I held her hand in mine and smiled.
She looked so beautiful, so peaceful.
Was this what eternal sleep looked like?
Or had she overslept to the outside world?

   I tossed my gaze to the ECG monitor and my heart twisted. Why had they turned it off? She was only sleeping. She would come out of the coma.
What if her heart started beating again? How would they know if they had already turned off all the monitors?

    Why?

"Wake up, I bought you a new novel. You need to hear me read it to you Daisy," I whispered and grabbed the brand-new novel lying on the steel table.

   I flipped through the pages, skipping the introduction to land on the first chapter. My hands were shaking. My heart was pounding faster than two horny souls fucking.
She was only sleeping.

   "Annie? Annie stop!" Paul spoke from somewhere close to me. But I couldn't see him. I couldn't see the words in the novel.
My eyes were filling with a liquid, making my vision blurred.

    "I have to read her the novel!" I screamed at the room, bringing the book closer to my face.
Still, the words were too foggy, not a single one could be read.

I tried feeling the words but this wasn't a braille. I could not touch the words.

     "Annie-"

"Shut up!" I screamed throwing the novel out of my hands without caring where it landed. Even if it had the power to bring down a wall, I couldn't care less. This was my hospital. Everything, and everyone was mine.
  But, why had Daisy died?

She was supposed to wake up someday and scold me for moving in with Jack along with Pattie. She was supposed to tell me how proud she was that my dreams were becoming a reality.

  So why?
Why had her heart given up?

     "Get me the doctors, Paul! Fi-"

Two hands from nowhere wound themselves on my arms and pulled me off the bed. They proceeded to gather me to their owner.

   "It'll be fine Annie, I'm still here," Paul reminded in a soft whisper.

  "Let go of me! Daisy will wake up!"
I wriggled, scratched, and hit him. But his grasp remained steady if not firmer.
My loud wailing was enough to startle dear Daisy out of the hands of the grim reaper, but she didn't bother looking back.

   "We knew this day would be here. We should be grateful that she held on for as long as she did."

  A blow of anger struck my chest.
Paul never had any hope of Daisy waking up. How could he be so negative towards our dear friend? We had been through thick and thin together and shared a lot of NDEs. That bond had made me hopeful for her recovery.

    But those hopes had been shuttered to a bazillion pieces by that one phone call from the hospital.

        "You're a bastard!" I screamed and resumed struggling to free myself.

  Paul didn't falter. His strength seemed to have doubled as he plastered my body against his in a possessive hold.
   "Let it all out. You'll feel better soo-"
I sank my teeth into his forearm like a fierce snake about to make its kill.

He immediately groaned and cursed out, "Dammit Annie!"

    "Let me go!"

The male did let go, but only to cage my hands and twist them onto my back to pin them there.
   He glared straight into my eyes, letting me see his bloodshot pair that held a lot of emotions. Paul was...hurting. He just didn't want to cry in front of me.

     "We'll both be fine Annie. Daisy is in a better place. Her suffering is all gone. We should celebrate her life, not grieve like this."

   "Celebrate?" I huffed. "She was my best friend. I knew her way before  you came along."

He shut his eyes to my words. They were harsh and cruel, but he didn't retort. He just listened and when I was done, Paul gathered me to himself once more.
   This time, he didn't say anything, only held me tightly despite my struggle.
There was warmth in his embrace, a feeling I would never experience again from my best friend.

   "I'm here," Paul whispered in my ear. A whisper that sounded weak, hurting, and assuring.
But my heart refused to listen to a thing he was saying. His words might have been soothing, yet they couldn't stop the aching in my chest.

   I wanted to drill a hole in my heart and stroke it gently till it finally calmed down.

   My wails had tuned down to soft cries.
And my tears soaked Paul's t-shirt, along with my running nose. On a normal day, I would have been embarrassed to death. But this was no ordinary day. It was the day I experienced a deep loss. Someone very precious to me had been taken away from me by life and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

  There was no one to cast my vengeance upon, which only made me hurt even more. I pushed my head deeper into Paul's chest, ceasing the meaningless struggles. He was there to comfort me, he wasn't a threat.

    "There, there. Let me be here for you."

"It hurts."

Paul let go of my arms to slide his left hand around my waist. His right hand slipped to my face, cupping my cheek.
"I know. It hurts me too," Paul comforted wiping the tears from my left cheek without any disgust.

I pulled my head back to study his eyes.
  There was some moisture in them, making them glitter in the neutral daylight coming from outside.

    "She might wake up."

Paul smiled pained.
"No Annie. Daisy is already gone."

   "What if it happens like in those cases whe-"

A soft pair of lips covered mine, dispersing any other words.
  He had caught me by surprise with my mouth open. This gave him the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
   
      No.
This was wrong.

My palms flattened on Paul's chest in an attempt to shove him away from me. Yes, he was also grieving, but initiating intimacy wouldn't yield any positive results. Especially now that I had just gotten back with Jack.

   The hand that had been on my face was now on the back of my head, holding me in position so I wouldn't break away. My protests were muffled by his lips and my breaths were disrupted by the kiss.

   I had no strength to fight him after all the emotional torment I was going through. What was I to do?
   
Like a lifeless log, I gave up the will to fight and just let him do whatever he wanted. It was only a kiss, and I wasn't kissing back. It'd soon be over and I would reprimand him for doing it.

     Paul's grip loosened when he felt my lack of resistance. He brought both hands on my face, never breaking the kiss even for a millisecond.
  Only the sound of someone clearing their throat made him stop, "Ahem!"

   The male completely peeled himself off of me and turned away from me, and the person that was now in the room.
  I ran my hand over my lips, wiping away the kiss as my legs turned towards the door.

   My entire body froze.

Jack.

******This is a little Valentine's gift which I forgot. From next week, the weekly chapters will be posted on Saturdays. Have a great weekend my lovely readers. Support my dreams on Patreon by subscribing to any tier of your choice.
His to Save will officially come to an end...tomorrow.***