Chapter 28— The Weight of the Past

Diana’s POV

Moving closer to me, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me he was here?" her voice a whisper.

"I tried to but you weren't getting it."

She turned and greeted him respectfully.

"I am Ciara Bennett."

"Well, I am Sebastian Hayes."

Ciara's jaw dropped in amazement.

Sebastian smiled.

"Tell me you are joking"

"No, I am not joking; I am Sebastian Hayes, son of the mayor of this great city."

"Oh my gosh, I have heard so much about you." She lied

Ciara had this funny attitude of pretending to have heard about someone she's just meeting for the first time, but it's nothing serious; it's just one of her old daddy jokes.

"Really?"

"Oh no, I am just playing with you" She laughed happily.

"Oh my, you almost got me, dear Ms Bennett."

"It's Ciara, please." She corrected.

"Okay... noted Ciara." He smiled.

She turned to face me.

"How's he doing? He is going to be fine soon."

"We don't know yet; Shania went in with the doctor as he insisted he had to see a family member, and no one else was here except her."

"Yeah, that's right, Gramps asked me to tell you he would be here shortly," Ciara said.

"Oh, you call him Gramps now?" Sebastian asked smiling.

"Everybody does, so why should I be different?"

Sebastian chuckled at her response.

"But you are his wife you should be in there too, why aren't you?"

I heaved a deep sigh.

"The doctor insisted that it had to be a registered family member. I am not yet registered", I replied, my voice laced with a bit of sadness.

But at least I was glad I got to watch him.

"Aww, don't worry, my friend it's just a matter of time before you become a registered member."

Honestly, I was surprised that Ciara was focusing on me right now; the man she was crushing on a few hours ago was standing right in front of us; the Ciara I knew was never one to shy or back out in things like this.

She wouldn't even mind making the first approach.

And from the look of things, I could tell that she wouldn't even need to make too much effort because I could tell that Sebastian already liked her.

Ciara was beautiful, almost like me.

That was what made us very close because back then, in middle school up to high school, whenever they wanted to name the prettiest girls in the class, I was always ranked first while she was second with just a few marks lesser than mine.

One day, I went to check the rank, and she also arrived at the same time, and then we both yelled at the same time the word AGAIN.

We looked at each other and burst into a long series of laughter. Since then, we have become friends. So it wasn't surprising that Sebastian liked what he saw.

"What happened when we left the event room."

"Nothing much, though Marcel and his mother felt satisfied seeing as he was being rushed to the hospital; other than that, nothing happened."

"What about the guests? Were they still there when you left?"

"Oh, yeah, but Gramps and Lorenzo Junior were making sure they left. I guess that's probably why they aren't here yet" she replied.

The door to the Vip room opened, and Shania walked in; her face wasn't too bright.

I was worried seeing her like that.

"What's wrong, Shania."

She didn't reply.

She walked straight to where he lay and muttered the words I AM SORRY.

I wasn't sure why she did that, but I decided to be patient.

She turned to face us, taking in a deep breath.

"The doctor said he's going to be fine."

I heaved a deep sigh of relief.

"But,"

"But what?" The three of us echoed at the same time.

"The doctor said it wasn't just the bleeding that affected him. Yes, the bleeding did affect him, but something else made it worse."

"What could that be."

She turned to face me. "Trauma," She said calmly.

"Trauma?" I asked

She nodded.

"As a result of what happened today?"

"The doctor said it's a series of events that have been piling up in his subconscious mind; when he experienced something similar to those things, it shattered the wall he had built up, and everything came reigning down on him."

I looked at him. Raphael was traumatised.

I didn't need to ask who the people responsible were; I had seen the true colour of every one of his family members, and I could tell that they were all responsible for the trauma.

Shania knelt in front of me. "He needs you, now more than ever Diana."

"You don't have to do this," I said, urging her to stand up.

"I wouldn't like anything better than to stay behind and watch over him, stand by him when the family pressure becomes much, but I have work to do overseas, and very soon you would both be joined together in holy matrimony, you will have to be the one to be there for him."

My eyes drifted to where he lay; the strong and mighty Raphael who stood to protect me from the harsh talk of his parents also needed protecting.

What Shania was asking of me wasn't a hard task to do as I already decided to find out about the truth. Why they hated him so much?

Why did Marcel say what he said that night?

Why did his mother say he was wicked?

I stood up, helping Shania up. "Look, Shania, you don't need to beg me for what I am supposed to do as his wife."

"He's gone through a lot, he needs help, he needs therapy but he wouldn't ask or do any of that." She said.

"Since Raphael left his parent's house we have both been working in touch, we talked every single day, never did he ever bring up a woman's matter to me, even when I try to talk about women and hooking him up with one he never showed interest at a point I thought he was gay" he chuckled "until the day he saw you at the bar." He paused, moving closer to me. "It was love at first sight for him."

Shania’s eyes darted toward Raphael, then back to me.

"Diana… there's something inside him."

My breath caught. "Inside him? What are you talking about?"

She opened her mouth to explain—

But the monitors beside Raphael started beeping wildly.

Then, his body jolted.

And his eyes snapped open.