Impeccable (Zayn Malik AU)

xviii. Storm

♡ Odette's POV ♡

Zayn and Eli left Eli's bedroom to catch up on a few things, leaving Erica and I in Eli's room. Erica had offered me tea, and I had gratefully accepted, seeing as how it was starting to get colder in the room. We sat in two of Eli's ivory armchairs, just relaxing. It was nice to be able to just rest after a long trip.

"So you and Zayn are engaged?" Erica asked, pulling her curls back into a bun before taking her hot teacup into her hands.

"No, not yet." I answered, "Are you Eli's girlfriend?" I couldn't help but ask. Erica's smile confirmed my answer.

"Yes, for about a year now." I teased her by saying how cute they looked together, and how happy too. Erica laughed before taking a more serious look.

"Yeah, but it wasn't always like that. Believe it or not, I was one of his nurses before he took a liking to me." She spoke, taking a small sip of her tea. She was one of his nurses before?

"Really? That must be nice, at least you could help him if something happens." I said, and she nodded silently before frowning.

"The only reason I'm Eli's girlfriend now is because of an incident with his anemia about a year ago." Erica set her tea down on a glass coffee table, taking a breath before starting her story.

"He was outside with his brother walking around the gardens, and Elliot told him he was going to be a general and lead a battle later to prove to their father that he was ready to be king. Eli hated the idea, he didn't want to risk losing his only brother, and they got in a huge argument. Eli almost punched Elliot, well, he tried to. Of course, Elliot would have never hurt Eli, he was more concerned with Eli hurting himself by falling or forgetting to take his medication." Erica spoke softly and slowly, the temperature in the room dropping considerably with the grim topic being discussed.

"Well Eli swung at Elliot, but Elliot only caught his hand and told him to calm down. Eli didn't, and ended up getting so worked up he had a dizzy spell and ended up collapsing in the gardens. Elliot carried Eli back to the palace, where it was determined Eli had been stealthily not taking his medicine, and needed a blood transfusion desperately."

"Why wasn't he taking his medicine?" I asked in confusion. Erica rolled her eyes before continuing.

"The idiot claimed he felt better, plus he hated taking those iron pills everyday. So he just stopped, and that combined with him trying to beat up Elliot, as well as the stress of the whole situation had taken a toll on his iron levels." I nodded in understanding, and Erica began to pick at the nail polish on her short nails.

"In order for a blood transfusion to work, the blood the recipient gets needs to be as close to their blood as possible, so it was quite handy to have an identical twin at hand. Elliot gave some of his blood to save Eli, and I was one of the nurses in charge of transferring Elliot's blood to Eli. Poor Eli had an IV stuck in his arm for about an hour before he felt better and his iron levels in his blood were back to normal." Erica smiled slightly.

"I was the only nurse that stayed by his bedside the whole night, getting him snacks or something to drink, or just to talk to when he felt lonely. And now I'm here, officially both his girlfriend and personal nurse. They needed someone to make sure he wasn't faking taking his pills, and believe me, he's tried to fool me." We both laughed, the sound a nice comic relief from all the drama that had been going on lately in this palace.

"He hasn't had another anemic episode since then, has he?" I asked in curiosity.

"That's the thing. Everyone thought he had his anemia under control, but I guess last night is proof we still have to be careful." Erica solemnly told me. "He was fine until last night, so I guess it's like a huge step backwards for all his doctors and family members."