Over Before It Began

The silence after seeing Noora lying there was deafening.

Her blood darkened the white marble. The red slap marks on her skin hadn’t even begun to fade. Her chest barely moved. And for a moment, just a moment, it looked like she wasn’t breathing.

Lucas stepped forward, eyes wide, heart pounding. “Noora…”

Luciano’s shadow loomed beside him; still, sharp. Then both of them turned to Cindy.

She was frozen in place. Her face pale, lips parted, trembling in disbelief as if she, too, couldn’t understand what had just happened.

Lucas’s voice was low, but every syllable cracked like a whip. “What did you do?”

“I—” Cindy blinked, shaking her head, taking a step back. “I didn’t… I didn’t do this! I swear, I didn’t! She hit me first! I—I just grabbed her hair—yes, but this wasn’t…” Her breath caught as if reality had only now sunk in. “I didn’t do this. I didn’t.”

Luciano’s voice followed like a blade dragged through cold steel. “Cindy!!!”

She turned to him, panicked. “You believe me, don’t you? Lucas, I wouldn’t. Luciano… I didn’t even push her that hard. She was the one who started yelling, and she was the one who slapped me! I—”

But he didn’t answer her.

His gaze had moved past her, and onto Noora again. There was something deeply still in him now as he stared at the marks on her face and the wound on her head.

Suddenly, something caught his eyes and a shuddered breath of understanding escaped through him.

She was bleeding but not bleeding uncontrollably, unconscious but breathing, quiet but alive, his jaw relaxed, just slightly. As though the world had been mid-collapse, and for a brief second, it paused to breathe.

It was something that broke the illusion of the moment. Cindy’s voice became white noise. Her denial barely mattered.

He knew it wasn’t Cindy!

Of course, she wouldn’t dare to go this far; not unless she couldn’t be traced.

But Lucas wasn’t breathing.

He couldn’t.

He dropped to his knees beside her, trembling hands reaching to touch her face with such gentleness it made something snap behind his ribs. “Noora—Noora, wake up. Please. God—”

Her head lolled to the side, and Lucas caught her just in time.

“Call the driver,” he barked at the hovering staff. “NOW.”

“WAIT—” Luciano started, but Lucas wasn’t waiting.

There was no more patience. No more second-guessing. No room left for fear.

Lucas scooped Noora into his arms as if she weighed nothing. Blood smeared his shirt, but he didn’t care. His throat was tight. His chest burned.

He ran with every footstep echoing like thunder as he carried her down the hallway and out into the car.

“Hurryyy up!” He kept on screaming; demanding speed that had already made the tires screech against pavement.

And all Cindy could do was stand there.

Frozen in the wreckage she hadn’t expected to cause. Now, caught in the mouth of the Lion whose prey that she dared to touch.

Luciano turned to her and she knew that this time, he wasn’t letting her off hook. Cold sweats and chills ran through her spines.

…………..

The antiseptic scent of the hospital room coated the air in white sterility. Lucas sat beside her bed, elbows on knees, fingers knotted. The waiting was agony. Every minute dragged like a blade over skin.

When she stirred, it was just a small motion of her fingers; his heart nearly exploded.

“Noora?” he whispered, leaning forward.

Her lashes fluttered, then her eyes opened slowly, confused and drowsy.

“Noora, it’s okay. You’re safe. You’re in the hospital. You hit your head, you blacked out, but the doctor said you’re stable now.” His voice cracked. “Thank God.”

She blinked once, taking in her surroundings, the IV drip, the hum of the machines. But there was flicker of something in her eyes that she blinked it right away before her gaze landed on him.

And her expression shifted.

Her eyes that were full of softness and emotions whenever she looked at him, now had hardened… quick, subtle. But Lucas saw it.

She pulled her hand away from his gently, as if his touch burned her. As if she couldn’t bear his touch on her skin when it was the same touch that sent flutters in her stomach all these years.

With pain.

With finality.

Lucas’s throat tightened. “Noora…”

She didn’t look at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, breath trembling. “I wasn’t there. I didn’t… I should’ve—”

It was as if he couldn’t speak out the word loud for fear that the world might claim it as a sin.

“Lucas,” she whispered, her voice barely above a breath, “don’t. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

His mouth parted, helpless.

“I’m sorry for what Cindy—”

“Cindy is now your fiancée.”

His body jerked back like she’d slapped him.

“You’ve stayed with her instead of taking me to the hospital,” she said softly, eyes fixed on the wall. “She’s the one you chose, so you should stay with her during the hard times.”

“Noora, please don’t say that. You’re my—”

“Sister, right?” She said, sharper now. “You’ve always considered me sister and taken care of me as your SISTER. You were close to me and protected me like a BROTHER, didn’t you? And I’m grateful for it. But now that you’ve a fiancée, you don’t need to take care of me like before. We’ve grown up and now, I can take care of myself,” her voice broke, tears glistening her eyes, “we’re not a child anymore and you aren’t my real brother. So, it’s better for both of us to keep distance for everyone’s sake.”

Her voice was too pained, too hollow as she forced out the words, “…It’ll be easier to breath that way.”

Lucas felt a pang of pain shot in his heart.

“Noora,” Lucas pleaded, “I’m sorry… I swear to you, I never meant to hurt you…”

She finally looked at him and it shattered him.

There were no tears. Just exhaustion. And something even worse: acceptance.

“You didn’t hurt me,” she said. “There was nothing between us to hurt me. It was already over before it began.”

He stared, speechless.

“You should be happy, Lucas,” she whispered. “With her. With your career. With all the things that matter to you. I’m just a small part of Richardson family; just a nuisance. Don’t care about me. It’s better if you don’t.”

And then she turned her face away, slowly, pulling the blanket up as if to shield herself.

And Lucas… didn’t have the words.

He sat there, hollow, watching the distance between them grow wider and wider even though they were only inches apart.

He tried to stretch his hand, to touch her. To hold her close. To cross the distance that he’d always kept between them.

But before his hands could touch her, her voice froze him,

“I want to be alone. Please leave.”