The Groom's One True Bride

Chapter 17

"Will she be okay, Doc?" Kiefer stood up and asked the doctor, who looked at him with worry.

"Good thing she has strong pelvic muscles, and she'll get through the trauma," she said, "but the bleeding is serious. She needs to be more careful." She proceeded to give him a rundown of her condition, and what she needs to do.

He nodded, and peered at where she is curtained. "Can... Can I see her?"

"Of course," and the doctor opened the curtain for him.

Her eyes were still closed, but he knows she was conscious. She has been awfully quiet, crying silently, all through the ride to the hospital.

He hated her for being a coward, for running away from him, but seeing her this broken...

She looks pale, as if she just came from a rotten game, or that she was berated by her coach. He has watched her from afar when they were put together to pretend being married to each other, and he couldn't help but study her then, trying to know her. But even if she is coming from a bad day, she would still have that smile on her face, that fight in her eyes.

But this time, it's his first time to see her fiercely hold on to something... To hope, to dreams...

He reached for her hand, and run his thumb on it. "Ly," he whispered, "It's okay. You're okay..."

Eyes closed, her lips moved. "Ang baby?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Isaw," he whispered back, "...is good. Isaw is good."

She let out a big sigh. "Pwede na bang umuwi?" she asked softly, her voice as soft as a floating feather.

"You need to stay a bit longer here. Baka bukas, if your bleeding stops, then pwede ka na lumabas," he said. She nodded, and turned her head away from him.

It's breaking his heart to see her this... this forlorn. Broken.

"Ly," he said, "ano ba ang nangyari? Isn't our place safe enough?"

Silence.

"Ly," he said, "Naghahanap lang sila ng room for you. Mamaya, iwan kita saglit. Kukuha lang ako ng mga gamit ko. And mga toiletries mo rin. Pero babalik ako dito, okay?"

Silence.

He sat on a chair beside the bed, and just held on to her hand. She was very still, very silent. As if trying to listen to her breath. A few more minutes, and finally, she has a room where she was wheeled into.

Kiefer never left her side. He held on to her hand, never letting it go.

But for the life of him, he wanted to run away. This time, it was him who wanted to run away. As far away from her. As far away from himself.

He does not know what went wrong today, but he knows something big, something catastrophic has happened. Good thing Isaw is okay. Good thing Alyssa is okay. But he knows something gigantic is coming, and he could feel it in his heart...

He should have left when Alyssa started to loosen her hold on him, her breathing that of someone sleeping. But he couldn't. He's afraid what could happen next.

What if he will lose Isaw this time? What if he will lose Alyssa this time?

He held her hand tighter, squeezing her fingers.

He's not in love. For love is for dreamers, and the young.

But...

He dropped his hold on her.

He slowly, gingerly, carefully smoothed the hair on her head. "B-babalik ako," he whispered to her ear. "Kukunin ko lang ang mga gamit mo, mga gamit ko. Pero babalikan ko kayo."