Pandora's Box

Chapter 22

Spring, 2016
Rush Medical Centre
Chicago

By the time she had finished packing up the gallery for the day and left the gallery, the sun was beginning to set. Pandora hailed a cab that brought her to Rush Medical Centre, and through the whole car ride there, her exhiliration and adrenaline built, as millions of possibilities ran through her head. Would he really tell her all she wanted to know? That part of her life that she knew her parents kept from her? And why did she trust him that much anyway? Pandora knew that technically, she had just met this Rhys Jarett, yet something about him drew her like a magnet, and she just couldn't keep away. Nothing that was logical could explain the way her mouth dried and her blood drained when she had to send him to the hospital, the panic was akin to the kind she would feel for...

A loved one.

"Miss?"

Jolting out from her reverie, Pandora casted her eyes around, quickly noticing that they had arrived at the hospital. She ran a hand through her blonde locks as she made her away across the lobby after paying the cab driver, and in no time at all, found herself frozen at the doorway to the room she knew was Rhys's, the same doors she had left yesterday, left with his promise of the truth.

"Dora?"

As if he knew she was here, his voice echoed from within. Left with little choice, Pandora pushed the door open, her heart climbing to her throat as she saw him smiling at her from his bed. His head was still wrapped in gauze, and his leg was propped up. But it was the arm that was wrapped in a cast that made her heart stop. It still hurt to see him all bandaged up, and she still had no explanation as to why.

"Are you feeling better?" she couldn't help but ask, approaching his bed, noticing the empty tray of food, and the box that sat on the table next to his bed. Her eyes frowned as she saw the words upon it, boldly written in red ink 'Do Not Touch'.

"The cast is annoying, but otherwise all good. I can't wait to get out of here. Today was the last day of your gallery?" he asked with a gentle smile.

Pandora had been coming back everyday, but she still felt as nervous as the day she first came. Rhys threw her off her game. They chatted about everything whenever she brought him his dinner, be it a sandwich or a takeaway box of burrito's. Once, she even got him half a dozen doughnuts which they shared over watching old sitcoms. She held up her end of the deal, if only to find out more about herself, but in the process she's learned so much more of the mysterious man who somehow knew more about her then she knew about herself.

And today she wanted answers.

The blonde wasted no time in cutting to the chase, nodding her head and then nervously fiddling with the tassels on her bohemian sleeveless tank. "Don't beat around the bush, Rhys. I need to know, tell me, please."

Rhys recognized the plea in her tone, and who was he to deny her? He knew she's been dying to know since the very first day she visited him in the hospital, but he needed the time. The time to know how had she been doing since she had left for Kansas City two years ago. To know if she's still as tough as his Dora had been, that she would be able to handle the knowledge of who was, if she wouldn't run headlong into danger again.

But through their conversations, he discovered so much more. Most of all, he was reminded of how he never once stopped loving Pandora Talbott.

Silence only punctured by the whir of machines reigned between the two, until Rhys sighed and gestured at the box. "Bring that over. I'll tell you everything."

Pandora frowned as she picked up the box, hearing the few things moving inside of it as she tilted to place it next to Rhys on the bed. The male shifted to make space for her next to his thigh, and used his functioning hand to pick up the cover. Reaching in, his chest constricted as he spied the many things Anthony had made a point to stow away out of his reach and eyesight once he had gotten enough of Rhys wallowing in self pity.