Chapter 16 (b)

“Is everything alright, doc?” Christian asked as soon as the doctor came out of the room, removing the buds from her ears. 

She looked at the crazily worried man and gave him a nod. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. She’ll get up soon.” She smiled at the man before leaving. 

He sighed and walked inside. Irene followed him. She watched him take a seat next to the bed. His eyes were trained on her pale face. Her chapped lips were parted. She could see how crazy her friend made him for her. But she had no idea about that. Irene could not help but feel pity for Christian, too. 

Please, please, help her, Lord, she prayed. Just then, her stomach growled and she huffed. She palmed her tummy, murmuring, “I’m hungry.” 

“Sorry I forgot that.” Christian instantly replied to her. She shook her head, not minding it even a bit. She, too, forgot about herself. “Wait, I’ll bring something to eat,” saying that, he got up when Irene interrupted him, asking;

“What about you?” 

“I’m fine. Not feeling hungry right now.” He did not even wait for her answer and left. 

He did not want Irene to question him again. He was not hungry. One can even call him crazy for this but he did not care about it at all. It was difficult for him to eat food at the same time. How could he eat when seeing her condition his eyes welled up with tears and his throat began to constrict from the inside. That was one difficult task. Just do not ask him for now. 

⁠~⁠♪

“She has gained consciousness, sir.” The doc left after informing Austin. He immediately rose from the chair and dashed inside the room while Sanam and Heer stayed outside on the chairs. They first wanted Austin to talk to his daughter. 

“Gabby,” he called her lovingly the moment he entered the room. 

Gabriella peered at her father, her facial expressions remaining the same — blank. She stared at her father blankly. She watched him moving closer and then cupping her pale face softly. 

“Gabby, please, say something, my princess. Please?” He pleaded but no words came out of her. She remained still like she was not even seeing anything. She seemed like a statue. 

“Gabby,” he whispered, tears starting to roll down his eyes. Gabriella did not react to anything. She was just breathing. She was not even moving. Her eyes remained in her front. She did not even turn her neck. 

Austin cried silently, not believing his daughter was ignoring everything. She was never like this. People could call her over dramatic, but right now, even her father’s tears did not affect her. At all. 

Gabriella could ignore anyone but not her father. She loved him the most but right now, everything seemed very different. 

Her silence was probably proof that she was unable to feel anything at the moment. Although this was her wish before committing suicide, at the moment she could not even think about it. Like a blank page, no emotion was visible in her except loneliness. 

Austin cried sitting there for a long time. Sitting beside his daughter, he shed tears for a long time. It is necessary for every human being to feel emotion, he did not want his daughter to suffer from this lack. He never wanted his daughter to become blank. But at the moment, at this time, he could not even sit to explain anything to her. She just regained consciousness. He wanted her to rest. 

So he got up from there and came out of the room. 

Sanam and Heer immediately got up to listen to Austin but without turning to them, he stopped the doctor and told him about everything. 

“This happens in many cases, sir, but you need not worry. She hasn’t lost the power to feel emotion. She can feel everything, you just need to give her some time.” 

“But why?!” Austin grabbed his head, clutching his hair, frustrated because of it.

“Stress and anxiety. Do you know why she was stressed?” 

Austin did not answer the doctor. He breathed deeply and more tears welled up in his eyes. The doctor got the hint so he did not insist. He just nodded. 

“I’ll make sure you see the change in her soon,” the young man assured Austin, and then walked into the room. 

Sanam and Heer accompanied Austin to ask about Gabriella and surprisingly he answered the couple, lessening their tension. They, too, were hell worried about his daughter. Austin could see it and eventually, their concern for his daughter made him realize that nobody wanted her badly here. Everybody cared about her. 

Apart from this, Austin wanted that the assurance given to him by that young doctor should soon turn into a good result. 

“Gabriella…” 

The man walked inside, looking at the girl. She remained silent, not answering him. He expected it so it did not confuse him. 

He stood next to her bed and gently put his hand on her head. He caressed it tenderly, down her back, down her hair. 

“I know you’re listening to me.” He took a seat next to her. “You listened to your father, too.” He perched his elbow on the bed and put his face in his face. He trained his eyes on her. “He loves you so much,” he added, “well, you already know that, don’t you?” He chuckled, shaking his head as he knew he told her something she already knew. 

But…

His eyes narrowed when he noticed the small change in her breathing. She breathed deeply when she heard him. 

“He cares for you,” he sighed, “and he cried too much. He stayed awake all night while you were unconscious. I saw him praying on his knees for you.” 

She listened to every word that escaped his mouth. She was listening to him carefully. Her eyes may have remained somewhere but her mind was playing the sound that it recorded like a painful memory. 

“Gabriella!” 

“Oh no, what you’ve done!” 

“Please, wake up, baby!” 

“Please, don’t lose your will… you have to live!” 

“You’re my strong daughter!” 

“Yet he stayed strong. He didn’t lose hope.” 

He saw her fingers moving slightly. The movements in her were very slow but he knew it was working. 

She could hear her father crying the moment she was losing consciousness. 

“Stay strong, my child!” 

“I’ll be by your side forever!” 

“I’m sorry if I lacked something, my child, just don’t close your eyes!” 

He licked his bottom lip, finding it more difficult. One wrong word and she will lose the will to live, but with one right word, she will desire to live. He did not forget the assurance he had given to her father, after all. 

And only for the sake of that poor old man, the doctor was there. If not for her, she could live for her father. Just a reason is enough. But he did not want her to lose hope and will to live and then die willingly. There is only one place in hell for those who commit suicide. The one who does not understand the importance of life even after living it remains unintelligent. He wanted her to know that importance. 

“More than twenty years, from the beginning of your life to now, he stayed with you, cried and laughed with you,” he paused for a second, noticing how her fingers gently curled around the sheet and her lips wobbled, he continued, “he loved you the most, cared about you the most, he got all the happiness when he carried you in his arms for the first time but when he carried you lifeless…” 

A tear rolled down her eye and she closed them silently. More tears spilt out and then a breathless whimper escaped her lips. 

“Dad…” 

~⁠♪

“I’ve given her the medicine. She’s asleep now. By tomorrow morning, she won’t have much weakness in her body.” 

Irene nodded and finally the lady left. Christian chewed his bottom lip before he got up and made his way inside. Irene followed him silently, looking at his back, thinking about something. 

She could not digest it when Christian refused to meet Hazel when she gained consciousness right after an hour. He said he could not meet her at that time. 

Though he did not tell them the reason, Irene knew it already. 

She knew that if Hazel would see Christian, she would talk to him and then due to an emotional attack, she would lose tears and then her consciousness. Irene knew the conversation between them would hurt. The words are going to be harsh if they are used. 

So Christian just asked Irene to meet her, and cheer her up. After that, the doctor checked her and put her to sleep after giving her some potent medicines. 

He wished her to defeat this weakness before talking to him. 

“So will you tell her about the baby tomorrow?” He asked Irene, sitting next to Hazel. Her face was not pale anymore. Her cheeks called that rosiness back on them and her lips were not chapped. He was glad to see the changes. A hearty talk helped her a lot, he could see it. And he also understood that his decision was absolutely correct. If he had gone in front of her, once again her cheeks would have been wet with tears. 

“No. I have thought that she should come to know about all this when she’s discharged from here.”

“Yeah,” his voice came out faint but she heard him. 

“But why are you so worried about all this? You’re engaged, aren’t you?” Irene did not sound displeased here. She was just confused. 

“I broke off my engagement.” 

“But why?” 

“I was forced.” 

Silence fell between them and she watched him silently. He was telling the truth. There was honesty in his eyes. His words did not mince and Irene was surprised to know that someone with so much power could have been forced by someone. 

But then she remembered her own words. Money cannot bring everything to your feet. It is not necessary that money can buy everything. Some things are acquired through experience. 

“Relationships can’t be forced,” she mumbled, biting her bottom lip and looking down at her lap. 

He sighed. “You’re right. Despite everything, I was deprived of peace. Only with Hazel did I get that peace. She’s like therapy,” he said, caressing the back of her palm absentmindedly. 

Irene smiled. “Yeah. There’s peace around her.” She had felt it, too.