It felt like a dream. Except for the fact that he had not slept the entire night and even though the sun rose up, nothing changed. Ella was still lying on the bed unconscious. Javier had kept a close eye on her, watching her the whole night and hoping that she would move a muscle or even better, open her eyes, and yet there had been nothing thus far. He would have been worried that he had lost her if it was not because of the steady rhythm of her heartbeat on the monitor. Moving his gaze from Ella, he watched Damon and Tanner sleeping on the couch. Tanner was sleeping in a seating position while Damon put his head on Tanner’s thigh and occupied the rest of the sofa. Tanner had one hand over Damon’s eyes and forehead and under different circumstances, Javier would have laughed picturing Damon as a naughty brat and Tanner as his mother who tried to make him fall asleep. Ella had great friends. Javier was very grateful for their presence. He was not sure he could have gone through the

Ella stiffened at the man’s voice but did not bother to open her eyes as she lay on the hospital bed. Him. The man she had heard the nurses called as her fiancé. The one she couldn’t remember no matter how hard she’d tried. “Come on now. Open your eyes. I know you’re awake,” his voice softened and for a moment, she was not sure why but she felt that he was smiling. “You know I could always tell, Ella.” Feeling that there was no use in pretending to be asleep or unconscious, she slowly opened her eyes. The second her eyes registered her surrounding, especially the man who was currently standing next to her bed, her pulse kicked again. She pressed her fingers to the space between her brows and wondered for a moment why the man’s face had such an unsettling effect on her. Did she know him? There was something about his voice, something that tugged at the fringes of her memory. But whatever it was, the memory stayed just out of reach. Giving up, she tried to focus on her own dilemma. But

C H A P T E R  1 4  :  O V E R D U E  R E U N I O N  A N D  F O R G I V E N E S S  E L L A  S T A N F O R D  Ella looked at her mother, Eleanor Stanford, for a few seconds before finally dragged her gaze back to her father, Derek Williams. Both of them were staring back at her expectantly as if waiting for her answer however she did not have any. In the end, she asked them a question instead, “What are you asking me to forgive you?”  Her mother blinked. Once. Twice. Then she turned to her father. “How much have you told her, Derek?”  “I did not get a chance to tell her much. I think Javier might have told her something beforehand,” he replied and when he saw Eleanor was about to interrupt him, he quickly added, “which I have no idea what.” 

C H A P T E R  1 6 : L U N C H D A T E  W I T H  C L A R A B E L L E J A V I E R  S U M M E R S “Brother?” Clarabelle tilted her head and frowned before calling her brother again by his full name, louder this time. “Javier Rainard Summers!” Her brother who had been staring blankly ahead this whole time with a forlorn look on his face blinked then turned his gaze to Clarabelle. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Clarabelle Anneliese Summers?” “I am not,” she replied back with a huff. “Stop calling me by my full name. You know I hate my middle name.” “You started it,” commented Javier quietly. “Only be

C H A P T E R  1 8  :  L O S T  F E E L I N G S  E L L A  S T A N F O R D  Ella woke up and saw Javier and a nurse holding each other’s hand. She waited for a moment as she continued to stare at them yet nothing came. No feelings whatsoever. If he truly was her fiancé like how he had claimed to be, surely she would feel something. Maybe not some sense of ownership but at least a little bit of jealousy. Yet nothing. She waited for a few moments before deciding to interrupt them. “What is with all the noises?” “Ella,” he greeted back and pulled his hand out of Aimee's grasp. “This is Aimee Sonata. She is a nurse here.”  “And why do you both look like you have known each other for a long time?” she asked out of curiosity and also because there was something in Nurse Aimee's eyes that she found to be irritating. There was that look that she