THE HOSPITALISATION

You never know when death will come to you, so enjoy every moment like its your last, babe, and regret nothing.

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CHAPTER LXI

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I WOKE UP the next morning with a pounding headache which I realised was starting to become the usual. I was wrapped up in my covers, shielded from the cold, AC air in my own bed, which was different from the place I remembered falling asleep.

I decided not to dwell on it and instead decided that that day, I would be happy and do something I liked. The thought was abruptly shaken out of me as bile rose to my throat and I found myself throwing my room door open and sprinting down the hallway to the nearest bathroom.

Without having any time to hunch myself over a toilet seat, I threw up into the sink, coughing and spluttering as my throat and esophagus burnt from the after math of the bile. I coughed a bit, but froze as the sight of blood on the sink took me by surprise.

I had just vomited up blood.

Pain shot through my stomach in that moment, crippling me to the exact place that I was standing to the point where I hunched over and grabbed my abdomen. I wouldn't have put the odd behaviour past my period cramps, but I was pregnant and pregnant women didn't have periods.

Or maybe they did?

I decided in that moment that enough was enough and Daniel would have to book an appointment for me that day whether he liked it or not. I was tired of being left in the dark about my own body.

I stormed up to his room the second the pain had eased off and threw the door open, glaring daggers at him as he turned away from his closet with an expensive suit adorning his body.

How many of these things did he own? I decided not to comment on it because I had more pressing issues to handle.

“I need you to—”

“You're bleeding.”

Under any other normal circumstances I would have popped my shit for him cutting me off, but 'you're bleeding' wasn't a normal circumstance.

I furrowed my brows before walking over to the mirror where I immediately saw blood trailing from my nose. I couldn't remember the last time I got a nose bleed, but this one was slightly more worrying.

I spun around to look at Daniel, ready to start complaining when the same crippling pain fired from my stomach again. I muffled a groan, but Daniel still heard and ran to my side in an instant. I pushed him away and darted of to the toilet, this time actually puking into it but only growing more and more worried as I puked violently, non-stop in the lavatory.

The pain was intense and I felt like I could pass out from it at any moment. I collapsed onto my knees, feeling extremely weak and finding that even when I wasn't vomiting, blood still trickled from my mouth.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around me and scooped me into the air. I wanted to tell Daniel to take me back to bed and that I would be fine there, but my head lolled from side to side and I couldn't find the strength to speak.

He pressed me to his chest, not minding how I was getting blood all over his nice suit. I could hear him yelling out orders to people, but I couldn't really hear him. I knew there was a frenzy going on around me and I really wanted to tell everyone to calm down, but before I could open my mouth, a surge of blood came spewing out all over me.

Daniel's worry grew - I could feel it in the way he gripped me to himself tighter and I hated myself for being the reason why. I heard a familiar voice by my side, the voice of Anna talking to me and trying to keep me conscious.

It was quieter now and the only person that was talking was her. I was still in Daniel's arms - I knew because I never once felt him let go of me and his shirt was soaked through.

“Ara, please—”

I could make out only bits of her terrified crying and there was nothing I wanted to do more in that moment than hug her and tell her that everything would be alright. Even if I wasn't entirely sure myself.

The pain had worn off and I couldn't feel anything anymore, so that's how I didn't realise that I was choking on my own blood until Daniel had forced me to sit upright.

I could just make out the back of Pablo's head in the front seat, but without saying anything to them, I had given up to the darkness that was clawing at my mind.

And it didn't feel as bad as I usually made it out to be.

***

[THIRD PERSON P.O.V.]

“They said they'll be giving her a blood transfusion and doses of vitamin K to help her blood clot.”

Anna shot up at Pablo's words, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. “I'll go... I'll go donate blood. I think we're the same type.”

He nodded and pointed in the direction of the doctors office were she quickly sprinted to. He then turned to Daniel who was sitting, staring down at the floor with his head in his hands.

“They think its rat poison,” Pablo said, making Daniel's head snap up to look at him. “It's why they got her stable so quickly. They tried the antidote and she responded well.”

“Rat poison,” Daniel repeated, leaning back into his chair as his mind went mad with different thoughts. “You don't think she tried to... Like Emma?”

Pablo considered it for a moment and while a large part of him agreed that it was a possibility considering her recent mental state, another part of him was certain that she didn't do it. It just didn't make any sense from a logical point of view.

“I don't think so,” he answered and even though he wasn't sure, Daniel still sighed with relief. “If she went out to any possible places where she could have both them, a guard would've told us. So far she hasn't gone out again.” Daniel nodded, realising that he was right, but Pablo wasn't done. “I sent someone to go looking through her room and he found a bottle of prescribed sleeping pills.” He turned to Pablo, wandering where this story was going. “But it wasn't sleeping pills in it. It was...”

“Rat poison,” Daniel finished for him, making him nod in agreement. “So you're telling me that someone planted it in her room? Someone tried to get rid of her?”

Pablo only shrugged, staring straight at the wall ahead of him. “Could be the case.”

That was almost worse than her trying to hurt herself. Someone had attempted to kill her from within the house. Did they have a spy? Were one of the maids working with someone else? Maybe it was Lucien?

He did have a weird hatred towards her but that was merely because his sexual advances had gone nowhere. At most he would hut her but he wouldn't kill her.

Lola would've been a prime suspect, but Lola had left days ago. But it wasn't like she didn't have enemies every turn she made. Hell, for all he knew he was a huge suspect too considering how their relationship was going.

He made a mental note to move her out of the house as soon as possible. He was already building a house for all of them to live in, but she needed to leave that toxic place quick before the next attempt comes.

“Plus,” Pablo continued, not realising that Daniel was already in agreement with him. “She wouldn't try to do that when she's pregnant. You know?”

Daniel's eyes snapped wide open ad he quickly turned to Pablo. “How's the baby? Is it okay?”

“The doctor said its too early to tell,” Pablo answered, only making Daniel's restlessness grow.

In that moment, a doctor had come out of Araceli's room, making both the men snap their eyes up to look at her.

“Are you here for Ms. Araceli Reyes?”

Pablo rolled his eyes, unsurprised that Daniel didn't even pass up an opportunity to give her his name even when they weren't married yet.

Both of them stood up, nodding at the doctor.

“And what's your relation to the patient?”

“I'm her husband.”

Daniel answered quickly, making Pablo roll his eyes again. He would have said that he was her brother but he doubted they would believe him. Maybe he should've claimed to be her husband too and see how well that fared between the both of them.

The doctor, unaware of Pablo's mood, nodded at Daniel. “Follw me. We should talk.”

Daniel wasted no time in following the petite, brown-skinned woman as she walked down the hall to a nearby office. She sat behind the desk and gestured for Daniel to sit on the other side of it which he did.

“Well, first I must tell you that you did well bringing her here as soon as you did,” she said, making Daniel roll his eyes inwardly. He didn't come to speak to her so she would praise him. “Because of your time, we were able to stabilise her before she could lose too much blood and go into shock and before any major organ was damaged.”

Daniel felt relieved at that. At least he didn't have to wait months by her side just to know if she would wake up like so many books he had read made the characters do. Unlike many of the fictional male heroes, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do that. He loved her but not like that. It had only been six months since their relationship began.

The only reason he was marrying her so quickly was because he owed it to her. It was the only way to protect her from the world that he had dragged her into. And he was too Goddamn selfish to let her die.

Plus, he knew that there would never be a moment where he would regret agreeing to spend the rest of his life with her. Araceli was so vastly different from most people he knew - composed of so much good and so much bad.

Every choice was always an internal battle in her mind and instead of turning her rage onto other people - who definitely deserved it like him - she channeled it on herself.

“Her haemoglobin levels are low to begin with and from her previous records, I can tell that she's been like this for a while now. When you go home, I ask that you see to it that she gets enough iron from her food. Maybe even consider supplements.” She hardly ate so he doubted she would stick to taking pills regularly either. “We're also going to put her on vitamin K supplements for a while and in some time, we'll call you back to see how her blood is clotting then. She should be okay from the general gist of things after the blood transfusion.”

“And the baby?” Daniel finally asked, making the doctor look up at him with a sad look on her face.

“I'm sorry,” she said, her voice holding sympathy. “It was too late for the baby to be saved.”

“But you said she's doing okay now? How did she lose the baby?”

Daniel couldn't wrap his head around it. If she was fine then how wasn't the baby fine too? Was that how it worked?

“Well, maybe if you guys came a few days earlier we would've been able to do something, but miscarriages are common especially in the very early stages of a pregnancy.”

“Wait,” he said, stopping her as he squinted his eyes in confusion. “What?”

“You should have called for a doctor as soon as you noticed bleeding. There's no point in leaving it for a few days,” the doctor said, making Daniel's frown deepen.

“But we didn't notice any bleeding.”

“Well, from her results, she had passed the embryo a couple days ago and is now shedding her uterine lining so maybe she didn't tell you something.”

The doctor got up and patted Daniel's back sympathetically before making her way out of the office to check on other patients. Daniel's head was a mess. He didn't know what to do or what to think.

She lost the baby? He thought asking nobody in particular. Why didn't she say anything? Why did she keep this from me? Did she want to make sure the baby was gone completely?

He squeezed his hands into fists and glared at the wall as if it was the source of all his problems. What was the point of marrying her if she didn't even want to stay around? What was the point of that when there was no kid to solidify the fact that they were married and a family to help make alliances?

He shook his head and dragged his hand down his face, feeling himself closing off to the world. After all she had done to make him feel again, it was all being chucked into the trash.

What was the point of keeping her around anyway? The past events had only proved it; they were done. He was going to send her some place else. Some place away from him so she couldn't mess with his feelings anymore.

*****

Yall I am so sorry for missing Thursday's update. I was feeling sick all of last week as well as the burden of Christmas exams so it had been a shit show.

I try and make it up to yall with a double update some time next week.

Oh and btw, Araceli's character in the second book is so SEXY yall will see.