67: RIGHT HERE AGAINARIEL’S POV I opened my eyes, and Luke made his way inside the hospital room, making a phone call. “Don’t worry, my assistant will take care of that,” he said, and then his conversation on the phone came to an end. His eyes met mine. The both of us gazed at each other for quite a long time. It was as if time had frozen for this moment. Luke couldn’t take his eyes off me. I could see this passion in him. And somehow, I noticed a surge of guilt moving within him. Yes, his countenance said it all. “You’re finally awake,” Luke said as he advanced toward me. “You know, I feel really sorry for you sometimes. First, you got shot in the stomach. Now this.” “I guess life just loves playing with me,” I laughed, although I was not feeling too good. “Why did you do it?” “Do what?” I asked him. “Why did you take poison for me?” I sighed, averting my gaze. “Well, you’re my husband. I can’t just let you die.” “Seriously? That?” He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah,” I responded in húshed tones. “What do you think?”“Nothing actually. It’s just quite surprising that you would do that for me.” I laughed softly. “I know, but that’s just it. I’ll do anything for the people I love.”“For the people you love?” Luke had a confused face. “You love me?” “Well, you’re my husband. I’m supposed to love you.” “Darn it, you’re not understanding this, are you?” He vocalized inaudibly, moving his hands down on his face. “Understand what?” I asked. He sighed. “Nevermind. You take care. I have to go. I have something to take care of.”“And what’s that?” “I’m just going to teach some people a lesson. You don’t have to worry about anything,” he told me, and I left the room. He was definitely going to deal with Mariam. I felt so sorry for the lady. It’s such a pity that she’s going to suffer for something she has no knowledge of. She wasn’t the one who added poison to the food; I was. This was one way to get Luke to fall in love with me. And I could see it was working. I had to take that poison with me. I knew I wasn’t going to die. Life’s all about risks, right? This was just the beginning of this mission of mine. Luke would eventually fall for me. And at that point, I’ll strike him hard. But Mason still needed to tell me the plan. LUKE’S POV “Aunt Mariam!” I shouted the moment I arrived home. “Aunt Mariam!” I screamed again, boiling with rage. I sighted one of the maids walking upstairs. “You!” I shouted at her, and she turned around immediately. “Have you seen my zant?” “Yes, sir. She went out with this man,” the maid replied. “She went out with someone?” I brought out, my tone filled with anger. The maid nodded. ‘ For how long now?” I asked. “I think it should be about thirty minutes ago,” she replied. “Okay, you may go,” I told her, and I walked away. That woman better not come back to this house. She would be making the biggest mistake of her life if she did. ARIEL’S POV I was still at the hospital, lying down on the bed, when the door to the room opened. And I was surprised to see who had shown up. It was my mother. It had been a long time since I had seen my parents. After one year of marriage with Luke back then, they left without even telling me where they were heading. They didn’t even call me later on, and when I tried calling, I wasn’t able to reach them. And that had me extremely infuriated with the both of them. Some parents they were. “What are you doing here?” I asked my mom as she walked in my direction. “And how in the world did you know that I was at the hospital? Who told you, huh?” “Take iteasy,Ariel.” “Take it easy?” My anger compounded. “You and dad abandoned me.” “Honey, you know that’s/not true,” she said in her soft, deceiving voice. “What is true then? Tell me!” I shrieked and then closed my eyes the moment I felt a little S pain. “Ariel,” she uttered, and wanted to move close to me, but I told her not to, “Don’t you dare come close to me,” I said in a harsh whisper. “Don’t do this, my child. You know I love you.” “You have no right to say that word. You have no love in your heart. All you care about is money. That’s the only thing revolving around in your head.” “Why would you say that?” “First of all, you and dad made a decision without informing me first. I got married to some scumbag I don’t even like or know anything about. All because of what? Money.”My mom shook her head, closing her eyes, as a tear slowly rolled down her cheek. I rolled my eyes. “You’ll only be lying to yourself if you think you can fool me with those crocodile tears.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “You reproach me with these hard words, and you strike your anger at me. But you know the reason why your father and I did that. And we even apologized. You were fine with it, so why the change of mind now?” “Of course I was fine with it; I even forgave you guys. But the two of you just abandoned me, especially when I needed someone to comfort me. Do you know the pain and heartbreak that I had to go through living with Luke? Do you?”“I’m sorry, but…” “But what?” I cut her off. She exhaled deeply after a moment. “I have a perfect explanation for that.” RIGHT HERE AGAIN “What are you going to say now, huh? If you and father were going bankrupt, you had to go somewhere else to get money?” “No,” she replied in hushed tones, and gave me a serious face. “There’s no need for you to start talking nonsense.” “Oh, I’m talking nonsense now?” “Will you please have a little respect for me?” She barked at me. The both of us looked at each other for seconds, and she let out a deep sigh. “I know I did wrong by leaving without telling you. But it was what your father wanted.” “What do you mean by that?” I asked in curiosity. She exhaled deeply. “Your father was seriously sick.” “Dad was sick?” I aksed. She nodded. “How come he never told me?” “He didn’t want anything that was going to get you worried. So he went to India for treatment. There was this man who said he would help him take away the sickness. But it ended so sad.” She looked at me and said softly, “Your father died.” Her words shocked me hard. “Wait, are you trying to tell me that Dad is no more?” She closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheek.“It’s so painful. But that’s just it, Ariel. Your father is gone. His death brought intense pain to my heart and left me broken.”
