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“What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?!” My husband roughly asked as he went towards Zian, ready to punch him on the face.
I was about to stand up to stop him, but Leila preceded me. She put herself in between them and blocked Allen, “Hep, hep!” She interfered, raising both of her hands to separate the two.
Allen stopped, but I can still feel the tension between them. I can hear my heart beating so fast! This is the second time around that I"m in a dither and felt frightened like this. First was when Allen caught me on Zian"s bed, and now, this – the three of us, again! Why does Zian need to come forth in this kind of situation? What does he want this time?
I switched looks between the two men in front of me. I"m so worried about what they could possibly do to each other, especially Allen. I know that he is still in more heat than light towards Zian. I want to run to him to calm him down, because I know he"s just holding himself back. It is all obvious to his raging looks at Zian accompanied by his trembling fists, but I"m afraid that he might hurt me by mistake instead.
As for Zian, he just ignored the physical a.s.sault did by my husband. I can"t look at him straight, but I can sense concern when he looked at me from head to toe. I have not gone disabled or something, but the way he looked at me unfolded a pitiful expression on his eyes, as if I have an incurable disease. “Get this a.s.shole out of here! Now!” My husband ordered Leila.
His eyes were closed so tightly as if he can"t bear to see his old friend. “Are you referring to yourself, Allen?” My eyes bulged when Zian came back at him. He"s even smirking, as if he was teasing him. G.o.d, did he really need to say that? I looked back at my husband. He clenched his fists even tighter. I really thought that he would continue to attack Zian this time, but no. Instead, he just pulled out his collar. “WHAT THE f.u.c.k DID YOU JUST SAY?!” “Allen, stop!” Leila interrupted, pulling my husband away.
“If you two want to fight, go outside, go to the parking lot! Not here! Are you not ashamed of yourselves in front of Vanessa?" She angrily said as her finger pointed at me. "She"s been confined here and you two are acting like children! You even have the guts to vent your anger out in front of Vannie! Could you at least show a little bit of respect, please?" But as expected, my husband didn"t listen. He doesn"t even hear me out, even more my cousin He removed Leila"s grip on him and then pushed Zian on the chest. Zian moved back slightly, but regained himself quickly and pushed my husband back in revenge. “Woah… Easy guys!” Leila interrupted again.
I want to get up of the bed because I know that none of them would retreat and it will storm trouble. But in my condition, I couldn"t do anything. Good thing, my cousin is here. “f.u.c.k, DON"T YOU DARE INTERFERE!” Allen shouted at Leila. I know that Leila was shocked because she deemed speechless. Her jaw even dropped open as she couldn"t believe that my husband just yelled at her. “You!” Allen pointed his finger to Zian. “Get out before my eyesight blacks out! I don"t know what I can do to you.” He threatened. But Zian looked like he"s not even alarmed. He just sneered and shook his head. Then, he suddenly looked at me straight while he also pointed his finger to my husband, “Is this the man you chose, Vanessa? Look at you. You"re here in this place because of this man.” Of course, my husband got even more driven up the wall, especially when Zian started to walk closer to where I was.
I was stunned for a moment when our eyes met. I avoided his gaze and turned my eyes to Allen. His eyes were filled with sorrow, and then he suddenly closed them tightly. I noticed his trembling eyebrows. “One more step and I"ll kill you.” This threat made Zian stop. I signaled Leila to calm my husband, which she hurriedly did. She pulled Allen"s arm backwards, “It"s enough, Allen.” She weaned. “No, Leila, let him.” Zian boastfully said as he looked at Allen. “Besides, even if he will kill me, that will not change the fact that his wife once left him for me.” All our eyes grew bigger to what he said. If only my left shoulder was not injured, I will slap him on the face myself. How could he say that? He"s being insensitive!
I looked at my husband"s reaction – he"s breathing heavily and staring fiercely at Zian. His face was already red in color as if he will explode anytime. I know he"s hurt, as if he really wanted to punch Zian to death right now. Even I felt pain to what he said. He has changed. He has never been this aggressive and war freak before. I was no longer surprised when my husband pulled him out on the collar again. “YOU"RE REALLY AN a.s.sHOLE! YOU"RE FULL OF TALK s.h.i.+TS! FIGHT WITH ME FAIRLY! MAN TO MAN!” Zian warded off my husband"s hands on his collar and pushed him on the shoulder. “FINE! LET"S GO TO THE PARKING LOT!” He challenged. “SURE! AS IF I WILL CONCEDE THAT EASILY AGAINST YOU!” My husband relentlessly responded, pus.h.i.+ng Zian on his chest again. “Yes, that"s right!” I was surprised when my cousin suddenly interrupted again. “Both of you, go fight outside! Go kill yourselves as long as you want! Fight until you die, but not here! You two are humiliating! There are patients in the other room and both of you are shouting! Get out of here! GET OUT!" I could only stroke my temple.
My head aches to what they"re doing. Is this really happening? If this is the case, then I shouldn"t have woken up. They"re doing all these in front of me. I just can"t believe it. It seems like a nightmare. Zian was the first to retreat. He fixed his plain black polo s.h.i.+rt and then pointed his finger to my husband and said, “I will wait for you outside.” I looked at him as he walked out of the room. He showed a brave front in challenging my husband like that. I witnessed them in duels many times before and never had he won over Allen.
My husband has always been stronger and tougher than him. What could be his motivation right now? Then I turned my eyes to my husband. I"m surprised to see him already looking fiercely at me, like he"s thinking of hurting and yelling at me again. But good thing, Leila blocked him. It looked like we have the same thing in our minds. “Ah, what does that look at your wife mean? Please, your wife is innocent. She is not your enemy! He"s there!” She said as she pointed out on the direction of the door, indicating that Zian was out there. It seems like my husband regained himself from extreme anger. He closed his eyes tightly before he looked back at me straight, “You stay here!” I just nodded, even if the truth is, it"s against my will. Me? Stay here? No way! I want to stop him, to tell him not to follow Zian anymore, because I don"t want to let something bad happen to any of them. But he might misunderstand me and mistakenly believe that I"m taking Zian"s side. For sure, he will get more p.i.s.sed off at me, so I let him go and watched him leave the room. I flopped on the bed after Allen went out the room.
I tried to calm myself by inhaling and exhaling slowly, but I couldn"t help but feel anxious. Too many thoughts were running around my head. I almost forgot that I was in the hospital, that I needed to fully recover, and that my left arm was still bruised. I was more concerned about my husband"s situation. Do these things really need to happen? I repeatedly asked myself these things. I didn"t notice that tears started falling down my face. I am having mixed emotions. The truth is, it"s not Zian who made our lives miserable but me. These are all my fault. Just because of my one mistake, all of these happened. I sobbed, and then I felt that Leila was walking towards me and she stroked my forehead as if she was giving me a comfort. “Relax, Vannie. Everything will be okay.” She said, as if she was so certain of what she"s saying.
I wanted to laugh. She doesn"t know my husband. She doesn"t even know what he could do.”Why did you allow them to go out there?! You"re such a provoker!” I annoyingly blamed her. I don"t want to put all the blame on her, but if I"m on her shoes, that"s not what I"m doing. If I had the strength, I wouldn"t allow them to fight against each other. They could just talk, that should help. I don"t want them to be hurt, especially Allen. He is still my husband no matter what. Obviously, she was surprised as I was sticking it to her – her jaw dropped open, but she managed to regain herself immediately. “Tss, just let them be.” She snapped. “What are you expecting? That they will just yell at each other until someone walks out? Of course not! Those are men! Let them fight on a duel, and then it will be okay.”
I just shook my head. “You really don"t know my husband, Lei. You don"t have any idea about what he can do! He might kill Zian! You know how much mad he is to his old friend!” My voice already turned high-sounding because of being really worried about the both of them. Too many possibilities were running around my head. "Relax, Vannie. To whom are you really concerned, Zian or your husband?" I was stunned to her question. I looked at her with a scowled face, “What kind of question was that?! Of course, to my husband!” I boldly responded. “Fine, okay, okay!” She answered back, raising her two arms as if he she was rising the white flag up. I just closed my eyes tightly and stroked my temple again. Instead of getting better, it seemed like my condition worsened. I took a deep breath, "How did Zian know that I am here? Did you tell him again?" I questioned her with doubt. "Are you the one who gave him my contact number and new address?" I didn"t hear a word from her, so I turned my eyes at her, "You are the one, aren"t you?" I repeated.
She rolled her eyes and sighed, “What can I do? Zian kept on bothering me. I also denied him several times when he was asking for your address and number, but still, he won"t stop. Did you know that he even threatened me? He said that he would shut down all the companies that I am working on part time. Is he really that obsessed with you, Vannie? G.o.d!" It felt like my hearing became impaired. Threatened? I can"t believe Zian did that. But it is also impossible for my cousin to tell a lie, because even I was blackmailed by Zian before.
It keeps me wondering, though, because he"s not like that - well, before. I don"t know what happened to him now. Was he hurt that badly because of what happened to us in the past, especially when my husband made stories about him? Maybe that"s why he can now do things which he can"t bear doing before. I"m on pins and needles. If the hatred, anger, and pain that they feel towards each other are unfathomable, I should really stop them. After all, I am already feeling paranoid. I don"t want to just lay down on bed here and do nothing while they are killing themselves outside. I have to do something to stop them.
“MY G.o.d VANNIE!” ‘That"s Leila"s reaction when I pulled the IV fluid line injected in my hand. “What do you think you"re doing?!” She said, stopping me from getting out of the bed. “I can"t just lay down here! I have to go!” I answered. “Wait, what?! Are you crazy?! Do you remember what Allen told you? You stay here!” “I can"t just stay here, Leila!” I answered her out loud. I got up of the bed and fixed the white hospital gown I"m wearing. I just had a few steps when she suddenly blocked me, “WOAH! Don"t you dare! They don"t need you there, okay?! And you might get involved if you are there! Look at what you"re wearing! You will go outside wearing that hospital gown? The nurses will go after you, too. They will think that you"re crazy! You stay here!” “I thought you were my ally?” I questioned her with guilt. “Why are you stopping me? Why don"t you just come with me?” I know that she got surprised to how I came back at her as she stiffened and wasn"t able to react right away. After a while, she paved way, "Fine!" She surrendered.
I didn"t say anything else and immediately left the room while Leila walked after me. I ran towards the parking lot as I was holding my shoulder, because it hurts when I move, but I can endure the pain. I don"t care about how I look like and what I"m wearing. So what if they can see me underneath as this hospital gown I"m wearing is just looped by the straps. There are a few nurses who are looking at me, too, but maybe because they are shocked, they won"t follow me instantly. I don"t care whoever I collide with or who those people looking at us are. I just need to go to my husband. I"m really freaking out because he might kill Zian.
The situation in the parking lot knocked me down like a feather. My knees suddenly stiffened – I can"t move! My face looked blank as I couldn"t hear anything else but the cursing and the sound of Zian"s punches to my husband"s face and stomach. “G.o.d, ZIAN! ENOUGH!” I just came to my senses when I heard Leila screaming. She already ran close to Zian, pulling him backwards. Then, I immediately ran to my husband.
I flopped onto the floor and held his face, “allen… Hey, hey…” It felt like I was poured onto by some ice cold water when I saw his face. I took a moment to close my eyes tightly. I can"t bear to see him like this – his lips blasted and his adorable face was full of blood. I panicked; I didn"t know what to do! I"m scared of blood! I didn"t even know where to put my hands. I didn"t know which part of his body to stroke first - his face bruised like h.e.l.l or his stomach tightly gripped by him because of the pain. I can"t take it anymore, I burst into tears. d.a.m.n, I want to yell at him! I want to ask why he didn"t fight back! This is not what I expected.
Why did he let Zian beat him like this! I looked at Zian who was behind me, with my eyes gleaming in tears, “What did you do? Look at him!” His forehead wrinkled, as if he was surprised to what I said, like why was I suddenly taking Allen"s side. “He deserves that!” He sternly shouted out loud. “That"s not even enough for all the beating he did to you!” “You don"t have to do this to him! He"s still my husband! Please just leave us alone, can you?” “Husband?” He laughed and shook his head. “But he never treated you as his wife!” I was speechless. Perhaps, what he said hit me, but still, what he did to my husband was wrong.
I just felt that Allen was going to stand up, so I helped him get up. He was pus.h.i.+ng me away from him, but I didn"t let him go on his own. He might fall down if I won"t a.s.sist him. “Do you know why your wife wants to replace you?” I thought Zian would stop, but he still didn"t. He even continued pointing his finger to Allen. Leila tried to stop him, but it seemed like he heard nothing. “It"s because you"re boring and worthless! You can"t give her what she wants! Do you know how miserable her life became when she married you? What she wants is simple, but you can"t give her that. You didn"t love her, and I did! You don"t know anything else but to hurt her… And now you"re telling me that you love her?! F*ck man, you don"t destroy the person you love!” “ZIAN, ENOUGH! PLEASE STOP!" I yelled to stop him from talking. I"m feeling sorry for my husband. Call me a martyr but my husband does not deserve this kind of pain.
Allen"s entire body was trembling. I can feel it. I almost hugged him to make him calm. “Sshh… Enough.” I whispered as I stroked his shoulders. “She regrets that she married you.” Zian added. “Know what, she even told me that she"s wis.h.i.+ng she should"ve married me instead of you!” I heard my husband curse – even I also wanted to curse him! I didn"t tell him those things for him to use them against my husband now. How could he do this to Allen? To me? To what he"s doing right now, he"s hurting me, too.
My eyes turned to Allen when I noticed that he was staring at me. I saw his face in a quandary, as if he was in extreme pain. “Is that true?” He asked, which made me feel stunned. I looked at Zian first, and then I looked back at Allen. I know he"s waiting for my answer, but I do not know how to start. “I was, Allen, I… I didn"t mean it that—” He didn"t let me finish my explanation. He seemed to have guessed that "yes" will be my answer. He shoved off his gaze and slowly pushed my hands away from holding him. It was a heavy feeling that my hands were slowly slipping away from him. “Allen, please…” My voice almost cracked when I said that. I held back at him, but he just fended my hands off again. “I"m tired, Vanessa. If you want to go with him, then go.” And after saying those heart-breaking words, he walked away.
I was left behind speechless. It took long before what his words sank in my mind. And why does it feel like he stabbed me several times! I"ve seen him on the rack and down in the dumps only now. I don"t know, but I was hoping that he would take back what he said, but he didn"t. He left me. I want to cry; I want to go after him and embrace him tightly. I tried to call him, but no voice came out of my mouth. I couldn"t do anything else but to look at his back while he faintly walked away from me. I felt that Leila stroked my back. She"s telling me something, but I can"t understand it. It felt like my world blacked out and I couldn"t hear anything anymore. What is happening? Why do I feel like my husband is giving me away?
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