Breaking Free • TFC 2.0 • l.t. au

Chapter Forty Four

Early in the morning, a doctor came in to check on me. She checks my blood pressure, my heart rate, and how well I'm breathing. She tells me I'm good to go after a few questions.

We left the hospital in the afternoon. I was wheel-chaired to the car and carried to the flat. I rang Yvette the first chance I got and told her I can't work for three days, have to be on bed rest and all that. I told her I'd have either Louis or Milly to give her my doctor's note.

I slept like a baby all afternoon. The hospital wasn't exactly my definition of luxury. I didnt exactly get the sleep I wanted because of the noise in the hall or doctors popping in in the middle of the night to take my blood pressure. Being back in bed, in the comforts of our own flat is refreshing. My head's not throbbing anymore when I woke up and my eyelids didn't feel heavy anymore.

The sky outside has gone dark. That's when I hear a knock in the front door. Holly came by from her dorm room, Louis' orders, to look after me while he's at work. I assume she's opened the door because I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. The door opens, mum, aunt Cecile, Stella, Lisa, and Em comes in. Mum runs up to me first and kisses me on my forehead. Aunst Cecile does the same and Em stands at my side. She doesn't hesitate when I hold my arms out for her.

"Are you okay?" she asks me, her voice thin and full of worry. I chuckle but a mild pain stops me.

"Yeah, what about you?" I ask her, nudging her a bit with one of my arms around her waist. She shrugs casually. I smile at my little sister and hug her once more.

Stella and Lisa jump on the bed makind Mum and Aunt Cecile jump from their places in panic. Lisa sits on the pillow beside me and Stella kneels beside her.

"You didn't come by this morning!" Stella whines. Mum and aunt cecile laugh, I turn to them so aunt Cecile explains.

"It's Saturday, y'know." she says. That's right. Every Saturday I visit them and take them out for ice cream or McDonalds. They must have wondered why I wasn't able to fulfill our weekly routine. I caught Lisa once making a mark on her calendar on every Saturday for the rest of the year. She has my name on every Saturday box.

"Sorry, girls, I wasn't feeling well. Next Saturday, we can visit an amusement park. Is that good enough?" I ask them and they start bouncing on the bed. Mum let's out a panicked shout and carry Stella and Lisa off the bed.

"Girls, behave." aunt Cecile scolds them and they fall silent. They're so cute.

Em holds both of their hands and tells us they'll be downstairs with Holly. Mum perks up at me and sits beside me on the bed. I flip down my laptop and put it on the desk. I still struggle to sit that a low groan sounds from my throat. The pain isn't so bad it's just like a bruise pain.

I feel a hand on my back as I sit up and the pillows piling behind me. "What did your doctor say?" Aunt Cecile asks me.

"I shouldn't walk around so much yet. I have to stay in bed as much as possible because I might start bleeding again. How were Stella and Lisa this morning when I didn't show up?" I ask her.

She scoffs and exchanges looks with mum. "Stella threw a fit and demanded to call you. The only thing that calmed her down was when I told her we'd come visit you here. Even that took a while cause she really wanted to see you."

"Really? Remind me to never break a promise to those girls again." I say, aunt Cecile and mum laughs.

When they stop, the atmosphere's more tense. There's a strange look on mum's face. She hold my hand and that's when Aunt Cecile leaves.

"I need to tell you something. It's about your father." she says in a hushed tone. I swallow a lump in my throat and nod. I don't want to hear anything about dad right now mostly because I want to keep my emotions at bay as it was one of the reasons why it triggered my bleeding.