Andrew was devastated. It was happening again. Why did it have to come to this? Why couldn't things go in their favor for once?

He had been praying for years that at least his daughter would be saved but it was happening again. The miracle he had been wishing for, waiting for, was again nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be found. It was not coming…

"C-can you give us time to think about this?" Andrew asked and the doctor told him that Abi would need to have surgery within the next two days.

After the doctor left, Andrew looked at Alex. He was standing there in a standstill.

Andrew walked towards him and patted his shoulder. He had no words to say to him. He remembered himself back then. He remembered how his parents had consoled him but no consolation could actually reach him. No amount of kind words could soothe the pain, or even make him feel better, not even a little bit. Nothing.

That was why Andrew didn't speak anymore. This young man had to accept the reality by himself to help himself cope with what was coming ahead.

Abi was then brought out of the emergency room and was transferred to a private room. Andrew followed her inside but Alex didn't. He remained there, outside her room, standing like a soulless statue, his face sunken, almost haunted. His world was growing cold again.

Despite the denial, Alex's heart was drenched by fear. The wild fire she had started that burned in his veins was slowly fading away, turning back to an icy numbness, numbness that was worse than ever.

…

Outside the hospital, Kai and Zeke arrived.

They went straight to the emergency room but found out Abigail was no longer there. Zeke spoke with the doctors who treated her, took her data from them and went to his office.

"Are we not going to go and check on him?" Kai asked but Zeke simply sat on his chair and started going through the information he got from the doctors.

After a short while, Kai sighed as he stood up. "I'll go and check on him."

"No need. He'll come here on his own," Zeke muttered and the door was opened with a loud bang.

Alex entered. He flew straight to Zeke, bent down and grabbed his collar.

Zeke was unfazed and calmly looked at him. He noticed Alex's trembling hands as he waited for him to speak but no words left Alex's mouth.

Alex's jaws were clenched hard. It was obvious he was having a hard time, but Zeke waited, just looking at him wordlessly until his lips finally opened.

"Zeke…" he started as he looked down, not letting go of Zeke's collar. "Go check on her again… those… those incompetent doctors… I'm certain there must be some mistake."

Zeke let out a quiet sigh. "All the doctors here are topnotch, Alex –"

"Shut up!!!" Alex gritted his teeth. His grip on his collar tightened. "Just do what I want you to do! If it's you… I know you can save her!"

Zeke creased his brows as he stared at him. He could see that Alex was still in denial. His mind was probably still numb.

"Fine. I will do what you want," he conceded, pulling Alex's hands off his collar. He wasn't planning to give him false hope but all he could do now was concede because if he didn't, Zeke was certain this man would go mad. And that was the last thing he wanted to happen. "But for now, it's best if we wait for her to wake up before doing anything. I heard she and her family are against the surgery. Don't worry, there's still plenty of time. So calm down and go back to her. She might look for you once she wakes up," Zeke calmly told him as he fixed his tie.

Alex stared at him and then, just like that, he dashed out of the door.

Kai, who had been watching like an outsider, swallowed the moment Alex was gone. He felt his throat dry up. He felt it, Alex was at the brink of going berserk. He wondered what might have happened by now if Zeke didn't tell him those carefully chosen words.

With an anxious face, Kai walked over Zeke.

"What's going to happen now? Can you really save her?" he asked and Zeke leaned back on his chair. His eyes were expressionless as he looked back at Kai.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kai," was all he said as he stood up and walked towards the floor to ceiling glass window and stared at the space ahead.

...

That night, Andrew left Abi with Alex so he could go back home to tell his parents about Abi. He did that because he knew that Alex needed to be alone with her once she woke up.

Once Andrew was gone, Abi was again transferred to the hospital's most expensive room.

It was past midnight when Abi woke up. She remembered what happened and her heart raced. She rose and sat up and she realized she was in the hospital. Seeing that her room looked like a luxury hotel's presidential suite, she could already tell that Alex was with her.

She breathed deeply, looking around, looking for Alex. Did he find out? Where was he?

Abi was about to climb off the bed when she paused. Her eyes zoomed in on the window. The white curtain was dancing and he was there, sitting on the floor, head down, between the dancing curtains. His one leg was stretched out on the floor and his wrist was placed on top of his bent knee.

Abi's heart squeezed in pain seeing him like that. She silently stood up and walked closer towards him. Was he sleeping?

Letting out a quiet sigh, Abi slowly bent down. She couldn't see his face but her heart was aching so badly, breaking apart for him.

She reached out her hand to touch his head when suddenly, he moved and looked up. Their eyes met. His pitch black eyes slowly widened upon seeing her.

.

.

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A\\N: second chapter will come later