Chapter Four

Gesare. 

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was how quiet it was apart from the machines humming and the soft murmurs of the nurses talking at the station down the corridor.

The second thing I noticed was the pain.

It throbbed through my leg like a slow drumbeat, dull but heavy, reminding me every few seconds that trying to escape the hospital earlier had been a spectacularly bad idea.

I groaned softly and shifted a little which was a bad move, the movement sent a sharp ache through my stomach and my leg at the same time. I sucked in a breath and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment.

“Turns out you can't handle the pain well huh?” a deep familiar voice said and my eyes were wide open. 

I turned my head slowly and saw him sitting in the chair beside my bed, the man from the elevator.

For a second I just stared at him, trying to remember how much of what happened earlier was real and how much had been the pain medication messing with my head.

He was leaning back in the chair like he belonged there, one ankle resting over his knee, his arms folded loosely across his chest. 

The expensive suit jacket he had been wearing earlier was draped over the back of the chair, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms.

He looked completely out of place in my hospital room.

“Okay,” I said weakly. “I might have misjudged the damage to my leg.”

He grinned.

“I warned you.”

“Yeah, yeah I remember,” I muttered.

I shifted again and immediately regretted it. The movement pulled at my stomach and I winced, pressing a hand lightly against it.

The man noticed immediately.

“Careful,” he said.

“I’m learning that lesson very slowly.”

Another laugh escaped me, but halfway through it the pain in my stomach spiked and I stopped abruptly, hissing slightly.

“Okay, laughing is officially banned,” I muttered.

He smiled faintly but didn’t laugh this time and for a moment the room fell quiet again.

Then I looked back at him and studied him for a bit.

“You didn't have to stay” I said and he raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“It was really kind of you to stay with me,” I said. “Especially since we are complete strangers.”

He laughed softly at that.

“Well,” he said, leaning back in the chair again, “my mother raised me well.”

“Mine did not raise me at all.” I blurted out, "infact she abandoned me immediately after having me."

The words slipped out before I could filter them and the mood shifted instantly.

He looked at me with surprise, clearly unsure how to respond to that.

I burst out laughing again trying to take away the awkwardness. 

“Sorry,” I said quickly. “Dark humor.”

He exhaled, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth again.

“But seriously,” I continued, waving a weak hand toward the door. “You can go now.”

His eyebrows pulled together slightly.

“Go?”

“You look like someone who is important,” I said matter of factly. 

He studied me for a moment before he responded. 

“You are important too.”

I smiled faintly.

“Not really.” I said more quietly this time, “but that’s fine,” I added with a shrug. “We can’t all be important.”

Silence settled between us again for a few seconds.

Then his gaze drifted down to my leg.

“What happened to you anyway?” he asked.

I followed his gaze, he was referring to my leg

“Drunk driver.” I said 

His eyes lifted back to mine looking for more information. 

“I was crossing the street,” I said. “Next thing I know a car comes out of nowhere.”

I tapped the brace lightly, “And here we are.”

He frowned. “Tell me they stopped atleast?”

I shook my head, “Nope.”

“They just left you there?”

“Yep.” I leaned back into the pillow, “But some smart ass decided to bring me to the hospital,” I continued. “And now they won’t let me leave.”

His expression didn’t change, but I noticed something tighten in his jaw.

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave anyway?” he asked.

I laughed then I looked at him when I realized he was serious.

“Do I look like someone who can afford a hospital like this?” He didn’t answer, “We already established I am not important, remember?” I reminded him lightly.

He just stared at me.

For a moment I wondered if I had said something wrong, then I shook the thought away. The morphine was making me too honest. 

“Okay,” I said suddenly, pointing at him. “Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“Tell me something about yourself that no one knows, I have technically told you my whole life story.”

He looked genuinely shocked,“That’s your whole life story?”

I laughed.

“I know you can’t tell by how I carry myself,” I said dramatically, “but I haven’t lived that much really.”

His eyes narrowed slightly in curiosity.

“How old are you?”

“Tomorrow is actually my birthday.”

“Oh?”

“Yep, I turn nineteen” I placed a hand over my stomach, “And the doctors say I’m going to be a mommy soon.”I grinned at him. “I am absolutely nailing this life thing, don’t you think?”

He didn’t laugh, he didn’t even smile. Instead of responding to my joke, he asked quietly,

“Where is the dad?”

“Oh.” I laughed again.

Then I leaned a little closer toward him conspiratorially.

“Can you keep a secret?”

He hesitated then nodded slowly.

“Sure.”

I lowered my voice like we were about to share some top secret information.

“I have never had sex before, but the doctors said I’m pregnant,” I continued cheerfully.

I reached over to the small bedside table and picked up the ultrasound photos the nurse had left earlier.

“And they even showed me my baby, it's a little girl, the nurse said she is strong just like me.” I handed the images to him.

He took them slowly.

“I might be the next Mary or something,” I added with a laugh.

But he wasn’t laughing, his eyes were locked on the ultrasound pictures. All the color drained from his face.

For a second he looked like someone had punched the air out of his lungs.

His fingers tightened slightly around the images and then suddenly he stood up.

The chair scraped lightly against the floor.

He placed the photos back into my hands and turned toward the door.

“Hey,” I said quickly but he kept walking away.

“I’m sorry,” I added, my voice softer now. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Its I have had no visitors before and I didn't want you to be bored.”

He stopped for a second and looked at me with a small forced smile then walked out and closed the door behind him. 

“Well,” I muttered to myself eventually, looking down at the ultrasound photos in my hands before I put them down, I sighed and leaned back into the pillow again.

“Great job Gesare,” I murmured. “Scare off the one stranger who was nice enough to stay with you.”

I looked down at the blurry little shape on the ultrasound picture.

“I guess it’s just you and me then,” I whispered softly.