Love At First Sight / Post Malone

Chapter 7

"Well aren't those beautiful." I heard Casey's voice echo from the door way as she rushed in to put a to stop my forever beeping IV pump. My mind had been so swept away by the alluring man that had just left my room that I hadn't even noticed that it had been stridently blaring for the past two minutes.

"Are they? I love daisies, they're my favorite." I smiled, as I felt Casey take them from my hands.

"Here let's put them in some fresh water." I heard her shuffle around near my bedside. "The sunflowers on your side table are beginning to wilt anyway."

"Sunflowers?" I asked with furrowed brows, confused on what she was referring to.

"Yeah, they held up well over the past few days. We are running out of room in here with all of the flowers and balloons Austin keeps sending." She chuckled as she finished up with my IV pump and placed the daisies beside me after she filled up the vase with fresh water.

I was at a sudden loss of words as I sat quietly in the center of my bed, my heart quickening in my chest as I furrowed my brows in astonishment.

"H-has he come to see me before?" I asked Casey, this new information about my coy stranger making more and more curious by the second.

"He didn't mention him visiting you?" Casey asked, the tone in her voice suggesting that she may have said too much.

"No." I shook my head, "Has he visited me before?" I repeated firmly, needing to know if this man was a complete and utter saint that had repeatedly sent me gifts and sat at my bedside as I laid unconscious.

She remained silent, as if she were in deep contemplation of what to say next and I was certain that the worst downside of my newfound vision loss was being unable to read people's facial expressions that usually would give them away.

"Casey?"

I heard her take in a deep breath as she mostly likely didn't think it was fair to withhold information from a newly blind woman that had just been through enough as it is.

"Juliana, he- he has visited you nearly every day since the day of the accident."

I felt my heaved breaths begin to increase and my throat suddenly began to close up at her surprising words.

"He was out of town for the past couple days and wasn't able to visit but otherwise, he comes every day. He's been a distraught mess to say the least, ever since he learned of how injured you were and he has been beating himself up over it. He's taken care of all of your hospital bills and had you moved over to the VIP section of the ICU. In the few years I've been here, I've never see the someone at fault from a motor vehicle accident so concerned and worried for the other person. He's been losing his mind over you."

"I- I don't know what to say." I expelled in a hushed whisper, tears forming in the brim of my eyes as her lengthy explanation proved to be much more than what I had bargained for when I just as much demanded an explanation from Casey.

I didn't have many people in my life to begin with and the fact that a complete and total stranger had been doing all of these grand gestures for me while I wasn't even conscious was suddenly too much to handle. I had only spent a short amount of time with Austin, but he seemed so calm and collected, so put together. I couldn't imagine someone like him being a mess over someone like me.

"Oh honey, don't cry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset." Casey exclaimed as I felt her hand on my shoulder as she tried her best to console me.

"I'm not- upset, I'm just- taken by surprise I guess?" I wiped my sightless eyes with the back of my hand. "I'm not really used to people giving a shit enough to do nice things for me so I don't really know how to react."