Cursed To Be A Stepdaughter

Chapter 31

Simamkele's pov:

"Look at me baby,please don't cry,okay?" I rub her back while she nods with tears trickling down the sides of her face "mommy is here,okay Chloe?" she nods again and I wipe her tears. I'm as scared as she is but I can't let her know. It's been three months since the wedding and I haven't talked to Snothando since that day,or any of her family members for that matter. Chloe is having problems breathing at night,tonight she woke me up crying,gasping for air.  I remove the ventilating machine when she finally falls asleep. A knock sounds at the door. I open for him and he comes in looking worried

"She's okay,she's asleep now" I say to him and close the door. He's wearing pajama shorts and a vest. He sits on the couch as I make him and I tea. I get seated on the other couch after serving him his tea.

"Are you okay? You look shaken" i stare at my hands as the tears start dropping. He comes over to hug me "it's going to be okay Mila,our daughter is going to be okay" he says reassuring me but in times like these,mom advised me to pray

"Can we pray?" I ask him and he nods closing his eyes. I pray silently,still crying. "Amen"

"Should we take her to the hospital?" he asks

"I think when she's awake,I'll let my boss know in the morning that I can't come in" I say taking my phone to call my mom. It's three am but it's probably midday in Cali. I update her on Chloe's situation and she gives me hope.

"Go home and rest,you'll come back in the morning when we take her to the hospital"

"No,I can't risk it,you don't have a car and if anything were to happen you wouldn't be able to get to the hospital quick enough" he says and I nod at his reasoning

"You can sleep in my room,I'll sleep with Chloe" I say while switching the lights off. I can't sleep when I get to bed,everything is stressing me out,especially Chloe.

It's getting windy so I put Chloe's jacket on and she walks back to where her father is playing with her. It's been two weeks since she went to hospital,she only spent two days there. I take a video of them playing in the park. I eat the leftover pizza because I didn't have an appetite earlier on but now I do. I need to go back to gym,I'm gaining weight,in the worst places of all,my stomach. Gym helps me distress but I haven't been there because I'm scared to leave Chloe for a little too long. I took her out of Crèche because other kids don't understand her situation and she's always trying to keep up with them.

"Mommy" she screams running into my arms "daddy is coughing out blood" she says pulling my hand. I quickly take the water and rush to Lukhanyo's aid

"Lukhanyo" I call for him because he's bended over "here,please drink water"

"No,I'm fine" he coughs again. I pull him up and he's got blood on the corner of his mouth. I make him rinse his mouth with the water before making him drink it. "It's time to go home now" I tell them,holding both their hands after Lukhanyo catches his breath. Lukhanyo has been a blessing to co-parent with. He has stayed over 5/7 days a week since Chloe started being extremely sick. He's sick himself but he's putting our daughter first. He had said he told his family about finding Chloe but they seem to not take interest. He's still here though,still standing by the fact that this is his child. He drives us back to my apartment. Chloe was dead tired so I bathed her and then put her to bed. Today was one of the nights Lukhanyo would be sleeping over so I made him something to eat before we went to bed. He still slept in my room since I started sleeping with Chloe permanently.

I wake up hearing her cry. She's choking on air. I pull her up and turn her to her side

"Chloe baby,listen to mommy,breathe,okay?" I say fetching her ventilating machine "Lukhanyo!" I shout before putting it on her. She's never gotten this bad,she's literally shaking. I'm starting to panic when a Lukhanyo enters the room.

"Take her bag,we're taking her to hospital" he said and picked her up. I took her bag and my handbag after putting in our necessities. I opened the car door for them and I went to the drivers seat. Chloe was still crying,visibly shaking. Lukhanyo talked to her,trying to calm her down while I drove as fast as I could to the hospital. We finally got there and they allocated her a room while the doctors tried to figure out what was going on with her. They took some tests and asked us to wait with her for a little while. Lukhanyo walked out to take care of payment because the medical aid refuses to pay for some reason. I held her hand as she slept. The machine started to beep loudly and her body shaked violently. My heart beat accelerated

"Nurse! Doctor! Someone please help!" I shouted as tears trickled down my cheeks. I pressed the emergency button and nurses rushed in,they asked me to step back. The doctor also walked in. They got some machines ready. I looked at the screen before Lukhanyo pulled me into his arms,making sure I don't look. The beeping sound got louder before it was silent

"Time of death, 5:37 am" I heard a doctor say before I pushed Lukhanyo away and looked at the doctors before looking at Chloe who was paler than usual.

"No no no" I walked towards her and slightly slapped her face "Chloe baby,wake up for mommy" I said as my eyes failed to hold the tears back. Lukhanyo pulled me away and I broke down in his arms,falling to the floor. I could see it on his face that he was holding it in for dear life. The nurses removed all the machines from her as I weeped loudly. Chloe was all I lived for,who will I live for now?