Sophia, who art thou?

25. SOPHIA

Present day

Please be a dream. Please be a dream. Please be a dream.

As I feel a palm on my shoulder I know it isn't one. I turn around to see Liv, Jade close behind her.

"Soph...I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this."

I don't say anything and just collapse into her arms. I need to escape right now. First Ace, now Drew. If this is a coincidence, it's a sick one. I hate hospitals. I hate them. I hated them as a child. I hate them as an adult.

"It'll be okay, Soph."

"You don't know that," I sob into Liv's leather jacket. "Don't make promises we can't keep, Liv."

"Hey, Soph." Roman's voice is low, his eyes red. "I just spoke with Drew's doctor."

I let go of Liv, her arm still around my shoulders. "What did she say? Is Drew okay?"

"Drew's in surgery right now, so they won't know until after he's out. But, all things considered, the accident wasn't that bad so he's expected to make a full recovery." He smiles politely, before offering to make a coffee run.

I collapse into my chair, the cool metal of the seat searing through my jeans. My head falls into my hands. "Thank god. Thank god." I feel a sense of security as I'm sandwiched between Jade and Liv, both of them comforting some of the pain away.

*

It's been three hours. Liv's nodded off on my shoulder. Jade's calling in sick to work. Roman's sitting in front of me. His eyes haven't left mine since he sat down. He keeps nodding off but forces the sleep away and looks right back at me. He keeps mouthing things like "it isn't your fault", "you shouldn't feel guilty", "he's going to be fine" and "no news is good news". He hasn't indicated even once that he wanted to leave.

But it's been three hours and Drew should be out of surgery by now. It's almost as if Roman reads my mind because he offers to go ask the nurses for some updates. While Roman's grilling the nurses for details I check if Avery or Theo got my messages. They're never reachable but I still left them messages. Alice too. I send another text in our group chat, hoping at least one of them knows about Drew.

"Soph."

"Roman. Do they know about-"

"He's in his room," Roman smiles faintly. "You can go see him now."

I exhale deeply. I send Theo a text about the news and carefully lift Liv's head off my shoulder. She groans but turns to the other side, undisturbed. "Let's go," I whisper.

Jade smiles from the other end of the hall. She's mouthing "good luck" as she sees me head to Drew's room.

"Thank you," I whisper to Roman as he nods, his face expressionless. "Thank you for staying. You didn't have to."

"Of course I did, Soph. Now go see him," he says, his hand on the small of my back, guiding me into room 204.

"I'm sorry, only family-"

"I'm his fiancé, doctor."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Olvera."

"I'm Sophia. I hope we were meeting under different circumstances."

"I hope we weren't meeting at all," she says. There is no malice in her voice. Out of context it may sound rude but I know what she meant.

"I'm not sure I'll understand half of what you'll say but I'm going to ask anyway. What happened to him?" I can't even bear to say Drew's name or look at him. The white bandages and tubes I can see from the corner of my eye are enough imagery.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can dumb it down a little. Thankfully Mr. Bexley hasn't sustained any prolonged injuries. There was some internal bleeding, but nothing we couldn't manage. His burns are minimal, but he has sustained some fractures. We've put him on some morphine and ibuprofen to manage the pain and swelling. His MRIs were clean, so there is no brain or spinal damage."

I've heard everyone say this but I need to hear a medical professional say it. "He'll be okay?"

"Yes, yes he will. Your fiancé will be back to you in no time. I will be close by if you have any questions and I'm sure the nurses will be more than happy to help you if you have-"

"One last thing. When will he wake up?"

"He should be up in a couple more hours. We'll update you on his status then too."

"Okay, thank you, doctor."

"Sophia?"

"Yes?"

"You will have to look at him sometime."

Before I can answer, she's gone. "I know I do" I whisper to myself. Suddenly, I feel my phone buzz. I had put it on silent when we came in. I didn't want to disturb anyone. Pulling it out of my back pocket, I see who it is. 'Avery' pops up on my screen.

"What happened to Drew? Is he okay? What did the doctors say? Who did this? Do we know it was an-"

"Your brother's okay, Avery. He's going to make a full recovery. He'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

And when I say it to Avery, I almost believe it myself.