365 Days with the Celebrity

Chapter 58 - Sleeping Beauty

The paparazzi rushed into the carpark like a mob while the police tried to fend them off. Leon laid Ariel's body onto the stretcher, refusing to allow the paramedics to carry her. They carried Evan's body up into the ambulance. Leon sat inside the ambulance and held Ariel's hand tight as one of the paramedics worked on her.

"She's still alive, but barely. She's losing a lot of blood," a medic checked on her, lighting a glimmer of hope in Leon's eyes.

At the hospital, they broke through the hoard of photographers who already gathered earlier than they arrived. Leon raced inside the hospital with the stretcher, clearly annoyed and distressed that the paparazzi were still slithering up to him with their intrusive questions and shooting camera flashes without regard to the gravity of the situation. The hospital security sealed them off so he could continue following the stretcher up to the emergency operating room in peace.

"You can't come in," one of the nurses in a surgical face mask stopped him. "Please wait outside."

Leon sat alone, restless as the night wore by. He looked like a mess with blood stains on his tuxedo and some bruises on his knuckles and face from the punching, but he was too troubled to care about his appearance.The police came to take his statement and left after they were done. An hour passed followed by another. He could not sleep or eat or drink. All he could do was pray and wait, raking his hair back in frustration and constantly replaying the traumatic incident. A few patients nearby recognised who he was, but he did not care. However, as more of them asked for his autograph, pestered him with annoying questions or even tried to sneak a picture of him despite his repeated refusals, Leon called for his bodyguards to come over at once.

After a very long wait, a nurse and two doctors came out of the operation room. Leon sprang up from his seat and rushed to them.

"How's she?" he asked.

The nurse removed her mask, revealing herself to be Beth.

"Oh! It's you, Beth," Leon said in surprise.

"Sorry Leon, I did not reveal myself earlier but it was not a time for greetings then. This is Dr Theo Wright, who's also my fiancé. He operated on Ariel," Beth introduced. "And this is Dr Peter Nash who operated on Evan."

"We managed to stabilise Ariel's condition," explained Theo. "The good news is that the bullet skidded across her skull and was lodged in it, barely penetrating into her brain, which would have been fatal. A small part of her skull is fractured as a result so it will take a few weeks to recover. She is also badly bruised in other parts of her body, especially her tummy area where the bruising is severe but not too serious. The bad news is that due to the strong impact of the concussion and significant blood loss, she will be in a coma. We do not know when she'll wake up. If she does, she may suffer serious headaches for the next few weeks so please do not allow her to work until she's fully recovered."

"Thank you so much, doc. And how about Evan?"

"Thank God the bullet missed his heart," said Dr Nash. "He will do just fine."

"Don't worry about it, they'll all be fine," Theo patted Leon's shoulder.

The insurmountable weight that bore Leon down throughout the night was finally lifted.

Ariel and Evan were wheeled separately into the most exclusive, deluxe private suites with 5-star amenities in the hospital at Leon's request. He booked the entire VIP wing of the floor for much needed privacy and had his security keep watch.

"You better go home now and get some rest, Leon. I'll keep watch over her," Beth assured after nursing the wounds on his face and hands. He was dressed in hospital clothes after removing his stained tuxedo which had Ariel's blood on it. Even the sight and smell of it was so distressing that it caused him to tear up.