Chapter 3

"You're back," Alexandra breathed as she watched Cedric walk in with two paper bags of medicine.

"The pharmacy queue was longer than I expected." He set the bags down on the side table and pulled out the small white boxes one after the other, arranging them in the order the doctor had specified. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

Alexandra's smile dimmed just slightly. She glanced down at her lap.

"Elora called."

Cedric stilled. He turned to look at her. "What?"

"She called your phone." Alexandra reached across the bed and handed him his phone. "I hope you don't mind. It kept ringing and I thought it might be urgent, so I answered."

Cedric exhaled. "What did she say?"

Alexandra tilted her head, her expression shifting into something warm and gentle. "Good news, actually. She said the doctors ran some tests on Riella and the results came back better than expected." She paused, pressing a hand lightly to her chest as if the relief had been personal. "She said Riella is stable. They're preparing to discharge her."

For a moment, the entire room seemed to breathe.

Cedric felt something loosen in his chest — something he hadn't realized had been wound so tightly all afternoon. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Riella, even as he stood in the pharmacy queue, even as the minutes stretched on and on. He had told himself Elora would call if things got worse. She always called.

"She's okay," he said, more to himself than to Alexandra. He could just imagine the relief his wife was feeling too. This would bring back the smile on her face.

"She's okay," Alexandra confirmed softly.

He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair. "I should go see her. Elora must be exhausted — she's probably been at the hospital all day alone and—"

"Cedric."

He turned.

Alexandra's hand had moved to her stomach. Her face had gone very still, the kind of stillness that always made something in him slow down against his will.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't want to say anything."

He frowned. "What is it?"

"I had another pain episode while you were at the pharmacy." She exhaled slowly, carefully. "I didn't want to alarm you, especially after the good news about Riella. But the doctor said earlier that if the cramps returned, I shouldn't be left alone tonight."

Cedric stood there, his coat half on.

"Alexandra—"

"Please don't cancel on Elora on my account." She shook her head, already reaching for the call button by her bed. "I'll ask one of the nurses to sit with me. I'll be fine." Her voice was steady, but her eyes were doing something quiet and painful, the way they always did when she was trying not to ask too much of him.

He had known her since they were ten years old. He knew every expression on her face.

He knew when she was truly frightened.

"Stop." He set his coat back down. "Don't press that."

"Cedric, Riella is fine. But Elora must be so exhausted and miss you so much. You know how she gets when she wants your attention. How she uses your daughter to get your attention…"

For a moment Cedric kept quiet.

Was this supposed relapse another excuse from Elora to just get my attention? Or how else had Riella recovered so quickly?

Cedric just shook his head and walked towards the bed. Alexandra needed him more. Ever since she had been diagnosed of having anemia, he couldn't imagine leaving her to fend for herself.

"Riella is being discharged," he said. "Which means she's already in good hands. I'll visit tomorrow morning, first thing." He sat back down beside her bed and reached over to adjust the drip line the nurse had left slightly crooked. "Let me see the doctor's notes."

Alexandra said nothing for a moment.

Then she exhaled, long and slow, and leaned back against the pillow. "You really don't have to."

"I know," Cedric said.

She turned her face slightly away from him, and gave a subtle smirk.

He told himself he would call Elora once Alexandra was settled.

Then the hours passed, quiet and unremarkable, and somehow it was past midnight before he finally stepped out into the hospital corridor and dialed Elora's number.

She picked up on the fourth ring.

Her voice was groggy. Hollow in a way he didn't immediately place.

He started to apologize, every word sincere and genuine, but Elora said nothing for a long moment. And when she finally responded, her voice sounded so flat and cold.

He tried to ask what she meant, but she ended the call before he could.

Cedric stared at his phone in the dim corridor.

He told himself she was tired. He told himself she was overwhelmed from the hospital and that he would make it right in the morning.

He believed it completely.

Because it was easier than believing anything else.

~

“It's Riella’s birthday today. Won't you come see her at least? Is she that irrelevant to you?” Elora sent Cedric a message early that afternoon. If it were up to her, she wouldn't care if he came or not.

But Ruella would want this.

She loved that man more than anything, and it was only right she gave Cedric another chance to see his daughter, even if she was already dead.

Elora walked out of the bakery where she had just bought her daughter's favorite tres leches cake, and took a taxi straight to her mother's house.

She felt a pang of guilt as she stepped into her house, her hand trembling as she opened the room where she knew Urn where Riella's ashes lay. She couldn't just bear the thought of her daughter getting cremated.

“Forgive me, baby,” she heaved as there were no more tears in her eyes to cry. She caressed the vase as she whispered a soft happy birthday.

“You’re back, darling.” Elora jerked in shock before turning back to see her mother leaning on the door. She dropped the cake and walked towards the hall where Riella's send off would be held.

“He's still not here, is he?” Her mother asked in a hard voice behind her.

Elora didn't need to ask who her mother was talking about. The woman had always hated Cedric. When Elora had first told her about Cedric, she had disapproved of their relationship and their marriage, but Elora was too lost in love to listen. Eventually, Margarita consented to it.

Now standing before her mother, she curses herself for being too stubborn to see the truth.

“I won't tell you I TOLD YOU, but I hope you learn your lesson and leave that man. He doesn't deserve you, nor your late child. Your child has been dead for three days, Elora, but still he hasn't come to see her once!” Margarita snapped. “I didn't raise you to be this foolish for a man. You gave up everything for him! Your career, your chance at marrying the governor's son! A good life!”

Elora could already feel a headache rising. “Mother please. Not today. My daughter is dead, I don't really care about Cedric right now. If he doesn't arrive in the next minute, we'll start without him,” she breathed in exhaustion, her dark circles looking more prominent. “I gave him enough chances already. I have arranged the divorce papers.”

But even as she said those words, she felt something tug at her heart painfully. It was normal, she thought. After all, she had once loved this man more than her life.

Just then the front door of the house creaked open, and Elora felt a certain relief.

Without looking back, she said to her mother, “That must be him.”

But when she saw the side eyed look on her mother's face,the smile that had begun to graze her pale face died.

Slowly she turned around, and when her eyes clashed with his, she felt her already broken heart shattered into a million pieces.

Standing arms in arms with her husband was none other than Alexandra who was dressed like she was coming to a freaking gala.