Sneakers ate up the hospital floors as Cassandra moved out of the elevator and ran towards Harrison's room. She was late by forty minutes, complications with her car and heavy traffic on the roads. It didn't sit right with her that he would be alone for long with Josephine on the loose. Somehow she got everywhere she wanted without people seeing a thing. Mark, Harrison's closet friend, suggested that Josephine had connections in places no one knew about. Cassandra was starting to believe it.

When she closed the door behind her, she was greeted by the soft breathing from the bedside. She tiptoed over to Harrison's bed and slipped to his side. Leaning forward and kissing his face, she pushed herself up on her elbows then moved in to kiss him softly on the lips. Her finger's outlined his cheeks, the still coldness of his skin made her frown, but she kissed him again.

She laid beside him, patiently waiting for the nurse to get in so she could visit Harrison's doctor. In her mind, she had already listed many different ways Josephine could sneak into the room. She wanted someone to be here with Harrison before she left his side.

Except for his steady breathing, there was nothing to show that he was getting better at all. His body didn't respond to much, not their words or kisses. He just laid still on the bed, his chest rising and falling as he was fed from a bag connected to his arm.

Cassandra missed having him around, awake and lively. Placing her chin on his chest, she picked at his hair. "I have never told you the story, have I? About what happened on the day of my wedding. You know, when Harrison dipped and left me at the altar. I remember it very clearly because of the rain."

She turned her eyes to the storm raging outside for a second, then turned back to him. Harrison Clark, a man with the same name as the bastard that had ruined her heart and her life. There was only one difference between the two; even if it wasn't for years, she felt so loved in the months they had been together.

"This story is a long one, so prepare your morphine filled body to listen to some really annoying tales. Let's go back to when I first met the devil in jeans and a red sweatshirt under the rainy sky. I was on my knees feeling more than embarrassed at tripping over my own feet when suddenly, I couldn't feel the rain anymore. I looked up, and like a telenovela, or a really cheesy romance novel, he squatted beside me with a beautiful smile. I just wanted to melt into a poodle and flood away with the running water.

"To be fair, he was really nice then, and his face was what I lived for. That means that yes, you wouldn't believe it, but I was very clingy back then. And maybe a little bit now. Anyway, we dated for a long time, so I believed we were more than ready to go exclusive, but I never pushed it. I wanted him to pop the question without any pressure in him, kind of stupid when I think about it. I took my time, showering myself with love. I was on cloud eleven. I built fantasies in my head and lived in them constantly."

She sighed, throwing her arms around his side, resting her head against his chest. It was annoying to recall her own stupidity, but it had stopped hurting a long time ago. She let her imagination run wild, so she closed her eyes as she spoke, allowed herself to imagine she was not in a hospital but on the beach. Harrison smiled at her with his hand in hers while her legs rested on his thigh. It was her imagination, but she wanted, needed it to be real.

With a quick blink, she opened her eyes and stepped into reality. The beeping of the monitor moving through her mind. "He asked me to marry him a year later. That's three years of dating before he was ready, and I was happy. It was cheesy, absolutely ridiculous. When I told my mother, she cried. Oh, she wanted to marry me off more quickly than I realised. I got the dress finally..."

The boom of the thunder made her turn to the window, just to make sure it was closed, then she dropped her head back to his chest. "The date was set for three weeks after he purposed because, why wait? I already waited three years for this. He was excited, I was excited, everyone was running high on emotions. That day it rained; I needed the biggest umbrella in the world to get into the church without getting wet. Back then, I still loved everything about the rain, so I thought that I was being blessed on my wedding day. Uncle Ruben was the man I chose to marry us, he was thrilled to do it, but after an hour, the groom was missing.

"His mother was devastated after three hours, but I already knew what was going on. In my heart, I knew he was gone, but they told me that the rain must have jammed the signal to his phone. I was just to be patient and wait for things to happen with time. Someone had a heart in that church; it turned out to be the best man. He told me about the plane ticket he saw by accident in Harrison's room and asked if I wanted a ride to the airport. Till now, I don't know why I went after him."

She moved out of the bed, adjusted his arms at his sides and made sure he was still connected to his IV bag before she started to roam about. Her feet were bare, so she could feel the cold burn of the tiled floors as she walked around. Thankfully she didn't need to burrow into his blanket like the last time she dropped into his room with shorts and a tank top. Her thick blue jeans and black sweater helped her battle the cold from the rain and the air conditioner. With her head resting against the glass window, she looked down on the street as her wedding day unfolded from her lips.

"In the end, I allowed his friend to drive me to the airport. I think half the church followed me out, begging me not to destroy my dress and just wait, but I wasn't going to listen. My thought at that moment was to talk him out of whatever stupidity befell him and get him back to that altar. I got in that car and asked to be driven into the airstrip if he had to.

"Jack, that was his name. We kept in touch after the wedding but only because he stuck with me against his own friend. We got to that airport, and I gunned every security man there like it was my job. I screamed, I cried. I tore through everyone that tried to stop me. I got as far as the airstrip before I collapsed. After I was dragged back, we found out that Harrison had left the night before. No one knew because he wanted to dress alone, so no one noticed he was gone. He left the letter for me to find in the morning when I wouldn't be able to stop him or convince him to stay."

Her eyes followed the movement of the rain as she continued, the tone of her voice edging towards anger. "Jack drove me back home, but he couldn't do any more than that. I locked the door and spent my time mooning over the day, sinking into depression as the hours passed. I stayed outside on the balcony, watching the rainfall, even when my bones were freezing over in the cold. When the rain stopped, I moved over to the bathtub, then after that, I went to my room. I sat there on the floor for what I thought was an hour or so but surprisingly, I woke up in the hospital. Sick.

"I was torn apart but not as much as my mother, who watched me die for four whole days." Pushing away from the windows, she returned to his side, but instead of stretching out beside him, she decided to sit down and hold on to his hand. Leaning forward, she trailed her palm across his face, wishfully. "I hate telenovelas, you know. Everything in there is so ridiculous that it frustrates me. The woman loves someone, or the man loves someone, but they fight and push each other away. Then one day, if they get hurt or are about to die, that's when they announce their love then miraculously, the person is well."

The tears bagged behind her eyes and dripped down her cheeks as she scooted forward and crushed their lips together. Her hands framed Harrison's face as she held the kiss for a while, then broke away and smoothened her plan down his chest.

"I really hate telenovelas, but if telling you I love you would make you wake up, then I'll do it." She leaned forward some more so she could whisper into his ears. "I love you, I adore you. I just want you to come back to me so I can kiss you then scold your silly face for doing something so bat crazy. Just come back."

When all the tears washed out of her, she wiped her eyes-then with shaky fingers-pulled the pendant from her neck and folded it in her fist. "In the past, my perception of a perfect man was a bit warped. Now, I can tell you perfectly what it is. To me, the perfect man is an imperfect one. The man that doesn't hide his flaws and doesn't blind anyone with gifts. Brutally honest, to the point of being freaking annoying. Someone who sees my flaws and doesn't judge me on them. You are my perfect bastard, and I need you to come back, alright?"

She pushed the pendant past his head then rested it on his shoulders. "I found this in your room, so I took it. We made a promise on it together, remember? I do. Today, I want to give it back to you, and I want to make you a promise. I promise that Josephine is going to pay for what she has done to you. For all the pain she caused you, and for hurting you like this. I promise to be here, by your side, waiting for you. I will be here when you wake up; I promise."

All traces of tears washed from her eyes as the nurse crept past the door with a steely smile on her cherry red lips. "I am sorry; I wasn't sure if I should come in now or not. You were speaking to him when I stepped in some time ago, so I decided to check in some other time."

"No worries. I was actually waiting for you and just trying to kill some time." Another kiss to Harrison's lips, and she shot off the bed. "I am going to speak to the doctor now that you are here. Please, take care of him."

The door closed behind her just before her phone buzzed in her back pocket. Reaching behind her, she read the name across the screen. The name of the private investigator she hired to look into H.W caught her attention immediately. She answered the call.

"Found what you were looking for, ma'am. You wouldn't believe it if you read it yourself?"