A Step Closer to Love

“Hana darling,” Ava said as they got into the hospital room. They had not even stopped over at the house and had gone to the hospital directly.

“Mom,” Arabella said, sitting up on the bed and stretching out her hand so her mom could hug her from the door. Right behind Ava were Everly and Seraphina walking in as well. Everly shut the door behind her before they attracted any attention to them.

“Ane,” Arabella added as they walked to her. Ava went and stood beside the bed, holding Arabella in her arms, wrapping her hand across her body, and holding as if she were about to let go forever.

“Let me see,” Ava says after letting go. She looked at her face and flinched at the sight of the injuries on her face and then touched her body to see where else she was hurt. “Does it hurt badly?” she followed up, checking her face over and over again.

“I am fine,” Arabella said. She was glad to see her mom, but she was worried that they had made an impromptu trip for this, and she was doing fine. She also felt bad for cutting Everly’s trip in half.

“How did this happen?” Seraphina asked, turning to Kieran, who stood there like a statue waiting to be attended to.

“This is all my fault. I am sorry,” Kieran murmured.

“I am not asking you to apologize; I want to know how this happened. Who did thus?” Seraphina’s voice was aggregated.

“And are you not concerned about me?” Arabella said softly, and Seraphina turned to her with a smile.

“I am.” Seraphina walked to the bed and held onto the hand of her sister tightly. “Does it hurt?” she asked, and Arabella shook her head.

“I guess Kieran blew it out of proportion but I am fine and this was not his fault. I was just a victim of bad circumstances.” Arabella said, defending Kieran, who wanted to take the blame because of something that Aurora had done.

“Blew it out of proportion? Ara, don’t you dare say that,” Everly said, walking to the bed. Those were the first words that came out of her mouth and they sounded concerned as though he was fighting back tears from falling down her face. “Look at you. I hope there are no internal injuries.” She turned to Kieran for an answer.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“We are yet to get a result from the doctors,” Kieran explained.

“How long will that take? Take me to the doctor; let me see what the holdup is,” Everly said. She wanted to be sure that she did not need to go into surgery, and if she did, she wanted it done as quickly as possible to avoid further complications.

“Everly,” Arabella said in a quiet voice. “We just got back from the lab. I am sure the hospital knows how serious it is, and they will bring the results as soon as they are ready,” she said, trying to stop her from going to cause a scene.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Arabella responded.

“Are you sure? Because I can go along with her,” Seraphina volunteered.

“I am sure I am not in any unusual pain. After getting beat up like this, it is only natural that everything hurts, but I feel better because of the medications I have been given,” Arabella tried to explain to ease their hearts.

She had seen herself in the mirror, and she knew that she did not look her best at all, so that was what was worrying them. They stayed for a few minutes before Seraphina successfully lured Kieran out of the room, claiming she needed supplies and that he should help her with directions since she was bad at them even though she was an expert at directions.

“Ane?” Arabella said, and Seraphina came close to her.

“Do you want me to buy something for you?” Seraphina asked, and Arabella nodded as she gestured for her to bend her head so she could whisper in her ears.

“I know you are trying to take Kieran aside so you can grill him; I cannot stop you because of this bed, but do not grill him too much,” she pleaded.

Seraphina stood up straight and watched the face of her sister as she sat in a comfortable chair, even though she was obviously in pain. “Okay, then I will get you that,” she said before walking out with Kieran on her tail.

Everly had been glad that they got her a private room; at least they were all able to stay without being a nuisance to the rest of the patients in the room.

“Are you really not going to tell me what happened with you?” Ava asked as her daughter and Kieran were out of the room.

“I do not want you to worry,” Arabella said.

“Why should I not worry? Isn’t it the job of the parent to worry about the child? Isn’t it the child’s job to worry the parents? When did you grow so much that you are worried about worrying me?” Ava asked with tears lining her eyes.

“I will tell you as soon as I am discharged,” Arabella said. She was not ready for both her mom and Kieran’s mom to find out that they were dating, so she was going to discuss it with Kieran before she would tell them what happened. There was no way she would tell the story without mentioning that they were dating.

“But..” Ava wanted to protest, but then Everly’s hand held hers gently and shook her head when she looked at her.

“That is fine, Ara; tell us as soon as you are discharged and you feel much better,” Everly said. It was obvious that she was hiding something and needed time to process it well.

“Ahh,” Ava exclaimed and agreed. “It does not matter what has happened; the most important thing is that you are now fine,” she added.

“I am fine,” Arabella said with a smile on her face.