I never promised

I was watching Kan in bewilderment. 

Did I cause this? I desperately wanted to disconnect Oliver’s association with Tuckers because that was the only way to keep him safe till Ophelia was no longer a threat. 

But as I watched Kan now, I wondered if he would turn out to be a bigger threat than all those enemies I feared. 

He had been powerful enough to protect me and my son all this time, but if he became an enemy, he could be vicious and formidable. 

I had been his wife for almost two years, so I should know. 

I knew how much darkness he had in him, and also knew just how much power he possessed to back that up, and I doubted Blaine could protect me from him. 

If he had been unable to protect me from his wife and family, Kan may be too big for him.

But now that Blaine knew the truth, there was no way he would stay away from me anymore like Kan wanted. 

We had a child who he might just meet, and then he would have to visit him all the time.

Kan and I were watching ourselves now, and he suddenly turned around and headed out of the hospital ward. 

I knew I should tell him already that Blaine knew about our son. It was the only right thing to do, but now I felt unsafe and afraid for the first time since that night I had to run for my life.

I turned around on the bed and lay on my side, and I heard the door open again. 

I did not turn to look because a nurse would have greeted me cheerfully from the door, and Kan was the only person who could walk into my ward like this beside my father, who was home now with Oliver.

I felt the bed space behind me depressing, and then I felt strong arms around me.

“I don’t like us fighting. I hope all these go away when we go on that vacation”, Kan said, holding me tightly to himself.

I knew I had a mindset shift over the last few days about Kan, but I was unsure if that was the reason I no longer found things like this soothing, if that was the reason, I had this strong urge to pull away instead of lean back into his arms.

But I did not verbalize this because at the back of my head I had begun to fear Kan. 

So I lay still, till I heard him breathing softly behind me, and soon I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open anymore.

Kan was all smiles the next morning when I woke up to a large bouquet of flowers, food and treats. 

I smiled quietly, watching him, wondering when was the best time to bring up the truth. 

I knew he would lose it. I had always known. But I was no longer sure what the consequences of that would be anymore.

We ate together, and he made me sit still on the bed as he brushed my hair. 

“Sweetheart,” he called.

“Hmm.”

“How is the plan with Akira panning out?”

“Great.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We should have results before the day is over,” I said.

“Damn. She sure is foolish to believe such a thing,” he said, and I said nothing more. 

With how Kan and I were now, even I was beginning to wonder if I had simply been foretelling what was about to happen, and not telling an outright lie.

“You are quiet, Ariel.” It was not the words, but the way he said it that sent a chill down my spine. 

And I quickly fixed a quiet smile on my face as he came back around to look in my face.

He looked down at me, and carefully placed the brush in his hands down on the table. “Ariel, I scared you last night?”

I burst into tears at that moment, an action that surprised me. 

He did not say anything but just gently wrapped his arms around me while still sitting on the bed, so my head was against his belly as he stood.

He did not say anything till I quieted down, and then he came to sit beside me. “Don’t you see how I feel about you? I could never hurt you.”

“What if you hate me?”

“I still could not hurt you. And why the hell would I hate you? I am never even mad at you for more than a few minutes at a time.”

I shook my head even as he was speaking.

“Ariel, you are my wife. I would take a bullet for you in a heartbeat,” he said, and I felt a shiver go round my body. 

This was the intensity that scared me, because what was the catch?

How could he feel so strongly for me overnight when he damn well knew I did not feel anything close to that for him?

I cared about him deeply. He knew this, but that was all, and he knew this too. 

I finally looked up into his brown eyes, searching. 

They were open and none of those scary emotions from yesterday were in them. I was about to speak when a knock came on the door, and we both looked up.

A nurse walked in, and Kan stood up. 

She smiled and said, “I came to check your vitals this morning.” 

We nodded, and Kan stood at the foot of the bed, watching as the nurse completed her task, then she glanced at Kan briefly before she said.

“Chairman Tucker is awake and would not talk to anyone but you.” She said,

“That's a good tactic to save his strength, since he knew my wife would not come, and he would not have to talk to anyone else,” Kan said, walking up to me. “Wise man.”

The nurse frowned at him and smiled confusedly, but she bowed, and turned to me, “He said you went halfway, and you promised full details.”

Kan and I spoke at the same time and both our voices came out clashing. 

“I never promised,” I said, as Kan’s,

“What?” came out, sounding like a whip and the nurse stepped back frightened.

She bowed, and quickly hurried out of the ward, leaving an awkward silence between me and Kan. 

I expected an explosion as big as yesterday’s, but he was quiet, and sat down to watch me. 

The only thing that was an indication of how he truly felt was the pulse beating on his temple.