel embarrassnt flowing out of Curtis in waves.
"I’ll get a doctor," he said after a long mont and was about to escape from the room when Lara spoke, stopping him with her words.
"Since when?" she asked. Her voice ca out scratchy and low, and she cleared her throat while waiting for him to speak.
Curtis did not need to ask her to specify what exactly she wanted to know. It was obvious that she was asking him to tell her when he fell in love with her.
He could not look at her as he responded.
"I...I have no idea. It just happened," he said sheepishly.
And even though Lara had expected that sort of answer, she was still surprised. And speechless.
"Oh."
That was all she said.
And Curtis knew. He instantly knew that the woman he was in love with, the one he just confessed his feeling too without aning to, did not return his feelings.
Lara did not share the sa sentint he did. She was not in love with him.
And that hurt more than Curtis expected it to.
"I’ll get the doctor for you," he said and walked out without another word.
Lara was shell shocked. She tried to think, to speak, to formulate thoughts, but her brain was too scrambled, her mind was too jumbled to work.
Curtis was in love with her.
The grumpy, dangerous man she initially wanted nothing to do with, the man she was gradually warming up to, the man she was slowly starting to see as a friend.
Turned out he saw her more than just a friend. The realisation made Lara feel slightly uncomfortable.
Hell, not slightly.
Extrely uncomfortable.
If she felt so sort of romantic notion to the man, his declaration must have caused so sort of similar reaction in her, right?
If she felt the way he did, then she surely would not be as uncomfortable as she was at the mont.
Hell, if Lara was in love with Curtis, she would be in his arms right now, happy and overjoyed.
But she was not.
And that was... cruel.
No matter how much she tried, she could not see him as nothing more than a friend. He was a good man, perhaps largely misunderstood. But a good man nonetheless.
Maybe in another universe, Lara would have fallen in love with him. But in this universe, he wasn’t really her type. Of course he was gorgeous, and any woman would be lucky to even draw his attention.
But in Lara’s case, she preferred n who were less... intimidating. Lara wanted a soft man, and Curtis was anything but soft.
She could not even imagine herself falling for him, and the thought made her sad.
The door opened, and her thoughts scattered, vanishing into thin air as he walked back in. He wasn’t alone though.
There was a doctor and his subordinates. They had co to check up on her, and Lara answered their questions as clearly as she could.
The doctor seed to be satisfied with what he saw.
The man smiled at her and turned to face Curtis. His head was slightly inclined to Lara though, so she knew his next words would be for the both of them.
"Your wife is okay. We will have to run a couple of tests and keep her here for few more days, but she’s fine," the doctor announced.
Curtis heaved a breath filled with relief. He nodded at the doctor gratefully.
"Thank you."
The man smiled, nodded back and walked out of the ward. Leaving Curtis and Lara alone. Again.
Silence that had been cut short by the arrival announcent of the doctor started to stretch between them again.
Lara was the first person to speak. She had no idea what she was going to say, only that she had to say sothing.
Neither of them were thinking about the doctor’s words, no. They were both thinking about Curtis’s confession.
"Curtis?" Lara called out.
He turned to face her.
"I’m sorry," she said softly.
And the last remains of Curtis heart shattered into a million pieces.
She didn’t say anything else. She did not have to. Her apology was enough.
Because the apology was a way of telling Curtis that she didn’t feel the sa way as he did.
Curtis said nothing. He only sat there, at her bedside, while his heart broke.
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