Alia opened her eyes to a blinding white flash of light. She imdiately winced, squinting her eyes in an attempt to shield the blinding intrusion.
’Is this heaven?’ she wondered, only for a rude voice to cut through her thoughts.
"No, you’re not dead and this isn’t heaven," the man said. "Fortunately."
Slowly, Alia turned her head, only to see Aiden sitting on the armchair placed right beside the bed. He was flipping through a book — Alia couldn’t tell what the story was from this angle — but he looked up and spared her a glance.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask a whole barrage of questions, only to stop when Aiden shoved a mug of water her way, complete with a small straw.
"Drink," he said, and Alia followed his instructions obediently.
She hadn’t even realized how parched she was until the first sip of water landed on the tip of her tongue. Then, as though she had been left in the desert for weeks, she began to chug the water down as quickly as she could, swiftly emptying the cup.
Sighing in relief now that her thirst was quenched, she asked, "Is this a hospital?"
It seed like it. The room was mainly covered in white and paler shades of blue, and now that she focused a little, she could sll the faint scent of antiseptic. There was a faint beeping sound, and she need not look to know that it must be her heart rate monitor.
"Obviously," Aiden said, "By the ti you were found, you were red and black and blue and ready to see God himself. Any second later, and you would actually be waking up in heaven and not hell on Earth."
Alia frowned. She rembered the sudden blizzard, falling down and smashing her phone, and then... nothing. Her mories were all fuzzy and it didn’t take long for her to figure out that she must have blacked out but was eventually found by a rescue team of sorts.
However, she had to admit she was surprised at her visitor.
She looked at Aiden, her eyes roving up and down his body. He was dressed in a neat wine-red turtleneck and so dark jeans, his hair neatly styled as though he was preparing for the runway. A coat was draped against the backrest of the armchair.
He sat leisurely, one leg propped over the other while slowly kicking his feet, adorned with polished leather shoes.
"How long have I been here?" Alia asked. "And..."
She hesitated. There was sothing else she rembered― the hallucination of seeing Matteo headed for her in the middle of that snowstorm that nearly claid her life. Even if that was nothing but her own wishful imagination, a part of her was crushed that Matteo wasn’t here while instead, Aiden was.
"A week," Aiden said. "The holiday was cut short. Our families flew back ahead of ti," he explained. "Your grandfather wanted to stay but was persuaded otherwise. It’s not good for his old bones to stay overseas for too long, especially when he had his own check-ups to rush back to in Sol City."
That ant that they were still in Lesterat. It would explain Aiden’s outfit and why he was dressed so warmly.
However, that did not explain why Aiden was here when the rest of their family had returned.
"Why are you still here then?" Alia asked.
"After I spent all this ti taking care of you, this is how you repay ?" Aiden asked, clenching his chest right above his heart. "Hurtful. You truly say the anest things, Alia."
Alia’s nose twitched. "Thank you," she said earnestly. "But I was just surprised you didn’t return with your family."
"Who else is going to take care of you?" Aiden asked cheekily. "You didn’t think that Matteo would, did you?"
At his words, Alia’s heart fell. However, Aiden continued as though he caught none of the forlorn expression she wore.
"He has a business to run back in Sol City. This holiday has already stretched for way longer than it should’ve―"
Aiden was promptly cut off by the sound of the door opening. He cussed softly under his breath, closing his eyes as he did so while Alia turned her gaze to the door.
Her breath left her lungs the second she was t with Matteo’s fierce gaze, her heart thundering in her chest. The vision of him standing at the door overlapped with a mory she never knew she had― Matteo standing in a flurry of white in the snow, quickly making his way over to her.
"Matt―" His na barely even left her lips when Matteo suddenly rushed forward and took Alia into his arms.
He gently cradled her in his hold, careful not to exert too much force that it would hurt her bruises, but enough to have her enveloped in his warmth.
"I thought you returned ho," Alia murmured under her breath when they finally pulled apart. Matteo’s thumbs gently stroked her cheeks while he stared deeply into her eyes, causing her breath to hitch even further.
"You are my ho," he imdiately muttered back, causing heat to quickly rise in Alia’s cheeks. "Where else would I go but by your side?"
Aiden cleared his throat in the background, shattering the sweet mont. Imdiately, Matteo’s eyes snapped over.
Matteo said, his voice frosty, "I rely left for a short mont to get a change of clothes."
Aiden practically shriveled into the armchair at his older brother’s words.
"Last I checked, half an hour isn’t enough for to fly back to Sol City from Lesterat."
Imdiately, Aiden shot out of his seat. "I’ll be off then. Have a quick recovery, Alia! See you back in Solara!"
With that said, he practically escaped the hospital room, the door slamming shut behind him as he rushed out. The entire ti, he was careful not to et Matteo’s gaze.
Now that they were alone, Alia turned her eyes back to Matteo. Her jaw quickly fell when she realized he had his own cuts and bruises, and there were certain parts of his skin where it had a slightly purplish-blue undertone.
Eyes widening, Alia took hold of Matteo’s hands where the discoloration was the strongest.
"What happened to your hands?"
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