Garden of Roses ✔️

Chapter 25

Zara

 "Is anybody going to fucking help her?!" I hear Dante's voice shouting somewhere close to me. I manage one breath, but then I continue to choke on the plastic thing that I now see is a tube that's attached to some kind of machine and stuck in my throat. I cough and gasp and desperately try to get more air in my lungs, the tube making it extremely hard.

Two doctors rush inside the room. While one of them starts removing the tube, the other one is frantically tracing all the monitors with his eyes.

"Calm down, you'll hurt yourself. It's okay, the tube helped you breathe when you couldn't do it by yourself." I watch the doctor with wide eyes, feeling completely lost and confused. What does he mean when I couldn't do it by myself?

It's hard to stay still for the few seconds it takes him to take the tube out. Once he does and I can finally breathe normally again, my body starts to calm down.

"It's okay. You're okay. Thank God, you're okay," Dante sighs as he reaches for my hand and with the other, he strokes my hair.

"I'm... I-I am...," I try to tell him that I'm fine and ease that worried expression on his face, but my throat hurts so badly it's challenging to even form one sentence. I grip his hand harder when the rest of the pain shoots through my body and I remember my bullet wound.

"You don't have to talk. I know it hurts. Please don't hurt yourself. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving again."

Again? When did he leave? It's only been a few hours. Why does he look so devastated?

I decide to swallow carefully and take another attempt at saying something. "Why do you... swallow... look like I'm already dead?" My voice is barely even a whisper, and it still hurts like hell.

Dante gives me a weak smile before answering. "Maybe because you've been almost dead for two weeks now."

My eyes widen again as I try to take in the information that was just thrown at me. Two weeks? How is that possible?

"I've... been like this... for two weeks?" I ask slowly, having to swallow a couple of times before finishing the sentence.

"Fifteen days to be exact," Dante replies quietly, lowering his eyes to the floor. "Listen, I want you to know how sorry I am. I shouldn't have let that happen."

"I know you are. And you don't have to apologize. It's not your fault," I continue to whisper and he lifts his head to look at me again.

"You do?"

"Yes. I think you've already told me. But I'm not exactly sure." My head is a mess. I think I remember bits and pieces of all of them talking to me, but now I don't know if that ever happened or if it was just some kind of a dream. It's all very vague.

His eyes widen as he looks at me in shock. "I did. I told you the first day. To be honest, I didn't think you could hear me," Dante chuckles, and seeing his face light up even just a tiny bit makes me smile.

"I didn't know if it was real or if I imagined it." Now that I think about it, a few more pieces come to me. Dante's lips on my forehead. His words and his devastating guilt. He was gentle and kind. He sounded like he genuinely cared about me. But he thought that I couldn't hear him. What was I supposed to do with that? Did it even happen, or was it just a part of my imagination? I couldn't be sure.

"Did you kiss me on the forehead while I was unconscious?" I blurt out before I can overthink it. If I want an answer, I have to ask. He looks surprised and a bit embarrassed by my question.