Eden In Black

[CHAPTER FIFTEEN]

 "Exhale"

Scarlet was left in a coma for a few days after the incident. Zain was by her side day and night, praying that everything will be okay, he could never imagine his life without her.

The moment she opened her eyes she smiled at Zain as he held her hand so tight.
- "Thank you." his voice was more of a whisper.
-"Zain..." Scarlet managed a faint smile, her head was still in severe pain.

 He leaned in and kissed her softly, thanking God for giving him another lifetime with her, she was his everything, she was his life.
- "Is Eden okay?" She tried to get up. "I'm so sorry, it was all my fault, I was...I shouldn't have..." She remembered something but the pang in her head felt too severe the words disappeared.
-"Shh, everyone is okay..." He stroked her hair.

 An instant flash of what happened became too clear in her head suddenly and the thought terrified her by the mere remembrance of the one who pulled the trigger against her chest, she can still hear the loud explosion of the gun setting off.
- "And your ...?" She found the courage to ask.
-"He left City X." he answered quietly, knowing how disappointing his answer was.
-"I'm so scared of him Zain." tearing up, her lips trembled, she never wanted to feel her chest exploding and burning again.
- "I'm here now, just focus on getting better, I promise, I will never fail you again like that, I was too late." He replied, his face softened.

 Zain had a very stern muscular face, having a Russian father who was strict and brutal at times. A military architect, he made sure his son would follow his footsteps and one day be just like him.
Everything had to be perfect and he made sure Zain was trained as a soldier since he was young. As a result, he raised a son who was always strict with everyone, keeping to himself, and having a tall muscular frame made sure that no one would come near him. Only when it came to Scarlet, he was too soft and sweet, a nuisance for his father to see.

 "She is a waste of time; you have to focus." his father warned him multiple times.
-"Don't you dare come near her." an answer he gave his father one night as they were arguing, leaving his dad racing with ideas in his head.


 The day they rushed to the hospital, Zain knew that his father wanted to send a message, a sharp shooter, he didn't aim for a kill, rather a warning to Zain, no one was an exception, especially her. A gentle knocking on the door came in after a while.
Scarlet smiled and sat up straight on her bed, noticing how Zain didn't like it, she assured him that she was okay and felt a bit better.

-"How are you feeling?" Eden came closer, brushing her arm gently, feared of hurting her just by touch.
-"I'm fine." she lied.

 Scarlet looked awful, her blue eyes were tired, she had red sunken lines under her eyes, she looked pale, exhausted, and painfully sad, Eden couldn't notice how she seemed like she had so much to say, but hesitated by the thought of it.
She looked at Zain as if she was asking for approval, there was no more time to waste.
-"Please Zain." her lips were trembling in fear and determination.

 Zain looked back and forth at Eden and her, the thought of just telling him was against all his instincts. He would be going against his father's orders and it will ruin many lives, it had uncertain consequences, but the thought that Scar had to pay the price for his silence was enough to set his blood on fire, he was angry at how things were for the past years, and it was time to reveal all the cards.
-"I should have done this a long time ago." his posture got serious, "You might want to sit for this Eden" his tone rigid, his face tense and in the veins on his neck started to show.

Eden couldn't help but notice how Scarlet looked at him in relief, but the hint of sadness is still something he couldn't understand.

-"In 2005, your dad was commissioned to build a house for a wealthy Japanese business man, he was Kai's father" he paused taking a deep breath and looking at Scarlet "we were so young." "Lidia, she was your..." He turned his face to Eden.
-"girlfriend, yes I remember" Eden interrupted him, he wasn't sure where this was going but he could've sworn his mind turned black, his vision disappeared for a second just by the mentioning of her name, he forced his eyes shut preparing to maybe find out what was exactly going on with him.
-"Everything happened so quickly. You, me and Lidia went to that man's house as soon as it was finished" Zain got up of his chair, "we shouldn't have done that, we...", "We were both responsible for the death of the owner of that house."
 Zain found it the perfect sentence to summarize everything.

- "I don't understand." Eden's vision turned white, why is this memory so empty in his head, why can't he remember that night.
-"Our Parents." Zain looked away, he needed to remind himself of the reason he decided to reveal it all. "You were hypnotized through a military experiment to black out the memory of that night."
-"Stop!" Eden screamed, "Just stop!" "What the hell are you talking about? My father? And your father? Hypnotized me to erase a memory of a man we killed years ago?" His heart was beating beyond crazy; he had a hard time breathing.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing, or even worse, he couldn't understand it.
-"We killed Kai's father?" He tied to dig the memory out of his brain.
- "How? Why? "He gulped hard and his vision was turning blurry from the tears that started to run uncontrollably from his eyes.
-"Eden you have to listen", "Lidia was killed by that man, and in return, you killed him. My father was more than happy to offer it because it meant saving me too. "

Eden suddenly stood up from his chair and headed towards Zain.
- "You, you were supposed to be my best friend! and Lidia, she died...?" he stopped himself midway in thought" , " "you knew about this?", "and my dad?, all of you watched me act like a complete stupid idiot, wondering what the hell is wrong with me, all those nightmares of things I can't understand, the pieces I couldn't fix up, you took away my memory and watched me struggle?, you all did this to hide a crime I committed years ago?"

His eyes were burning in fury, his head couldn't wrap up what he'd just heard. This isn't happening.

-"Yes." Zain's tried hard to not let how disappointed he was from his own answer.
Eden's fist found its way to Zain's jaw in one hard blow.

- "I'm sorry Scarlet." his last words as he tried to leave the hospital room in anger and frustration.
- "Your father wanted you to have a normal life, it was all for your sake." Zain spat the words from his bleeding teeth stopping Eden from walking away.
- "My mother, she also knew, didn't she?" He paused.

 He suddenly felt the urge to leave, the air wasn't enough in the room, he couldn't breathe, he felt like screaming and shouting, he felt the world closing-in on him, he felt his skin shiver in hot and cold.
He gave Scarlet one last look before he ran out of that room, his bones felt like rushing out of everything, and so he ran.