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Chapter Twenty-five

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In her teenage days, Ella had read quite a few new-adult books where the main lead would die of car accidents and while some of them made her cry, she actually found some frustrating.

After everything they had gone through together, why would something so bad happen? It was just.. unfair. Unfair to the characters and their love, she'd think.

Ella didn't change from her PJs, she dashed outside her apartment she had rent a day earlier. Ella had decided she couldn't live in Robert's house.

She couldn't care about the rat nest on her head that was her hair, or the fact that she had left the door to her apartment open. Her heart had never beaten as fast as it did then.

No, it can't be. It can't be. It can't be. She kept chanting on her head, all the way to the hospital. But it had.

Not him.

Her mind drifted back to when they first met. The star quarterback had hit poor Ella right in the face with the ball, unknowingly of course.

That day was crystal clear to Ella. She had been secretly crushing over the chocolate colour haired boy for so long. He had finally noticed her.

Ella rushed to the reception. The receptionist looked at Ella with suspicious eyes, staring at her from head to toe.

After all, this was quite a big hospital for billionaires and she didn't exactly look like she fit there with her flimsy PJs and flip flops.

"Zachary Kane, which room is he in?" Ella was hyperventilating, but she stayed strong.

"Who are you to him, miss? I'm afraid, I can only-" the receptionist was cut off when Ella almost yelled.

"I'm his wife! Tell me, which room is he in?"

Taken by surprise, the receptionist looked at Ella's ring finger and there truly was quite an expensive diamond ring for a woman like her.

Ella was tapping her finger on the table furiously, she was feeling weird. Bad weird. Her intuition said something bad was about to happen.

Ella chose to ignore it.

After searching through, the receptionist finally opened her mouth.

"217 A."

Just as the words left her mouth, she flew to the elevator. After getting inside a packed elevator, Ella couldn't help but feel the dread.

He was fine a week ago. The night they shared in each other's embrace, Ella reminisced it, her eyes were starting to fill with moisture.

The elevator door opened and Ella sprinted outside, searching for the room here and there until a familiar form caught her eye.

Mrs Kane, Zach's mother was hunched over and sobbing so loudly that a tear rolled down Ella's eyes. Ella rushed to her and hugged the woman's frame close to her body as she cried against Ella's shoulder.

"He is all I have," Mrs Kane continued to cry into Ella's shoulder and Ella's heart clenched. She patted the motherly woman on her back, trying to say that everything was okay.

It clearly wasn't.

"He's undergoing surgery. It's already been two hours," the old lady managed to get out before crying again, this time silently.

Zach had been everything to Ella, she couldn't stifle a sob that broke through her. She trembled against the old lady before composing herself.

Without Zach, Ella had been a homeless mute beggar on the streets. He had given her so much. Why did bad things happen to good people?

"I love him," Ella croaks out. The old lady hugs Ella tightly. They remain like that, giving each other the false sense of comfort.

Zach's playful green eyes flash in Ella's mind. He had said he loved her scars, hadn't he? Would she ever get to tell him how much she loved him? Even after what she had seen the day she left?

Would she ever get to see those eyes again?

Mrs Kane had said the accident was.. big. The chances of living were.. no, Ella broke into sobs. Zach was strong, nothing would happen to him.

"Zach was going to meet you," the old lady whispered. Her tone wasn't accusatory, she was merely stating. Ella froze. Her heart thudded painfully, her head felt like it was about to explode.

Had it been her fault then?

If I had only listened to him, Ella thought before another tear rolled down her eyes. Then, maybe, none of this would have happened.

Ella had imagined her life with Zach. Three children, a boy and two girls. She dreamt of giving her children that perfect life she always wanted. Zach and her would love their children unconditionally.

"I.. I didn't know that," Ella fell back into the couch, her knees buckled.

The door to the operation theatre opened and just as the doctor walked outside, Ella jumped, a glimmer of hope shining in her chest.

"The surgery was successful," the doctor in her mid-forties said, her eyes snapped from Ella to Mrs Kane's. Something was wrong though.

"Mr Kane will hopefully wake up soon."

"You'll be able to meet him in a few minutes," the doctor smiled professionally but Ella could swear she saw pity in those eyes.

They patiently waited outside, not speaking a single word. Not even sobbing, the hope had by now, increased. But the pity in the doctor's eyes, Ella clenched her fist.

Fifteen minutes later, they were allowed inside Zach's room.

Ella's heart fell when she saw him. Not thinking it through, she rushed to him, tears blurred her vision. Bandages were wrapped around his body.

Ella automatically found herself putting her hand over his chest. Ella sobbed when she felt his heartbeat. For the first time in a while, Ella smiled tearily.

Zach's eyes were closed and he looked like he was in peace. Mrs Kane sobbed over Zach's chest and a few tears rolled down through Ella's cheeks as well.

After Zach's mother had left, Ella looked at Zach and placed a kiss on Zach's cheek, saying sorry for at least a hundred times. She hugged his frame.

"I love you, Zach," she mumbled into his chest. Ella wished she had told it earlier.

An hour later, the doctors and nurses where all gathered around Zach's bed with worried expressions, running here and there. It was chaos. The heaviness in Ella's chest had increased, the guilt was eating her from the inside.

She waited outside until the doctor came out.

"I'm afraid.. Mr Kane has gone into coma."

Ella wished she had told him earlier that she loved him. Ella broke down into hysterics. She felt the world crumble around her.

All the memories resurface, from their first kiss to the last. She felt the guilt further seep inside her, only adding to the pain. She should have listened to him. Their last encounter had been a fight. Ella sobbed and sobbed. And sobbed. Repeating 'I love you's over and over again.

Only if she had told him that before.

However, Zach hadn't moved. But he had heard Ella. He knew she loved him. Well, at least now he could die peacefully.

He tried opening his eyes.

He really did. To catch one last glimpse of the woman he had always loved. Unconsciousness prevailed.

Perhaps, he didn't deserve her.