A Step Closer to Love

“You and my sister?” Seraphina asked as they walked to the elevator.

“What?!” Kieran asked, startled that they had been caught easily.

“Don’t worry, I am sure I was the only one who caught on. My mom is not an expert on things like this,” Seraphina assured him. While she was in university, she had several relationships, and sometimes it was like her mom was intentionally trying to act dumb not to see them, but she was truly not trying to pay attention to things like that.

“We are not trying to hide it.”

“But now would not be a good time to discuss your relationship,” Seraphina understood. She would do the same if she were in their shoes anyway. “The most important thing now is that Arabella recovers well and can go back to her daily life without any complications,” she said.

“That is true,” Kieran added, nodding his head.

“But I need to know,” Seraphina said as the elevator stopped and opened and they got into it. “I need to know what happened. I can not wait till you are telling the moms about it.”

Kieran had wanted to try his best not to be the one to narrate the story since he was still beating himself up for allowing this to happen in the first place. “I promise not to blame you.”

“But it is my fault,” Kieran said silently.

“Care to explain how you caused this? That should determine if I would accept your relationship and stand behind you when you tell my mom.” Seraphina wanted to drag a bargain with him. Arabella had already sounded like she was head over heels for him, and from the way he had looked at her since they arrived, she could not deny that she saw love in his eyes as well.

Kieran explained the situation from the top; he made sure that Seraphina was aware of how Aurora got involved with him and then Arabella. He explained how she deceived Arabella.

“I wish I had a gun; I would march straight to that Aurora lady and shoot her head off, and then I would spend my life in jail without any remorse,” Seraphina said, clutching her hand to her side. Seraphina could not understand how it was that a woman interested in a man would rather kidnap his girlfriend than take no for an answer.

“She is in the custody of the police, and I am pushing to press full charges and that she would get the maximum sentence for her actions, but…”

“Let me guess Arabella wants to forgive her.” Seraphina asked.

“Yes, she is telling us to end this with a settlement of her paying off the hospital bills at least.”

“That is my sister, always very kind-hearted and barely having a spine of her own. I hope you disagreed with her ridiculous request.”

“I did not agree; I am going to push for a full charge and maximum punishment as I am also a victim of this case.”

“That is good.”

“What’s taking them such a long time?” Ava asked as she glanced at the door for the thirty-first time in the space of a minute.

“They would be back soon; why are you so worried?” Arabella asked as she lay down in bed.

“Why shouldn’t I be worried? I do not want to think about the bad luck that had been opened over my family as a result of this accident,” Ava said.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“Why would you say something like that? That is the kind of statement that can bring bad luck in.”

Ava opened her mouth to speak but before he could say anything, a doctor walked in. Both women stood up and waited for the man to go to Arabella. “How do you feel?” the doctor asked, checking her IV drip and then her face.

“Still in pain but not as much as before.,” Arabella said, staring at the doctor.

“Okay, that is good.”

“Doctor, what about the result of the test?” Ava asked when the doctor did not say anything. She was fine even if the doctor ignored her and did not say hello; she just wanted to make sure that her daughter was doing fine and she would have been okay.

“Are you her guardian?” the doctor asked. “Is she your guardian?” he asked Arabella.

“Yes, doctor, this is my mom.”

“Then who was that man that brought you in? Your husband?” he asked, tilting his head. “Or your boyfriend?” the question made Ava and Everly confused.

“He is none,” Everly said, trying to clear the air quickly. “He is my son, and she is her daughter,” she added, pointing the people out.

“He is not your significant other?” the man asked again. Everly did not know how to act because she had wanted them to tell their parents at the same time. “Oh wow, that is some serious information to unpack,” the doctor said with widened eyes.

“He was really worried about you, though.”

“Kieran?” Everly said, shocking herself as well. Kieran was the kind of man who showed apathy when it came to the pain of others. How was he worried about Arabella when they had always been at each other’s throats since she moved here? How was he the one who called to tell and update them about the situation? How was he still there when they came and still did not leave after they came? She found it fishy but it was not something she was going to dwell on.

“They are not,” Everly said before anyone could say anything.

“So doctor, what does the result say?” Ava asked. She did not care about the relationship, at least for now. Her major concern and worry was the state of her daughter.

“We have not gotten all the tests, and I was waiting to get them all before I came to tell her the result. Seeing that you are eager to know, from the ones we have received, we have not seen anything abnormal,” he explained.

“Really?” Ava said, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.

“Yes”

“That is good.”

“I will be back when the rest of the result is out.”