Stevie’s P.O.V.

Forest Health Medical Center, the Waiting Room

I sat in the waiting room in worry. In the game, Luan died from his injuries. Who is to say he will live here? It feels like seconds ago we were just meeting, and now he may die. My eyes made their way to my lap. I would call Antoinette or Celeste, maybe even Z or Isela, but it's dawn. There is no way that they will be up yet. My eyes widened. 

DAWN!!!

I have to be at the academy soon. But I need to be here for Luan. Who is to say he wouldn't try to kill someone the moment he was out of surgery? I quickly called the principal of my school. 

“Stevie?”

“Mrs. Kelly, I'm so sorry, but I won't be able to come in today.”

“Really? What's wrong?”

“It's a family emergency. I'm so sorry, this all just happened out of nowhere. I promise I will-”

“Stevie, it's okay. You are helping your family. I will have a sub for your class.”

“Okay, the substitute work is in my third left drawer.”

“I will make sure to tell the sub. Now, go back to your family.”

“But-” she hung up the phone. I sighed to myself while my eyes sank. 

I feel terrible.

I am going to be away from my kids. I rarely am away from them. “Stevie?” My eyes widened as I heard the voice.

Oh my gosh

I looked up. There in front of me was a warm, deep brown skinned man with deep brown short locs, soft pink eyes, and dressed in a white button-up, black pants, and a long white doctor's coat.

I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT CELESTE’S BROTHER WORKS HERE!!! “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I am here for my-”

Wait

If I don't say that Luan and I have some type of close connection, they may not let me see him in the future as much. Well, that's what I see on television.

“You are here for-?”

Fuck

“I'm sorry, I am here for my boyfriend.”

His eyes widened. “Boyfriend?” I nodded.

“Luan”

“Luan, as the man who has abdominal trauma, left upper quadrant. His spleen was ruptured, you know that, right? He had a lot of internal bleeding.” I paused.

Luan told Eliana to stab him there.

He wanted it to be easy for her. Especially when she didn't want to kill him. 

The spleen though

It sounds like it sucks. “He had emergency surgery but made it through. He was lucky it didn't destroy his spleen-”

“But it ruptured.”

“It did, but it is still usable. Give it some time, and he will heal.” My brows sank. “So, your boyfriend. Celeste never told me you had one.”

“We became official two weeks ago.”

I'm lying so much!!

I hate this

“Wow. So, something I wanted to know is how your boyfriend got this injury? It looks to be a stab wound or something-”

“We were almost robbed. Luan protected me, but was stabbed in the process.”

“Wow, you two should file a police report.”

“I would, but Luan has already gone through enough. I don't want him to be stuck answering questions when he should be healing.” He arched his brows.

“The robber is still out there.”

“He is, but for now, I have to focus on helping Luan heal. And the stress of a possible case is not going to help. Maybe we can make one once he heals, but for now, that is the last thing on my mind.”

“But don't you want to get the guy who stabbed your boyfriend?”

“I do, but I need to focus on Luan for now.” He stared at me in my eyes. Damn, I need to cry. Maybe that can help. What can I think about? I got it! 

My eyes began to gloss. “Stevie?” I burst into tears. “Ste-”

“I almost lost Luan.”

“But he survived-”

“And yet I could have lost him. Do you know how terrible that feels? I could have lost the man I care about.” People began to look at us.

Good

“Stevie,” his hand went on my upper back, and he began to rub it. My cheeks reddened. 

I thought he was a buzzkill.

Instead, he seems to be a bit caring. “If you want, you can sit with him. He is still out from the anesthesia, though.” I nodded my head.

“I would love that, Marion,” internally, I smiled. It worked! All it took was thinking about my last heartbreak and my failed attempts at accomplishments.

Marion led me to Luan’s room. Once we got to the door, he looked at me. “I will leave you two be.” I smiled at him.

“Thank you,” I said before walking into his room. I closed the door quietly and made my way past the corner. Lying in the bed asleep was Luan. He is wrapped from his upper abdomen to what looked to be the middle. This is terrible. Luan could have died.

I made my way beside him. What a painful way to die. You could have told your sister to go for anywhere else but instead you said the abdomen was fine. That would have been a slow death that you would have had.

The thing was that it sadly made sense as to why he never allowed her to go for the head. It was the fear of dying. He wanted his sister to be able to know she did the right thing but his fear was what got him a slow death. “Luan, you brave man, yet even you are able to feel fear.”

Evening

Luan’s P.O.V.

The sound of beeping came to my ears. The slight smell of food, metal, and disinfectant flooded my nose. My eyes opened only to receive a flash of light. I cringed and closed my eyes shut.

Shit

The sound of the door opening caught my attention. Two sets of footsteps came in. “Your boyfriend will be able to wake up soon. In the meantime, you should go home Stevie. You have been keeping an eye on him all day.” A masculine baritone voice said.

“I can't just leave him here.”

“He is in safe hands. Now you on the other hand have to get to your students right?” A moment of silence was heard. “Stevie, I know it's hard to leave now but you really do need to rest.”

“Maybe I could rest here.”

“Stevie-”

“Marion, Luan is not a fan of hospitals. Leaving him here is not-”

“It's okay”

Who is this man and why

is he so keen on getting this woman to-

Boyfriend?

I slowly blinked my eyes open. Standing in front of me was the brown haired, two eye colored woman and a man in a lab coat. 

So she is pretending we are dating?

Why? “You plan on going to work tomorrow right?” The woman didn't say anything. Her eyes sank. “You're not?”

“I talked to my boss hours ago about taking a few days off. She understands, especially after calling out this morning because of an emergency.”

She called off of work?

“Wow”

“What's wrong?”

“You really are dedicated.”

“He's my boyfriend. Why wouldn't I be?”

“On our date last mon-”

“Marion-”

“Stevie, I know it's dumb to bring it up but-”

I am done listening to these two and their romance issues. I groaned, causing the two to look at me. “Luan” the woman started.

“So, we're dating now?” I said the best I could but in all honesty, my voice was rough. The woman froze.

“Luan-”

“Stevie I thought you two-”

“We are. It's just that Stevie seems to have been late gone my proposal to date until now.”

“Didn't you two start dating two weeks ago?” I looked at the man before I looked at the embarrassed woman.

“We have. Just without Stevie agreeing verbally. Yet, we did couple things. Dates and such you know.”

“Yeah…”

“Luan, how are you feeling?” I know what to say. My lips curved up.

“Fine, since you came.”