PERFECT

Chapter 23

Chapter 23 - Edited by Grammar_Nazi

“Why don’t you go back and take rest, Ashley,” Nick’s mom said to me when she came into the room, “You’ve been here for hours.”

“I don’t want to leave him.” I said her rubbing my teary and tired eyes.

“But you need to rest,” she said concernedly, “We don’t want you to be sick. We’ll call you if he wakes up.”

“I want to be here when he wakes up,” I told, “Please don’t force me to leave his side.” 

“I won’t,” she said with teary eyes and hugged me. I couldn’t contain my tears from coming down and I sobbed on her shoulders. She sobbed with me. “I’m so sorry Ashley. So sorry for what we all have done to you. I never expected it would turn out this way. We never planned for you or Nick to find out this way. We wanted to tell you nicely. We know you both would be angry but we never thought it will be like this.”

“So Nick really doesn’t know about this?” I couldn’t stop myself asking.

“No,” she shook her head.

Hearing that I cried harder, “I didn’t listen when he said he didn’t know about it. I accused him of scheming it. I said nasty things to him. I’m the cause of his accident. I’m the one to blame. If only I listened to him.”

“Oh Ashley,” his mother hugged me again, “Don’t blame yourself. We all are at fault. We are the ones that have caused all this chaos. We made you leave him. We are all wrong,” she cried.

“I was so happy to be his wife and suddenly I’m not,” I said to her, “I was so devastated when I realized that I’m not. I love your son, Jenny. I don’t want to lose him. I want to remain his wife.”

“I’m so glad to hear that and I’m sure that once Nick’s wakes up, he would want the same thing too. He loves you, Ashley. He has been in love with you for a very long time,” she told me.

I looked at her, “How do…..”

She cuts me off, “I know because he has your photo in his wallet, his computer and his room since high school.”

I was stunned, “I don’t remember seeing my photo in his room when I slept there,” I told her.

“He must have hidden it from you,” she smiled. “We knew about you and Nick pretending to be a couple. Nick didn’t tell us about it but Amy did. She told us how you kept saying that you are not Nick’s type and you both are not meant for each other. We just wanted to prove to you that you are wrong about that.”

“So you decided to come out with an idea that we both are married?” I asked. “Isn’t that mean?”

“Yes it is but that’s the only way to make you accept Nick in your life. Would you stay with him if you were not married to him?” she asked.

“I had asked for annulment at first,” I told her, “I didn’t want to stay married to him but we both were thinking about hurting your feelings if we told you the truth about our relationship. We were worried about your feelings if you know the truth and here the four of you already know the truth and much more,” I pouted my lips.

She chuckled, “We knew that you would never want to hurt us if we continued pretending that we didn’t know about you. We knew that both of you don’t have the heart to tell us the truth and continued with the charade. Knowing Nick, we knew that he would not let the chance of having you as his wife slip away. He would find a way to make you agree to stay married to him and he did. He even managed to make you fall in love with him just in a week,” she said proudly.