173 Stay away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leilani.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the fifth day, my papers were signed and was pronounced free to go home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t go home right away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know if it was right, but I felt an inexplicable urge to pay Caelum a visit. I wanted to know how well he was responding to his treatments, at least for the sole reason that he\u2019d saved me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I quickly packed my stuff into my duffel bag, placed them on the bed, and after deciding to come pick them up later whenever Jay comes to pick me up, I slipped out of my room and began to find my way to Caelum\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was on the same floor as me so it was quite easy to find him, but when I got into his room, I froze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because laying on the bed wasn\u2019t the Caelum I\u2019ve always known. This was a man I couldn\u2019t recognize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Goddess, he was pale, leaner and had perspiration clinging to his skin everywhere, causing damp patches on his clothes and bedsheet. His eyes fluttered open slightly when I walked into the room but I didn\u2019t try to get too close. Instead, I sat on a chair a few feet away from his bed and stared at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And truth be told, I was confused. My mind was a typhoon of conflicting thoughts and\u00a0<\/p>\n
emotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On one hand, I was thankful that he had saved me, because only the heavens know what would\u2019ve been my fate if I had been shot And on the other hand, I felt guilty. I felt bad and sad\u2026 and I wanted-no, needed- to see him better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tears stung at the corners of my eyes and my throat felt tight as I quietly moved closer, and my voice shook as I whispered the words that felt too heavy to speak. It tasted like bile in my mouth. I drawled; \u201cThank you for saving me, Caelum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And at the sound of my voice, his fingers twitched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if you can hear me, but I really need you to get better, I am so sorry about what happened and I feel guilty that you\u2019re this way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s refreshing to know that you came.\u201d A voice suddenly whispered from behind me, causing me to jump in fright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:16\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
173 Stay away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I turned to face whoever it was, I wasn\u2019t so surprised to see that it was Kael. However, the strange warmth I could feel coming from him was what I found strange.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He asked; \u201cHow do you feel, Leilani?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I bit my lower lip, unsure of how to respond to his question. Do I say: better? Especially since his brother had taken the major hit for me?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shaking my head to rid myself of these thoughts, I simply smiled; And when his eyes met mine again, I looked away, hating the way my heart fluttered in my chest, and hating the stupid mate bond more for rearing its ugly head at a time like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m okay. I just\u2026 I had to come and see Caelum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for doing that. I\u2019m very grateful and I am certain that he feels that\u00a0<\/p>\n
way too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another thing that stunned me was how genuine he sounded. How soft his smile was. Goddess, he didn\u2019t even try to come close to me, as if fearing that I would go off if he does- and maybe I would.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He folded his hands together as he watched me with quiet intensity, and his voice, rich and velvety, floated through the air as he asked; \u201cCan I ask you a question?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My mind drifted back to the \u2018question\u2019 that Zevran had asked me some days ago, and thinking that what he was about to say was something along those lines, I frowned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing\u2026\u201d he drawled, scratching the back of his neck. \u201cI just wanted to know why that girl would try to kill you, and why she would go as far as to use something that deadly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice showed a hint of worry, causing my eyebrows to shoot into my hairline. And what was even more concerning was when he leaned close, his voice gentle but careful as he continued;\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am worried about you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I wouldn\u2019t respond, he added; \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m just worried\u2026 I\u2019m scared too. And truthfully, I don\u2019t know who that girl is of what Frostclaw has done about her situation now but I don\u2019t feel good about her. For someone to try to hurt you with mercury laced silver bull-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKeisha is not a real threat.\u201d I said coldly, interrupting him, and even though the lie tasted like ash in my mouth, I fought to keep my expression neutral.\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:16 0\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
173 Stay away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s nothing that Jay cannot handle. Moreover-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she\u2019s not a threat, then what about that other guy? What about the guy Zevran found stalking your room some days ago?\u201d He snapped, sounding impatient.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t the sharp tone of his voice that stuck out to me, it was the words\u2026 the words that now made goosebumps erupt on my skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Especially since I knew what it meant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who he was talking about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My eyes widened in shock and I gasped; \u201cA tall strange guy\u2026?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith silver hair and purple eyes just like yours?\u201d He added, causing a small shocked squeal to escape my lips before I could help myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I whispered; \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Zevran saw him.\u201d He replied sarcastically, and goddess, I could swear that I saw him roll his eyes. \u201cAnd I should tell you this, Leilani, but the guy sounds like bad\u00a0<\/p>\n
news.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKael-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sounds like he\u2019s only here to cause more trouble. So please, when next you see him, report him to the authorities and stay as far away from him as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I do not know if I was meant to take orders from him, especially since he wasn\u2019t such a good person himself; But I found myself nodding even though I knew that I wouldn\u2019t listen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLeilani?\u201d He called out, snapping me out of my reverie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard you. But I cannot promise you anything,\u201d I spat, \u201c\u2026and that\u2019s because you don\u2019t have the right to tell me what to or to not do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He frowned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looked like he was about to say something more, but I was done listening. I was done giving him-them- the attention that they do not deserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands balled into fists as I slowly rose from the chair. I then cast another look at Caelum before I turned to him and muttered: \u201cI\u2019m leaving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, let me see you ou-\u201d he began to say but I cut him off by waving dismissively at\u00a0<\/p>\n
him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:16 0\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
173 Stay away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
+29\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d I hissed, my voice coming out icier than I wanted it to. \u201cI can walk out just fine\u2026 also, you ought to remember that I still have restraining orders against you. So\u2026\u201d my voice trailed off at the end of my statement, but I didn\u2019t even bother to complete it, hoping that he would have the wisdom to finish it up himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He probably did because then he nodded. And with that, I stormed off, ignoring the way he called out quietly to me, and ignoring the way his eyes seemed to drill holes into my back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comment 0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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15:16 0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leave the first comment for this chapter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vote\u00a0<\/p>\n
7\u00a0<\/p>\n
Healing Slowly But Surely By R. Joseph 173 173 Stay away.\u00a0 Leilani.\u00a0 On the fifth day, my papers were signed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chosen-by-none-feared-by-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}