HURT BEYOND WORDS

LIA'S POV

Elian rushed me to the hospital, to everyone's surprise, including his girlfriend, who angrily stayed at his side.

"How is she?" I heard Elian ask the doctor as soon as she walked out of the door.

"Does it have anything to do with her alopecia? Can it get worse? Could it be stress?"

"Elian! Let the woman speak." I heard his girlfriend say, in a loud, controlled voice.

"She is fine. She is just really stressed out, don't worry. She will be fine." The doctor replied, before walking away.

I kept my gaze on the celine, as a million dreadful thoughts crossed my mind. I had not stopped squeezing the sheets since the doctor came to speak with me.

Suddenly, the door opened and the fragrance I dreaded the most in that moment found its way into my nostrils.

"Lia?" Elian called.

"Hey," I smiled at him weakly. My body was tired and I had no more strength left in me to fight.

"Don't ever scare me like that." He sat down beside me.

"Did i really scare you?" I almost chuckled, but it was hard.

The stone like weight in my chest made me want to cry, and despite what anyone thought about me, the mere fact that I kept it straight in that very crucial moment in time made me realise my own strength...later on.

"Of course you did!" He pushed back a strand of hair from my wig behind my ears.

I should have broken down at that point, but I didn't, instead, i smiled.

"You're pregnant." The doctor had said. Two words i should not have been told had fate not thrown me into his arms that night.

But even as I stared into Elian's eyes, I could not bring myself to ruin him.

"If anything ever happened to you, Lia, i would not be able to bear it." He held my hand, and played with my fingers.

Those blue eyes shone with honesty and it broke my heart. Because I knew how bad it would all turn when he learnt the truth.

When my mother learnt, when my father learnt and when his parents learnt that he had impregnated his lower class best friend through a one night stand.

"I was just stressed." I murmured finally.

"You need to work less. The results of the aviation college exams comes out tomorrow. "

I swallowed -- he would leave. "Are you excited?" I asked.

"Yeah...mum says it's the best news after my engagement." the silence between us was equal to nothing. Anything could be heard from a mile away.

Elian continued to toy with my fingers, and when he raised his eyes to look at me again, the words I had decided to speak out hung between us.

He wouldn't choose me, that much I knew.

As soon as he walked out of the room, I barely had time to gather myself before the door opened again and Georgina strode in.

I perked up cautiously. "Georgina!"

"Miss! Miss Georgina to you. Aren't you the waitress? The daughter of the maid?" She scoffed disbelievingly.

"How could he be so concerned about an ordinary nobody?"

Her words had a tiring effect on me. "Stay away from Elian. He and i will be getting married soon. He will never choose you."

A tear escaped down my face because my problem was way bigger than that.

"Of course, you have feelings for him, but he has none for you whatsoever. He told me about your one night stand."

Shocked, my heart slammed against my ribs and i panicked. Who else knew? His friends? His parents?

"Did you really think you could pin him down that way? He felt guilty and had to apologise to me. In his words, it was Nothing." Georgina smirked.

This time, my tears dropped like water works.

"Good, cry, but listen. You are just the girl he chose to defend because you are a poor and helpless alopecia patient. Don't ever think you can be anything more than that to him."

"He will never choose you. He is a Dunst, and that name means more to him than your sorry existence ever would."

She concluded and walked out of the room. I immediately broke into a panic attack, my breathing became labored.

Gasping and heaving as though my chest was about to explode, the pain I felt was inexplicable.

It was much worse now that I realised how little Elian actually thought of me. Every glimpse of hope I had caught was now gone.

And much worse...

The door flung open and the nurse who usually tended to my mother whenever we were at the hospital rushed in.

"Lia, it's your mother."

My mother's condition had worsened and she was hospitalised.

I watched as all our savings disappeared. My tuition money, my alopecia treatment savings, my mother's savings. Everything we had was gradually diminishing, and not once did the Dunst family call to check up.

I even stopped going to work just so I could look after my mother.

One afternoon, father rushed into the house while I was preparing to go to the hospital.

"Lia! Lia!" He called out to me from the living room.

I was surprised to walk into the living room and find him all dressed up, with his former air marshall suitcase on the table.

"What is going on?" I asked, smiling at how handsome and happy he looked.

"Well, our prayers have finally been answered, amor. I just received a call from one of Long Island's biggest private airlines and they want me to be their private aviation security for a VIP charter flight."

"Really? That sounds huge, dad."

"It is extremely! Now, i can pay for your tuition, my chiquita's hospital bills and your alopecia treatment. Nobody will ever laugh at you, amor, again."

He kissed my forehead and hurriedly picked up his bag.

"What airline is it?" I asked.

"I don't know, but the Dunst family recommended me. I'll be back tomorrow." He said and rushed out to a waiting taxi.

There was alot I could have said in that moment, were it not for the overwhelming melancholy that filled my soul. I touched my belly to feel the little seed still growing inside of me and it made me cry.

I could not even afford an abortion just yet. But, that was the least of my problems, because life chose to play an even bigger trick on me.