Her Home, His Heart | ✓

☆*✿FIFTY (50)❀*★

♪♪I don't know what road we're on

I don't know what we're heading towards...

mixed signals, They're killing me

I don't know what you want ♪♪

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ [Mixed Signals] - [Ruth B]

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The thought of what awaited him at home edged a wistful smile onto Kian's lips since he left the house. He knew from the looks he got in the hospital that his excitement had shown through his round check-up. Alighting from his car, he strived slowly to the front door.

The lack of his mother's car in front of the house let him know she wasn't back yet, and it turned his smile into a grin. The moment he stepped through the door, he stopped short. It wasn't just the absence of an aroma wafting through the air that caught his attention, but the faint groaning coming from the kitchen.

He dropped his things on the floor, uncaring of how they could have landed, and rushed to the kitchen. "Esmé!" He called out to her, hoping he was wrong, and she'd reply to him, but when that didn't come, his heart leapt out of his chest.

The box on the table and the surrounding books greeted him once he got into the kitchen. At another whimper, he locked eyes on Esmé's trembling body on the floor and he dived straight for her.

"Esmé!" he called out to her as he cradled her body against his carefully, trying to understand what was going on. His eyes flickered to the opened book that lay on the floor too and squeezed his eyes shut, recognizing the Croatian cookbook.

He hadn't intended for her to go through that alone.

"Esmé! Can you hear me? Esmé!"

"Not- Esmé- name is- Ivana. Ivana Ivaneć."

Kian froze up momentarily, an icy feeling expanding in his core. He stared at her with wide eyes, unsure of what he had just heard, but he had no time to process his thoughts as she slumped in his arms.

"This is 999. What's your emergency?"

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The beeping sound of an ECG popped in and out of the eerie silent hospital room. Tension took control of the room, thick with apprehension filling its occupant with rigid muscles.

Kian sat silently on the chair right by the bed where Esmé lay, his eyes never leaving her. There were moments like this when the serene hospital homely feeling was lost on him and instead all he felt was a suffocating atmosphere.

Ivaneć?

No, he couldn't have heard right. The family was vaguely familiar but he knew there was no way she'd be an Ivaneć and they won't know, right?

Petra and Ronnie rushed in, disturbing the silence, but that didn't move Kian from his position on the chair.

"How is she?" Petra asked, instantly rushing to Esmé's other side, eyes scanning her entire body for any sign of discomfort.

"Kian?" Ronnie called out to him.

He blinked out of his intense focus and finally turned to the two of them. "Steady," he said, before turning back to Esmé. He needed to pull himself together for both of their sakes. Taking in deep breaths, he felt an encouraging squeeze on his shoulder and he sent a nod to Ronnie, who stood by his side.

"Tata!" (Dad!)

Esmé's startled cry matched the continuous beeping sound of the ECG, snatching their attention, and they all moved close to her instantly.